Culture and Migration: The Mixtec Experience -- Mar 18

Culture and Migration:

The San Diego Mixtec Experience

Valentina Torres and Julieta Gonzalez

Mixtec Cultural Exchange Program Coordinators

Thursday, Mar 18, 9:35 am - 11 am

Room A 213

San Diego City College

Valentina and Julieta will introduce students to the Mixtec culture and history in Oaxaca and in San Diego and present one of the most important experiences of a migrant Mexican Indigenous community. The Mixtecs have preserved and re-created cultural and social links between their people at home and their people in the US, in spite of cultural and national borders.

Valentina Torres was born in the Mexican State of Oaxaca and belongs to the 2,500 year-old Mixtec culture, one of the oldest and most extraordinary original cultures of Mexico. Like many other Mixtecs, Valentina migrated to San Diego. She has worked to improve both her community in San Diego and the one she comes from in Oaxaca. She is one of the first women in her community to graduate from San Diego State University. For several years she has been the director of the Mixtec Cultural Exchange Program. In this program, Mixtec children and adults learn English and Spanish and in exchange, they teach the Mixtec languages to the student volunteers from UCSD, SDSU, USD, City College and other schools. Valentina is the co-founder of Familia Indigena Unida, a grassroots organization that promotes community, self-sufficiency, civic and reproductive rights and cultural preservation among migrant Mixtec families. She serves as the president of Ñuu Saa Committee for the Development of Santa Maria Natividad, a small rural village located in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Julieta González is a Mixtec from Santa Maria Natividad, a small rural village located in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. She, like thousands of other fellow indigenous people from the state of Oaxaca, made the painful journey to migrate to the U.S. in order to escape the widespread poverty and discrimination present in their communities. Julieta is a leader of one of the largest Mixtec communities in the U.S., located in the neighborhood of Linda Vista, San Diego. She graduated from San Diego State University with a B.A. in International Business with a specialization in Finance, with a perspective of Latin America Studies. Julieta is currently the coordinator for the Mixtec Kids program. She has successfully empowered many Mixtec children by assisting them with their homework and encouraging them to be proud of their cultural identity and to conserve their native language and culture. Julieta serves as the secretary of Ñuu Saa Committee for the Development of Santa María Natividad. She is also the co-founder of Familia Indígena Unida.

Sponsored by City College Chicana/o Studies Department and World Cultures Program