LACIS
Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program

“Struggles in the defense of the native corn of Oaxaca” (in Spanish w/ simultaneous interpretation to English)

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Dejope Residence Hall, Lake Mendota Room, 640 Elm Drive
@ 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm

Presented by Gabriela Linares and Aldo Gonzalez from UNOSJO – Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juarez de Oaxaca

About the presentation: Our struggles have been in the defense of corn and in general of the seeds that are in the hands of peasants who carry out resistance and defense from their lots and plots through the planting of the milpa.  Gabriela and Aldo, will share pressures that peasants are enduring to maintain a cultural legacy to grow their own seeds -seeds that have been passed down from generations- and to share them with others.

In 2018, after decades of international research done in a corn landrace from Totontepec, a village in the Sierra Mixe of Oaxaca, they learned about an agreement made between community leaders in that village and BioN2 (a subsidiary of Mars Inc.) about access and benefit-sharing of local genetic resources. Aldo and Gabriela will talk about implications of these agreements and the reactions of on-the-ground communities, activitists and Mexican academics around this topic.
Gabriela Linares

About the presenters: Gabriela Linares es una Mujer Zapoteca Leaj, de la comunidad de San Juan Evangelista Analco, comunidad ubicada en la Región de la Sierra Juárez. Trabaja desde 2007 en la Unión de Organizaciones de la Sierra de Oaxaca (UNOSJO S.C.). Desde el 2011 coordina el área de Derechos Indígenas. Su trabajo ha radicado principalmente en la promoción y difusión de los derechos de los pueblos y comunidades indígenas en Oaxaca, derecho al territorio, feminismo comunitario y educación popular. Brinda acompañamiento a comunidades, autoridades, grupos de mujeres y jóvenes, sobre temas relacionados a la defensa del territorio contra la minería, maíz nativo vs transgénicos, políticas ambientales, impartición de justicia y la participación política de las mujeres dentro de los sistemas normativos, entre otros. Actualmente forma parte de la coordinación de la Asamblea de mujeres indígenas de Oaxaca (AMIO).

Aldo Gonzalez is a representative from UNOSJO.
Please join us for this event.  Everyone is welcome.  Talk will be in Spanish with simultaneous English interpretation.
Sponsored by LACIS and the Ira and Ineva Baldwin fund.