Mexico is a country rich in indigenous languages and cultures. More than seventy indigenous languages are spoken and written, and offer us profound commentaries on indigenous lives and cultures through award-winning volumes of poetry and stories. Voices of the People/The Power of Word and Image brings together poets, writers, translators, language specialists, and a film-maker for two days of workshops, public presentations, and poetry readings.
Tuesday, April 16, 9-11:30AM, GA1060
Indigenous languages and cultures: Linguists, Archaeologist, their community partners, and their goals
Daniel Suslak, Moderator, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Indiana University, linguistic anthropology, specializes in indigenous languages and cultures of Mexico, especially Mixe (Ayöök), verbal art, youth and adolescence. He has published many peer-reviewed articles and currently has a book under review—Diccionario Analítico del Ayapaneco.
César Félix-Brasdefer, linguist, Professor of Spanish and Linguistics, Indiana University. He focuses on pragmatic variation across varieties of Spanish, including regions in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Spain. His research interests include discourse analysis, instruction of pragmatics in second languages, and intercultural communication. He has published several books, edited volumes, numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and articles for handbooks. He co-edits the Routledge Handbook of Spanish Pragmatics
Manuel Díaz-Campos, linguist, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Indiana University. He works in the areas of quantitative sociolinguistics, second language phonology, laboratory phonology, and contact phenomena. He studies sociolinguistic variation using an interdisciplinary approach. He is currently working with speakers of Cuicateco, an indigenous language of Mexico, in collaboration with Professor SanGiacomo.
Marcela San Giacomo, linguist, works at the Institute of Anthropological Research, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She does research in Sociolinguistics, Phonetics and Phonology. Her current project, a collaboration with Manuel Antonio Diaz Campos, is "Tone variation in Cuicatec"
Donald Frischmann, Professor, Texas Christian University. Latin American and Hispanic Literatures, Latin American Popular theatre, Indigenous literatures of Mexico, Yucatec Mayan poetry, and drama. Published with Carlos Montemayor the 3 volume Words of the True Peoples/Palabras de los Seres Verdaderos, indigenous prose, poetry, and drama in trilingual formats. His most recent books include U Suut T'aan / El Retorno de la Palabra / The Return of Our Word. Trilingual anthology of eleven contemporary Mayan writers from the state of Quintana Roo (2016), and U Túumben K’aayilo’ob X-Ya’axche’ / Los Nuevos Cantos de la Ceiba, Volume II. A critical, Mayan-Spanish bilingual anthology of 30 contemporary Mayan writers from the Yucatán peninsula (2015).
Quetzil Castañeda, anthropologist, is founding director of OSEA – the Open School of Ethnography and Anthropology, an independent, non-degree school that offers field study abroad, writing workshops, research methods, conferences, and consulting services. He has over 20 years of experience conducting research in México on identity politics, heritage, tourism, anthropology of art, ethics, visual ethnography, applied anthropology, language revitalization, and representation. In addition to his work at OSEA, Quetzil has been a lecturer in the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Indiana University since 2010.
Alex Badillo: PhD, Indiana University. Doctoral Fellow, Earth and Environmental Sciences; Director of the Geospatial and Virtual Archaeology Laboratory and Studio, Indiana State University. Archaeologist, specialist in Isthmus-Valley trade; has helped various Zapotec communities develop their own museums; also has created 3D models of archaeological sites, and a 3D video of Monte Alban. He has ten years of field experience in Oaxaca.
The College of Arts