A Journey of Language, Culture, and Belonging
In Mexico, there are various languages spoken across the country besides Spanish, including indigenous languages like Mixteco, which is spoken throughout Oaxaca, Mexico.
Es un idioma único que ha sido transmitido de padres a hijos, desde nuestros antepasados indígenas, preservando sus historias y tradiciones.
If a language is forgotten, the stories songs and ways of thinking of a people also disappear. This is the case of Mixteco, as it is considered an endangered language (Baz, 2024). The Endangered Language Alliance, reports that there are only 500,000 people who continue to speak Mixtec frequently, with fewer than 2,000 in the United States. These data reveal how Mixteco is a language that is in danger of extinction" (Mixtec.org).
My dad and I at the Cerro de las Minas in Huajuapan de León, Oaxaca.
As someone of Mixteco (Ñuu Savi) descent and who is learning her ancestors language, language revitalization is a significant aspect of reconnecting with my Mixteco (Ñuu Savi) culture. Recently, in December of 2024, I had the privilege of visiting Oaxaca, where I was immersed in my culture and language. I can not put into words how beautiful and gut wrenching my trip was.
Important: Each picture in this project has a story, for more information refer to the appendix on the last page.
Me standing on the land with a sombrero and holding a machete.
The separation of my body and knowledge from my ancestral lands and culture due to borders can not be put into words and the yearning of missing where I come from never leaves my heart or mind as a first-generation Chicana with Mixteco (Ñuu Savi) descent. My trip to Oaxaca was beautiful beyond words but also gut wrenching as I witnessed the disparities my people go through. I witnessed what life would have been like for my family and heard many stories of how life was like for my family when they were growing up in the region. Throughout my entire trip and as my days in Oaxaca where coming to an end, I could not stop commenting to my family and thinking how I was supposed to go back to school (university) and the U.S. after my trip having witnessed so many aspects of my culture and learned so much from being in our lands and having to leave them behind.
Me overlooking the beautiful view from the Cerro Yucunitzá.
Kitchen in Huajuapan de León
Art in Huajuapan de León
Dad carrying a traditional tenante
Me overlooking the landscape at Las Campanas in Huajuapan de León.
Whenever I visit Mexico, I feel it in my soul that I'm where I'm supposed to be. There's this feeling of belonging but also sadness from being away. One may comment well why don't you just go back but its more complicated than that. I live in two worlds. My recent trip to Oaxaca, Mexico evoked those same feelings but were intensified due to not having visited my family's home region in about 10 years. Life in Oaxaca, specifically in the regions I visited (Heroica Ciudad de Huajuapan de León, Santiago Juxtlahuaca, y Tinuma de Zaragoza) were drastically different than the life I have in the U.S. as I was fully immeresed in Mixteco culture and language.
The beautiful letters of the city of Huajuapan.
The Heroic City of Huajuapan de León is where my family grew up and is where my abuelito lives, he's 92. Sadly my abuelita passed in 2020 at 85, during the COVID 19 pandemic, and has left the physical world, though in our culture we believe she is now in the afterlife with the rest of our ancestors.
My abuelito and I and my abuelita's resting place.
Grave decorated with marigolds, candles, and food as Día de los fieles difuntos had just passed.
For me, Huajuapan de León holds many aspects of my family's culture because it is where they grew up and would have been the place I would have been born if my dad had not migrated to the U.S. looking for work and a better life. I yearn reconnecting to my Mixteco roots so much, and especially in our language, because I am disconnected and am not there. I do not want to forget or lose my roots.
At the Cerro de las Minas — I am in the lands of my ancestors.
My father and I at the Cerro de las Minas.
Me looking out to the city of Huajuapan de León at Cerro Yucunitzá.
However, for my family, Huajuapan de León holds some negative memories as they endured prejudices and racism due to their tongue (Mixteco) and their socioeconomic status and appearance (low-income and indigenous features) by dominant Spanish speakers and even members of their own community who were attempting to assimilate to Spanish. There is a complicated relationship between this place and my family but present day Huajuapan de León and the larger area of the Mixteca is where our lineage stems from. Being in Huajuapan de León, I learned about how the city came to be and there is wall art and museams.
Additionally, my trip to Oaxaca included not only visiting this city but more rural pueblos like Santiago Juxtlahuaca and Tinuma de Zaragoza, where I also have family, where I was able to trace and get to know our culture and lineage.
My uncle and my dad sitting at a tree at the Cerro Yucunitzá. They are in their ancestral lands.
Murals in the city depicting the indigenous communities of the region and the history of the city.
Mural in the Palacio Municipal de Huajuapan depicting Mixtecos.
Mural depicting the indigenous communities of the region.
Mural in the Palacio Municipal de Huajuapan.
Wide mural in the Palacio Municipal de Huajuapan depicting Mixtecos.
My father carrying a traditional costal to carry goods we bought at the local market.
Santiago Juxtlahuaca is located a bit more south of Oaxaca compared to Huajuapan. Santiago Juxtlahuaca feels more like a pueblo (town like). I have family in Santiago Juxtlahuaca, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and I visited here to get to know the pueblos de la Mixteca. As I've mentioned before I have not visited Santiago Juxtlahuaca or Huajuapan or the larger Mixteca region for nearly 10 years but I still remembered what it felt like and how it was here. To get here, my dad and I had to take a suburban that was about 2 hours long. Once we got there, it was just how I remembered it but it felt different being there. There was a feeling of distance, 10 years of distance, that felt melancholy. My dad took me to Santiago Juxtlahuaca to get to know their known market "mercado" that occurs on the weekends because this is when people from nearby towns come down and sell their goods such as meat, produce, clothes, and artisanal items (clothes, bags, drinks, food, trinkets). It was exactly how I remembered. I loved walking through the mercado I felt like I was where I should be. Being in the Mixteca region felt like I was where my people were, I felt immersed in the life and language of la Mixteca. As my dad and I were walking around Santiago Juxtlahuaca, we ran into two of my aunts and two of my uncles.
Dry salted fish (traditional food) at the market.
When I saw my aunts and uncles, I ran up to them and hugged them. One aunt I had not seen since I was a young teenager since she lives in Santiago Juxtlahuaca. It was beautiful beyond words to run into my family. They were not expecting to see me and my aunts immediately held on to my arms and began showing me around the mercado. I went with one to walk around with more as my other aunt was catching up with my dad, and she asked me what do you want to get? Anything you want, I'll get it for you because who knows when you'll be able to return and be here. I told her I wanted a woven bag made from palm trees (their the traditional bags from here) because I use them for school. My aunt was so proud that I used our cultural items and bough me a beautiful pink woven bag from artificial palm. I carried the bag with me everywhere. That same aunt then invited us to stay at her house as I had never gone to where she lives, which is where my uncle (her husband) is from, which is Tinuma de Zaragoza. A more rural town in the mounts next to Santiago Juxtlahuaca. So my dad and I went with my aunt and uncle to visit another town in the Mixteca.
The beautiful mountains of Tinuma de Zaragoza.
Tinuma de Zaragoza is beautiful beyond words. I stayed here for a day to stay with my aunt and uncle. Tinuma de Zaragoza is more up in the mountains and is more remote. My aunt, uncle, and my dad taught me so much about how life is in the area, the process of preparing food, and how the towns were before when they were growing up, while I was here. Since it is remote, living off the land is key and making everything by scratch is how food is prepared because there are not many stores near.
Local corn
Grinding corn
Food preparation
Tortillas on the comal
Handmade tortillas
Blue corn tortillas
Clay pot cooking
A traditional meal
Traditional tamale
Tinuma de Zaragoza showed me how life here is vastly different than the one I have in the U.S. I was able to grasp how my family grew up in areas like this that are remote. Although growing up, I always heard their life stories, as storytelling has always been a big part of our communication style, being in the lands of the Mixteca was vastly eye opening in finally being able to visualize and truly picture how my family grew up. Areas like these are beautiful but they also can be challenging to live in as there are lack of resources.
Me in my ancestral lands of Oaxaca.
Statue of the traditional dance, Jarabe, in the heart of Huajuapan de León.
My trip to Oaxaca was filled with reconnecting and learning about my Mixteco roots and language. I was immersed in Mixteco (language) and was able to practice my learning with my family and even speak to my abuelito who is a more dominant Mixteco speaker. Language and identity are vital aspects of humanity as they connect us with our cultural communities, especially in the context of indigenous communities who are affected by settler colonialism. Colonialism and assimilation have directly negatively effected indigenous languages and has affected my family's language, Mixteco. My story is important because I am in a privileged place to speak on these affects and bring in my ancestral language to work towards revitalization, even if its simply with me reconnecting to my original tongue and advocating for indigenous communities.
Ruins at the Cerro de las Minas.
Language and identity are undoubtedly intertwined. Even in linguistics, specifically in developmental pragmatics, we see that language and culture are intertwined because language constructs culture. Languages have power and have a history of being used to colonize other languages. Colonial languages like English and Spanish, have become two dominant spoken languages throughout North America and Latin America. Dominant languages, such as English and Spanish, create a standard language ideology where one language is deemed the most prestige and needed to succeed. Standard language ideology in turn is often created by social elites and people in power. In academic institutions such as in the U.S., as academia developed, a standardized academic form of English was also developed, which is known as Standard Academic English (SAE). Standard language practices like SAE are rooted in white supremacy and leads to language and cultural erasure to students who are from marginalized communities and/or speak marginalized languages, dialects, or vernaculars. Even in Mexico, we can see the same narrative with Spanish being the Standard Academic language in academic institutions.
Due to this, my ancestral language is dwindling in speakers. When a language dies, so does part of the culture. As Gloria Anzaldúa said, " [...] if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself" (p. 39). As a scholar in the field of rhetoric and composition, I will continue to bring in my languages and culture to reshape how we include indigenous languages.
1. My abuelito and I reunited after nearly 10 years. He's 93.
2. My dad and I at the Cerro de las Minas in Huajuapan de León, Oaxaca.
3. Me standing on the land with a sombrero and holding a machete.
4. Me overlooking the beautiful view from the Cerro Yucunitzá.
5. Me in our kitchen in Huajuapan de León.
6. Art in Huajuapan de León.
7. My dad carrying a traditional tenante on his back to carry our items while we shopped at the mercado.
8. Me overlooking the landscape at Las Campanas in Huajuapan de León.
9. The beautiful letters of the city of Huajuapan.
10. My abuelito and I and my abuelita's resting place.
11. My abuelita's resting place at a cemetery in Huajuapan de León. Her grave is decorated with marigolds, candles, and food as Día de los fieles difuntos (day of the dead) had just passed.
12. At the Cerro de las Minas, in Huajuapan de León, I am in the lands of my ancestors. El Cerro de Las Minas is an archaeological site in the city.
13. My father and I at the Cerro de las Minas.
14. Me looking out to the city of Huajuapan de León at Cerro Yucunitzá.
15. My uncle and my dad sitting at a tree at the Cerro Yucunitzá. They are in their ancestral lands.
16. Mural in the Palacio Municipal de Huajuapan depicting Mixtecos.
17. Mural in the city depicting the indigenous communities of the region and the history of the city.
18. and 19. Mural in the Palacio Municipal de Huajuapan depicting Mixtecos.
20. My father carrying a traditional costal to carry goods we bought at the local market.
21. Dry salted fish (traditional food) at the market.
22. Group of pictures of my stay at Tinuma de Zaragoza including the process of making corn tortillas and a meal.
23. Me in my ancestral lands of Oaxaca.
24. Statue of the traditional dance, Jarabe, in the heart of Huajuapan de León.
25. Ruins at the Cerro de las Minas.
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Below is the complete original PDF of Genoveva Vega's research project, preserved exactly as submitted. You can scroll through it, download it, or open it in fullscreen.
Cada lengua indígena es un tesoro que guarda la riqueza de nuestro pasado. ¡Cuidarla es un regalo para el futuro!
Every indigenous language is a treasure that holds the richness of our past. Caring for it is a gift for the future!