Mixtec Culture and the Familia Unida Project: Oct 20, 2016

Daisy Alonso and Julieta GonzalezFamilia Indígena Unida

Thursday, Oct 20, 12:45 pm

Room MS 462
San Diego City College

Mixtec Culture and the Familia Unida Project 

Daisy Alonso and Julieta Gonzalez 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. 

Daisy Alonso

She is an Indigenous woman from the Mixteca Baja, one of 8 regions in Oaxaca, Mexico. She is from the town called Santa Rosa Caxtlahuaca; in Mixteco is called Ñuú Shoo “pueblo de a lado” “pueblo apartado”. As a child she experience Oaxaca in Vista, California. The sense of community provided her a strong cultural formation of her identity, since cultural practices, language, and community organizing was embedded in her daily life. She became conscious of her value of her indigenous roots at the university as an undergrad that lead her to be involved and organize work around Indigenous cultural preservation and rights in the United States. She attended Cal State San Marcos and study Sociology with a concentration in Critical Race Studies. 

Julieta González

She considers herself a Mixteca woman. She is from a small town called Santa Maria Natividad, Oaxaca, Mexico. At age ten, she migrated to the United States in the community of Linda Vista. She has a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) in International Business with Finance specialization with Latin America Studies emphasis. She is one of the co-founder of Familia Indigena Unida (FIU) and program director of the Mixtec Cultural Exchange program since 2006. She is currently the coordinator for the Mixtec kids program in Familia Indígena Unida. She has successfully empowered Mixtec kids and youths by encouraging them to be proud of their cultural identity and conserve their native language and culture in addition providing homework assistance.