Tonantzin

Society
December 18

Fall Newsletter
Our year in review…
Welcome to Tonantzin Society! We present you with diverse
content that speaks to our different priorities. We thank you for
stopping by. Please reach out for any and all reasons.

In this newsletter you will find:

1. Our Book Recommendations How to

2. Articles Authored by Tonantzin Society Team Connect:
3. Events We Held in 2018 Tonantzinsociety@
4. Meet Our New Interns! yahoo.com
We want to hear from you. We
would like to see what you
think about our new book
recommendations. Have you
read any?

We have three articles written

by us. What do you think
about our topics?

Were you part of any of our

events? Send us your photos!

Take a look at our intern

biographies. If you want more
information about their work,
let us know.
Book Recommendations
Read! Read! Read!

Are you and your niños looking for reading as winter descends upon us? Take a look at a few of the amazing books
written by Latin@/Indigenous authors. It’s also a way to invest in creative members of our comunidad! If you want
to learn more about Latin@/Indigenous writers, email us at tonantzinsociety@yahoo.com.

From www.cbc.ca – young readers books from Indigenous writers.

Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox is a children's introduction to the idea of totem animals, a deeply
rooted Anishinaabe tradition. In a series of short poems that are accompanied by illustrations of children wearing
masks, the book explains the idea of identifying with a chosen animal. Written and illustrated by Danielle Daniel,
Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox also describes how totem animals can act as guides for people seeking to understand
themselves and their place in the world better.

If you have book recommendations, please send them our way!

This collaboration between Guelph, Ont. children's author Robert Munsch and Rankin Inlet writer Michael Kusugak
brings the Arctic to life for young readers. Featuring a protagonist named Allashua, A Promise Is A Promise takes
readers on a journey below the sea ice, where they meet a frightening creature known as Qallupilluit. With its origins
in the traditional stories told to protect children in Inuit communities from harm, the book was illustrated by
Vladyana Krykorka and first published in 1988.

In this board book for early readers, Tlicho Dene writer Richard Van Camp celebrates the strength and vulnerability of
being small. Accompanied by beautiful illustrations from Cree-Métis author and illustrator Julie Flett, Van Camp's
words speak to the power of being surrounded by family and community from a young age — and the importance
of growing up knowing you are unconditionally loved.
(From www.remezcla.com Release Date: September 4, 2018 Publisher: Coffee House Press

Nettel is maybe one of the most underappreciated writers being translated from Spanish right now – her
work is wry, sad, and funny. After The Winter is an intercontinental story of the ways that even fleeting
relationships can shift a life, but it is also about the particular strangeness of the lonely and alone. This is a
novel that takes as its focus all the peculiarities of the personal, in short, a fantastic character study.

Release Date: July 17, 2018 Publisher: One World

As anyone who has ever lived along the border knows, it’s far
more complicated than a simple dividing line. In Crux,
Guerrero, who is trained as a journalist, investigates not only
her own family’s relationship with the border across
generations, but the life of her father, a Mexican immigrant,
and the borders he traverses between mysticism and sanity,
illness and health, drugs and medicine. Crux is as deeply
reported as it is deeply felt.
Some perspectives…
From our Director Christina Valdivia-Alcala
Think Global - Act Local!

Gente. Climate change is here. The question is not “when” we as people inhabiting
this planet will have stepped too far into climate disaster. Rather accept the
realities set forth by Mother Earth and massive research by organizations like the
National Academy of Science.
Extreme weather is on the rise and has been for several years. Glaciers continue
to shrink and ice shelves in Antarctica break at faster rates than initially
anticipated. In October of this year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) issued a large and concerning report verifying climate changes
presence and what we are charged with at this moment in time is minimizing its
“progressive nature.”
The degree of global warming per year is a focal point by climate specialists and
activists. Google the key words “12 years to” and one will see “fix the climate”,
“fix the planet” or maybe even “limit climate change.”
Sobering and unsettling though they may be we must keep all in context, organize
and above all ACT. The twelve year marker is vital. Twelve years to decrease the
overall global temperature by no more than 1.5 CELSIUS. The push for ONLY
1.5C will be huge and means by 2030 to lower global greenhouse gas emissions by
45% below 2010 levels by the year 2030. Hence the 12 year marker. To make this
level involves HUGE changes and currently corporations and politicos are NOT
taking heed.
At the local level there are a number of things YOU and your loved ones can do.
While composting, recycling and driving low carbon vehicles remain important, a
major push will need to be from engaged citizens looking at local, state and
national levels of government and businesses and their demand accountability.
Questions to ask:
 what is your state’s air quality index?
 is there a local policy on clean and efficient energy in your local
government?
 what is the quality of your city’s natural resources ?
 what is the accessibility plan for clean food and drinking water?
As you can see there are numerous questions. At this point in our shared humanity
and increasing care for Mother Earth, we cannot wait for others to step up. The
call for action is now up to all of us. If you know about climate initiatives that
are working in your state, email us at tonantzinsociety@yahoo.com OR share an
article with us on our Facebook page.
We can do this. Remember intention is everything.

By Felicia Cisneros
This fall I have paired with the Tonantzin Society to demonstrate the rampant desecration and theft of
cultural heritage sites and items in Latin America. Part of why this work is important to me is because the
preservation of these sites and items are vital to our understanding of our Native past as Chicanxs and
contribute to our pride in ourselves and our ancestral culture today. Though my focus is on Latin
America, in recent years it has become impossible to ignore the impending events in my own backyard,
separating border residents both physically and consciously from our own histories.
I’m from the Rio Grande Valley, south Texas, one of the regions directly impacted by the border wall.
Though the Trump administration is not the first to authorize its construction, recently more sites vital to
both the history of the region and its community today have become at risk of being destroyed or
becoming inaccessible. These include places of worship, cemeteries housing familial remains, centers
vital to local wildlife and the environment, and land, Native Coahuiltecan land, that is simply unexplored
and undoubtedly hiding a wealth of archaeological
knowledge.

La Lomita Mission, a historic chapel in Mission, Tx, is

one of the sites beloved by the community in danger of
becoming inaccessible. This site, listed on the National
Register for Historic Places, is so integral to the
region’s history that the city of Mission’s name is based
on this landmark. Just 75 miles west of the mouth of
the Rio Grande, it sits on 67 acres of land near a
horseshoe bend in the river. The current chapel was
built in 1899, but starting in the mid-1800s the area
was a regional hub where Catholic rituals such as
baptisms, marriage ceremonies, and blessings of the
dead could be carried out due to the wide
disbursement of Catholic churches in the area. “La
Lomita,” meaning “little hill,” was established as a
midway point between the 120-mile distance separating the missions in Brownsville and Roma, built
following the Mexican-American war. The chapel continues to be a place for the community to engage in
Catholic ceremonies and partake in mass. David Garza, the lawyer representing the South Texas Catholic
diocese in its fight against the U.S. Government’s survey of the mission in its plans for the border wall,
contends that, “La Lomita Chapel is a sacred building destined for divine worship to which the faithful
have a right of access for divine worship, especially its public exercise.” Garza argues that cutting access
to this site will violate community members’ First Amendment right to practice freedom of religion
where their family has for generations.

Less than 20 miles away in the city of San Juan, another historic chapel is endangered by plans for the
border wall. Jackson Methodist Church is the first Spanish-speaking Methodist church in the Rio Grande
Valley and is a designated historical marker. It is located on Jackson Ranch, just a few miles west of the
Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge (which thanks to diligent activism has been deemed safe from border wall
construction for now).
 “This church means a lot, not only to immediate and extended family, but
also to the community,” says Ramiro Roberto Ramirez, descendant of the
family that settled this land in the 19th century. “It’s been servicing people
here for more than 140 years.”

The ranch is also home to three historical cemeteries, the Martin Jackson
Cemetery, the Eli Jackson Cemetery, and the Brewster-Bravo
Cemetery. Ramiro explains that this land was settled by his great-great
grandfather, Nathaniel Jackson, in 1857. Jackson, a former slave owner, fell
in love with and married a black woman. He brought his interracial family
and freed slaves with him to Texas to escape prejudice, originally intending
to settle in Mexico just across the river where slavery had been abolished.
Jackson and his descendants, including Ramiro’s father, are buried in the
cemeteries on the property. Not only does the land run the risk of being delegated to the opposite site of
steel fence, but Ramiro and his sister Sylvia worry that a 150 ft-wide Border Patrol patrol road set for
installment near the Eli Jackson Cemetery could endanger their ancestors’ remains. Ramiro laments that
the border wall is set to separate him and his family from their shared history:

“This property is just a small piece of the 5,000 acres my great-great

grandfather had — this is everything. How do you put it in perspective. .
.You don’t do that to history, you don’t do that to a historical marker,
you don’t do that just because of some political reason, you don’t do that
at all. You leave things the way they are.”

Likewise, his sister’s voice trembled as she explained the significance of

the ranch to them:

“The proposed path of the border wall will be devastating to our family,
the land and our family legacy. . .[It’s] not needed and will cut off vast
property between the river and the wall. . .That is part of our important
history. I feel like we’re losing when you cut it in half and put that wall
in between. It’s like it doesn’t matter anymore.”
Despite the Ramirez family’s current efforts to fight the impending construction, Border Patrol has
confirmed that it has been finalized in the area, the only thing left to determine being how the church and
property could become accessible to the community after the wall is built. Yet, the Ramirez family and
others are hopeful that, just as construction has been halted at the nearby wildlife refuge and other
properties in danger of being claimed by imminent domain, loud and consistent activism will be enough
to ward off the wall’s impending development. Sylvia has demonstrated her commitment to preserving
the area by hiring an attorney versed in
property rights, contacting government
officials such as U.S. Rep. Vicente
Gonzalez, D-McAllen and U.S. Rep.
Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville (who
helped raised awareness for Santa
Ana), and joining her brother at a
community “Know Your Rights”
presentation offered by the National
Butterfly Center in Mission, which is
also at risk. She insists:

“This gives me purpose. (My ancestors)

can’t (fight), so I can fight, I know it’s an
uphill battle but strength in numbers,
and (getting) the word out to the
community, they’ll have to listen to us.
We’ll fight to the end, it’s that important to us.”

Photos

La Lomita Mission http://munozandcompany.com/portfolio/mission-la-lomita/

Jackson Methodist Church http://ontheriogrande.blogspot.com/2011/02/ranching-then-and-now.html

Eli Jackson Cemetery https://www.utrgv.edu/civilwar-trail/civil-war-trail/hidalgo-county/jackson-

ranch/index.htm

Map https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/resourcespace/pages/view.php?ref=12647&k=8b23fa954a

Works Cited

https://missiontexas.us/about-mission/city-history/

https://www.themonitor.com/2018/09/23/losing-our-roots/

https://blog.ucsusa.org/charise-johnson/demolishing-public-protections-to-build-trumps-wall

https://www.valleymorningstar.complanned-border-wall-location-could-damage-historic/article_0ba6a148-
/news/columnists/editorial-sacred-sites-c71c-11e8-a1b9-9719cf8bc4de.html

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Planned-Border-Wall-Infringement-on-Historic-Mission-Along-the-Rio-
Grande-Says-the-Catholic-Diocese-501183211.html
By Fernanda
Hello dear readers, as the newest addition to the intern team, I find it appropriate to touch base on what the
focus of my work is: Cultural Relevant Pedagogy. I want to tell you what it means exactly and how Tonantzin
Society is engaging with it.

The term Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) was created by several academics, but for this newsletter I will use
Gloria Ladson-Billings classification from 1992. She defines it as “the kind of teaching that is designed not merely
to fit the school culture to the students’ culture but also to use student culture as the basis for helping students
understand themselves and others, structure social interactions, and conceptualize knowledge” (Ladson-Billings)

Here at Tonantzin Society we agree with the effectiveness of this approach. We hope that the Kansas Board of
Education will adapt it for all the public schools. Why the public school systems? Education is a huge part of our
socialization process. If we want to cater to students of color and enable them to have a strong self-identity along
with a connection to their studies, then CRP is the route to take.

Public schooling is the predominant form of schooling for United States’ students. Historically, white students have
had the most success at all academic levels. However, we know that discriminatory practices (really, all the
racism since this country’s beginnings) have set students of color further back. CRP will allow a real engagement
between students and teachers because of the cultural sensitivity the material will be taught with. We want our
beautiful black and brown students to thrive in the academic setting. Honestly, CRP will also “understand and
critique the oppressive relationship between the dominant US culture and the students’ cultural group” (Hyland
2009).

As one continues through their academic journey, white normative frameworks are used which neglect the student
of color. One consequence is the distortion of historical realities. This happens when students take humanities
courses that always paint the United States as noble and the bearer of justice. Or when students of color are
excelling in math courses, but the teachers do not believe them worthy to be placed in advanced classes that could
cultivate that potential. Even having your instructor butcher your name without regard challenges your presence in
the classroom.

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy wants to change all that. It is important to keep in mind that we are basically asking
for an acknowledgment of our personhood. If you are an individual of color, you may have thought that if x-person
knew a little bit about your culture then they would not have done x-thing. Movie directors would be a little more
conscious than to consistently portray people of color as evil, servants, low-achieving, etc. Maybe that store clerk
would have not been as disrespectful to your Spanish-speaking parents had they known that the land they are on
was stolen from Mexico. Or maybe that doctor would have been more professional in detecting your disease instead
of blaming your expressed concerns on a thing every member of your race/ethnic group says.

The intended goals Tonantzin Society has are to make the playing field accessible to more people. Is this model
enough to undo all the racism embedded in every fabric of this country? Certainly not, but these are practices that
have proved successful for students of color. (And trust us, this is only one part of the fight!)

We hope that Critical Relevant Pedagogy in its different forms will begin to disrupt the traditionally
harmful educational system. We hope you keep us accountable and we will surely update you with any
progress. For more studies on the matter, please go on our website to find more information! Please
continue the conversation with us at Tonantzinsociety@yahoo.com.

Events!
Wow! This year has flown by and we were thrilled to provide many special
events in community. Once again, the Mulvane Art Museum played a pivotal role
as partner. As our Día de los Muertos events are streamlined, funding can and
was used in 2018 for varied social justice and cultural programming. Just wait
until next year…
February - Co-sponsored ‘Dolores’ film screening. Reception and talk with
Director, Peter Bratt @ Mulvane Museum of Art.
March - Sponsored ‘Growing Community Health.’ Community Garden discussion
with Topeka community and KCK Community Gardens @ Mulvane Museum of
Ar.t
- Co-sponsored Mulvane Art Lab Family Day: Bees and Butterflies. Children
created community garden arts, planted small plants with help of KSU Research
Extension Office and learned of interconnection of plants, bees and butterflies.
- Film screening of Director Peter Bratt’s ‘La Mission.’ Along with discussion of
challenges for POC coming out with panelists from Brown Voices Brown Pulse @
Mulvane Art Museum.
April - Sponsored ‘Our Stories: Midwestern Mexican Americans in the Zoot Suit
Era’. A conversation with those that grew up in Topeka’s Bottoms area during the
1940’s @ Topeka High School
- Sponsored History & Representation: ‘The Importance of Zoot Suit’ lecture by
Topeka and KU Phd candidate, Neil’s Kennedy @ Topeka Shawnee County and
Public Library.
- Co-sponsored Maria the Mexican: A Benefit for the play Zoot Suit @ Topeka
High school.
- Co-sponsored Topeka High School theatre’s play of Luis Valdez’s ‘Zoot Suit.’
June - Eisenhower Elementary School Summer Mural: 'Project Esperanza.'
One of founding organizations leading up to Kansas Coalition: End Family
Separation and Detention Press Conference @ Kansas Statehouse grounds.
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy month-long intensive held at Washburn
University.
July - OLG Fiesta Mexicana non-profit booth space with Shawnee County
Historical Society
October - Annual Dia de los Muertos mask making workshop @ Ballet Folklorico
de Topeka.
- Dia de los Muertos Family Art Day at the Mulvane Art Museum & ArtLab.
- Presentation and mini craft workshop on Dia de los Muertos to Federal Home
Loan Bank employees in Topeka.
November - First ever community Dia de los Muertos themed puppet making
workshop @ Ballet Folklorico de Topeka.
Welcome New Interns!

In early 2018 the Tonantzin Society began serious consideration to the role of interns. Historically we’ve
depended on volunteers and board members to assist with social media. As engagement in FB, Instagram
and Twitter became more pressing – we began the search. Additionally, the continuation of the Culturally
Relevant Pedagogy project required a committed and creative add on to our team. Unable to fill the positions
for paid internships from Kansas, we moved the search outside our state.

We are thrilled to announce two new long distance interns! See their information below and look for an exciting
event or two in Topeka with both involved! PLEASE NOTE: We need one more paid intern to handle social
media and environmental issues. If you know someone who might be interested please have them email us at
tonantzinsociety@yahoo.com.

Felicia Cisneros – Cultural Heritage Policy (Focus on Latin America) – Interning from Austin, TX.

“Hello, everyone! My name is Felicia Cisneros, and it is with great excitement that I announce my internship
position with The Tonantzin Society this fall!

I’m a 27 year-old Xicana grad student at the University of Texas at Austin. I’m pursuing a Master’s in Global
Policy Studies with a focus in Latin American development and cultural heritage policy, as well as a portfolio in
Arts and Cultural Management. I received a Bachelor of Arts in Mexican American Studies (MAS) and English
in 2013 from The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).

I was raised in the Rio Grande Valley, close to the southmost border between Texas and Mexico. Though this
has always kept me close to my Mexican roots, the MAS program at UTSA exposed me to the richness and
value of culture, language, and art throughout the Americas, highlighting that of indigenous peoples both pre-
and post-Conquest. A long-standing interest in history and art led me to fall in love with the world of precolonial
architecture and antiquities; I then made it a point to visit archeological sites and museums in Peru, Colombia,
Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico! However, I soon realized that despite their longevity, many of these
cultural sites and items remain in peril of being lost, stolen, or destroyed.
Last summer I conducted on-site research on the shortcomings of cultural heritage policies in Guatemala and
Belize. Gaps in both policy and infastructure have led to the looting of sacred and historical sites, the trafficking
of antiquities, and, most notably, the shocking unauthorized destruction of the biggest pyramid at the Nohmul
archeological site in Belize by contractors in May 2013 (followed closely in June by the destruction of another
pyramid in Peru at the hands of property developers at El Paraíso).

This year, I mourned the devastating loss of the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Items lost to the
fire included some of the oldest human remains found in the Americas, countless pieces of native
craftsmanship, and, most tragically, recordings of languages no longer spoken by indigenous groups that have
since disappeared. These are permanent, jarring losses.

During my time with The Tonantzin Society, I plan to examine cultural heritage policies throughout Latin
America, bringing to light the struggles faced in the attempt to preserve and share precolonial art forms, as well
as in making sense of issues of space, context, and ownership. I will answer questions such as how sites and
museums like Nohmul and El Museo Nacional became in danger of desecration, why the preservation and the
provenance (origin) of precolonial artifacts is important, and who has the right to own or curate them.

Over the next few months, I’ll be linking my blog here every week (as well as posting to our Twitter and
Instagram!) to update you all on my research and hopefully build passion and excitement for these incredible
art forms we cannot afford to lose. They are vital pieces of our collective cultural memory and identity, not
simply relics to be tucked away or an aesthetic to be exploited.

Stay tuned for details on an upcoming event we are planning regarding these topics in Spring 2019!

Here’s a picture of me enjoying one of my favorite exhibits in Texas— the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for
Latin American Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art! Looking forward to sharing and engaging with all of
you.”

Fernanda Preciado – Culturally Relevant Pedagogy – Interning from College Station, TX.
“Fernanda comes on board full with passion and immense drive to take on all the Tonantzin Society efforts.
More specifically, she is thrilled to begin working on the undertakings regarding Cultural Relevant Pedagogy.

Fernanda was born in a border town in south Texas. Her parents migrated from the heart of México. Although
both parents are now residents, that wasn’t always the story. Fernanda grew up with the fear that one day her
parents would not show up to school because they had been deported. Having that possibility constantly in
mind led her to realize the great differences between definitions of what a complicated concept citizenship is.
That was the push into social justice work.

As many of you can relate, language was another eye-opening notion that never seemed to have a set
definition or rules to play by. Fernanda’s first language was Spanish. That came with a whole set of cultural
cues that she knew at home but when she encountered English in the first grade, narratives changed.

All of these constant interwoven contradictions shaped her and only continued to do so more when she arrived
at college.

Fernanda attended Texas A&M University, where she obtained majors in International Studies and Sociology,
with a minor in Spanish and Africana Studies. Studying at a predominantly white institution, she realized how
many political voices were not recognized. This motivated her to become active through the academic setting
and then branch out to the community. Fernanda cared about school issues but also gave her time to
overlooked communities like the undocumented segment of that particular region.

Fernanda is deeply committed to the uplifting of all underprivileged people. More specifically, she seeks the
liberation for all black and brown people the world over. Because Fernanda has lived in five different countries,
she sees herself working in an intersectional environment that seeks to improve life on multiple fronts from
education, better health accessibility, workers’ rights, to broader meaningful political participation.

Fernanda hopes to soon be accepted to a graduate program that upholds academic rigor and that deeply
connects to human rights. For now, she is ready to devote her time learning the richness of our indigenous
roots and exhort her energy to the cause.”

Thank you for

stopping by!

– Tonantzin
Society