IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON INDIGENOUS FARMWORKERS: DIGITAL STORYTELLING IN PUREPECHA, ZAPOTECO AND MIXTECO
Farmworkers in California are forced to be resilient in the face of many challenges including low wages, dangerous working conditions and weather that is becoming more extreme. Farmworkers who arrive from Indigenous communities, and don’t speak English or Spanish, are shut out of the small amount of support that is available for accessing jobs, food and housing. In addition, Indigenous language speakers often avoid using their native language to minimize their exposure to racism and bigotry.
The goal of the stories made during this project was to explore the impacts of severe weather, including extreme heat, flooding and wildfire smoke, on the lives of indigenous speakers of Zapoteco, Mixteco and Purépecha in a way that honors and lifts up their stories and identity. The stories are recorded in Spanish and in the Indigenous language of the storyteller. They shed light on the intersecting dynamics in the lives of individuals and communities. The connections between physical safety, economic survival, family bonds and cultural identity are explored through richly nuanced stories.
This project was implemented in partnership with the organizations Líderes Campesinas, Mixteco Indigenous Community Organizing Project (MICOP) and Public Health Institute’s Tracking California program. The stories contribute to efforts to improve the safety of indigenous farmworkers - such as coordinating with the Ventura Air Quality Board to add Mixteco and Zapoteco audio messages to the alerts that are sent out to farmworkers when air quality becomes unhealthy. Representatives of the California Occupational Health and Safety Agency (CalOSHA) and the Ventura County Air Board were present at the premiere of the stories in Oxnard, CA. It was covered by MICOP’s Radio Indigena.