Transcription

• Host

  Ecology and Empowerment, a F3E network podcast. Guatemala, where indigenous knowledge protects nature.

• Elena Brito Herrera

  My name is Elena Brito Herrera. I come from Guatemala, from the Ixchil region of Quiche. I'm a student and assistant director at Ixil University. Ecology is the study of ancestral knowledge and of the need to act in order to decolonize the mindset that governs our country and affects our community. At Ixil University, we study the indigenous thinking of our grandparents, and how they used to care for the mountains, forests, water and land. We teach young people and communities to be aware of these practices, to decolonize thinking in our country. The University provides us with a specific and critical education because it establishes a constant dialogue with the state system in order to understand what does and doesn't work. We need to find ways to work with municipal and state authorities, for example by demanding the enforcement of basic rights. At the moment, things are changing due to improved knowledge of the deep causes of all community problems. Students are opening their eyes. They have a better understanding of the issues facing them. They are therefore rising up, protesting, and organizing blockades to be heard. The lessons we have learned are to share our knowledge at a national and international level, so that other countries and other peoples are aware of our actions, so that they may see from their own perspective what needs to change, what impacts them, so that they may receive a political and critical education. Read more about Elena Brito Herrera and her article Ecology and Ancestral Knowledge in Ecology and Empowerment.