Culture

In national contexts where indigenous and local cultures have been marginalized, foreign visitors can show appreciation for cultural expression and encourage efforts to revitalize or promote them locally.  When visitors follow residents’ lead and respond to their invitations, they can help to counterbalance the devaluation that community members experience in their national context. 

Through our volunteer programs, we value diverse local expressions, honoring the multiplicity of voices in any community and also supporting initiatives that seek to share local and indigenous knowledge with broader audiences.  We work with a variety of local partners, including Kawsaymi Cooking School, an initiative led by Claudia Fuerez whose inspiration came from early Tandana experiences.  We also invite staff members and friends to share some of their favorite kinds of cultural expression, such as Margarita Fuerez who demonstrates and explains the importance of Kichwa Otavalo dress and Segundo Moreta, who teaches the game Triki-Traka.  

While we cannot currently host foreign visitors in Mali, when we did organize volunteer programs there, village residents enthusiastically shared many dances, performances, songs, crafts, and various techniques with their guests.  These visits offered opportunities to revitalize cultural practices that were in danger of being lost and to share them with local children, who, in some cases had never seen them before. 

We also offer opportunities for community-based experts to share their knowledge in academic and other settings in the United States.  We have facilitated a variety of academic workshops and presentations centering the knowledge of partners and staff members from Mali and Ecuador, thus explicitly valuing their expertise and decreasing its marginalization. 

Any kind of cultural promotion represents some kind of change, whether it is framed as revitalizing a tradition or as something new.  We support cultural changes that promote more inclusive dialogue and decision-making. In Mali, women’s roles have traditionally been very clearly defined and focused on household chores, which are tremendous. Women have been excluded from public decision-making, such as village assemblies. However, when we were meeting with villages to discuss priorities, we wanted to hear women’s ideas, as well as men’s.  We started organizing separate meetings of women, and lots of new and different ideas emerged.  We started supporting some initiatives that came out of these discussions. As they started managing their own projects, like a cotton bank and savings groups, women realized they needed literacy and numeracy skills.  So we started a literacy program.  As women in neighboring villages saw what was happening, they too, asked to participate. And graduates of the literacy classes expressed that they wanted to continue to learn and prepare themselves for more leadership roles. So we started offering women’s leadership workshops to representatives of each literacy class. They practice public speaking, learn how to form and lead women’s associations, and create business plans. Through experience with these programs, women have started speaking up in village assemblies and also demanding that they be invited to township meetings.  More inclusive discussions lead to more successful initiatives and more creative ideas for strengthening communities.

Tommoso, the language of the majority of our partner communities in Mali, was not written before we started collaborating with the communities and was marginalized simply due to the small number of speakers (approximately 60,000).  Working with the local linguistic association Alpha Formation Traduction et Conception Documentaire au Pays Dogon, we developed literacy and numeracy primers in Tommoso, and then leadership and democratic governance booklets.  To begin creating documents, it was necessary to develop and refine a writing system for the language.  Tandana then published the first storybook in the Tommoso language, The Hyena, the Hare, and the Baobab.  We are currently collaborating with other organizations, most notably SIL, to work towards official recognition of the Tommoso language by the Malian government.  This work  is crucial for preserving cultural heritage and enhancing educational opportunities in the region.  Many community members, surprised to find that Tommoso can be written and taught, find strength for valuing their own linguistic and cultural identity. These efforts have also led to increased interest in preserving and promoting the Tommoso language and associated cultural traditions.

In November 2024, The Tandana Foundation released two books - the first-ever storybook in the African language of Tommoso and the second-edition of a beloved Kichwa storybook. Both books are aimed at promoting literacy, along with maintaining and revitalizing the indigenous languages spoken by the organization’s community partners in Mali and Ecuador.

Juanita, the Colorful Butterfly is a nature-inspired fable told in Kichwa, English, and Spanish. Written by Segundo Moreta Morales, the story stems from the cultural wisdom of the Kichwa Otavalo people and the admiration of the planted fields, flowers, and animals found in the rural Andean highlands of Ecuador during the months of February and March. It also represents a call to take care of and preserve the forms of life that don’t exploit Mother Earth, but instead seek to benefit from her without causing harm.

The Hyena, the Hare, and the Baobab is a folk tale from the Tommoguiné region of Mali in Africa. Stories from this region are traditionally told orally, and this book represents the first time one has been published in written Tommoso. The new book shares the story in three languages, allowing Tommoso readers to practice their skills and English and French readers to learn about the region's rich culture.

Nukanchik Sumak Mikuna was written by Claudia Fuerez, founder of Kawsaymi Cooking School and a long time Tandana partner. Published by Tandana, it is a collection of recipes taught in Kawsaymi's classes as well other local favorites, including Llapingachos, Carne Colorada, Quimbolitos, Empanadas de Yamor, and more.  In English and Spanish, it shares Kichwa Otavalo dishes with diverse audiences.

   

The school in Urkusiki, Ecuador, asked us for support for an art and music teachers, as well as musical instruments and art supplies.  This art and music program allows students to develop their creativity while also learning and enlivening Kichwa Otavalo artistic traditions. 

Every year, our summer school program in Ecuador includes a theatre class, through which students explore various performance techniques and cultural expressions while gaining confidence and public speaking skills.  Often they perform in original plays by Hank Fincken that highlight aspects of Kichwa Otavalo culture.