MIXTEC FOLKLORE

Last summer, I got the chance with the inimitable Dr. Stephanie Wood from the University of Oregon in Eugene. She studies indigenous culture in Oaxaca, and along with others, she's creating a virtual library of native Mixtec-speakers telling stories. This is especially important because fewer and fewer people are learning how to speak Mixtec, opting for Spanish as their first language. A video library ensures that Mixtec will get captured for the future should one day it cease to be a spoken language.

Working in a Mixtec community this summer, I have the opportunity to help add to this research effort by making similar recordings and posting them on youtube. Here's my first contribution, in which one of my English students tells a story about a mysterious fire that can be seen on top of Pregnant Woman Mountain every December 31 here in Buenavista.