Oaxaca Tours – A traveling Spanish class

For several years John has been traveling to Oaxaca [u wah há ka], Mexico with his wife and two children. This has rekindled his love for the country, twenty years after returning to the U.S. with a bachelors degree in Sociology from the National University in Mexico City.

In visits to towns and villages in this mountainous state far to the south of the country, John has “discovered” something that far too few people even in Mexico understand or appreciate about indigenous culture in the country: indigenous communities’ centuries-old way of life includes marvelously organized systems of democractic self-government that could serve as inspiration, if not as models, for all of us.

In Oaxaca they call these systems “autonomía”, a reference to the recognition that indigenous people in Mexico have struggled to obtain from the government for their “autonomous” power to carry out their traditional ways of community living within the larger national framework.

What indigenous communities in Oaxaca and elsewhere are wanting is recognition of their right to continue practicing their traditional systems of self-government. They want to preserve their assembly democracy, accountable and unremunerated leadership patiently cultivated over an individual’s entire productive life, and rotating free labor obligatory for all community members on projects run through committees—all based on the communal ownership of land.

If you would like the chance to study this reality close up, from inside valley, mountain or coastal Indian communities while you take an intensive course in Spanish, contact us. In association with TraditionsMexico [www.traditionsmexico.com] and with support from the Oaxaca City-based Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Exchange, he will take you as part of a traveling Spanish class into the heart of Oaxaca to dialogue with indigenous villagers and townspeople. You will eat in their homes, hike to their farm plots, and meet with their local authorities. You will understand what they are doing to maintain their forms of social and political organization in the face of the very rapid changes happening all around them. And you will engage in a respectful conversation about choices and options in the U.S. and in Mexico.

Tours will be organized for individuals, for private groups, and for institutions such as centers for higher learning. Contact Español del Juan for information on costs, travel dates and itineraries.