The University of New Mexico’s Chicana and Chicano Studies Department sponsored the Latinx Vision 2.0 “One Planet-Many Worlds Online Conference” on Nov. 3 through 7. On Nov. 3, speaker Jessica Hernandez gave a powerful presentation on “Indigenous Science and the Diaspora” hosted via Zoom. Joining her presentation was Divana Olivas, an assistant professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies Studies at UNM.
Hernandez, a Binnizá/Zapotec and Maya Ch'orti’, is a Indigenous scientist, climate justice leader, best-selling author of “Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous science” and founder of Earth Daughter, a transnational Indigenous-led nonprofit dedicated to empowering Indigenous women and youth through mutual aid and climate justice initiatives.
At the conference, Hernandez spoke about the extensive history of the Binnizá/Zapotec and Maya Ch'orti’ peoples, as well as Indigenous science and how it is integrated into today’s world.
“Indigenous people are being violently displaced from their land. We also know that in Congolese lands indigenous people are fighting against instructive mining practices that are desecrating their lands in search of gold, lithium, and cobalt which are all products that are needed for renewable energy,” Hernandez said.
As well as the other Indigenous peoples fighting across the globe, Hernandez focuses on problems we are currently seeing today regarding the acceptance and influence of Indigenous science. Hernadez said that she is a “by-product of a genocide.”
“My father (Victor Manuel) was 12 years old when he experienced a genocide that happened against his people in Central America,” Hernadez said.
Despite this experience, Hernandez said her father is one of the happiest people you could meet, and that you would never have known he experienced “the worst of humanity.”
“It’s important for me to carry not only my identity as an Indigenous scientist … but also bring forward the struggles that shaped who I am today, and the ways that I practice community work, and how I bridge that with the scholarships that I also conduct,” Hernandez said.
The Binnizá/Zapotec and Maya Ch'orti’ people endured the civil war in El Salvador, being affected by the war due to their empathy and care for Mother Earth. Banana and other fruit plantations were integrated into the Binnizá/Zapotec and Maya Ch'orti’ lands during the war, causing desecration and harm to her peoples’ lands, Hernandez said.
“Agriculture scientists and landowners were dismissing the ways that they knew the plantations were desecrating our lands,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez advocates for Indigenous science acceptance, as overlooking it can be harmful to our understanding and solutions to climate change, Hernandez said.
“One of the beauties about Indigenous science is that it allows us to see things very holistically as opposed to very linear and binary,” Hernandez said.
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There are parallels between the negative stigma of immigrants and Indigenous peoples, Hernandez said. She said she teaches students and her community to “unlearn that intonation that (immigration) is a bad thing — that immigrants are here to steal their jobs.”
“It’s important not to lose hope — especially during these times. Oftentimes it's important to understand that we are stronger together in numbers, and to take a step back and make sure we are also taking care of ourselves,” Hernandez said, concluding her presentation.
Marina Olmstead is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @DailyLobo
