Seismic Aftershocks and Language Policy in Oaxaca, Mexico: A Collaborative Account of Resolve and Resistance in Teachers' Defense and Use of Original Languages

Since 2013, Oaxacan Indigenous educators have experienced "seismic aftershocks" from three tumultuous developments: the massive 8.2 earthquake in September 2017 along Oaxaca´s Pacific coast, immediately followed by other earthquakes and continuing tremors; homogenizing federal education reforms imposed since 2013, including the projected closure of 100,000 rural schools and elimination of pedagogical preparation for teAmerican achers; and the surprise election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, called the first leftist Mexican president in decades. In this article, Indigenous teachers and their U.S. colleague collaboratively narrate and analyze two case studies of efforts in specific Oaxacan schools to defend and promote original language use and Indigenous pride, despite earthquake damage to school structures and repression and political abandonment by federal and state governments. A final reflection by a Native American educator places the Oaxacan findings into the wider context of defense of Indigenous rights in the face of cultural and linguistic genocide.