Minga of Thought “Communication and Indigenous Peoples”

General pre-conference program here  

Conference Description

For the indigenous people, “Minga” means to circulate, making every physical and spiritual force meet in the Minga. Minga means to construct unity from the vision of the people. It means looking for ways to improve communication, food autonomy and to revitalize the mother tongue, always seeking dialogue between human beings and Mother Nature in order to remain in harmony and balance. In the Nasa tradition, Minga is “pi” txya or pi “txyuwe”, an invitation from a person or community to others to work for a day in partnership to carry out different tasks such as planting corn. In indigenous agriculture, work is demanding and many hands are needed. As a result, indigenous peoples use the Minga to create unity and as a strategy of solution. This Minga is the MINGA OF WORK.

Based on the concept of the MINGA OF WORK, we refer to the MINGA OF THOUGHT as the construction of connections of unity between persons and communities making use of dialogue on a specific topic (in this case communication) to weave proposals and construct joint processes in order to create understanding and seek solutions to different types of situations.

For the indigenous peoples of Abya Yala[1], communication is a fundamental right. Communication is more than just a requirement for developing a differential institutional approach. The right to communication is seen as a guarantee for the free and autonomous development of unique indigenous forms of communication. It is also understood as a right to gain access to appropriate means to produce, disseminate and manage information in order to revitalize knowledge and culture, and to strengthen cultural, organizational and political processes. Further, it is seen as a support for the interaction with other cultures and social processes in Abya Yala and the rest of the world.

Over the last decades, the interest to understand and learn from indigenous communication has increased. Therefore, it is also interesting to interpret social processes led by indigenous peoples, such as public policy proposals, the development of indigenous communication summits, and the academic research that explore these topics. This preconference will debate these issues, through a MINGA OF THOUGHT, a space of open dialogue and joint construction, an environment woven of the meeting points between the knowledges of indigenous peoples and researchers of indigenous communication.

Call for Proposal

As a space for open dialogue, there are no calls for papers. Instead, we invite people who share these interests to come to this space and help produce a result in the form of a text or declaration that corroborates the power of indigenous communication in the contemporary world.

Those interested in participating in this dialogue can register by sending an email to mingadepensamiento2017@gmail.com. Please type in the subject line: CONFIRMATION CONFERENCE and indicate the reason why you would like to participate in the MINGA OF THOUGHT.

Seeking to contribute to the collective construction of an intercultural communication that make visible the diverse worldviews and cosmologies of the indigenous peoples of Abya Yala (the American continent), indigenous peoples of the region will participate in the Conference of IAMCR in Cartagena Colombia 2017 “New Discourses and New Territorialities: Cultural and political mutations and communication”. In this pre-conference, we will explore the different ways communication and communication processes enable changes in political, social and cultural dynamics.

Building on experience from the project RUIICAY-HIOA of Intercultural Communication, an educational initiative led by the network of Indigenous Intercultural Universities and Communities of Abya Yala (RUIICAY) consisting of the Autonomous Intercultural Indigenous University (UAIIN) from Cauca Colombia, Pluriversidad Amawtay Wasi from Ecuador and the University of the Autonomous Regions from the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (URACCAN), we make a call for participation in the Pre-Conference: Minga of Thought “Communication and Indigenous Peoples”

Contacts

María Isabel Noreña
Vicente Otero

Public contact email: mingadepensamiento2017@gmail.com o chente2009@gmail.com

Public contact telephone:  3117885692 – 3144132065

With the support of the Proyecto RUIICAY -HIOA  in agreement with the Universidad Autónoma Indígena Intercultural-UAIIN (Colombia), Universidad de las Regiones Autónomas de la Costa Caribe Nicaragüense (URACCAN- Nicaragua) and the Universidad Intercultura  Amawtay Wasi  (Ecuador).

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[1] Denomination is given to the American continent by the Kuna people (Http://www.ecoportal.net/). Used nowadays by the indigenous peoples of the continent