Ecologies
Más Allá de la Kombucha: la fermentación como resistencia
Para Cesar Ojeda Linares, las tecnicas de la fermentación tradiconal en México representan una manera de conservar la cultura y…
Cosmic Energies
Observing traditions at the Foco Tonal in Guaymas, Sonora Story and photographs by Andrea Zatarain In Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, there…
Sonoran Quipu: Cecilia Vicuña’s Map to the Desert Future
by Kimi Eisele In the early 2000s—before border politics made it feel too precarious for me—I used to backpack with…
Master Artists
Making Rope
Jesús Garcia connects people to the Sonoran Desert past and present with horsehair and plant fiber Interview by Casely Coan Born and raised in Sonora, Mexico, with ranching and farming parents, Jesús Garcia learned horsehair and agave fiber rope “reata” from his father and other residents from his hometown of…
Listening All the Time
Karen Falkenstrom on building taiko drums, creating community, and passing on tradition. Interview by Eryka Dellenbach Karen Falkenstrom (she/they) is a taiko drum maker and performer from Tucson, Arizona. Co-founder of Odaiko Sonora, Tucson’s Japanese drumming ensemble, Karen has been building Japanese drums for over 20 years and is recognized…
Fine-tuned Listening
Andrea Hoag on the intricacies of Swedish fiddle traditions and practice Interview by Eryka Dellenbach Andrea Hoag is an accomplished player of the Swedish fiddle from Tucson, Arizona by way of Seattle, Washington. Surrounded by Scandinavian community and traditional practices, Andrea learned to fiddle from Swedish Elders who learned from…
Thinking like a Folklorist
Kitchen-table Remedios
A folklorist finds new ways to carry traditional knowledge into the future by Selina Morales Alexis is eight, and I am nine: Lela instructs us to gather flowers from the…
Dancing like a Folklorist
Contemporary dancers in the borderlands learn the folklórico dance of Sonora Bronco Essay by Yvonne Montoya with photographs by Ammi Robles In the dusty dance studio of Agua Prieta’s Casa…
The Play’s the Thing
Elevating heritage and folkways through theatricality by Marc David Pinate Four, ten-foot-tall giant puppets dressed in ornate gowns dance down Morley Avenue in Nogales, Arizona. Children point and gasp at…
In Memoriam: James S. Griffith
July 30, 1935-December 18, 2021 James S. Griffith, or “Big Jim,” moved to Tucson at age 20 to study at the University of Arizona, eventually earning a PhD in cultural…