MESOAMERICAN LANGUAGES IN OREGON

JUNE 16, 2021
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

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TINYURL.COM/ORMESOAMERICANLANGUAGES

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to deliver information critical for the wellbeing of individuals in linguistically appropriate methods. This is particularly important for Indigenous farmworkers and their families facing an already disproportionate pandemic impact. In a sample of 300 farmworkers, the Oregon COVID 19 Farmworker Study found speakers of 26 distinct Indigenous Mesoamerican languages from Guatemala and Mexico. State-sponsored support programs offered in Spanish are not always sufficiently accessible to farmworkers who are speakers of these languages. 

This one-day, free, online event is designed for Oregon-based government agencies and non-governmental organizations to learn best practices in language justice and language services. Participants will hear from community members and advocates that responded during the pandemic and engage in a hands-on workshop designed to improve language accessibility practices in Oregon. The event will be held mostly in Spanish with professional interpretation into English and into Mesoamerican languages as requested by attendees.

9:00 a.m. – 10:20 a.m. | PANEL ONE: Welcoming Remarks and presentations on Mesoamerican peoples in Oregon and their languages 

Community Voice: Anita Santiago, Zapotec from Jutla de Crespo, Oaxaca, Mexico Mesoamerican Linguistic Diversity –Gabriela Pérez Báez, Associate Professor, University of Oregon Linguistics History of Mesoamerican communities in Oregon –Lynn Stephen, Professor, University of Oregon Anthropology 

10:25 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. | PANEL TWO: Language Justice 

Community Voice: Santiago Ventura, CA Labor Relations Board, Mixtec from San Miguel Cuevas, Oaxaca, Mexico 

Valentín Sanchez, Community educator, Oregon Law Center (OLC) Farmworker Program Arcenio J. López, Executive Director, Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP, CA) 

11:35 a.m. – 12:35 p.m. | PANEL THREE: Language Services 

Community Voice: Bertilda Martin Mendoza, Mam from Huehuetenango, Guatemala Puma Tzoc, Coordinator of the Collective of Indigenous Interpreters of Oregon (CIIO) 

Odilia Romero, Co-founder and Executive Director, Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo (CIELO) 

1:35 p.m. – 2:35 p.m. | PANEL FOUR: Language Materials 

Community Voice: Emiliana Aguilar, K’ich’e from Xatinap, Santa Cruz del Quiché, Guatemala Martha Zuñiga, Deputy Director, Entre Hermanos 

Arturo Sarmiento, Director, Radio Poder KTUP 

2:45 P.M. – 3:30 P.M. | INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS 

Community Voice: Representative Teresa Alonso León, Purépecha from Michoacan, Mexico 

3:45 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. | CLOSING REMARKS 

Community Voice: Bertilda Martin Mendoza, Mam from Huehuetenango, Guatemala