Indigenous Waterviews
“Our anthology compiles the work of around forty Indigenous writers, artists and elders. Thanks to their generosity, our project brings together heterogeneous contemporary experiences, and celebrates diverse lands through their bodies of water and their multiple languages and cultures.
The following First Nations are represented in this second volume—a small sample of the thousands of communities that inhabit our shared blue-green globe: Chamorro, Minankabau, Mi’kmaq, Lakota, Tl’etinqox, Anishinaabe, Cherokee, Métis, Diné, Havasupai, Cree, Mohawk, Kwakwaka’wakw, Mapuche, Iku, Embera-Chamí, Wayuu, Gunadule, Muisca, Quechua, Inga, Kamëntsá, Q’anjob’al, Ñhañhü, Yucatek, Yanakuna, Mè’phàà, Kichwa, Innu and Guaraní. With the publication of this volume, we hope to inspire multi-disciplinary and cross cultural conversations on topics such as health, education, public policy, water ethics, and creativity.”
Juan G. Sánchez Martínez, Sophie M. Lavoie and Felipe Q. Quintanilla, THE EDITORS
Art Cover: “Fisherman in the Moon,” Achu Kantule
Support for this publication has been provided
by The Ontario Arts Council-Northern Arts Projects Grant, and the Government of Ontario.
In parallel with the publication of our anthology, Siwar Mayu. A River of Hummingbirds Press, in collaboration with grandmothers Mona Polacca and Darlene Sanderson as well as designer Mapache Salazar of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), have created the Indigenous Message on Water website: This new site, available in Spanish, English, French, and Indigenous languages, offers free access to the words of poets, artists, and elders who have dedicated their life and art to protecting the water in their territories.
Our anthologies are open access and available to download on this same website: https://indigenous-message.org/
This project would not have been possible without the generous support of our team of translators: Camila Alitta, Melissa D. Birkhofer, Carolina Bloem, Carolina Camacho, Elisa Anahí Closs, Gloria E. Chacón, Barbara R. Duncan, Andrea Echeverría Langsdorf, Estefanía Fernández Rabanetti, Lorrie Lowenfield Jayne, Jocelyn Montalban, Anisa Perouene, Leticia
Pisani, Camila Seru, Ana Laura Silva, Camila Solís, and Paul M. Worley.
We also thank Paula Maldonado for the graphic design of our anthology, and Jocelyn Montalban for her support with our social media.
If you'd like to learn more about our project, or have ideas on how to share our anthology in your community or organization, please don't hesitate to contact us: water@ienearth.or
