Deep Roots: Scholarship as a Catalyst for Visibility and Change

I am a Mestiza from Peru. I am writing from the lands of the Coast and Straits Salish people here in Turtle Island. These lands, like many others belonging to Indigenous communities, are places where the struggle against cultural marginalization and colonization continues. Many of the stories of cultural marginalization in this volume are rooted in our personal lives. These experiences shape who we are and what drives us as scholars. Let me tell you a bit of my story.

I was seven years old when I was taken to meet my grandmother in the countryside in a small rural area called Lancones, one of the poorest areas of northern Peru. She lived in a humble straw hut. On the second night, she took me along with two young cousins and a dog to a community assembly. I can still vividly recall us walking through the darkness of the countryside, the air thick with anticipation.