At different times throughout the year, we feel the effects of universal changes and shifts in more ways than we realize. Those shifts occur during the winter solstice, spring equinox, summer solstice, and the autumn equinox. For thousands of years, Indigenous Peoples around the world have understood and acknowledged their interconnection with the universe, from how traditions are practiced to the effects the seasonal shifts have on us.
With 50 years of experience, Cultural Survival believes that it is essential to listen and respond to the self-determined needs of communities to provide support that is sustainable and, most importantly, relevant to the needs of the communities we serve. We aim to increase and strengthen Indigenous communities' leadership, technical, organizational, advocacy, and sustainability capacities to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, self-determination, and ways of living and elevate their cultures and languages.
The participation of Indigenous Peoples from Brazil and their representatives at 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP27), was visible in almost every space. It was encouraging to see a majority of women and youth participating as leaders and representatives. All of them would repeatedly mention one word: “demarcação,” demarcation of Indigenous Lands, bringing international attention to the grave need to demarcate Indigenous lands in Brazil.
Cultural Survival is pleased to announce a call for applications for Indigenous Writers in Residence 2023 based on Turtle Island (United States and Canada).
In 2022, a Brazilian Indigenous activist joined the list of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world when she received an award in the Pioneers category. Her name is Sonia Bone de Souza Silva Santos (Guajajara), also known as Sonia Guajajara. Guajajara was born March 6, 1974, in the Arariboia Indigenous land Maranhão in northeastern Brazil. She is the mother of three children: Yaponã, 22, Mahkai, 20, and Ywara, 16.
By Dev Kumar Sunuwar (Koĩts-Sunuwar, CS Staff)
On November 10, 2022, UN member states reviewed India’s human rights record during the 41st Session of the Universal Periodic Review, a process carried out by the UN Human Rights Council. This was India’s fourth cycle of review since 2008. The final outcome of the 41st session will be adopted by the plenary of the Human Rights Council at its 52nd regular session in March 2023.
On November 18-20, 2022, the Richmond, Virginia-based Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival once again raised issues of Indigenous sovereignty, climate change, decolonization, language reclamation, and the Indigenous past/present/future through films, panel discussions, readings, and live performances.
On December 13, 2022, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in cooperation with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the members of the Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages, marked the official launch of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages through a hybrid in-person and virtual high-level celebration
After more than four years of preparations and negotiations, the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) has come to a close in Montreal, Canada. On December 19, 2022, the COP15 presidency adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
For millennia, the change in celestial time has been a mystery and a celebration in many cultures around the world. In the Mayan world, Maya communities incorporated solar calendars into the design of their cities.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
