Indigenous Dreams: Liberation Requires Imagination

Can you introduce yourself?  My name is Juan Carlos Manque Muñoz. I was born in the south of what is now called Chile. I belong to the Puel-huillimapu people from the southeast, who are originally from the Andes region, and the area used to be called that way. We are part of the large Mapuche…

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Can you introduce yourself?  I’m Sahureka, that’s my last name. And my first name is Semuel Julius. For the Dutch it is “Sahuureka”. If I were to say that in Dutch to Moluccans, they would shrug their shoulders; they don’t know that. But if I say ‘Saurèhkaa’ then people know who I am and which…

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Can you introduce yourself?  My name is Roberto Calisaya Hilara. I’m from Bolivia. I come from the Aymara community. I was born in San José de Chipo. That is an Aymara community 180 kilometers from the city of La Paz. I came here around 1990. I never thought I’d come here. It was el destino,…

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Can you introduce yourself?  I am Richard Toppo. I come from India from an Adivasi community called Oraon. My mother tongue is Kudukh, we are known as Kudukh people. I come from the eastern state of Jharkhand in India, from the Chota Nagpur Plateau. Regarding Oraon people, or Adivasis in general, there are barely any…

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Can you introduce yourself? My name is Shanthuru Premkumar and my pronouns are they/them. I am Tamil from today’s Sri Lanka. I’m at the moment living and working in Brussels. My relationship to this land has to do with my connection and the work I do within the climate movement at large. I am regularly…

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Can you Introduce yourself? My name is Ayesha, I am a proud Yirrganydji woman of the Djabugay nation. Our traditional lands are from Cairns city, along the Great Barrier Reef up to Port Douglas in Australia. We are Seawater people and our totem animal is the Yirrigandji (a jelly fish). Our nation territory also includes…

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Can you Introduce yourself? I am Fadjar. I am bicultural. I was born and raised in the Netherlands. My father is from West Papua, which is now an Indonesian province. He came to the Netherlands in 1962 because in that period the Dutch settlers handed over West Papua – under the auspices of the United…

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Can you introduce yourself? My name is Nai Barghouti, I am a Palestinian musician; I am a singer, composer and fluteplayer. I moved to the Netherlands six years ago to study music. I first started here thinking I would only be here for a couple of years to finish my BA and then move back…

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Can you introduce yourself? My name is Sherlien Sanches with an ‘s’. It sounds Spanish but it is Surinamese. People can understand how I got my last name through colonialism. I am now 43 years old, born in Suriname. My umbilical cord is also buried there. Then I came to the Netherlands when I was…

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Can you introduce yourself? I am Yacqueline. I was born in Colombia. I was adopted and raised in Amsterdam. I moved to Curacao when I was 14 for my fathers work. Before that I was raised white and I was ‘white’ not knowing other cultures or people of color. It was a big change. I…

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Can you introduce yourself? I’m Mulise. I was born in Zaza community in so called Turkey. As a child I lived here in The Netherlands for a year when my father worked here. In Zaza community I grew up on a farm. We had animals and grew different crops ourselves. After a year in the…

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Can you introduce yourself? My name is Renijune Abaya. I Belong to the Indigenous People of the north of the Philippines called Igorot. I came to the Netherlands for work, eventually I got married with a Dutch man but sadly it did not work out well and we got divorced. Now I am raising my…

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Can you introduce yourself? I am Jeike. I am Arawak from St Vincent island but I grew up in California and lived 22 years there and two years ago moved to the Netherlands. My dad is Dutch. My Dutch roots were calling. Haha. I grew up in Santa Cruz and I studied at Santa Barbara…

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Can you introduce yourself? My name is Patience Owusu, that’s as we say my English name; my government name. My father is from a royal Ashanti bloodline. My mother is from the Akuapem and Fante. My traditional name is Maabena (girl born on Tuesday). In the Akan culture we are named after the day we…

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Can you introduce yourself? I am Itandehui Olivera – I like to be called Ita cause it is easy. I am Mexican Indigenous; half Zapotec, half Mixtec. I am an economist by formal education. I have been working in development for many years. And by heart I am a poet. And here in the Netherlands…

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