The Program for the Study and Practice of Indigenous Cultures and Languages is housed at the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues and the Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues. Through a collaboration of different student groups and academic programs this program provides the space and opportunity for cultural exchanges between indigenous peoples in the United States and Indigenous peoples of Anahuak.
Check back in the Fall of 2019 for information about upcoming workshops.
Danza Azteca-Mexica Groups:
Beginners and Advanced Nahuatl Language and Culture Workshops:
The Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues, in collaboration with the UC Berkeley student group Danza In Xochitl In Cuicatl, the Latinx Research Center, the UC Berkeley Department of Linguistics, and the community-based groups Panquetzaliztli, Binni Zaa, and the indigenous association Kaltlamachtiloyaj Tlen Nauatlachamanaltianij (KANA), invites students and community members to participate in our 2-week intensive Nahuatl language and cultural exchanges for beginners and advanced speakers.
Program Description:
The program consists of intensive Nahuatl language classes and cultural exchanges.
Classes are open to all UC Berkeley students and Bay Area community members. Participants will be asked to purchase the instructional book and will be encouraged to give donations to cover the cost of the lodging and travel expenses of workshop instructors - Delfina Cruz De La Cruz and Ofelia Cruz Morales.
Two levels of courses will be offered:
Introduction to Nahuatl
Advanced Nahuatl
Location:
Workshops will take place at the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, located at 2538 Channing Way in Berkeley (on the corner of Channing and Bowditch Street). Directions to the institute may be found here. Participants are encouraged to make a tax-deductible donation of $200.00 to support expenses related to this free program. We will not turn anyone away for lack of funds. The workshop is open to all UC Berkeley Students and Bay Area community members!
Questions? Please contact Juan Esteva Martinez with questions and requests for further information: juanfesteva@berkeley.edu
The Program was recently featured on Noticias Univisión 14. Please find the video here.
This program is sponsored in part by UC MEXUS Award Number 043365 and by a financial contribution from the Department of Linguistics.
To make a tax-deductible gift in support of the Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program, please visit the online giving site and in the "In Honor of:" section list "Indigenous Languages".
Juan Francisco Esteva Martinez is Director of the Program for the Study and Practice of Indigenous Languages and Culture at the Myers Center. The Program offers Indigenous language courses to UC Berkeley students and the general community. He is also Director of the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program at the University of California, Berkeley where he coordinates the independent research of a cohort of first-generation college, low-income, and underrepresented undergraduate scholars. Juan Francisco obtained two baccalaureate degrees in Chicano Studies and Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley (1995) and he is currently completing his doctoral degree from the State University of New York at Albany (expected 2018). In 1998, Juan Francisco joined the Street Organization Project housed at John Jay College of Criminal Justice where, as a leading ethnographic researcher, he assisted in the collection of data to document the politicization of gangs in the New York City and South Central Los Angeles areas. Juan Francisco is the author of the article “Urban Street Activists: Gangs and Community Efforts to Bring Peace and Justice to Los Angeles Neighborhood” published in Gangs and Society. He has also contributed entries to the Encyclopedia of Gangs. Juan Francisco has been and active participant in the Danza Azteca Movement both in the Bay Area and New York City and he is an alumnus of the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project (1987).