2022 For the Wild Podcast

“This week, guest Yoalli Rodriguez brings us to the Chacahua-Pastoría Lagoons in Oaxaca, Mexico, to investigate deep connections with land, ongoing colonial violence, and the grief that comes alongside loving a place. The Chacahua-Pastoría Lagoons have long been vital spaces for Black and Indigenous communities, but continued colonial strategies have altered and quartered off the landscape in favor of nationalist and capitalist interests. 

Following the thread lines of Yoalli’s research in and connection to Mexico, the conversation dives deep into an understanding of Mestizo geographies and the politics of refusal in the face of oppressive power. Understanding Mestizo geographies means understanding the land through a lens of community connection, rather than institutional dictation. Despite the institutional acts of violence that limit sensual and sensorial relationships with the land, people continue to make spaces of their own and lay claims to land that go against colonial rule. With this context, Yoalli and Ayana come to a heartening conversation about the importance of ecological grief, rage, and sadness.”