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You will not see me die

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Tono MC in his home in Chicapa de Castro, Oaxaca.(Wendy Call)
Irma Pineda with the producers

In the southern Mexican city of Juchitán, Oaxaca, Zapotec is spoken. It is the oldest written language in the Americas. Although Zapotec is one of Mexico’s most widely spoken Indigenous languages, it is in danger of extinction—like half of all the languages currently spoken in the world.
Meet the Zapotec-Mexican poet Irma Pineda, born and raised in Juchitán, who is keeping her language alive through poetry. We also meet a young rapper from a nearby town, who has transformed Pineda’s poetry into hip-hop. Can poetry and music ensure that the next generation will retain their connection to Zapotec language and culture, in spite of large-scale migration and other threats to cultural continuity?

Tono MC

If you'd like to read more of Irma Pineda’s poetry you will find it here

“Endangered Language” in Orion magazine

“Death Surprised You” in Kenyon Review

Poems in Asymptote journal

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