In this presentation, Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil will assess the policies implemented under the current administration of Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. She will also outline the main challenges facing the next president of Mexico in regards to the long standing pending issues and long overdue policy reforms to address the demand for indigenous autonomy, political and cultural rights and the closing of the economic gap between indigenous peoples and mestizo Mexicans. 

Presenter: Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil

Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil, UCLA Regents’ Lecturer, 2023-2024 in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the UCLA Latin American Institute. Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil is a linguist, translator, writer, researcher, and activist based in Ayutla Mixe (Oaxaca, Mexico). Her work focuses on issues related to the study, preservation, and revitalization of Indigenous languages in the Mesoamerican region, and she is without a doubt one of the most prominent Indigenous intellectuals (Ayuuk/Mixe) in the Latin American continent.

Yásnaya Aguilar  has published essays such as Lo lingüístico es politico [Linguistics is Politics] (2019) and Ää. Manifiestos sobre la diversidad lingüística [Ää. Manifestos on Linguistic Diversity]. Even more important perhaps have been her influential contributions to public-facing scholarship through her monthly column in the online cultural magazine Gatopardo, her biweekly column in the newspaper El País, and her blogs E’px (2011-2020) and #Ayuuk (2021-present), hosted by the virtual journal Este País.

(Event in Spanish) Light refreshments will be served

Cost : Free and Open to the Public

Sponsor(s): Center for Mexican Studies, Latin American Institute, Department of Spanish & Portuguese