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Why Travel With Us: Help sustain regenerative traditions.
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- We know the culture! This is our land! We are locally owned and operated.
- Eric Chavez Santiago is tri-lingual --Spanish, English, Zapotec.
- Eric was founding director of education, Museo Textil de Oaxaca + folk art expert
- Norma Schafer has lived in Oaxaca since 2005.
- Norma is a seasoned university educator.
- We have deep connections with artists and artisans.
- 63% of our travelers repeat -- high ratings, high satisfaction.
- Wide ranging expertise: textiles, folk art, pottery, cultural wisdom.
- We give you a deep immersion to best know Oaxaca and Mexico.
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We organize private travel + tours for museums, arts, organizations, collectors + appreciators.
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Creating Connection and Meaning between travelers and with indigenous artisans. Meet makers where they live and work. Join small groups of like-minded explorers. Go deep into remote villages. Gain insights. Support cultural heritage and sustainable traditions. Create value and memories. Enjoy hands-on experiences. Make a difference.
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What is a Study Tour: Our programs are learning experiences, and as such we talk with makers about how and why they create, what is meaningful to them, the ancient history of patterning and design, use of color, tradition and innovation, values and cultural continuity, and the social context within which they work. First and foremost, we are educators. Norma worked in top US universities for over 35 years and Eric founded the education department at Oaxaca’s textile museum. We create connection.
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OCN Creates Student Scholarship at Oaxaca Learning Center Giving back is a core value. Read about it here
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Meet Makers. Make a Difference
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Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university, textile and artisan development experience. See About Us.
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Programs can be scheduled to meet your independent travel plans. Send us your available dates.
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Arts organizations, museums, designers, retailers, wholesalers, curators, universities and others come to us to develop artisan relationships, customized itineraries, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
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Select Clients *Abeja Boutique, Houston *North Carolina Museum of Art *Selvedge Magazine-London, UK *Esprit Travel and Tours *Penland School of Crafts *North Carolina State University *WARP Weave a Real Peace *Methodist University *MINNA-Goods *Smockingbird Kids *University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Tell us how we can put a program together for you! Send an email norma.schafer@icloud.com
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- WEAVE Podcast: Oaxaca Coast Textiles & Tour
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- NY Times, 36-Hours: Oaxaca, Mexico
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Indigenous Languages Sustain Cultural Heritage: At Risk of Extinction
Zapotec, Mixtec, Huave, Nahuatl and the other 12 indigenous languages of Oaxaca have fewer and fewer native speakers. As young people want to become part of the “mainstream” Spanish-speaking culture they leave their mother language and their culture behind — often out of the strong desire to assimilate.
And continuing education requires commitment, resources, and a lifting out of rural poverty. Oaxaca is the second poorest state in Mexico and one of the most rural.
Many villages have kindergartens and primary schools that offer bilingual education. For example, in Teotitlan del Valle the kindergarten teaches in both Zapotec and Spanish and encourages children to learn and speak Zapotec at home and as part of their everyday communication.
A new indigenous language center is opening in Oaxaca city supported by the Alfredo Harp Helu Foundation. The historic building that will house the center is under renovation now and I don’t know exactly when it will open.
The Center will preserve and teach indigenous languages in Oaxaca. Our friend Janet Chavez Santiago, who speaks fluent Zapotec, Spanish, English, French, and a smattering of other European languages, will coordinate the educational programs designed to inform the public about the importance and value of teaching language to sustain culture. She will also develop programs to bring in young people to study, learn, and enjoy the languages spoken by their parents and grandparents.
The British publication The Guardian published an essay on Wednesday, June 29, 2011, as part of a journalism competition entitled Lessons From Oaxaca: What stops children in rural areas going to school?
Here is the link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/journalismcompetition/lessons-from-oaxaca
San Francisco State University Professor Troi Carleton is determined to save Zapotec, a language indigenous to Mexico — and to do it before it is lost to new generations transformed by technology and social change. “When a language dies, its culture dies, too,” Carleton said. For years, she has been bringing linguistics students to Teotitlan del Valle to live with families and record the language — an oral tradition that has not been written down. I’ll be talking to Troi more about her more recent work in upcoming posts.
FYI: The new indigenous language center will be next to the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, corner Hidalgo and Fiallo, two blocks from the Zocalo.
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