Building Bridges to the Shipibo-Konibo Women Teachers

The evening is dedicated to the many cultures of Abya Yala, the name many Indigenous movements use for the Americas. It brings Amazonian and Afro-Latin American perspectives together through art, film, music, movement, and food. Part education and part celebration, this event welcomes adults, young people, families, and anyone who cares about cultural diversity, decolonial education, socio-ecological justice, and solidarity and wants to share different kinds of knowledge.

The evening opens with a shared ritual and a welcome from MigrArte Perú’s two chairs, Maria-Esther Kraus and Marita Orbegoso Alvarez. Next come two short documentaries by Gabriela Delgado Maldonado (OV - no subtitles) that have won awards in Peru, Raomis Ainbo and Ja Chomobicho Boneni, the latter co-directed with Bernabé Mahua Fasanando and filmed in the Shipibo-Konibo language. Delgado Maldonado then joins online from Peru for a conversation with the audience, moderated by Francesca Valdés Beckedorf, about how Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples have shaped the cultures of Abya Yala, about colonial history, and about relations between the Global North and South today.

Maestra Wilma Maynas, a member of the Shipibo-Konibo community, then sings an ícaro, a traditional healing song, before members of the MigrArte Perú community invite everyone to share a meal at the buffet.

Later in the evening, it’s time to dance. El Tumbe Berlin, a group of 15 young artists coordinated by Kenya Aros, performs Afro-Chilean dance from Arica and then leads a workshop on Afro-diasporic music and percussion. A salsa workshop rounds out the program before DJs Christian Radtke and Jörk Feikes of Salsa Café Berlin close out the night.