Tune in to our new radio program on science, health & the environment reported by indigenous journalists for Mexico’s indigenous communities

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of En Común: conocimiento en voz viva, our new radio program on science, health and environment for Mexico’s indigenous communities. During our first season of En Común, we have partnered with indigenous journalists throughout Mexico who are reporting 9 of the 15 episodes.  You can hear all the episodes on our website: encomun.mx.

This is a first for Mexico – a radio program focused on science and reported primarily by indigenous journalists for indigenous communities and rural audiences.

Mexico’s indigenous people form a multicultural mosaic of diverse ethnic identities, ancestral knowledge and cultural values. But their communities and their unique stories have been overlooked by traditional media organizations and particularly by science, health and environment writers.

As a result, Mexico’s indigenous people – an estimated 15.7 million in 68 communities across the country – do not have access to carefully curated and reported information that could help them combat inequality, disease, pollution and ecological damage caused by the misuse of natural resources. Nor do they have the opportunity to share their generations-old knowledge on issues such as wildlife protection, the impact of illegal logging and the role of medicinal plants in disease prevention.

Iván Carrillo, a prominent Mexico-based science writer and editor, is the executive producer of the project.  He is joined by an experienced production team based in Mexico.

During our first season of En Común, we’ve taken on fascinating and little-reported science, health and environmental subjects.  For example:

In our episode titled, Los murciélagos y su relación con los virus, Mayan journalist Irma Yolanda Kauil Tuz interviews Dr. Rodrigo Medellín Legorreta, a researcher in the Institute of Ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), about the beneficial role that bats play in the ecological balance and myths about bats as carriers of disease.

In Las vacunas, prioridad mundial, indigenous journalist Yolotzin Hernández interviews residents in Amecameca in the State of Mexico about their views on vaccines and continues with an interview with Dr. Ricardo Martín Castro, of the Institute of Biotechnology at UNAM.

In the episode titled, Arqueoastronomía y las culturas Mesoamericanos, journalist Dora Cauich greets the audience in Maya and asks Mayan residents of Quintana Roo about their views on their ancestral legacy of astronomy and how they use it today.  As part of her report, Dora interviews archeologist Ivan Sprajc, a specialist in Mayan astronomy who has spent decades researching the Mayan culture and its relationship with the stars and the sky.

 Entendiendo el virus SARS Cov2 features Oaxacan journalist Genaro Bautista Gabriel with the Agencia Internacional de Prensa Indígena, interviews Dr. Ana Lorena Gutiérrez of the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) at Mexico’s National Polytechnic Institute. 

In our episode titled, Cómo Enfrentan las Comunidades Indígenas la Pandemia, we hear the voices and viewpoints of residents on Oxchuc, Chiapas. 

InquireFirst has forged an alliance the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) and its Mexico affiliate, Red de Radios Comunitarias de México to broadcast our program across Mexico.

In addition, the Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (IMER) will be broadcasting the program on its affiliates in Sonora, Coahuila, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Yucatán and Mexico City. 

Tune in to our first season of En Común: conocimiento en voz viva at encomun.mx!

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