indigenous peoples

María de Jesús Patricio, center, during her campaign launch for president of Mexico

Mexico has its first indigenous woman candidate for president

Global Politics

María de Jesús Patricio is a traditional Nahua healer from southern Jalisco. Gender and heritage aren’t the only aspects that set her apart.

Kenyan language activist Kennedy Bosire has co-edited an online dictionary of his mother tongue, Ekegusii, also know as Kisii.

American soft power has helped this Kenyan man’s efforts to ensure a future for his mother tongue

Culture
Students Andries Jacobi, Nienke Kooi and Fardau de Vries attend a trilingual (Dutch, Frisian, English) public school in Koudum in the Dutch province of Friesland.

The first cousin of the English language is alive and well in the Netherlands

Culture
Lakota

The Standing Rock Sioux are also fighting for their language

Justice
Demonstrators against the Dakota Access oil pipeline block a road near North Dakota's Standing Rock Reservation in October. The pipeline would cross historic Native land and pass under the Missouri River, the source of the local water supply.

It’s not just about a pipeline. Native activists say Dakota battle is their biggest stand in decades.

Environment
Police use pepper spray against protesters trying to cross a stream near an oil pipeline construction site near Standing Rock Indian Reservation, north of Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S. November 2, 2016.

The United Nations heads to North Dakota to investigate possible human rights abuses

Conflict

Police have made mass arrests and used pepper spray, riot gear and armored vehicles to stop the protests. Now, the United Nations is looking into possible human rights abuses.

Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spiritual leader of the Sioux Nation, leads his people to peacefully pray near a law enforcement barricade just outside of a Dakota Access pipeline construction site north of Cannon Ball, North Dakota, on Oct. 29, 2016.

#NoDAPL has momentum, but will it drive Native Americans to vote?

Conflict

Sacred-site preservation and civic engagement are not the same.

Energy Transfer Partners Dakota Access oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation

Education and funding are critical issues facing native communities in the US

Education

On an Indian reservation in Nebraska, state and federal politics interfere with the effort to simply educate the kids.

Laguna tribal members Jenni Monet and her grandmother June Sarracino.

How do you revive a language if tribal elders don’t want you to?

Culture

The Keres language, spoken by the Laguna Pueblo of New Mexico, is dying. When younger tribal members tried to revive it, they were blocked by elders fearful that spiritual essence of the language would be lost.

Protesters against the Dakota Access Pipeline

Protesters say mass arrests won’t stop their fight against a North Dakota oil pipeline

Justice

“One thing that I repeatedly heard,” says Jenni Monet, a journalist on the scene, “is that this fight is not over.”