A Study of Nicaragua's Unidos Por BOSAWAS Music Festivals
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Re-articulating Discourse for Indigenous and Environmental Justice: A Study of Nicaragua’s Unidos por BOSAWAS Music Festivals by Mery Angeles Pérez A thesis presented to The University of Guelph In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Rural Studies Guelph, Ontario, Canada © Mery A. Pérez, June, 2019 ABSTRACT RE-ARTICULATING DISCOURSE FOR INDIGENOUS AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: A STUDY OF NICARAGUA’S UNIDOS POR BOSAWAS MUSIC FESTIVALS Mery Angeles Pérez Advisor(s): University of Guelph, 2019 Dr. Sheri Longboat The cultural and physical survival of the Mayangna people of Nicaragua is being threatened by the increasing, illegal presence of farmers and other colonists in their home, the Biosphere Reserve of BOSAWAS. The activities of these non-Indigenous settlers reflect a disregard for the sustainability and respect for mother Earth, characteristic of the Mayangna worldview. In Nicaragua, there are policies that have been articulated in the last several decades with the goal of protecting Indigenous communities and the natural environment. However, these policies are not implemented. A group of musicians and environmental activists have considered that this problem emerges because of a lack of knowledge and education and because of long-standing Discourses1 that have devalued the cultural heritage and knowledge of Indigenous people in Nicaragua. Through the organization Misión BOSAWAS, they attempted to facilitate processes of conscientization (consciousness raising) through concerts and media campaigns from 2012 to 2016. They hoped that by raising awareness, Nicaraguan society might take the first steps toward 1 In this dissertation I will make a difference between the official social Discourse and instances of discourse of utterances where the former one is spelled with a capital “D” and the latter with a small “d” (Gee, 2012). iii re-articulating a Discourse that supports justice for Indigenous people through policy implementation. This interdisciplinary research involved an in-depth, single case study of these festivals. The data collected and analyzed included secondary data and primary data. The dissertation asked the following central questions: 1) How has Nicaragua’s official national Discourse constructed the notion of Indigeneity? 2) How has the music performed and recorded during the Unidos por BOSAWAS Festivals contributed to the process of conscientization in favour of policy enforcement? 3) How have activists and the public experienced the festival? And 4) How can the initiatives surrounding this issue be optimized by Misión BOSAWAS and similar organizations so as to benefit Indigenous people and the environment? The research results show a positive contribution of music in this attempt at a re- articulation and re-appraisal of Indigenous heritage in Nicaragua. The results also indicate a need for education, political organization and liaisons with international entities that defend human rights. Finally, the results indicate that while problems continue to exist, raising awareness through festivals where music is a central component has laid the foundation for critical awareness and support from the public. These first steps toward justice and policy enforcement may not be large but they are certainly significant. iv DEDICATION To my mother, María Alba Laguna de Pérez (1941-2017), who taught me the language of music and the love of learning. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As I reflect on my academic journey, I am reminded of the words of musician Carlos Mejía Godoy. He once told me that, when he wrote lyrics to his popular music, he paid attention to everyone. You never know when someone is going to say something brilliant. Sometimes, he told me, the greatest wisdom came from the lady that was serving coffee in a restaurant. This has been true for me as well. I have continually grown and benefitted from the popular, cultural or academic wisdom of my family, friends, professors, research participants and strangers. This dissertation is the fruit of all those contributions and I am honoured to be the recipient of such wisdom. Specifically, I would like to acknowledge the guidance and dedication of my advisor, Dr. Sheri Longboat. You not only offered your academic knowledge and experience but also your values, integrity and love for justice and Indigenous people. I also want to acknowledge the support and contribution of my committee members, Dr. Al Lauzon and Dr. Gordana Yovanovich, two professors who have mentored me from the beginning of this doctoral journey and who always knew to ask the right questions. I am thankful for your challenges, questions and support. Many others come to mind, professors who took their time to sit with me to talk about research, life, academia, and the meaning of it all. Among these I first remember professor Nonita Yap with whom I had the joy of working during the last months of her life. I am also thankful to professors Karen Landman and George Lovell for agreeing to be part of the examination committee. I would like to acknowledge and thank all of those who assisted me during the field research stages of this dissertation. Thanks to all who agreed to be interviewed, all the musicians and activists who were happy to sit with me to talk. I would like to thank Ernesto Lopez “Matu” for leaving your farm and your family for a few days to go into BOSAWAS with me. Thank you for introducing me to the community since, without you, this journey would not have been possible. This research was made possible also thanks to the financial support of the University of Guelph, the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. This support allowed me to visit BOSAWAS and gather the perspectives of Mayangna Elders, leaders, musicians and community members. Finally, I want to offer a word of gratitude to Seidy, my spouse, for her kind support and sense of humour, especially in the midst of pressing deadlines. You have made this journey not only possible but also beautiful. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. x List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ xi List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... xii List of Appendices ....................................................................................................................... xiii Prologue: Coming to know the Mayangna and BOSAWAS ...................................................... xiv PART 1: RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND CONTEXTS ............................................................. 1 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Problem statement ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Context and Unidos por BOSAWAS Festivals .............................................................. 2 1.2.1 Nicaragua’s Mayangna peoples .................................................................................. 2 1.2.2 The Biosphere Reserve of BOSAWAS ...................................................................... 5 1.2.3 Unidos por BOSAWAS Festivals ............................................................................... 9 1.3 Research Questions, Goal and Objectives .................................................................... 10 1.3.1 Research Questions ................................................................................................... 10 1.3.2 Goal and Objectives .................................................................................................. 10 1.4 Overview of methodology ............................................................................................ 11 1.4.1 Data collection .......................................................................................................... 12 1.4.2 Data analysis ............................................................................................................. 13 1.5 Significance of research ................................................................................................ 14 1.6 Description of the thesis ................................................................................................ 14 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Introduction: BOSAWAS in the context of justice and human rights .......................... 16 2.2 Conceptualizing social justice ....................................................................................... 16 2.3