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Semillas de las Abuelas Book Project

Teaching to Reclaim Cultural Practices for Our Families

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Semillas de las Abuelas Book Project

Semillas de las Abuelas Book Project

Semillas de las Abuelas Book Project

Semillas de las Abuelas Book Project

Semillas de las Abuelas Book Project

Teaching to Reclaim Cultural Practices for Our Families

Teaching to Reclaim Cultural Practices for Our Families

Teaching to Reclaim Cultural Practices for Our Families

Teaching to Reclaim Cultural Practices for Our Families

Dr Cristina Rose
Dr Cristina Rose
Dr Cristina Rose
Dr Cristina Rose
1 Campaign |
Long Beach, United States
$1,185 USD 27 backers
5% of $20,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
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“I’m sorry, mijita, I’m sorry, my child, but I’ve used up all the ruda I had and none of the neighbors grow it.” 
Prietita and the Ghost Woman / Prietita y la llorona
  by Gloria E. Anzaldua and Maya Christina Gonzalez

 


Photo credit: Carolina Adame Photography

Semillas de las Abuelas is birthed from our beliefs that we, as mothers, are healers that are healing as well as nurturers that need nurturing!  We are teachers that are learning!  Whatever mothering you do, we want you to feel loved and appreciated!


Photo credit: Carolina Adame Photography
 
Our Inspiration

Our children play together, they learn how to interact, they learn social skills, they learn conflict resolution, and they learn emotional literacy through play. We, as their mothers, look on partially monitoring any possible dangerous situations that may come up or any moments that might require our intervention. We also look on in the hopes that all the work we have done in our lives, in our spiritual, cultural, and social justice journeys will have an impact on their lives as well. We hope to impart all the lessons we have learned along the way with them, so that they might be grounded in the things we as children found ourselves desperately looking for. We hope they have a nuanced understanding of their ancestral culture, of complex and deep spirituality, of the structural inequality that impact their ability to move in the world. We also hope that like us they feel the call toward social justice work, recognizing that we can contribute to change in even the smallest of ways and in everything we do.

As educators, academics, mothers, Latinas, socially aware and radicalized human beings we situate this work in a critique of this country’s traditional schooling system as entrenched in systems of power meant to perpetuate a patriarchal, white supremacist, capitalist ideology; meant to marginalize and oppress people who are not white, cisgender, men, thin and able bodied. We recognize the long history of colonization in our country that perpetuated violence, slavery, and genocide on our ancestors, and our cultural histories. Yet, we have hope that we can offer our children the possibilities for a different world, the space to imagine true liberation and freedom. 

Photo credit: Carolina Adame Photography
 

Celebrating Our Culture

Our book celebrates the traditions, customs and stories of our ancestors, who are mostly of Mexican and/or American indigenous ancestry. We acknowledge the ways in which colonization and white supremacy sought to erase or otherwise suppress our ancestral ways of living and knowing. Thus, this book is born out of a desperate need to intentionally reclaim and celebrate our culture. In a world so often centered in the white Anglo-American experience this book works to resist those oppressive representations. We do this by highlighting the beauty and importance of the wisdom of our ancestors as a way to resist erasure, oppression and ultimately set us on a path of liberation. We must tell our stories, write them down, ensure their place in history, and secure them for the future generations.


Photo credit: Carolina Adame Photography
 

Who is This Book For?

Though we recognize the historical, geographical, sociopolitical, and cultural differences among the peoples from the different countries of the Americas marked by Spanish colonization, we also recognize the similarities in our traditions and customs, with other Latinx or indigenous ancestries. Thus, our book is meant to serve as a template for those looking to bring earth based rhythms into your families from a cultural perspective. We also acknowledge those families who might have been disconnected from their culture for one reason or another, and we hope this book can help to reconnect you with your roots so that you might be able to pass them on to your children.


Photo credit: Carolina Adame Photography
 

About the Book

Semillas de las Abuelas is a foundational resource book filled with songs, rhymes, recipes, stories and ideas for rituals and rhythms passed down to us by our Abuelas and other ancestors. This book is for new parents and for those already grounded in family life with a desire to integrate these practices and traditions into your own homes to create connections to the earth, to our families and to our culture. This book aims to inspire creative growth and deepen our intentions!

Semillas de las Abuelas consists of seven chapters that take you through the arc of the day and the seasons of the year.

  • Introduction: Teaching to Reclaim Our Rhythms: Resist, Liberate and Celebrate 
  • Chapter 1: UNDERSTANDING RHYTHM 
  • Chapter 2: DAILY & WEEKLY RHYTHM IDEAS
  • Chapter 3: SPRING RHYTHMS
  • Chapter 4: SUMMER RHYTHMS
  • Chapter 5: FALL RHYTHMS
  • Chapter 6: WINTER RHYTHMS
  • Chapter 7: LIFE RHYTHMS 
  • Epilogue: Reflection not Perfection

Included in this book:
- The photography of Carolina Adame!
- Our personal stories, poems, dreams, reflections on our family celebrations and rhythms. 
- Seasonal recipes from the kitchens of our Abuelas to make with our children.
- Ideas ideas ideas to be more present to our children and our ancestors.
- Songs to sing and play with our children for each season.
- Our artwork and prayers in an Oracle Deck to bring beauty and magic into our home. 
- Prompts to journal about our family culture and reflect about our place in our family tree.
- A rhythm wheel that can be used with your children to create a daily and weekly schedule? 

 


Photography by Lily Glass
 
We hope that Semillas de las Abuelas is your go-to family book: when you need a moment to breathe, when you need an idea, when you want to have a stronger vision of your family culture.  


“They Tried to Bury Us, They Didn’t Know We Were Seeds” - Mexican Proverb


Photo credit: Carolina Adame Photography
 

About the Authors

The four collaborators on this project - Carolina Adame, Dr. Renee Lemus, Dr. Cristina Rose, and Marlha Sanchez -- are women of Mexican descent rooted in culture, history and social consciousness. We are mothers, educators, artists and social justice advocates.

We  are artists, writers, creatives, thinkers, scholars. We have founded cooperativas and singing circles for our families.  We have created safe spaces for all stories to be heard and celebrated.  We have encouraged, through the gathering of songs and hopes and stories, a reclamation of ways we connect to our Abuelas.  These spaces have created deeper joy and more fulfillment in our whole selves and in all aspects of our lives. And, truly, these spaces and these feelings are the gift our children have awakened in us!   
Photo credit: Carolina Adame Photography
 

As mothers of young children, we understand these messages about endurance, family, and rhythm in a whole new way!  The clock disappears as parents of newborns as we learned to navigate new schedules, new priorities, and new appreciations for every hour of the day. Old terrors and new hopes came together in those moments (at 4am particularly!) as we leaned in close to hear for our baby's breathing.  We learned then that parenthood is a spiritual calling.  No doubt. And we called on the strength of our deepest intuitive selves and our ancestors to surround us. We called on the hopes of our past and our vision of the future thinking of the generations to come.  We began to write a new story by planting our self and our families as seeds in the ground of our home and our local community. 

Community Support

And, we cannot do this with out the support of our families and communities! You have already inspired and challenged us. And, we want to officially invite you on board to be part of the  Semillas de las Abuelas family!


Your pledges go directly towards the design and printing of the book. They will also cover the operating costs of Indiegogo, associated credit card fees and any ancillary fees associated with pre- and post-production marketing/packaging/etc. 


Funds will go towards: 
Publishing - Who to work with and more!
Marketing - Branding and Media and more!
Labor - Photography and more!
Production - Writing Retreat and more!
Crowdfunding Fees


All of the funds raised, including any addition to our goal, will be invested wholly into the creation of Semillas de las Abuelas.


Photo credit: Carolina Adame Photography

We hope this book will serve as a practical collection of approaches to pass on the wisdom of our Abuelas to the future generations.


Project milestones:
                          September 2019: Crowdfunding Campaign
                          December 2020: Print, Production, and Delivery


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This works falls under the umbrella of Las Doctoras.  Check out our Interview on the Las Doctoras Podcast. And check out our website lasdoctoras.net/semillasdelasabuelas and IG to follow our project @semillasdelasabuelas

 


Share on Instagram (tag @semillasdelasabuelas, #semillasdelasabuelas, #teachingtoreclaim, #resistliberatecelebrate, #seedsofourgrandmothers, #latinxfamilyrhythms)

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