"Mirades Natives" project brings the cinema and worldview of the Siekopaai to the UAB
The “Mirades Natives” project brings film director Jimmy Piaguaje, from the Ecuatorian Amazon Siekopaai people, and Ignacio Contreras, PhD researcher, to conduct academic sessions for students of the UAB bachelor's degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology and delve into topics such as indigenous cinema, cosmology and shamanism.
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These sessions are part of the “Miradas Nativas” project of the Research Group of Anthropology and History of the Construction of Social and Political Identities (AHCISP), the NGO Alternativa and supported by the Solidarity Fund of UAB, managed by the UAB Solidarity Foundation. The project aims to create spaces for intercultural dialogue and critical reflection. It aims to raise awareness in the university and the citizens around it about the violation of the rights of indigenous peoples, global environmental issues, and training, focusing on the diagnoses and solutions these works, experiences and organisations can offer.
The first class was held on the subject “Anthropology of religion, symbolism and ritual”, taught by lecturer Virginia Fons, where topics such as cosmology, shamanism and cinema were addressed through the projection of several short films directed by Jimmy Piaguaje.
Later, Piaguaje and Contreras offered a second session focused on the subject “Local knowledge and natural resources”, taught by lecturer Miquel Figueras, which delved into botanical knowledge and worldview from the perspective of the Siekopaai people, with the same dynamics as the previous session, through the projection of audiovisuals directed by Piaguaje.
In addition to the academic sessions, transfer-to-society activities were also held, with two screenings open to the public. One of them at the Espai La Figa in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, on 21 February, and the other at the Cerdanyola Art Museum, on 25 February.