The Grounded Project – from the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (EUC), Faculty of Health (FoH), York Libraries, York International and Universidad Técnica Nacional de Costa Rica – will premiere their collaborative documentary, We Walk the Earth online Nov. 23.
The film speaks of Indigenous persistence in Costa Rica’s homelands after more than 500 years of colonialism. It recounts struggles in Costa Rica for Indigenous rights to land, to self-governance and autonomy. Through the words of Bribri, Cabécar, Brunka and Bröran men and women, stories emerge of the pains suffered in the struggle to rightfully recover their territories. The restoration of life and well-being through Indigenous peoples’ stewardship of their land offers alternative ways to understand our relationship with the Earth. Learn more at lasnubes.euc.yorku.ca/grounded-project/films/we-walk-the-earth/.
The documentary will screen from 6 to 7 p.m. and is followed immediately by the panel discussion, featuring Felipe Montoya, film director and Professor at EUC; Gilbert González Maroto, executive director of the Centre for Indigenous Development; José Miguel González Pérez, an assistant professor at LAPS; and Martha Stiegman, an assistant professor at EUC; wherein each panelist will further explain their roles in the project and the importance of indigenous consultation in conservation efforts.
Click here to register for the screening and panel.
About the Las Nubes and Grounded Projects
We Walk the Earth was produced as a part of both the Grounded Project as well as the Las Nubes Project, which were launched as international, multi-faculty initiatives out of York University.
Grounded marked the beginning of a series of cooperative projects between EUC, FoH and the Universidad Técnica Nacional de Costa Rica, which focus on protecting the Las Nubes Biological Reserve.
Grounded is dedicated to producing documentaries filmed in rural Costa Rica on issues around environmental sustainability, biodiversity conservation, health and human well-being, with the aim of revealing structures that constrain the pursuit of social and ecological well-being, as well as the opportunities that these grounded experiences offer for alternative ways of living.