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Yásnaya Elena A. Gil & Kumantukxuxpë

South to North conversations: Menp këtäkp: Ayuujk Futurism

Dallas 2026, 

Writer, linguist, and Indigenous rights advocate Yásnaya Elena A. Gil joins the Ayuujk (Mixe) musical group Kumantukxuxpë for a live performance combining narrative, poetry, and music. Rooted in Ayuujk language, oral tradition, and contemporary sound, the performance challenges the idea that Indigenous cultures belong exclusively to the past and instead turns toward the futures they can imagine and create.

Through Yásnaya’s poetic voice and Kumantukxuxpë’s live music, Menp këtäkp brings together language, memory, tradition, and experimentation to explore Indigenous identity as something living and continually evolving. A performance that asks us to think about the future from a perspective grounded in ancestral knowledge while refusing to be defined by the past.