BY ATL CASTRO ASMUSSEN
KEYRA ESPINOZA says that there are no words to describe her experience visiting Ingapirca, the ancient ruins of her Indigenous Cañari ancestors, in the summer of 2020. Located in the Southern Andes mountains of Ecuador, Ingapirca is a landscape Espinoza cherishes both for its wildlife and its deep spiritual meaning for her ancestral community. “[Ingapirca] has a lot of historic meaning for me…that is the closest I’ve ever been to the homeland of my grandfather,” she said. Espinoza was raised on the stories of her Cañari people and the centuries they spent nurturing a relationship with their environment. Espinoza is an Afro-Indigenous climate activist and environmental policy major at the University of Miami. Born in New York City to an Afro-Indigenous Ecuadorian family, the history and values of this community guide her climate and Indigenous activism. Espinoza has seen the changes to her ancestral community wrought by climate change and focuses on the intersection of climate and Indigenous justice. She believes that climate activism should highlight the effects of climate change on Indigenous communities and increase awareness of her ancestral community’s vulnerabilities. Delicately perched high atop the hills of the province of Cañar, the ruins are ringed by lush forest greenery. Walking toward an ancient religious center located near the ruins, used for various community festivities to this day, she felt welcomed and at home. With each step, she felt “the imprints of [her] footsteps align with the imprints of [her] ancestors.” As Espinoza made the journey back from her ancestral home to her University of Miami classrooms, however, she could only think about what the community might look like when she returned. Climate change fundamentally threatens the Cañari nation and her people by disrupting patterns of food production and contributing to the erasure of Indigenous culture.
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