Imagine what would happen if you picked up a village in rural Mexico and transplanted it in Seattle's suburbs. Something similar is underway in South Seattle – a village within the city is emerging. The Seattle area has recently become a top destination for the indigenous Purepecha people from the rural hill–towns of central Mexico. Their native language, culture and traditional lifestyle are vanishing in parts of Mexico, but reappearing here. Our five–part series, A Village Away From Home, traces this migration trend from the Mexican sierra to Seattle's fast–paced suburbs. Reported by Liz Jones, edited by Rachel Anne Goodman.
Points of interest from A Village Away From Home
Hear the full documentary (52 minutes).
Funding for A Village Away from Home: Seattle's Purepecha Community was provided by the KUOW Program Venture Fund.
I. A Hidden Community
It's easy to lump together all Mexican immigrants. But not all Mexicans moving to the Seattle area share a common culture or even a common language. The indigenous Purepecha are one such group emerging in our midst. We start with a look at how this group of people settled here and what parts of their unique culture survived the journey north. (3/24/2008)
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Photo: Purepecha dancers perform the Danza de los Viejitos, or Dance of the Little Old Men, at Sacred Family Church in White Center. Photo by Liz Jones.
II. Follow the Money
Some call the Purepecha's homeland in central Mexico 'the Mexican dustbowl.' Deforestation scars the mountainsides, and abandoned farm plots shrivel under the hot sun. For many, the search for work now leads North. KUOW's Liz Jones takes us on a job search from the Mexican countryside to the shores of the Duwamish. (3/25/2008)
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Photo: Workers sort salmon fillets at a fish–packing plant in Seattle. Photo by Liz Jones.
III. Childhood Interrupted
Every day, Purepecha parents make the choice to uproot their families and move thousands of miles north, in search of a better future. They risk their lives, take on years of debt, and give up their native Indian language and way of life. In exchange, they hope their children will thrive in a land of new opportunities. But is the trade–off worth it? We ask teens on both sides of the border. (3/26/2008)
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Photo: Miguel Salmeron at home in Quinceo, Michoacan. Photo by Liz Jones.
IV. Unofficial Sister Cities
About 3,000 miles south of Seattle you'll find a small Purepecha village called Quinceo. You've probably never heard of Quinceo. But most people there know all about Seattle – the Space Needle, the rain…even the traffic. People in Quinceo estimate half of the town packed up and went North, mostly to the Seattle area. KUOW's Liz Jones introduces us to our unofficial sister city in the rural heart of central Mexico. (3/27/2008)
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Photo: Morning fog in Quinceo, Michoacan. Photo by Liz Jones.
V. Growing Pains
Most Purepecha who move to the Seattle area speak Spanish as a second language, but some are far from fluent. Many never finished high school. For centuries, they've faced discrimination from other Mexicans, and some of that follows them north. These factors present unique challenges in health clinics, schools and other social services. In the final part of our series on the Purepecha migrants, we look at some growing pains in this young community. (3/28/2008)
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Photo: Virgin statue adorned with American dollars. Photo by Liz Jones.
RESOURCES
- Antonio Flores & Purepecha Pride
- The Meseta Purepecha
- Purepecha History & Culture
- United Farm Workers
- Driscoll's
- Anthropologist Andrew Roth, Colegio de Michoacan
- Purepecha Dancers on YouTube
- Northwest Gangs
- Anthropologist Robert Kemper, SMU
- Xiranhua Radio
- Public Health – Seattle, King County
- King County 2008 Growth Report
SPECIAL THANKS
Special thanks for help in production of this series goes to:
Robert Kemper, Southern Methodist University
Andrew Roth–Seneff, Colegio de Michoacan
New Futures
Maria Gristela Salmeron Luna and her family.
Rachel Anne Goodman, Editor
Rachel has been producing radio documentaries for two decades. She started at Appalshop, a media center in eastern Kentucky, where she spent time doing documentaries about the lives and culture of the Appalachian people. She is the producer of Southern Songbirds: The Women of Early Country and Old Time Music, The Boomtown Chronicles, and A Labor of Love: Midwifery in the South. She earned a Peabody Award for her work as Managing Editor of The DNA Files in 2001.
Her most recent project is a four–part series titled, Pastures of Plenty: A History of California's Farmworkers, which aired on 200 stations nationwide, including KUOW. She teaches radio journalism at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Cabrillo College in Aptos, California.
