Voces Anónimas

A story we must tellGALA Conference 2016 Lourdes Epstein

In the beginning

• A celebration of the bicentennial of Mexico’s Independence

• Doing something different

• Not faculty but students

It’s not about the past, but the future

The conceptVoces Anónimas (Anonymous Voices) is a

project of students, also anonymous, who

accepted the challenge to recover, unravel and

give voice to those who regularly do not have it,

or never have been heard or considered for

understanding the whole picture of our daily

lives in México.

Our objectives

• A community doing research to experience more of Mexico

• Empower students with the opportunity to build valuable knowledge

• To translate our findings into published material

• Meaningful social service

What we learned

The result of these encounters does not rest on

completeness, nor on the academic perspective,

but on the originality of the participating voices, a

fresh, sensitive and truthful testimony about the

reality of the communities where we live.

The first book

• From 2008 to 2010

• High school and undergraduates

• Organised civil society

The second book

• From 2011 to 2012

• Small group of volunteers: a student initiative

• An in-depth intervention at a juvenile detention center

The third book

• Helping those ones whose help

• The poorest of the poor

• The narrative of an image: Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz and Quintana Roo

Going for more

• Working on the 2016 edition

• Planning on going digital as well as continuing with the physical publication

• Inviting other communities

The futureIt is a never-ending

narrative, a profoundly living

project, to create a space where

everyone's story can be told.

One cannot think for others, nor think without them

Mayan proverb

Thank you!@lourdesepstein