Anthropologists are the awesomists. This article does a short profile on someone who’s doing meaningful work in anthropology and linguistics. My grandpa met this man, Crecencio García Ramos, in 2004 on a visit to Xalapa, Veracruz. He told him that his grandson (me) was trying to learn Totonac, so he sent me two books, a Vocabulary and a collection of stories, as first readings in the language.
Since then, he’s published several more books, including story anthologies, a phonology, and an orthography (spelling) manual. He’s also published the first Totonac-Spanish Dictionary. He’s a co-founder of the Academia de la Lengua Totonaca, a linguistic regulation body of Totonac speakers and academics from the Universidad Veracruzana. His efforts have led to a new standardized Totonac alphabet and spelling system, and an increased pan-Totonac awareness of linguistic heritage. García Ramos is currently working on an encyclopedia of the Totonac world to preserve culture that may be lost when elders die before their traditional knowledge is recorded.
Currently, several trade and adult education schools, including Kgoyom (run by a powerful regional political group, the Organización Independiente Totonaca) teach the language. A bilingual public school has recently launched and is beginning to show results.
Totonac communities are developing their language and defending it from Spanish-speaking prejudice, and are working with indigenous scholars, like García Ramos, to recover their cultural heritage and affirm their identity.
Politically, like many indigenous and working people in Mexico, many Totonacs identify solidly with the Left. the OIT has previously allied itself with the social-democratic Partido de la Revolución Democrática and won several county and local seats. Now that they are well-established, they are striking out on their own and refusing to used for political gain by national parties. Many others are part of the Otra Campaña and are affiliated with the EZLN. Zapatistas in the region have founded “La Otra Totonacapan” to defend communities against commercialization of their culture and tourism-related exploitation.
Defending their land and their language, Totonac people like Crecencio García Ramos are making sure Totonac culture survives. Like Ramos says in “Kxlakatitayan xla kilichiwinkán: En defensa de nuestro idioma”:
Our language is saved by the Totonac people who still speak it daily. Let us try at least to speak it well, and write it even better, with pride, so that we’ll remain a different people.
