Our brand-new IEK-CHANGES T-shirts have finally arrived! Beautifully illustrated by our friend and artist Mar Cartró-Sabaté, the design portrays a Tsimane’ woman sharing knowledge with her daughter beneath the forest canopy. Together, they are observing the understorey palm locally known as cajtafa’ (Geonoma deversa), a cultural keystone species for the Tsimane’ people and a powerful symbol of how Indigenous environmental knowledge is passed from one generation to the next. It is this everyday act of learning, teaching, and caring that lies at the core of IEK-CHANGES project!
The project’s motto “Cultura viva: Saberes de la Amazonía” (“Living Culture: Knowledge from the Amazon”), was inspired by a conversation with our dear collaborator Manuel Hiza, from the Instituto de Lengua y Cultura Tsimane’. Manuel reminded us that Tsimane’ culture is not something frozen in time or preserved only in memory; it is alive. It lives in language, in the forest, in families, and in the countless moments when knowledge is shared across generations.
We hope these T-shirts remind us that Indigenous knowledge is a living heritage that continues to grow, adapt, and inspire!
