María Suárez Toro,
August 6, 2024

  •  Between May 28 to June 8, the 3 women of the international Institute of Archaeomythology resided in Costa Rica´s Southern Caribbean interacting with its Talamanca highland and coastal peoples in a successful Residency at Casa Marina of the Institute of Citizen Science of the Sea (INMAR CARIBE).
  • As told in four languages (Bribri, Spanish, English and Creole), they learned about the ancestral foundational stories of the original cultures of the Bribri, Cabecar, Ngäbe, tribal Afro descendants.
  • They shared knowledge and experiences of women of mixed origin that live in Talamanca now, women form the Pacific in Costa Rica and women from institutions like the University of Costa Rica Caribbean Campus, the National University in Heredia and a National Geographic Explorer.
  • They also learned their history, mythologies, land struggles, struggles as women, and ocean conservation and exploration experiences, expressed in Costa Rica’s Southern Caribbean coasts and highlands.
  • They visited The Jade Museum in San José where hundreds of female jade stone and clay figurines of the original peoples of Mesoamerica, sit alongside other ancient artistic mythological expressions.
  •  They did two local tours in the Caribbean. One was a farming plantation by Afro descendants where they learned about the ancestral cacao, or “cocó” in Creole and “tsirú” in Bribri and Cabecar. Another  local tour, organized and conducted by Ambassadors of the Sea young scuba divers to Casa Cultural del Calypso where they visited de Expo with UNESCO with the community Collection of Underwater Archaeological Artifacts about the citizen science search and research for the identity of sunken ships in the Caribbean, presumably slave ships.
  • The Resident Delegation of the Institute of Archaeomythology shared their own experiences as researchers, artists and activists in two activities co-organized with local initiatives like the University of Costa Rica, the Institute of Citizen Sciences of the Ocean (INMAR Caribe) and Community Diving Center Ambassadors of the Sea, consisting of a Seminar held  between June 3-6. It gathered 46 people, mostly women of three generations and at least five ethnic groups.
  •  A one day Conference and Workshop on June 1 st in the Coral Reef Convention Center that gathered 42 women from in and outside the Caribbean in Costa Rica where Marler delivered a scholarly presentation  about the emblematic contributions by Marija Gimbutas who created the discipline of archaeomythology alongside the concept of Neolithic settlements and communities as “Old Europe” and the understanding of the thousands female symbols and figurines as expressions of the veneration of Mother Earth, all its living beings and women´s centrality in their societal constructions.
  • Another was Vicki Noble´s presentation and interview  about her research and activism to create the Mother Peace Tarot.
  • Plastic artist Sorrel Mocchia di Coggiola did daily portraits of the women and men during the Seminar.
  • A cultural night of poetry, song and dance on June 5th in Coco´s Restaurant in the center of town in Cahuita presented poems to the Caribbean by a member of the four women delegation of the Association of Women Writers and songs by Guadalupe Urbina.

The immersion Residency program in Costa Rica’s Southern Caribbean, included those activities and much more, like swimming in the ocean, visit to the Cahuita National Park, local gastronomy lunches and dinners at local restaurants and  bird watching, among other such activities.

The delegation walked the paths of the culture constructed and contained  in  Costa Rica’s Southern Caribbean, highlighting the untold history of the slave ships being researched by Ambassadors of the Sea and the community of Cahuita.

They also learned firsthand that in the Southern Caribbean, local people are engaged in communities where protected areas not only designed to protect nature, they also protect the cultural heritage underwater and the present life and livelihood experiences of ancestral cultural ways of living.

They stayed in Casa Marina where breakfast and self-made diners, talks and multimedia documentaries were shared.

The events produced a series of proposals related to the connections constructed. Forward looking action proposals of the Seminar include the following:

  • Organizing an Oral History Festival in Talamanca where ancestrality can be honored and connected to present day struggles.
  • Undertake what is required in Costa Rica to support that our local experience becomes part of the Nat Geo Reverse Ship Project.
                                                                                              Organizers of the Seminar 
  • Welcome the proposal by the Archaeomythology Institute to do a Special issue of its Journal about our citizen science and community archaeomythology in Talamanca by inviting presenters and others to contribute writing the articles for this special publication.

Undertake the promotion of the indigenous women of Talamanca to the first Indigenous Women Conference in China Kichá in the Pacific in August of this year.

  • Request by indigenous and afro descendants to INMAR Caribe and to the Ambassadors Diving Center to teach their children to swim so that they learn to honor and respect the ocean.INMAR Caribe:
  • Salons and a special event
  • Another project/visit with Sorrel for more drawings
  • Another series of conferences by Joan al universities -the feminist movement wants to invite Vicki next year – design an interactive residency for MGE and other participants

Publication of educational and cultural materials in the community ad for the interactive visits:

Production and publication of Anna Arroba´s Goddesses book

Translation production and publication of the Tona Ina book

Production and publication of a 10 song CD (Spotify) with intergenerational songs about the sea, Tona Ina and cacao, etc.

Publication of Tona Ina children´s stories book

Publication of new Infographs of Ambassadors of the Sea Expo in order to update it with new information: one about the Seminar, another about Tona Ina and another about the results of the citizen science results of the identity of the slave ships.

Aftermath.

Two international Salons organized by Maternal Gift Economy have disseminated the experience alongside 3 local community radio programs in Radio Casino in Limón City and over 25 multimedia entries in social media. (