WENDY CALL / No Word for Welcome: The Mexican Village Faces the Global Economy
Wendy Call visited the Isthmus of Tehuantepec—the lush
sliver of land connecting the Yucatan Peninsula to the rest of Mexico—for the first time in 1997.
She found herself in the midst of a storied land, a place Mexicans call their
country's “little waist,” a place long known for its strong women,
spirited marketplaces, and deep sense of independence. She also landed in the
middle of a ferocious battle over plans to industrialize the region, where most
people still fish, farm, and work in the forests. In the decade that followed
her first visit, Call witnessed farmland being paved for new highways, oil
spilling into rivers, and forests burning down. Through it all, local people
fought to protect their lands and their livelihoods—and their very lives.
Call’s story, No Word for Welcome, invites readers into the homes,
classrooms, storefronts, and fishing boats of the isthmus, as well as the
mahogany-paneled high-rise offices of those striving to control the region.
With timely and invaluable insights into the development battle, Call shows
that the people who have suffered most from economic globalization have some of
the clearest ideas about how we can all survive it.
“Fascinating. Beautifully written. Deeply researched. With sensitivity and respect, Wendy Call has written about the modernization of a centuries-old community. It’s a story happening everywhere, including our own backyard. This is a book written with humility, bravery, and wisdom, and honors those who trusted the writer with their incredible stories.” -- Sandra Cisneros
Wendy Call is a recent Writer in Residence at Harborview Medical Center, Hedgebrook, New College of Florida and Seattle University. She is co-editor of Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers’ Guide. Before becoming a full-time writer, editor and translator in 2000, she devoted a decade to grassroots organizing on international development issues.
This talk is co-sponsored by the International Development Exchange (IDEX), a San Francisco-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainable solutions to poverty by providing long-term grants and access to resources to locally run organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
- Street:
- 1644 Haight St.
- City:
- San Francisco ,
- Province:
- California
- Postal Code:
- 94117-2816
- Country:
- United States
