Xitlaly Garcia Olivera (2024)
Derecho a nuestra bebida ancestral: Preservando Costumbres Zapotecas a Través del Mezcal: Preserving Ancestral Zapotec forms of Mezcal Production
The emergence of Collectivo Espiritu Mayahuel (CEM) through Xitlaly’s project creates a space where Indigenous mezcaleros in La Sierra Sur, Oaxaca can further be in conversation with one another about preserving ancestral practices of mezcal production and exchange traditional knowledge to preserve Indigenous lands from contemporary exploitative forms of mezcal production. CEM further allows small-scale mezcaleros to play a bigger role in the mezcal industry and makes space for Indigenous Oaxaqueñes to reclaim their ancestral beverage while facilitating cultural reproduction within their communities.
Biography
Xitlaly’s family is Zapoteco from Los Valles Centrales and Sierra Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico; Growing up, her father would tell her stories about his native lands and their family’s processes of cultivating and harvesting maguey to make mezcal. In Xitlaly’s family, mezcal holds cultural value, and preserving its artisanal processes is to preserve Zapotec culture. Despite current movements to industrialize and commercialize mezcal, Xitlaly’s family and others continue to preserve artisanal modes of mezcal production. She hopes to uplift and contribute to her ancestral effort of preserving and reproducing such sacred practices. Xitlaly has contributed scholarship within the HAAS Scholars Program and the Hydrocolonialism Institute. Xitlaly graduated with honors from UC Berkeley in Summer 2024 with a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies and a B.A. in Ethnic Studies.
