About Us
Solidaridad Comcáac and Icoos Hicoiit, through more than 12 years of work within the Comcáac (Seri) community, have created a documentary film archive dedicated to the rescue and preservation of their culture. This was done at the request of Chapito Barnett, internationally recognized as a Guardian of the Comcáac tradition.
Furthermore, we seek to incorporate additional digital resources such as photographs, audio, videos, and related documents from community members and outside friends to create, catalog, and manage collections in a community digital archive through this website entitled: “Preservations of Memories of the Sea and the Desert.”
We thank Carlos Ogarrio, Jorge Fraile, and all those who have collaborated to grow this archive.
History
Fewer and fewer elders remain.
As of 2010, 985 Seri people (who spoke the Seri language) were recorded, according to the Atlas of Indigenous Peoples of Mexico by the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples and the National Institute of Indigenous Languages (INPI/INALI, 2010). However, by 2020, only 723 Seri speakers were recorded, according to the Population and Housing Census by the National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Informatics (INEGI, 2020). This means the Seri-speaking population decreased by more than a quarter—26.60%—in just ten years, according to official statistics.
Seri, or Cmiique iitom, is a language isolate.
The National Institute of Indigenous Languages of Mexico considers it a language at high risk of disappearance, and UNESCO classifies it as vulnerable (Valiñas 2020). There are only two Seri or Comcáac villages: Punta Chueca and Desemboque, both located in Sonora, Mexico.
Mission
Vision
“Preservation of Memories of the Sea and the Desert” consists of the creation of a community digital archive for the preservation of the memories of the Comcáac elders who, through images, dances, words, or songs, have captured this wisdom. We seek to bring the knowledge and memories that have been filmed or gathered from the Comcáac people closer to all members of their community—especially children, youth, and the elders themselves—as well as to the general public.
To consolidate most of the material regarding their culture and traditions in a single space through their own authors on this online platform, complemented by periodic in-person screenings within the Comcáac community. This project seeks to strengthen their cultural roots.
Objectives
* To establish a digital space for the cataloging of archives and the management of collections concerning the elders of the Comcáac community, as well as the community itself, including its ceremonies and traditions.
* To provide the Comcáac community with an online virtual memory archive of images, video, audio, and other related documents that contribute to the strengthening of their identity.
* To catalog this digital heritage, ensuring that each image, audio, video, or document has its respective description to provide context for its production.
* To foster interest among the youth so that they may be the ones to expand this archive by gathering their own images of their families, elders, and experiences of their traditions and ceremonies—thereby creating a sense of revaluation of their own culture and joining this community digital archive.
CONTACT
If you have any related photographs, audio, videos, or documents and would like to share them, you can join this community digital archive.
You can leave us your details, and we will contact you soon.
Thank you!