Preserving and promoting the cultures, traditions, ceremonies, and languages of Native Americans indigenous to Texas and Northeastern Mexico.

Nakum Journal

The Institute solicits and develops articles and publications that will be disseminated to the general public, on topics pertaining to the indigenous people in this area.
As articles, publications, and other materials are developed or identified, the Institute collects these and maintains a library and archive. These collections will be available to the public for further research and to preserve the culture, traditions, ceremonies and languages of our ancestors in one central, accessible location.

For centuries, the identities of the peoples native to the U.S. Southwest and Northern Mexico have been subject to legal, political, and social interpretations that serve colonial interests.  The mission of Nakum, the Coahuiltecan word meaning “we speak” or “I speak to you,” is to offer a public forum through which Native and Chicana/o scholars can do precisely what the title suggests: speak from their own perspectives.

In keeping with the general mission of the Indigenous Cultures Institute, this journal offers a space for the continued exploration of Hispanics’ indigenous identities.  The journal thus brings together many of the conversations that the Institute has cultivated and, through its online presence, makes them available to a vast and growing audience of scholars, journalists, creative writers, and students with an abiding interest in hearing the voices of those who contribute to those discussions.