Belize K.U.L.C.H.A. Symposium 2024: Applications are open

Heritage Education Network Belize is hosting our fourth annual Belize K.U.L.C.H.A. Symposium from October 23rd to 25th, 2024. We will come together to present and discuss the impact, influence and effects of Belize’s Sustainable Orange Economy nationally and internationally. This year’s overall theme aims to look a the creative economies of the past, present and future in order to understand ancient and modern examples to ensure a sustainable future. Apply and Submit your abstract today!

KULCHA Symposium, ProjectsHeritage BelizeJune 22, 2024KULCHA, Belize KULCHA SymposiumComment

2023 KULCHA Symposium Held Virtually: Supporting Mission for Open Access Information

Heritage Education Network held its 3rd annual KULCHA Symposium.

KULCHA Symposium, Organization NewsHeritage BelizeSeptember 18, 2023KULCHA, Belize KULCHA Symposium, Symposium, Symposium 2023Comment

KULCHA 2023 Call for Abstracts is Open!

Heritage Education Network Belize is hosting our third annual Belize KULCHA Symposium virtually from September 7th-8th, 2023. We invite young academics, citizen researchers, activists, artists and indigenous or community representatives to submit their abstracts in order to be selected to present at the 2023 KULCHA Symposium.

KULCHA SymposiumHeritage BelizeMarch 14, 2023KULCHA, Belize KULCHA Symposium, Symposium, BelizeComment

2022 Belize KULCHA Symposium Program is out now!

Tune in to 3 days of kolcha at the KULCHA Symposium! Check out our program and save the dates so you don’t miss anything!

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Dr. Alexandra Biar: Dory & Pitpan: two types of boats emblematic of Belize's inland waters

Since prehispanic times, Belize's many rivers have been traffic arteries that structure the territory. Through the use of traditional indigenous boats, rivers connect coastal sites to those inland. I would like to introduce you to these two means of transport, emblematic of river navigation, the dory and the pitpan.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Jorge De León: Belize Maya writing club

First, I would like to talk about the birth of the Maya Writing Club and my personal journey in reaching an understanding of how this ancient Maya writing system works. As a Club we set several goals every year with the prime objective of going out to educate and share what we have learnt.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Myron A. Medina: Weaving Indigenous Maya Mathematics Alongside Maya Elders in Belize

My study argues that an exploration of Indigenous mathematics, ways of knowing, doing, and being through culture-based practices of Maya Elders, can enact and create a more enlivening and empowering mathematics curriculum. I use the term weaving as a metaphor to conceptualize mathematics as a fabric of interlaced concepts.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Saidy Godette: How the Cohune Industry can preserve the Maya Culture in Belize.

This piece will seek to discuss how the adaptation of the Cohune Industry in Belize is a positive step towards sustainability and conservation.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Christopher Nesbitt: Addressing climate change in the time of Covid

Humans face a series of challenges tied to anthropogenic climate change ranging from rising temperature, rising sea levels, drought, flooding, loss of soil, increased impact and degradation of cultivated lands, food insecurity, increasing rural to urban migration, with rural and urban unemployment. The challenges and their solutions for much of Belize are overlapping. Increasing rural employment, repairing degraded land, increasing soil fertility, creating models of land use that replicate ecosystem functions of primary habitat, namely soil and soil moisture retention, creation of habitat and carbon drawdown, is possible through education and outreach.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Dassia Ucles & Crocodile Research Coalition: Crocodiles and Mayas

The Crocodile Research Coalition is a nonprofit organization; our mission is to promote conservation of crocodiles and their habitats throughout Central America through community involvement, research, and education. Education is key to opening many doors and as an NGO that conserves these species in fishing communities specially, we connect with the people through outreach, culture, eco-clubs, and a lot of community involvement.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Pablo Cambranes: Safeguarding cultural heritage with collaborative street art

The Locally Project, is a community-funded project in collaboration between artists, small businesses, local and international stakeholders on a joint mission to safeguard Belize’s culture.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Lee Mcloughlin: Can Folklore Help Save the Forest?

Building on the much-discussed impact of animation to influence ideologies, attitudes and behaviors globally, we sought to utilize a locally popular folklore story to deliver messages in support of conservation and sustainable development. After a successful debut short film including winning the Belize International Film Festival and screening at two others, the team is now working on a seven-episode series with seed funding from Netflix/Ambulante.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Abdon Tzib: Culture photo-journaling

Communication is the means of sharing information and spreading knowledge. Photography is the means of communicating with people visually. People understand messages differently from each other. A good image on the other hand will always portray the same message to everyone.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Eleanor Castillo-Bullock: Promotion, Protection and Preservation of the Garifuna Culture and Language

I will present a brief description of our Organization GAMAE International Inc. and speak a little about what we are about and our mission, vision and goals. I will also speak a bit about the GAMAE Projects we are doing at this time.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Ms. Adela Pederson Vallejos: To’one Masehualoon NGO in northern Belize

To’one Masehualoon NGO is a cultural preservational group in northern Belize which grew out of the idea that the people of Belize who are of Yucatec Maya decent are slowly losing their self of identity and that the demise of a vibrant culture filled with ancestral splendor and knowledge is slowly reaching extinction. The purpose of the group is to restore and preserve the pride of being of Yucatec Maya ancestry. This is accomplished by preserving all areas of the culture such as language, spirituality, attire, cuisine, folklore, and dance and by also being engaged in community outreach.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Delmer Tzib: Another Beautiful Day in San Antonio: Reviving culture and tradition in the Yucatec Maya in Belize

In an effort to provoke discussions on Maya identity, in 2018 a group of young cultural activists revived San Antonio Day to highlight the Yucatec Maya traditions of the village. The reloaded version of San Antonio Day, Another Beautiful Day in San Antonio, encompasses a trifocal approach that incorporates sports, culture, and environmental awareness.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Prof. Elizabeth Graham: Belize's Spanish and British colonial heritage as seen through Tipu and Lamanai

I will be drawing from my archaeological investigations at Tipu and Lamanai, and additionally from my husband David Pendergast's excavations at Lamanai, to connect both the Maya and colonial pasts to Belize's present. Both were centuries-old Maya communities, and both were sites of early Christian or "primitive" churches founded by the Franciscans in the early 16th century.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Prof. Fred Valdez: Belize and the Earliest Maya: Archaeological Data and New Interpretations

The ancient Maya site of Colha in northern Belize is a focal point of some early developments beginning in the Archaic period (about 3400 BCE). Recent studies have identified earlier than Maya occupants in the region that had significant cultural developments. Belize’s prehistory is quite significant in Maya (and pre-Maya) studies. Factors of defining communities, aspects of horticulture, and the transition from the Archaic into the Preclassic are reviewed in consideration of - just who were the earliest Maya?

KULCHA Symposium Presenters, Dr Shawn Morton, Dr Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown and Dr Jillian Jordan: Cultural Expression and the Ancient Architecture of the Stann Creek District

Architecture is an expression of culture and culture process, there is a lot that we can dig into concerning this subject. In this presentation, we will define and present one such expression: the ancient Maya architecture of East-Central Belize (Stann Creek District). We'll also discuss our approach to understanding its development through reconnaissance and survey, excavation, materials science, experimentation, and tapping community knowledge.

KULCHA Symposium Presenter, Kong F. Cheong: Ancient Maya Music Making: Sound Instruments from the Site of Pacbitun, Belize

Belizeans have a long tradition of music-making. Evidence of this heritage shows that it goes all the way back to the ancient Maya of Belize. Music is said to be the language of emotion and that all music is meant to be shared. Here, an introduction of various musical instruments used by the ancient Maya along with sound artefacts from Pacbitun will be presented. A short video demonstration of sound from the functioning artefacts and a discussion of ancient Maya music-making and soundscape at Pacbitun.