Unbound Lineage creates multidisciplinary performance and shares arts education that uplifts true New Mexican history and explores its legacy through a Genízaro and inter-Indigenous worldview that centers reciprocity, rematriation, intuitive imagination and cultural transformation.
Many historians and community scholars have informed our understanding of Genízaridad and the history of Indigenous slavery in New Mexico, including Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez and his organization Native Bound Unbound, 'Nación Genízara', conversations with Dr. Gregorio Gonzales and oral history from current Genízaro community leaders.
Who are Genízaros?
Genízaro identity is a distinctly New Mexican identity, yet many people are unaware of this term or the cultural history it implies. Beginning in the 16th century, Native people of many tribes, often women and children, were captured and forced into New Mexico’s slave labor economy and assimilated into Catholicism and Spanish culture. Although Spain officially abolished slavery in the early 19th century, settlers continued to find covert ways to enslave Indigenous people in New Mexico until the early to mid 20th century. These ancestors were taken from many different tribes and communities, including Apache, Diné, Kiowa, Ute, Comanche, Pawnee, Hopi and Pueblo. They were given various identifiers: criada, cautiva, coyote, genízaro.
The Indigenous slave trade in New Mexico functioned differently than the West Atlantic slave trade. Once enslaved Indigenous people reached a certain age, they were allowed to walk freely. However, many Genízaros did not have communities to go back to. Through collective organizing, Genízaros petitioned the Spanish government for land grants. Some of these petitions were honored and became Genízaro land grants that still exist today in Belen, Tomé, Carnué, Placitas, San Miguel del Vado, El Pueblo de Abiquiú, Ranchos de Taos, Talpa and Llano Quemado. These land grants were strategically placed around existing Spanish settlements by the Spanish government in order to force Genízaros to become human buffers between their settlements and Indigenous tribal nations who would frequently raid them.
Descendants contextualize themselves and their communities within this legacy in distinct, place based ways. Some Genízaro communities remain in tact with rich ceremonies, dances, songs, oral histories and cultura. More broadly, Genízaro history and identity has been suppressed to the point that many descendants of enslaved Indigenous people do not know their own history or who they come from. Yet, the fact remains that Genízaros and Genízaro communities continue to exist with vibrancy, tradition, diversity, nuance, and querencia.
New Mexican history has been romanticized, suppressed and exoticized by colonial and political forces. Our community as a whole has not been allowed to contend with the violent and dehumanizing effects of colonization. This has led to statewide epidemics of poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence, poor child welfare and low self esteem among others.
Our work is one node in a constellation of Indigenous led efforts to tell the nuanced and complex truth about our peoples, the land and how we have all been impacted by 500+ years of colonization and forced assimilation. Our vehicles of truth telling exist through ceremonial performance, art education and community conversations because we believe that healing and transforming generational trauma begins in the body, with community. All of the work we do, whether it is publicly shared or happens quietly amongst each other, is in service of the well being, empowerment and fortification of our communities throughout New Mexico.
Artwork by
Nate Herndon
open to youth ages 5 - 11, this workshop engages play, storytelling and movement creation to encourage our young ones to take pride in who they are and where they come from
Teen Movement Workshops
open to ages 12 - 18, this workshop builds off our youth workshop and facilitates the development of solo and group movement creation in order for participants to express who they are, where they come from, and dreams they have for their futures
Adult MovementWorkshops
open to adults 18+, this workshop draws on the movement prompts we used to create our performance UNBOUND to support participants in connecting deeper with themselves, as well as their own ancestors and lineages
Genízaro Community Circles
open to people who are descendants of Indigenous slavery, this circle invites participants to connect with one another and their ancestors through oral storytelling, simple movement, writing and sharing a nourishing meal together
Youth Movement Workshops
Workshops We Currently Offer
El Camino Recorrido: Touring
Core Memories of the UNBOUND crew
“Our inner worlds hold sanctuary,
Wisdom + wonder. We are
Always
Always
Always
No matter what we face,
Part of an immense, circular,
Interwoven story - that story cannot be broken or erased
- after witnessing our performance an audience member was inspired to write this poem