The Living Voices of the Kumeyaay: A Trilingual Journey Through Story and Memory

By SAFIYA MOHAMED

Footsteps From The Past Into The Future: Kumeyaay Stories of Baja California

Footsteps From The Past Into The Future: Kumeyaay Stories of Baja California is more than just a book—it's a testament to resilience, cultural sovereignty, and the enduring power of storytelling. This beautifully curated trilingual collection—written in Kumeyaay (or Kumiai), Spanish, and English—features the voices of Zeferina Alana Cuero, Jovita Aldama Machado, Aurora Meza Calles, Emilia Meza Calles, and Jon Meza Cuero, with editing by Margaret Field.

This remarkable collection is the result of over a decade of collaboration with fluent Kumiai speakers from Baja California, an area where the Kumeyaay language is still spoken daily in some communities. Grounded in the principle of rhetorical sovereignty, a concept coined by Scott Lyons, the stories were selected and shared by the Kumeyaay community themselves. That means the storytellers—not outsiders—decided what to preserve, how to tell it, and in whose voices—offering a powerful counter to colonial retellings of Indigenous histories.

Footsteps From The Past Into The Future: Kumeyaay Stories of Baja California

The book highlights stories from two Kumeyaay communities: Juntas de Nejí and La Huerta. Storyteller Jon Meza Cuero, who has lived on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, provides unique insight into the shared but diverse experiences of the Kumeyaay people across regions.

One of the most powerful aspects of this collection is that many of the stories are told by Kumiai women—elders who retained their native language by growing up on their traditional lands, with limited exposure to formal education or Spanish until later in life. Their words carry generations of memory, culture, and ancestral knowledge.

The collection draws primarily from two families: the Meza Calles family of Juntas de Nejí and the Aldama family of La Huerta. With the help of Aurora, Emilia, Norma, and Yolanda Meza Calles, several traditional stories were translated and preserved—including Los Gemelos del Mar (The Twins from the Sea), El Rescate de Kuri Kuri (The Rescue of Kuri Kuri), and Esta Tierra Aquí (This Land Here). The moving autobiographical narrative Ollas Rotas (Broken Pots), narrated by Emilia Meza Calles, shares the life story of her great-aunt Genoveva Calles-Cuero. Their uncle, Jon Meza Cuero, also shares the playful story Sapo Enamorado (Frog in Love). 

Linguist Margaret Field works with three of the Meza-Calles sisters

From La Huerta, conversations recorded between Zerefina Cuero and her great-aunt Jovita Aldama—preserved by Josefina Muñoz Aldama—bring to life both traditional and autobiographical stories. Highlights include Gato Montes (Mountain Lion) and Cuatro de Octubre (Fourth of October), narrated by Jovita and translated by Zerefina.

What makes this book especially important is its trilingual format, which mirrors the complex linguistic landscape of today’s Kumeyaay communities. While Kumeyaay people in the U.S. often speak English, and those in Mexico mostly speak Spanish, Kumeyaay remains the shared heartbeat that connects them all.

Footsteps From The Past Into The Future: Kumeyaay Stories of Baja California

Footsteps From The Past Into The Future is not only a cultural preservation project, it's an invitation. An invitation to listen, to learn, and to witness Indigenous voices reclaiming their stories in their own words.

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ISBN-10: 193853784X

ISBN-13: 978-1938537844