Indigenous Planning Towards 'un derecho a no migrar'

Mon, October 5, 2026 12:00 PM at

Speaker: Elybeth Sofia Alcantar (she/they) American Indian and Indigenous Studies 2026-2027 Predoctoral Fellow at Michigan State University and PhD Candidate Department of Geography and the Environment | University of Texas at Austin

Abstract: This presentation examines the role of collaborative planning praxis to assist in land defense with Indigenous Mixteco populations amidst political and environmental induced displacement. Drawing from Indigenous planning principles and Mixteco politics aligned to Indigenous refusals, I offer a critical planning perspective on collaborative and insurgent design between Mixteco commissions of communal land and resource management (Bienes comunales) and critical geographers or planners. I reflect on two years of collaborative design and insurgent planning with a Mixteco municipality in Oaxaca, Mexico, to provide three different modes of collaborative planning praxis guided by Mixteco politics of 'un derecho de no migrar,’ or the right to stay home. In this presentation, I propose that by engaging in collaborative planning efforts guided by Indigenous planning principles, collaborators uphold Indigenous self-determination, Indigenous land defense, and assist in Indigenous communities’ efforts to refuse forced displacement. A collaborative planning praxis with Indigenous municipalities must center the goal of defending 'el bien común,' to refute territorial dispossession amidst perceived or ongoing displacement. 

This presentation is part of the Ecological Community Psychology Conversation series, and is co-sponsored by MSU American Indian and Indigenous Studies and Timetzalimet.