Soy una mujer del Sinú! The banner on the top contains a picture of the río Sinú river (I love this bilingual use of names i learned in  Montreal), which traverses my hometown of Montería, in Cordoba, Colombia, South America (although our regional culture and dialect identifies and relates more with the Caribbean).
The rio Sinu river is a great influence in my life and work. I hold dear many memories of me growing up along the river, Sundays spent in the summer riverbeach with my grandpa Rafael and cousin-brother Camilo, traversing the river on a planchon, walking alongside the forested avenida primera, hearing the river flow, just wandering around, watching the shades of green and brown of its calm waters. The Sinú always calls me back.
My academic work advocates for the literacies that live in the lands and waters of my home province. Growing up, moving between my hometown and my dad's residence in Bogotá, I realized most people from the mountain disregard our caribbean ways of being: Our accent, our loud voices, our music, our food, our dress-codes. I tried to let go of my sinuanidad, but I couldnot, it was so ingrained in my being. So i resorted to pride.
In 2010, i moved to a rural village close to my hometown, i raised my daughter there, and i couldn't be happier seeing her grow freely, connected to land, part of a community. However, I saw how the disregard for her rural being reflected the same deficit-views I experienced from the people in the mountains of Colombia.