Huehuetla is a village inhabited by the Ma'alh'aman, in the territory that is part of the Sierra Madre Oriental and includes the north of the state of Puebla and neighbouring regions of Veracruz and Hidalgo. The images presented in this collection come from that region located in the state of Hidalgo. The climate is tropical and subtropical, influenced by the proximity of the Gulf coast, which favours rain, mist and constant humidity. The Pantepec River, also known as the Huehuetla River, crosses the area, fed by a set of tributaries that are born in the hills of Tenango and San Bartolo. The Ma'alh'aman have a notable cultural affinity with the Mexikame, Totonaku, and Ñuhu Peoples who live in the same region. Each ethnic group preserves its language and maintains its own characteristics of clothing and dances. The language, Lhima'alh'ama', (also known as Huehuetla Tepehua) is similar to Totonaku, which facilitates communication between the speakers of both groups. In terms of health, in some towns the customs of the first inhabitants of the region are preserved, those who settled before the arrival of the Spanish. We present here a small dictionary with audios and images where the medicinal herbs of daily use in the lives of the Ma'alh'aman appear in three languages ​​(Lhima'alh'ama', Spanish, and English) according to our worldview.

Antonio García 

The Lhima'alh'ama' Project is an initiative that set out to create a Living Dictionary for Lhi’ma’alh’ama', also known as Huehuetla Tepehua, the language of the Ma’alh’ama (united people) of Huehuetla, Hidalgo. Lhi’ma’alh’ama' is spoken by fewer than 1600 people today, the majority of whom are over the age of forty, making it a “definitely endangered language”, according to UNESCO’s Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010). At present, only two Lhi’ma’alh’ama' dictionaries exist, both authored by Antonio García Agustín, our research partner in Huehuetla. Parting from the notion that digital technologies, in particular Open Access, can be compatible with Indigenous ways of life and key in the preservation of traditional knowledge, we developed collaborative transnational model for the preservation of Lhi’ma’alh’ama' in a culturally relevant and mindful way.  

The project was funded by Conestoga College’s New and Emerging Research Grant (CNER-G) and it took place over the course of four months, during which a team in Huehuetla, Hidalgo worked on collecting raw data (lexical lists, images, and audio) and the Conestoga College team in Kitchener, Ontario, edited and organized the data and produced materials for the continuation of the project past the funded period. We employed a distributed fieldwork model that placed the decision-making in the hands of the Huehuetla team and, through weekly meetings, check-ins, and instant messages, the Conestoga team provided support and guidance where needed.