Inuit lawyer, activist, and filmmaker Aaju Peter, who has dedicated her life to defending Indigenous rights across the Arctic and internationally, is due to speak at a conference in Galway later this week.
The Misleór Festival of Nomadic Cultures returns for its seventh annual gathering in a number of venues in Galway from September 25th to 28th.
The event "celebrates and brings together nomadic voices from Traveller, Roma, Sámi, Inuit, and other indigenous communities in a crossroads of cultures", the organisers state.
Peter’s acclaimed documentary Twice Colonized follows her fight to reclaim language, culture, and dignity while confronting personal and collective trauma.
At Misleór, she will share her journey of “resilience, justice, and cultural survival,” the organisers state.
An estimated 30–40 million people across more than 80 countries still live as nomads and Misleór “shines a light on these resilient cultures, whose traditions continue to thrive despite global pressures”.
“Nomadic people see the world differently,” says Misleór’s Artistic and Cultural Director, Nora Corcoran.
“Movement is not a disruption but a rhythm of life. Settled culture often builds, accumulates, and discards. Nomadic traditions carry forward what matters - stories, songs, music, skills, herbal knowledge, and the wisdom of survival,”she says.
Also due to speak are Beaska Niillas (Sámi); Jess Smith (Scottish Traveller); Oein de Bhardúin (Irish Traveller); Willzee (Irish Traveller, rapper and spoken word artist); Lavie Olupona (Irish Traveller/Nigerian); Ella Louise Ward (Irish Traveller who debuts her short film My Kind of People at Misleór); Zor (Roma Band, Scotland); Chloe McDonagh (Irish Traveller, visual artist and activist; and Joar Nango (Sámi architect and artist)
The full programme is on www.misleor.ie
