With readings and kamishibai, a cultural promoter sows hope among migrants

▲ Magda Rivera's initiative (pictured) helps migrants build a bridge to their memory. Photo by Cristina Gómez

Cristina Gómez Lima

Correspondent

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 14, 2025, p. 5

Miguel Alemán, Son., Cultural promoter Magda Rivera Carrillo loads books, illustrated prints, and a wooden butai into the trunk of her car and heads to Calle 12, as they call the agricultural strip of the town of Miguel Alemán, where imagination is still fertile ground, even amidst the dust, heat, and scars left by migration on the Sonora-United States border.

She also carries a box of kamishibai, which means paper theater . Every week she travels 40 kilometers to the west of Hermosillo, where, under the shade of a tree, children of agricultural workers sit on the ground waiting for her. In her sweet voice, she says: "mukashi mukashi ," a Japanese phrase meaning "once upon a time ," which opens the door to a world of stories, Japanese legends, indigenous histories, and tales born of migrant transit.

The butai—a small wooden box that opens like a three-leafed book—allows stories to be told through illustrations that slide out one by one. Characters like Issunboshi, Momotaro, and The Worst Lady in the World come to life for children who, lacking nearby libraries, find a window to the world in these weekly sessions.

“The kamishibai originated in Japan in the 1930s. It was used by unemployed people who sold sweets and told stories on street corners in Tokyo,” Rivera explains in her interview with La Jornada. “I use it to accompany people on the move, migrant families coming from Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala, those passing through, or those stranded in Sonora.”

Here, people don't just listen; they also create. Children, and many adults too, illustrate their versions of the stories, write new endings, and draw their families in the middle of the story. Many bring a cultural baggage. Through these stories, they can connect with their roots, name their history, and recognize themselves in others , Rivera points out.

With 21 years as a reading promoter, Magda Rivera has traveled to the most impoverished neighborhoods of Hermosillo's capital. It's a real community, with hardships and contexts of violence. But it's also home to Triqui and Mixtec leaders who have embraced the project , she says, pleased with the response from day laborers and migrant families.

The work doesn't stop with oral storytelling. Once participants become familiar with reading, it encourages them to reflect and write. We can't talk about personal development without language. If a child only receives orders, if they aren't taught to name what they feel, how can they develop emotionally and psychologically? he questions.

Magda Rivera doesn't impose readings. Children should choose the book they want to read, either by its cover or its subject matter. And the ones they like the most tend to be horror and mystery books , she says with a smile.

Titles like "La rumorosa y otros cuentos" (The Rumorous and Other Stories ) (Conafe) and the Zapotec tale "El conejo y el coyote" are among her favorites. She enjoys the stories in the collection "Largueza del Cuento Chino" (Larger Chinese Stories), where wisdom is hidden in short but profound tales.

In addition to being a reading mediator, Rivera Carrillo is a cultural manager. She has organized the Live Reading Festival, San Juan Day commemorations, participatory video workshops, and community knowledge gatherings. All of this has been supported by institutions such as the University of Sonora, the Colegio de Sonora, and the Municipal Institute of Culture and Art, as well as the Mesoamerican Voices and Mixteco Yosonubico collectives of Sonora.

In these spaces, oral tradition is not only a learning tool, but a political act. Wherever there is space for oral tradition, languages ​​and cultures will remain alive , she asserts with conviction. She knows that many migrant families hide their language for fear of discrimination. This concealment has been normalized by the environment and institutions. That's why it's urgent to recover and share stories, myths, and family histories. They are the cultural roots that can germinate in new territories .

In a country where human mobility is marked by uncertainty and uprooting, projects like Magda Rivera's build invisible bridges between migrant communities and their memory. Every story told, every drawing made by a person in transit who barely speaks Spanish, is a way of resisting oblivion, of saying: we are here and we also have stories to tell . And under the shade of the butai, in the midst of adversity, words regain their roots and begin once more: mukashi, mukashi…

From the Editorial Staff

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 14, 2025, p. 5

Tepic. Young people protesting the demolition of the City of Arts in Tepic reported that state security forces patrolled the area Thursday night and used a drone to intimidate them.

They stated that they will file a complaint with the municipal, state, and national human rights authorities. "We have free movement and the right to protest; it's enshrined in the Constitution. We won't give up ," stated Isaac Cárdenas, a member of the group.

He added that none of them fell for the provocations, even though an officer touched one of his colleagues, who was filming with a cell phone, to get her away from the scene.

A fire had previously broken out inside the space, which was put out by Civil Protection personnel and Tepic firefighters.

Activists distanced themselves from the incident, saying the smell emanating from the blaze was similar to gunpowder.

Yesterday, federal representative Andrea Navarro and senator Pável Jarero, both Morena members, called for guarantees for the protesters' safety and transparency regarding what happened Thursday night.

The youth continued their ongoing protest this Friday, in addition to collecting signatures to stop the total destruction of the building located in the Estadios neighborhood in the capital of Nayarit.

For her part, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo declared yesterday at her morning press conference that there must be dialogue and that cultural spaces must continue to exist .

The governor asked the governor of Nayarit, Miguel Ángel Navarro, to prioritize communication with the cultural sector in response to the demand that artists and activists have maintained for more than 13 days for the restoration of the cultural complex.