NAYA JONES, PhD, is a Blaxicana geographer, cultural worker, and ceremonykeeper. Through ritual art and community-rooted research, she lifts up Black "old ways" from North and Latin America. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has guided meditation and ceremony since 2008, and she continues to learn with elders. Find her work at nayajones.com.
Like the New Mestiza in Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera, La Blaxicana is both personal and collective. The testimonio is mine but may also be yours. —Naya Jones
