Voces Anónimas (Anonymous Voices) is a project of students, also anonymous, who accepted the challenge to recover, unravel and give voice to those who regularly do not have it, or never have been heard or considered for understanding the whole picture of our daily lives in México.

1. Voces Anónimas
A story we must tell
GALA Conference 2016 Lourdes Epstein

3. In the beginning
• A celebration of the bicentennial of Mexico’s
Independence
• Doing something different
• Not faculty but students

4. It’s not about the past,
but the future

5. The concept
Voces Anónimas (Anonymous Voices) is a
project of students, also anonymous, who
accepted the challenge to recover, unravel and
give voice to those who regularly do not have it,
or never have been heard or considered for
understanding the whole picture of our daily
lives in México.

6. Our objectives
• A community doing research to experience more
of Mexico
• Empower students with the opportunity to build
valuable knowledge
• To translate our findings into published material
• Meaningful social service

7. What we learned
The result of these encounters does not rest on
completeness, nor on the academic perspective,
but on the originality of the participating voices, a
fresh, sensitive and truthful testimony about the
reality of the communities where we live.

8. The first book
• From 2008 to 2010
• High school and undergraduates
• Organised civil society

16. The second book
• From 2011 to 2012
• Small group of volunteers: a student initiative
• An in-depth intervention at a juvenile detention
center

26. The third book
• Helping those ones whose help
• The poorest of the poor
• The narrative of an image: Oaxaca, San Luis
Potosi, Veracruz and Quintana Roo

36. Going for more
• Working on the 2016 edition
• Planning on going digital as well as continuing
with the physical publication
• Inviting other communities

37. The future
It is a never-ending
narrative, a
profoundly living
project, to create a
space where
everyone's story can
be told.

38. One cannot think for others,
nor think without them
Mayan proverb

41. Thank you!
@lourdesepstein