Marissa Munoz, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching
Bio
“Land is, therefore we are." Bang et al. (2014) In the Carrizo/Comecrudo language, the ancestral place name of San Antonio, Texas, is Yanawena, meaning "the place where I rest my head."
In Coahuilteca, a pidgin language shared many distinct Indigenous peoples across the greater region, the term Yanaguana means "spirit waters."
Either version is acceptable as a respectful form of acknowledgment of the land, water, and many generations of caretakers of the greater community, which includes the Estok'Gna, Coahuilteca, Tlaxcalteca, Apache, and Comanche, as well as assorted other band-based peoples Indigenous to the territories now called south Texas. These are my ancestral territories and familial genealogies. I am honored to live and work in San Antonio as a critically engaged educator/activist/scholar/relative/community member.
