Cuyamaca faculty, students construct replica Kumeyaay village on campus

Cuyamaca College Kumeyaay studies students and faculty are building a replica historical village on the campus as a way to learn more about the symbiotic relationship between the tribe and the land.

So far, one small ‘ewaa (Kumeyaay for “home”) has been built using willow branches for the frame and branches from the broom baccharis shrub for the walls, and the frames of two more homes have been erected.

The project is part of a joint Kumeyaay Studies associate degree program at Cuyamaca College and Kumeyaay Community College, a school established in 2004 by the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.

The village construction is being used as an instructional tool for Kumeyaay and non-native students alike to learn about the history, culture and language of the tribe.

It is also a way to transmit knowledge about the tribe’s traditions to future generations, said Stan Rodriguez, associate professor and Kumeyaay studies coordinator. He is a member of the Santa Ysabel Band of the Iipay Nation.

Stan Rodriguez, coordinator of the Kumeyaay Studies at Cuyamaca College, weaves the walls of a nearly finished awaa (Kumeyaay home).

(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

“One of the things that we wanted to do was to bring more of a cultural footprint here on the campus,” he said. “We wanted to have a static place where we could come and bring our students.”

For one of those students, Priscilla Ortiz-LaChappa, participating in the village construction has been a way to strengthen the connection to a culture she had felt disjointed from at times growing up.

As a kid, she spent two years in non-native foster homes, where she was unable to learn about her culture, and in the classroom, her culture was only taught about as a remnant of the past.

“It’s important to me because it just reminds me that being Kumeyaay is very much a present thing,” Ortiz-LaChappa said. “Being able to actively build these ‘ewaa — even though we’re not gonna live in them — that keeps us in the present and shows us that we can still do these things to this day.”

The village is being built adjacent to the 53-acre nature preserve that borders the campus, which the college officially became stewards of in 1994.

Students used the bark skin from trees to create lashing material to construct the frame structure of one of the planned 16 awaa (Kumeyaay home) they plan on building for the Kumeyaay Village.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

The site was once known as “Fury Jumps,” an illegal makeshift track with dirt ramps that was a popular spot for mountain bike riders. In 2013, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife ordered it to be closed, and the college was told it needed to enforce restrictions on the use of the preserve, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Since then, the dirt ramps have been razed, and the college has worked to bring back the native plants while removing species that have encroached on the ecosystem over the years.

“Part of this is to get rid of the invasive species and use more native practices for keep taking care of the land and being good stewards,” said Lauren Halsted, interim dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

Through field trips, building the ‘ewaa and promoting biodiversity in the school’s nature preserve, the Kumeyaay studies classes take a very hands-on approach to education.

After touring the village site with his humanities students on Wednesday, Rodriguez brought his classes on a field trip near the Sycuan reservation. There, they participated in the unearthing of roasted agave hearts they had buried with smoldering wood on Monday.

One of the 16 awaa (Kumeyaay home) being built to create the Kumeyaay Village.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Roasting the agave hearts is a necessary step for preparing them to be eaten, as cooking them for a couple days neutralizes its caustic properties, making them both edible and safe to handle, Rodriguez said. Along with the hearts, the leaves are also roasted so they can be broken up and twisted into cordage, which he demonstrated for his students.

Next Friday, students and community members will gather to continue Cuyamaca College’s effort to remove more of the dead brush and invasive species from the preserve. In doing so, they’re readying the area for a cultural burn next winter, something that has historically been an important part of Kumeyaay land stewardship.

Prescribed fires like cultural burns help reduce the intensity of and damage caused by massive, uncontrolled wildfires by removing the fuel for such events, the U.S. Forest Service reports. With as much dried vegetation as there is right now on the Cuyamaca nature preserve, a prescribed fire would be too dangerous as there is too much fuel, deeming the clearing out of vegetation an important first step.

Cultural fires are important, however, because they promote biodiversity and the growth of some plants, especially in areas like San Diego, home to species that evolved with wildfires, said Michelle Garcia, who is biology department chair and Kumeyaay science professor.

“A number of our plants in this area require fire to stimulate germination,” Garcia said. “Once we have a fire go through, who knows what will come up. It’ll be exciting to see our plants — the seeds that have been dormant for years upon years — and how they’ll sprout up after a fire.”