A we without a state (Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil)

Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil—Mixe writer, linguist, and activist—has become one of the most influential Indigenous voices in Mexico. Through clear and compelling prose, A We Without a State offers an intellectual and political intervention of vital urgency: an invitation to think beyond the modern nation-state and toward worlds organized through autonomy, communal governance, and radical plurality. This English-language edition brings together three of Aguilar Gil’s most celebrated essays—“Never Again a Mexico Without Us?”, “Minuscule Structures,” and “A Sociopolitical Milpa.” Originally published in El País and widely circulated across Latin America, these essays have had a profound influence in the Spanish-speaking world, helping to reconfigure the political horizons of Indigenous movements in Mexico. Their impact has been particularly significant in the evolution of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), where, in close dialogue with the Zapatista movement, many communities have moved from demanding recognition by the State to organizing directly for autonomy and self-government. These essays helped make imaginable —and even desirable—a horizon of struggle beyond the state.