Texas Folklife: The Folklorist Next Door

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Atlachinolli: Keepers of the Fire and Water is an early stage archival project by Laura Yohualtlahuiz birthed as part of the Community Folklife Fellowship documenting the contributions of Queer & Matriarchal knowledge and culture keepers in and around the Mexica Chichimeca danza and ceremonial community of Central Texas. Atlachinolli is an offering that documents the legacy and transmission of teachings and storytelling surrounding a trajectory of kinship and community building of Queer Matriarchal trailblazers that have challenged gender norms, patriarchy, and traditional roles in spaces that have typically only documented the contributions of men.
Shoutouts: "All Praise due to Creator, Ipalnemoani, Moyocoyani, Teocoyani and all my healed and healthy ancestors and guides. Tlazocamati to my creative ecosystem for supporting me through this fellowship, especially my mom, who always supports anything I do, my kids, Huitzi & Ketzal, my duality Itzli Ramirez, and my spiritual family, Kalpulli Ayolopaktzin. Gratitude for the homies Chaka & Ever @ DAWA Studios for their support in documenting my elders and peers. Thank you to Alternate Roots, Palacio de Palomas, Tlanezi Teatro Ritual, Chichimetzli Studios, and Reds Body Art for their support producing our community workshop."
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Episode Credits
Producer - Laura Yohualtlahuiz Rios-Ramirez
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Series Credits
Executive Producer - Jeannelle Ramirez
Technical Producer - Lamont Jack Pearley

Support the show
Learn more at TexasFolklife.org 
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

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Pitaya fruit (Echinocereus stramineus), or the strawberry hedgehog cactus, is sometimes known by the general public as “dragon fruit.” The fruit grows on a plant generally referred to in Spanish as bisnaga — barrel cactus — and my family has identified at least four different types of bisnagas in the area from which to harvest. This podcast focuses on the tradition of pitaya collection in La Junta, a community and cultural region shaped by the meeting of rivers, desert, and families on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Producer: Dr. Koyana Flotte
Special thanks to: Gustavo Martinez & Miguel Medias
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Series credits: 
Executive Producer: Jeannelle Ramirez
Technical Producer: Lamont Jack Pearley
Support the show
Learn more at TexasFolklife.org 
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

Send us Fan Mail
This project documents how South Asian Texans sustain interfaith devotional music traditions through Qawwali, Bhajan, and Shabad Kirtan in Greater Houston. Using oral history interviews and field recordings, the project highlights how music fosters belonging, continuity, and coexistence within migrant communities.

Episode Produced by Sonny Mehta

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Series Credits
Executive Producer - Jeannelle Ramirez
Technical Producer - Lamont Jack Pearley 
Support the show
Learn more at TexasFolklife.org 
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

Send us Fan Mail
Las Limpias is a podcast that visits memory and traditions from South Texas. Through conversations with family and cultural practitioners, it examines the practice of limpias, spiritual cleansings rooted in Mexican American traditions, and the cultural knowledge passed down through generations.
Part folklore, part oral history, and part cultural exploration, Las Limpias invites listeners to reflect on the ways people seek healing, protection, and connection in their everyday lives. From family stories and community rituals to questions of faith, identity, and belonging, the podcast documents living traditions that continue to influence contemporary culture while preserving voices and perspectives often absent from mainstream historical narratives.

Episode Credits
Host, Producer, Editor, Story by: Oddett Garza
Assistant Editor: Amanda Goebel
Special Thanks to the podcast guests including: Octavio Garza, Janie Garza, Mary Jane Garza, Alexis Arredondo, Elena Gonzales who generously shared their knowledge, experiences, and traditions.
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Series Credits
Executive Producer: Jeannelle Ramirez
Technical Production: Lamont Jack Pearley
Support the show
Learn more at TexasFolklife.org 
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

Send us Fan Mail
This podcast explores folklore not as something preserved but as something lived and carried forward. Over fifteen years, I worked closely with a Holocaust survivor who escaped into the woods, joined the resistance, and rebuilt her life through fragments of song, food, and story. By the time she died in 2026 at 99, her story had become part of my own life and the performers I worked with to bring the story to life. 
What she left behind was not just narrative but something that had to be performed, and through that performance the lived experience of folklore came to life. In this series, I speak with the musicians and puppeteers who helped bring her world to the stage. Through music, objects, and performance, they stepped inside memory and carried it forward in real time.
Together, we explore what it means to translate, embody, and sustain someone else’s history, and how folklore continues to move, change, and live through those who refuse to let it disappear.

Episode Credits
Producer – Samantha Goldberg Blackthorn
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The Folklorist Next Door Series Credits
Technical Producer – Lamont Jack Pearley
Executive Producer – Jeannelle Ramirez
Support the show
Learn more at TexasFolklife.org 
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts