Jemez Mountains Hiking + Cultural Tour (2024 AFS Annual Meeting)

Description

Join us for a cultural tour of the Jemez mountains with Native artist, healer, educator, and leader Joseph “Brophy” Toledo (Jemez Pueblo), Co-Founder and Cultural Advisor of the Flower Hill Institute and member of the AFS Local Organizing Committee. Flower Hill Institute is a Native-owned, community-directed nonprofit. Its objectives include preserving and enhancing cultural resources, preparing youth to inherit leadership, improving economic self-sufficiency, agriculture, food sovereignty and security, and improving outcomes to climate change.

Brophy is highly regarded throughout the Southwest and beyond for his work building cross-cultural and cross-racial coalitions, focused on interconnections, or the “interconnectivity of all things.” Brophy will lead guests on a hike in the surrounding mountains of his home, Pueblo of Jemez, to archaeological sites and “power points,” places of deep significance for people past and present. Along the way, he will share his deep knowledge of local herbs & fauna, astronomy, history, art, and other themes, through his storytelling dotted with contagious laughter and positivity. Be prepared to see and experience New Mexico in a new light. 

Towards the end of the excursion, the group will stop and rest to enjoy a homemade lunch (fruit, salad, protein, and dessert) made by Georgia Vigil, Brophy’s wife, and their family.  

Meet your Guide

Joseph “Brophy” Toledo (Jemez Pueblo)

Brophy has served the Pueblo of Jemez in various capacities for over four decades. He has worked with numerous Indigenous youth groups. He has taught as an Adjunct Instructor for the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA); worked as a creative consultant for Robert Mirabal Productions; served on the Native American Global Sports Committee; and has been instrumental in various international Indigenous projects such as Pueblo Pathways Project. He has also traveled to Mexico, Canada, and Africa as a First Nations representative for Earth healing and environmental conferences and efforts.