Culture Corner – May Edition
Burkina Faso – The Kurumba Women
In the Kurumba culture, women play a vital role.
From a young age, girls fulfil their duties, including participating in special rituals and offerings, representing values such as purity and integrity. Sometimes, girls can participate in celebrations at royal palaces, where they present themselves. Moreover, appearance is of great significance for Kurumba women, as their hairstyle indicates their social status.
A single braid at the back of the head means that a girl is unmarried, three braids signify engagement, while two braids falling onto the cheeks are reserved for married women. Widows wear two braids in the front and a third one on the nape of the neck.
Before young women fully enter adult life, they are given words of caution and premarital teachings. This process takes place in a unique way—through singing and dancing.
Source material: Adama Nɛnkātɛ Sawadogo
Compiled and translated by: Andrea Fischer
New Entries to UNESCO’s “Memory of the World” Register 2025 Announced
On April 17, 2025, UNESCO announced the inclusion of 74 new entries in the “Memory of the World” Register. This is an international registry of humanity’s most valuable documentary heritage, encompassing a wide range of materials from fields such as literature, history, international relations, and philosophy. Together, these collections form a map of what humanity has created so far.
Submissions were received from 72 countries and four international organizations. Among the newly inscribed items are materials highlighting the contributions of Arab culture to astronomy, archival documents by Charles Darwin related to the theory of evolution, the first recorded X-ray photographs, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The “Memory of the World” Programme was established in 1992 to safeguard and promote documentary heritage of outstanding significance to humanity. The new entries highlight the cultural diversity and richness of shared history that deserves preservation for future generations.
The full list of new entries is available on the UNESCO website:
https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/register2025
Compensation Measures for the Avá Guaraní: New Agreement Following Itaipú Dam Displacement
The Avá Guaraní are Indigenous peoples of South America, primarily residing in Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. Members of this group living in the region around the Paraná River were severely affected by a joint project between Brazil and Paraguay—the construction of the Itaipú hydroelectric dam between 1975 and 1984. The dam was intended to generate clean energy, and indeed, the Itaipú complex produces up to 95 terawatt-hours annually, covering around 95% of Paraguay’s electricity demand and approximately 20% of Brazil’s.
Unfortunately, the project’s implementation involved the seizure of inhabited lands and the displacement of tens of thousands of people. For several decades, the affected community—supported by local and international organizations—has been seeking compensation for the losses they have suffered.
According to Amnesty International, on March 24, it was officially agreed that Itaipú Binacional—the institution managing the power plant located on the border of Brazil and Paraguay—will finance the purchase of 3,000 hectares of land in Brazil. The purpose of this acquisition is to restore part of the territory of the Avá Guaraní people, which was taken from them and submerged as a result of the dam’s construction and operation.
Although the community accepts this compensation as a temporary solution, they have stated that it does not even come close to addressing the true scale of the damage they have experienced.
That’s all for this edition of Aurunico News.
Thank you for your attention!