Kumeyaay historian Ethan Banegas Luiseño-Kumeyaay (SDSU-American Indian Studies) discusses the process to develop a community-engaged comic that speaks from the perspective of the Kumeyaay people. This comic is a way to tell stories of Kumeyaay people from past to present and engage with their own communities, schools, and beyond. Hear more about how tribal historians are driving the work of this visual storytelling project as a creative team brings it to life.
About Ethan Ethan grew up on the Barona Reservation in San Diego County. He received his Bachelor of Arts in History, Religious Studies, and Political Science in 2009 and his Master of Arts degree in History in 2017 from the University of San Diego (USD). Banegas is owner of Kumeyaay.com and Historian for the San Diego History Center, which operates the Junípero Serra Museum. He was first published in 2017 (Indian Gaming in the Kumeyaay Nation). In 2020, he published the Kumeyaay Oral History Project, a community-based research project, after collecting thirty-three personal interviews, video-taped oral histories, and photographs from San Diego’s First People. In 2024, he published two comics—“Beyond Gaming” and “Our Past, Present, and Future”—and served as project director and author of the Kumeyaay Visual Storytelling Project. Through these community-based projects, Professor Banegas collected the voice of the Kumeyaay people, giving a voice to the voiceless.