Wounaan Indigenous people have opposed illegal rosewood logging and centuries of exploitation with wisdom and beauty

We highlight ways to celebrate Wounaan wisdom, joy, beauty and resistance while discussing centuries of taking from Indigenous communities.

By: Julie Velásquez Runk, Wake Forest University; Smithsonian Institution; University of Michigan; Chenier Carpio Opua, Indigenous Knowledge, and Doris Cheucarama Membache, Indigenous Knowledge, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: August 5, 2026

Words: 1,891

Last Updated: 1 week, 6 days ago

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By Julie Velásquez Runk, Wake Forest University; Smithsonian Institution; University of Michigan; Chenier Carpio Opua, Indigenous Knowledge, and Doris Cheucarama Membache, Indigenous Knowledge

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For millennia, the Wounaan people, who live in parts of what is now Panama and Colombia, have hewn and sculpted various woods. Cocobolo rosewood, Dalbergia retusa, is particularly favored for carving ceremonial staffs used in traditional medicine and commercial art depicting tropical plants and animals.

Wounaan are just some …

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