The Kumeyaay people make their home in southern California and northern Mexico, their lives separated by an international border that has posed challenges on both sides.

The Kumeyaay in the U.S. were forced to small reservations but they have maintained their sovereignty through relations with the federal government. In Mexico, however, it's the language and the traditions, like basket weaving, that have survived.

"When people from the California communities meet Kumeyaay from Baja they say, 'This is how we lived 50 or 100 years ago,' " anthropologist Mike Wilken told The Los Angeles Times.

Wilken is encouraging Kumeyaay elders in Mexico like Teodora Cuero, 90, and Beatriz Carrillo, 58, to pass on their culture to new generations. Carillo has visited the Viejas Band in California to teach about basket weaving.

Get the Story:
Ancient ways and modern times (The Los Angeles Times 9/27)