ABOUT ME
My name is Mercedes Annaís.
I am a Dominican knowledge-keeper, educator, storyteller, spiritual practitioner, and third-generation activist. I was born in Washington Heights and spent my early years between New York and the Dominican Republic. In 2012, I decided to make the leap and planted myself firmly in the DR, where I’ve been living, working, organizing, and creating ever since. Since moving to the DR, my life has been a continuous journey of communion with my Elders and the land, deepening my political and spiritual practices.
LINEAGES
As a Dominican of mixed Afro-Indigenous and colonizer roots, through me, my ancestors tell a story of displacement, resistance, and survival. Naming my ancestry is important to me, both as a way to honor my culture and state to which communities I am accountable.
I am descended from Sephardic Jews forced to leave Spain in the 1500s and the Indigenous Arawakan Dominicans of the interior chiefdoms who resisted these first waves of European settlement. It's harder to trace my African roots due to slavery and colonization, but my great-great-grandparents were free Black Cocolos from Saint Thomas who moved to the Dominican Republic in the 1800s. Throughout the centuries, my family has rooted itself in Santo Domingo, Santiago, Samaná, Tenares, and Monte Cristi.
To name my ancestors is to remember that I did not get here alone; I stand on the shoulders of giants, fighters, mothers, doctors, teachers, earth workers, survivors. I am a Good Tree, they are my forest, theirs is the message I have come to seed the world with.
MY NAMES
I refer to myself using several names, some are cultural variations of my government name. Others were given to me at birth at different moments of my life by relatives or Elders.
- Mercedes Annaís - Given to me at birth by my mother. It pays homage to my maternal grandmother, Mercedes Antonia. Both names speak of ones full of grace and mercy. The Virgin of the Mercedes is my namesake; syncretized with the orisha Obatala, Mercedes is one of the patron saints of the Dominican Republic and is considered a defender of the enslaved, the oppressed, and the Indigenous. Please note that the e's are soft e's, there is no hard a sound in my name. It's Mehr-ceh-dehs NOT Mer-say-deez. If you truly cannot pronounce this name, please use another you can pronounce.
- Mechi/Mechy - These are diminutives of my government name. Meh-chee (please note there is no N in my name).
- Little Spider - Given to me at birth by my uncle because I had a very small body with long legs like a spider. When my temper flared up, my paternal grandmother called me Kakata or Kakatica for little tarantula. Tarantulas are a slow moving endemic spider - unless bothered - then it moves quickly to deliver painful venomous bites. I carry these names with pride as a weaver of stories and community connections and a keeper of a righteous rage passed down through the generations.
- Good Tree/Buen Árbol - An elder in my community named me Good Tree because she said my ancestors must be very proud to see what a Good Tree had grown from their seeds. I like the idea of being a tree born from the seeds of my ancestors' dreams, and of seeding the future, too. Trees are some of our oldest relatives. They do the work of cleaning the air, enriching and protecting the soil from erosion, and redistributing resources across the forest, offering wisdom simply by existing. In our indigenous traditions, trees can connect medicine workers to the Dead and share their secrets with those who listen deeply.
ACTIVISM
I’m proud to carry the legacy of three generations of struggle and over 530 years of resistance. I am a third-generation activist and second-generation health worker. My grandmother fought against the American occupation in '65, and my parents were student-activists who studied to become doctors (though they were never able to practice). My activism practice centers decolonization and the living history of Ayiti. It asks what identity and nationality really mean, rejecting the idea that we are defined by flags and borders. My work is a big, unapologetic ‘fuck you’ to the colonizers who tried to erase us, change our histories, and make us forget who we are. My art, activism, and writing are my tools in the fight against the lies that make us hate ourselves, our bodies, and our neighbors. It is a declaration that we are still here, we are past, present, and future; and we will not be erased or forgotten.
My personal history with activism is long, I started my first petition at 8 and went to my first protest at 12. Today, with over twenty years of experience under my belt, I participate in direct actions, civil disobedience, public education, organizing workers in the tourism industry, and mutual aid fundraising. In 2014, I was part of direct actions protesting the non-indictment of the police officer responsible for murdering Eric Garner in NYC. For days I used my own body to block bridges, highways, and streets alongside other protestors. I was arrested for my efforts. In 2016, I organized Cabarete's first LGBTQ pride event, raising funds to support local queer organizations in the Dominican Republic. In 2017, after Trump’s election, I left my life in the DR to join the fight for immigrant rights for a year while helping to doula my grandmother as she passed out of this realm. In 2023, I flew to NYC and helped get my friends to the March on Washington for Palestine, protesting Israel’s illegal occupation and genocide of Palestinians. I am proud to tirelessly advocate and agitate for the world I want to live in. I walk with my Dead and Spirits who believe the earth will be inherited by those of us who have been stewarding and fighting for it for millennia. They give me the strength to continue.
Right now, I am helping my community fight against a power plant a private company wants to build in our backyard, which would contaminate our land. [Learn more about that here].
PRAXIS
I step to my liberation work without all the answers but rooted in a firm commitment to deep listening and unlearning, to naming and unpacking the areas where I have privilege (proximity to whiteness, global north citizenship, size, etc.) and understanding how they intersect and interact with my marginalized identities (being queer, disabled, and chronically ill, etc). This actively informs my actions, my relationships, and my approach to community-building as I practice non-violent communication, de-escalation, and understanding the ways in which colonial programming can insidiously impact every aspect of our internal world. It is important to me for my politics to live outside of my mind as an embodied practice where intentional actions meet core values. While it's impossible to move through the world without causing harm, I believe in radical transparency and accountability, in dialogue, ceremony, and constant learning, as ways to repair harm and do better.
SPIRITUAL PATH
I walk with the vulture and the hummingbird, Death and the Dead, the trees, water medicine, hurricanes, the Virgen de la Altagracia and de las Mercedes, among others. I am a kind of Dominican root worker and card reader, versed in the medicinal and magical properties of plants and curios, and how to harness them for various purposes. This knowledge has been studied, shared in communion with other practitioners, and passed down to me by my Elders, including my mother who is a healer trained both in western and Ayurvedic medicine. I have also spent over a decade practicing and teaching yoga. In 2022, I completed a 200-Hr training with Integral Yoga, a lineage started by a student of Swami Sivananda. I also did a year of study under Susanna Barkataki in her yearlong Yoga Class Curator container. My practice is rooted in gentle, restorative movement that draws on all five limbs of yoga, not just physical poses/asana. Learn more about my spiritual offerings here.
GRATITUDE STATEMENT
All glory and thanks go to the Creator, to my land of Ayiti, to my ancestors, and to the spirits who guide and walk with me. I also name and thank my teachers: the Elders, the children, and the Earth kin—the trees, vultures, winds, and waters—whose medicines I am proud to keep and share.
Make the Work Sustainable: Direct Support
Much of my work exists in the realm of the unpaid. In my community, my services are often bartered for or paid for in non-monetary ways. Collecting Elder stories and sharing ancestral knowledge is my passion, but it doesn't pay the bills. That doesn't mean that the work isn't essential, just that it is undervalued in a racist, colonial system. You can support me in doing this work by making a direct donation. These donations go to paying for equipment, travel fees, and often times gets redistributed to members of my community when crises arise. If you learn from me or love what I do, please consider making a donation so we can be in reciprocal relationship. Even symbolic donations of $1 or $3 are appreciated.