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I agree with Frances regarding the important issues she raises. I have
been involved in the Danza Azteca movement since its beginning in 1974.
At that time we young Chicano college students wanted some tie to the
indigenous cultures of Mexico. Some of our carnales had deeply
immersed themselves in the Lakota, Hopi, Chumash, Kumeyaay, and Dine
cultures as a way to identify with their indigenous roots. But most of
these first nations did not have direct links to the indigenous
heritage of Mexico (at least from A.D. 1325 on). Also, many Chicanos
who were U.S. born and did not speak Spanish, felt a distance from the
recent Spanish speaking immigrants.<br>
<br>
Thus when la Danza Azteca arrived through the work of the danza elders
Andres Segura and Florencio Yescas, we Chicanos quickly latched on to
what appeared to be a living link to our indigenous roots as
"Aztecas". Over time from murals, music, literature, theater, to
political ideology, the "Azteca" image, and self-identity permeated
Chicano culture, and spirituality. Even the Catholic church, for
centuries the ambivalent exterminator of precolumbian religion, readily
accepted the "tonantzin" identification of Guadalupe (to better bring
in the Mexican immigrants into the American fold).<br>
<br>
>From the 1980's on, young Chicanos, those that had maintained their
contact with the sun dance, the Native American Church, etc. began to
politicize and take their version of "Aztecaness" to the logical
extreme. Using the name of the Culhua-Tenochca-Mexi'ca of Tenochtitlan
as the ideological Ying for the Spanish Yang of Mexican identity, the
Mexihca movement was born.<br>
<br>
I truly believe that the Mexihca movement is a logical outcome of the
American culture of bipolar identity. That is we against them, black
against white, Christian against heathen, capitalist against communist
(or whatever took its place), red state against blue state. Most of the
followers of these bipolar allegiances leave absolutely no room for the
vast middle ground (Please turn you AM dial to any talk show station
for many sad examples). It is a historic fact that, protestant
millennialism, apocalyptic writings, and messianic cults have
deeply influences the manifest destiny mindset of the U.S. This is
why after three decades of dealing with the most rabid of the follows
of the MM I call them the Mexihca Nazis. They hate anyone and anything
that does not look act, or think like them. If you question their
beliefs, and you are a
Mexican/Chicano/Latino/Hispanic/Mojado/Pollo.....etc. etc., you are
automatically a sell out a traitor and an wannabe white person....
shades of <span class="manchettebig2">Al-Qaeda!</span><br>
<br>
I believe that the Mexihca movement is a logical continuation of this
cultural phenomenon. The inexperience I have had with traditional
people in the U.S. and Mexico has been one of acceptance of
diversity, respect for other value systems, and most importantly of
all, an understanding that we are living in the modern world, not
1491. The kind people I can call family in Second Mesa, Hopiland,
Paguate Pueblo in Laguna, Tepecxictla in Veracruz, and many other
traditional places, have never been as dogmatic, inflexible, and
idealistic as the Mexihca movement followers I have dealt with these
past 32 years.<br>
<br>
<br>
<i>..."Doesn't this disenfranchise (yet again) the many other
indigenous peoples of Mexico? How can the Mixtec farm workers up and
down the west coast of the USA and those of various Mayan ethnic groups
resident in Florida, to cite but two examples,<b> relate to a Mexica
movement?"</b>...</i><br>
<br>
The answer is that they do not. First of all if you ask a
macehualtlahto if he or she is Mexihca, they will say "no I am a
macehaulli" The real Mexihca fades into mestizaje centuries ago. True
someone (like myself) who was born in Mexico City could lay claim to be
a "true Mexihca" by birth. But culturally, Mexico-Tenochtitlan became
a Spanish "city of palaces" by the late 1600's. The last barrio of
Mexihca people, that of San Jose de los Naturales, no longer exists.<br>
The modern Nahuatl (as well as Mazahua, Otomi, Mixteco, Zapoteco, etc.)
speakers of the city are immigrants from the rural states of Mexico.<br>
<br>
<i>As for the million or so Nahuatl-speaking people of today, isn't
appropriating their name and aspects of their language-and-culture
complex also an act of cultural imperialism imposed on them by people
they don't recognize as fellow macehualtin/nahuatlatohqueh?
</i><br>
<br>
Second of all, poetic, revisionist ideology aside, the modern
indigenous people (yes including the Nahuatl speaking people of
Michoacan, Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, Guerrero, Jalisco, etc. etc.)
were the enemies and the victims of Mexihca imperialism. So we do a
double insult to these people by trying to cram them into the Mexihca
movement's bipolar identity and political world view.<br>
<br>
Through my study of the Azteca dance tradition of which I have been a
part of for its first 30 formative years, since its arrival in 1974 to
today when we have the third generation of danzantes being born, I have
come to realize that the "Azteca Dance tradition" is NOT Aztec at all!
It is a beautiful evolution of Chichimeca, Otomi, Puhrepecha,
Tlaxcalteca, Jonaz, and yes Nahua (not Meixihca) precolumbian
traditions AND Spanish Catholicism, and African animism. That is why
the traditional name for "la Danza Azteca" is more in keeping with
reality: La danza Conchera, La danza Chichimeca, la danza de la
conquista. Of course there will be many MNs who will find offense with
my epiphany of la danza.<i><br>
<br>
While the movement you describe has obvious appeal to many people of
Mexican heritage in both the USA and Mexico,<b> I have wondered about
the single-minded focus on the Uto-Aztecan peoples and in particular
the Aztecs. </b></i><br>
<i><br>
</i>About 1989, as part of my work with the Early Academic outreach
Program at UCSD, I went and gave a presentation to some Mixteco high
school students in Fallbrook, CA. There, they and their parents wrked
in the avocado groves that have overrun the dry semi-desert moutnains
of the area. There was at that time three prong ethinc strife at the
local high school Native Ameridcans from the local reservations
against the Chicano/Mexicano students, and both these groups against
the recent Mixteco immigrants who the Chicano students disparagingly
called "Oaxacas". A young Mexihca Nazi type was wroking with them, and
I sat and listend to his presentation where he brow beat the Mixteco
students for not following their "ancient Mexihca ways!" He put down
their language because it was not Nahuatl, and he told them that they
need to follwo the teachings of s "traditonal Azteca Elder" who lived
in L.A. and who knwe the secret and ancient wisdom that had been handed
down from Cuautemoc. His cultural imerpialsim, lack of sensitivity to
the immigrant youths struggles and their pride in the Mixteco culture
was offensive. He was more imperialistic and racist thatn the white
studentss and staff of the high school that tormented the Mixteco kids
on a daily basis.<i><br>
</i><br>
One of the sad experiences I had in the summer Nahuatl Institute in
Zacatecas ( an incredible learning experience I might add: <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.idiez.org.mx">www.idiez.org.mx</a>
) was when I sat in to listen to the Macehual students from Veracruz,
San Luis Potosi, and Hidalgo discuss their definitions for the upcoming
Nahuatl dictionary for Nahuatl speakers.<br>
When the definition of Macehual came up there was a discussion of who
was a macehual (an indigenous person) and who was a coyomeh (non
indigenous people)<br>
one person said that a Macehual was a person born in Mexico who had
indigenous blood. John Sullivan pointed to me and said I was born in
"el D.F." and I obviously had indigenous blood, so way I a macehual?
The answer was a unanimous "axcana" ...no. I and all Chicanos are
Coyomeh, like whites, and blacks, and Asians, because I did not speak
an indigenous language from birth, did not live an indigenous life, and
did not understand the indigenous world view that permeates the daily
lives of the Macehualmeh. I was devastated! I had been an "Azteca"
dancer for 32 years, studied Nahuatl language, thought, culture,
medicine, food, music..... and yet I was not better than the man
selling T-shirts outside the Super bowl... But the students went on to
say that John and I, as well as the other students who where their for
the summer course were "cualli coyomeh" good outsiders.... and that
was the key. Coyomeh does not mean "white" or "hated evil white devil"
as I have heard some Mexihca Nazis claim. it simply means an outsider,
one who does not belong to the local world view. Even an indigenous
person can be a coyomeh. as an example, a Maya from Palenque is a
coyomeh in Chicontepec, Veracruz. <br>
<br>
To fantasize that all indigenous people like and love each other, and
live in a uotpoia, is to negate the human natuer of indigenous poeple
and to put them on that same tired old bipolar pedestal of "noble
savage"<br>
<br>
Thus the new indigenous immigrant cannot be expected to jump in head
first into a political and idealogical movement that does not
reflect their culture back home, claims to be the ONLY TRUE path to
self-determination, AND preaches hatred and imperialism. On the
contrary, My experience has been that many recent immigrants look to
the Catholic church, and and the ever growing Latino evangelical
churches, for community, support and economic stability.<br>
<br>
<i>"...The term "Meso-America"--while literally meaning the same
thing--has been used for a long time to refer to the well-defined
culture area ranging from northern Mexico through El Salvador and
Nicaragua. </i><i>Within this ancient area, into which the Nahuah
were late arrivals, there are many unrelated indigenous languages but
many shared cultural features.</i>..."<br>
<br>
I know several persons of Peruvian, Salvadoran, Guatemalteco, and
Costarican heritage that call themselves Chicano. Some even practice
the Azteca dance tradition can call it their "ancient heritage" I
believe that the many shared cultural features of modern Latin America,
as evolving within the U.S. have created a modern "mesoamerica"
identity. At the far left extreme are the Mexihca Nazis, who want to
"take back their land" (never mind that it was not the white Mexican
elite's land to give away, sell or lose in the first place.... it
belonged to the indigenous nations that first Spain, then Mexico, and
last the U.S. plundered and exterminated...). They sit in the same
penalty box that Al-Qaeda, the fundamentalist Jews, Christians, Hindus
White/black/brown supremicists, etc. sit in. Then on the extreme far
right are the Hispanics. They are the people who have "made it" by
their own "individual effort " (never mind the racism, and cultural
genocide, and identity theft they had to endure). They have arrived at
the holy grail of "the American dream"... the middle class, that speaks
without any "foreign accent" They see "Hispanic" culture as something
to roll out on cinco de Mayo, or Hispanic heritage month. They are not
interested in indigenous thought, culture, identity or politics,
because they (at least in their mind) have overcome, surpassed or left
behind this rather frightening (due to its dark brown skin and black
hair) identity in favor of the eminently marketable blond Shikira, J.L0
and Paulina Rubio.<br>
<br>
It is in the great middle ground, where people of all colors,
ethnicities, religions sexual preferences, and languages, create and
evolve the dynamic realities of 21st century culture. As poeple who
are deeply interested in the legacy, development and survival of the
"mesoamerican" indigenous people, AND their cultural, spiritual and
genetic link to the modern world, we must keep in mind that any
extremist ideology, on the left or the right, ultimately leads to
nihilism.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
mario<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.mexicayotl.org">www.mexicayotl.org</a><br>
<i>I live for reasoned, enlightened spirituality.</i><br>
<br>
<br>
Frances Karttunen wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid7d86e6dbf77d86f707346e15b10a846e@nantucket.net"
type="cite">I certainly agree with many points in your paper, but I
also think your bibliography needs expansion, and the place to start
would be with James Lockhart's big book, The Nahuas After the Conquest.
<br>
<br>
While the movement you describe has obvious appeal to many people of
Mexican heritage in both the USA and Mexico, I have wondered about the
single-minded focus on the Uto-Aztecan peoples and in particular the
Aztecs. Doesn't this disenfranchise (yet again) the many other
indigenous peoples of Mexico? How can the Mixtec farm workers up and
down the west coast of the USA and those of various Mayan ethnic groups
resident in Florida, to cite but two examples, relate to a Mexica
movement?
<br>
<br>
As for the million or so Nahuatl-speaking people of today, isn't
appropriating their name and aspects of their language-and-culture
complex also an act of cultural imperialism imposed on them by people
they don't recognize as fellow macehualtin/nahuatlatohqueh?
<br>
<br>
Also, it seems that you are equating "Mexican" and "Central American"
in your paper, but most people use "Central America" to refer to the
countries south of Mexico through Panama. The term
"Meso-America"--while literally meaning the same thing--has been used
for a long time to refer to the well-defined culture area ranging from
northern Mexico through El Salvador and Nicaragua. Within this ancient
area, into which the Nahuah were late arrivals, there are many
unrelated indigenous languages but many shared cultural features.
<br>
<br>
Frances Karttunen
<br>
<br>
<br>
On Apr 14, 2006, at 7:15 PM, David Becraft wrote:
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">I just finished a research paper for my
Anthropology 301 class with Dr. Anne Chambers of Southern Oregon
University. Please review it and critique it at:
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://panchobecraft.blogspot.com/">http://panchobecraft.blogspot.com/</a>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
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