#i learned alot from this ep and it was interesting/important to hear both a queer zapoteca educator and an indigenous scholar talk abt this | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

reanimatedgh0ul · 11 months ago

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since dia de los muertos got mentioned on the tl yesterday bc of that dp post i rb i highly recommend listening to this podcast ep to learn more abt the history of how dia de los muertos and how it's actually been thoroughly bastardized in our modern day both in the u.s. and mexico and has strayed far away from the indigenous communities it originated from

#i learned alot from this ep and it was interesting/important to hear both a queer zapoteca educator and an indigenous scholar talk abt this #from their perspective as indigenous ppl #it was wild finding out that dia de los muertos was brought to u.s. not thru mexican immigrants #but thru an italian american catholic nun in LA who ran the self help graphics which consisted of mostly chicanos #after introducing to film abt dia de los muertos that's where they got the idea to send those artists to oaxaca #to see how the ppl there celebrated it and the aesthetic of it and bring back to u.s.#the speakers mention that while this might have likely been way for these artists to reconnect bc they have roots in mexico #they didn't necessarily have connections to the communities they were observing and ended up ultimately stealing from #bc regardless of intent this is still a form of cultural appropriation #and it's honestly a symptom of a larger issue w/n the community when it comes both the diaspora and ppl living in mexico #bc of this prevailing notion that we are all mestizo and/or indigenous when that's not true #it's ultimately a mindset that actively harms actual indigenous ppl living in mexico who are still actively having their cultures be stolen #and/or erased and fighting for their rights and recognition from the country at large #even if some mexicans have indigenous ancestry they're still not culturally indigenous #that matters bc mexico has and still continues to adopt aspects of indigenous cultures but exclude indigenous ppl #it's the commodification of indigeneity basically #so when it naturally spread to different parts of u.s and they started introducing aztec dancing to it #(which i can only assume was bc dia de los muertos can traced back to the aztecs and maybe that's why it got added #but even then just bc ur mexican don't mean u have connection to the aztecs again going back to the 'we are all indigenous' myth)#this eventually leads to the face painting and ppl dressing up like calaveras and catrinas that you now see today #and one of the ppl hosting this ep mentioned how when it came to the face painting while it is a thing in mexico nowadays #this wasn't a thing according to where this person grew up in mexico #mexico obviously adopted bc it's just as capitalist as the states and will profit off indigenous cultures/the aesthetics of it #so when it look how commercialized the celebration in the u.s. w party city selling catrina costumes #stores like michaels and target selling decorations #hell disney making coco the fact they wanted to trademark dia de los muertos and when researching for the film #profited of the real life stories of oaxacans who were never compensated btw #like when you take in the full picture it's no longer a surprise of how we got here #robi rambles

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