Analysis Of The Sun Dance And The Aztec Dance

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The three articles included in this unit focus on representations of what can be called ‘Mexicanidad’. The three elements under discussion are used to identify Mexicans in the eye of others (Aztec dance, chili, the aquatic commerce of Xochimilco and Chalco), from a historical perspective and also discussing the way the community –Mexican in particular, and Latino in general- connects to their historical past through iconic symbols like the aforementioned. Garner (2009) explores Aztec dance in the context of its connection to the Sun Dances of United States and focuses her discussion on the contrasting political identity of the dancers. Although the Sun Dance and the Aztec Dance share similar roots and both of them seem to have become more…show more content…
For Aztec dancers, Conquest is a complex concept. It is not only associated to European and Euroamerican dominance, as it is in the case of American Indians in the United States, but to a certain sense of liberation. Before the Spaniards, there were indigenous groups that dominated the others, most of the times by means of war and cruelty. The Conquest, for Mexican Indians was a way to build on a new society, the Conquest was, beyond military, cultural; and it set the grounds for mestizaje, the cultural syncretism which is the root of our present society, in which we still have our Aztec dances, or variants such as Matachines, in Señora de Guadalupe…show more content…
Commerce, art, health, political organization; every aspect of their lives is related to what happens in and about the lakes. Lake-born transportation and life has overcome every challenge faced: the pre Conquest context, the presence of the Spaniards and their attempts to modernize and change the ways, and even modernity. We can still find activities reminiscent from those of hundreds of years ago and canoes are still as important as in the 18th century records of Villaseñor y Sánchez. The third symbol to discuss is chili. What is more Mexican than chili? And yet…it is not only Mexican! Bolivia is considered the paradise of chili, especially because that is where more varieties can be found. Nevertheless, whenever chili or Mexicans are discussed, they are pictured them together, intrinsically related. Historical records refer Columbus, having arrived to America mistakenly believing it was India, called this strange fruit ‘peppers’, and considered them easier to get and more savory than the pepper grains they used to get from

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