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Author Rodríguez, Roberto Cintli, 1954-

Title Our Sacred Maíz is Our Mother : Indigeneity and Belonging in the Americas / Roberto Cintli Rodríguez ; with Paula Domingo Olivares, Irma Tzirin Socop, Francisco Pos, Alicia Seyler, Mama Angelbertha Cobb, Tata Cuaxtle Felix Evodio, Luz Maria de la Torre, and Maria Molina
Published Tucson : University of Arizona Press, 2014

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Description 1 online resource
Contents List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; A Note on Translation; Cente Tlakatl Ke Cente Cintli -- Paula Domingo Olivares; Prologue; Introduction: Okichike ka Centeotzintli; Maíz Sagrado -- Francisco Pos and Irma Tzirin Socop; Chapter 1. Spiritual Colonization: A Totalizing Reframing Project; Zazanil Xilotl Huehue Tlahtolli -- Tata Cuaxtle Félix Evodio; Chapter 2. Maíz Narratives and Counternarratives: When "Our Story" Begins; ¡Qué Buenas las Gorditas Rellenas! -- Maestra Angelbertha Cobb; Chapter 3. The Aztlanahuac Maps; Saramamalla (Ñukanchik Mamashina) -- Luz María de la Torre
Chapter 4. Maíz as Civilizational Impulse and the Tortilla as Symbol of Cultural ResistanceThe Elements to Create -- María Molina Vai Sevoi; Chapter 5. Primary Process and Principio: A Return to the Root; En el Umbral de la Agonía del Maíz Azul -- Verónica Castillo Hernández; Chapter 6. Axis Mundi: From Aztlan to Maíz; Epilogue: Resistance/Creation Culture and Seven Maíz-Based Values; Ohoyo Osh Chisba -- Alicia Seyler, Choctaw; The Children of La Llorona; Appendix 1. Nahua-Maya Expressions; Appendix 2. Abbreviated Bibliocartography; Appendix 3. The Aztlanahuac Interviews; Notes; References
Summary "'If you want to know who you are and where you come from, follow the maíz.' That was the advice given to author Roberto Cintli Rodriguez when he was investigating the origins and migrations of Mexican peoples in the Four Corners region of the United States. Follow it he did, and his book Our Sacred Maíz Is Our Mother changes the way we look at Mexican Americans. Not so much peoples created as a result of war or invasion, they are people of the corn, connected through a seven-thousand-year old maíz culture to other Indigenous inhabitants of the continent. Using corn as the framework for discussing broader issues of knowledge production and history of belonging, the author looks at how corn was included in codices and Mayan texts, how it was discussed by elders, and how it is represented in theater and stories as a way of illustrating that Mexicans and Mexican Americans share a common culture. Rodriguez brings together scholarly and traditional (elder) knowledge about the long history of maíz/corn cultivation and culture, its roots in Mesoamerica, and its living relationship to Indigenous peoples throughout the continent, including Mexicans and Central Americans now living in the United States. The author argues that, given the restrictive immigration policies and popular resentment toward migrants, a continued connection to maíz culture challenges the social exclusion and discrimination that frames migrants as outsiders and gives them a sense of belonging not encapsulated in the idea of citizenship. The "hidden transcripts" of corn in everyday culture--art, song, stories, dance, and cuisine (maíz-based foods like the tortilla)--have nurtured, even across centuries of colonialism, the living maíz culture of ancient knowledge."-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Mexicans -- Ethnic identity
Mexican Americans -- Ethnic identity.
Corn -- Social aspects -- Four Corners Region
Indians of North America -- Agriculture -- Four Corners Region
Indians of North America -- Food -- Four Corners Region
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Ethnic Studies -- Hispanic American Studies.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
Corn -- Social aspects
Indians of North America -- Agriculture
Indians of North America -- Food
Mexican Americans -- Ethnic identity
Mexicans -- Ethnic identity
United States -- Four Corners Region
Form Electronic book
ISBN 1322097038
9781322097039
9780816598649
0816598649