Speedy's Blog: A trip to Mexico

Hello, I'm Atsuko NIITSU. I post my entry here for the first time. I went to Mexico City, Oaxaca last week to see Mexican arts including mural arts, día de los muertos with my friend who researches Meso-american culture. My friend is from Oaxaca, she came to US when she was 6 years old with her family. She always tells me Oaxaca is her home. That’s why I went there with her. It was extremely diverse experience to me.
Already I crossed Japan-Us border by plane from overseas, but at this time, I crossed Mexico-US border which is already connected by land. I thought how strong National border is. Such a national border is usually based on a certain national image. I am not a nationalist at all, however, I feel Japanese nationality & relative economic sustainability help me a lot to live safely especially outside of Japan for good or bad. Also I am discovering now how I was unconscious of borders, or my contradictions about my identities through recent experiences I think.

At first, I stayed in Mexico City, I went to the National Museum of Anthropology and History which was built in 1939 (http://www.mna.inah.gob.mx/index.html). I think each exhibitions show how diverse, rich Meso-American cultures were. They had such sophisticated systems of exchanges, collaborations, communications among different indigenous groups with different languages, also various and products, art works. I saw some phrases of poems that keep stimulating Mexican heritages, that is “ La Mexicanidad” for example Jaime Torres Bodet’s one. "Valor y confianza ante el porvenir hallan los pueblos en la grandeza de su pasado. Mexicano, contémplate en el espejo de esa grandeza. Comprueba aquí, extranjero, la unidad del destino humano. Pasan las civilizaciones, pero en los hombres quedará siempre la gloria de que otros hombres hayan luchado para erigirlas.”

The entrance ticket on Sunday was free for Mexicans, but I needed pay it because I was not a national student. I thought the idea was parts of making Imaginary Mexicanidad. I saw the huge national flag on the Plaza Zocaro, and My friend who lives DF told me Mexican radio put National anthem so many times during a day. This way of making Mexicanidad can be said about Mural Arts. Mexican Murals tell a lot of diverse histories of hidden working, indigenous peoples, daily life under colonialism. Those historical narratives still empower Mexican cultures to be rich. I thought Internal diverse histories, cultures make one imagined community, and they can be proud of their diversities.

The events of día de los muertos also had various diversity. Each cities had different celebrations, usually in countryside, or town, they decolarte alters with family pics, go to cemetery, church, exchange foods, candles, fruits, pan, among neiborhood and family etc. In Oaxaca city, there were many Art galleries. Inside of Galleries, they show unique alters and try to show their respect to ancestors, but at the same time they recreate alters in the contemporary ways.

I saw many art Works in Oaxaca. Major themes are migration or politics, concerns for lands either conciously, or uncouciously. I think these interests of the land, like “ tierra y libertad” is quite typical in Latin American countries, because I didn’t have any idea like that, for example. One of the artists I was interested in was Alejandro Santiago. He made migrants sculptures. http://www.alejandrosantiago.com.mx/. His Art “2501 migrantes” which show the death toll of migrate between Mexico and US, indicates powerful, unstoppable push-flow of immigrants from Mexico to US even it is danger to cross the border.

Sometimes Mexican family never be able to live together even some keep send money to Mexico from US. Diversities are likely to make power order. If people are extremely different, it is easy to make power structures, too, I think. Therefore indigenous languages also integrate to Spanish. That is the logic of the strong, this logic encourages internal colonization, too. I think people who wants to go to the Humanization Path, should keep an eye on this cycle. At the same time, it is necessary to think about conditions of humanization, very carefully, too.

Although Mexico has such a diverse culture, I saw Mexicans took long time to pass the US airport immigration. I felt a Japanese Passport still has a credibility even after radioactivities escape in abundance, I am not sure until when such a Japanese image will be kept, though. One thing I very understood through this trip is positions make their images, understanding. Understanding changes dramatically by one’s positioning. It is one thing I can’t think about only as an individual matter.