In about 48 hours I'll be arriving to Mexico City. Even though only a few months have passed, I feel like I've been gone for years. I am very excited to go back to the place I have called home for all my life, and for the first time, know that it is just vacations. Leaving out my family, friends and food, what I'm most excited about is how out of place I'm going to feel. I'm going to be able to look at my city from a different lens, almost as an outsider. Especially after this week's discussions on "The Other" and the Conquest.
Both Miranda's and Mimi's posts made me reflect a lot about the relation between what we are taught and the real narrative. Miranda focuses on Thanksgiving and the education she received in Massachusetts. I can agree that my experience with history education is similar, as Westernized ideology tends to be the loudest voice. There is a common trend to leave out the "uncomfortable" facts of colonization, to the point where the Spanish explorers/colonizers can be praised as heroes. The process of colonization in Mexico, just as in many other former colonies, should not be oversimplified in the history textbooks. The "simplification" of facts many times has served oppressive and classist governments to rise and further divide the people. Personally, I'm a very religious person and a practicing Catholic. Yet, I'm also aware of the way it has been manipulated to legitimize horrible actions. Mimi's post talks about the ways religion was perceived by the Aztecs and the Spanish. The influence of these perceptions has impacted Mexico's history for years. On one hand, we are a country who proudly recognizes the division of state and church, of religion and education. On the other, we are a country culturally attached to Catholicism, the after life and other spiritually focused traditions. Depending on how it is presented by the politicians, Catholicism can create an internal "Otherness" or unite the population. These manipulation on religion, bordering the suppression of the people's free-will, are also instruments that can be used by governments to control the people. What I'm trying to get to with all of these is the importance of education. And with education I'm not just referring to the one imparted by the government. People in Mexico, and all over the world, should have the resources available to objectively inform themselves. While I recognize this as an ambitious statement, there are may steps we can take to get closer to it. Being open-minded is the first one, and I'll try my best once I'm back home for the break. I want to end the post with a quote from one of my favorite filmmakers and, even though it is not deep or complicated, it depicts a reality of today's political environment. “Now more than ever we need to talk to each other, to listen to each other and understand how we see the world[...]” – Martin Scorsese
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AlonsoI'm from Mexico City. I love cooking and eating Mexican food. Archives
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