photo from the New York Times
Although I don’t love the term ‘Hispanics,’ I connected with this article on many levels. I’m very interested in how people identify themselves on the census (much of my solo show explores the ever-changing ‘racial’ categories on the U.S. census). I also had the wonderful opportunity to play a Nahuatl woman (an indigenous culture mostly located in Central Mexico) in a performance at Cal State LA during my MFA program. Also as an ESL teacher, I’ve had a lot of Mexican students who are proud of their indigenous roots. I always encourage them to both learn to be fluent in ESL, and also to hold strong to the cultures and traditions from which they came – this article gives me hope that that is, in fact, what is happening!
New York Times article link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/04/nyregion/more-hispanics-in-us-calling-themselves-indian.html?_r=1
Thanks to Glenn Robinson (mixedamericanlife.wordpress.com) for this comment and edit to the post: Nahuatl is the language spoken by the Nahua people. They are more commonly referred to as Aztecs.
Glenn Robinson October 14, 2013
Hi Fanshen! Congrats on this new blog!
There is a new site that is focused on teaching Amerindian history, achievements, and culture. The site is nicantlaca.com
PS – Nahuatl is the language spoken by the Nahua people. They are more commonly referred to as Aztecs.
Staff Fanshen October 14, 2013
Thanks Glenn! We’re interested in it feeling like a community space, so we really appreciate your interaction (we’re still trying to figure out how to allow comments without getting an overwhelming amount of spam – any advice you can lend is much appreciated). I’ll make some edits to this post – thanks for the info.