Monday, October 18, 2021
Mexico's new culture war: decolonizing or rewriting history?
Los Angeles Times: A replica of the Great Temple of the Aztecs, about a third of the size of the original, rose from the floor of the central square of Mexico’s capital this summer like a gargantuan child’s toy, more than 50 feet high, a gleaming form smack in front of the baroque National Palace. At night, the pyramid’s slanting white walls became a video-mapping screen that told a dramatic animated story of the rise and fall of the Mexica, or Aztec Empire — an event that took place 500 years ago, right on this spot in a city on a lake that was once called Tenochtitlan.
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3 comments:
To me, this article speaks to a publication’s ability to rewrite a narrative. It is true, just this summer Mexico erected a replica of the Templo Mayor pyramid to commemorate 500 years since the Spanish conquest. A pyramid on which the designers projected the 500 year old story of resistance against the Spanish. What the article fails to document, however, is the response of the Mexican public. For us, the Templo Mayor replica was nothing but a joke. Especially when you consider the actual Templo Mayor laid feet away from the cheap copy. Yes, you read that right. The Aztec temple from which the replica was made still exists and can be found on the Zocalo plaza buried amongst layers and layers of trash – for it has not been given proper maintenance in years. Thus, the replica soon became a meme across the population. And that is what shocked me about the reading, the way in which Daniel Hernandez rewrote the narrative.
Before I get into it, I'd just like to say that I don't know much about the issue of cultural history in Mexico aside from what I've read in this article. However, looking at my classmate Alex's comment, the author appears to have a more favorable view of the Templo Mayor replica than was held by the general public, so I will take the article with a grain of salt. Still, it raises some interesting points about how we talk about history, and what elements of culture we choose to embrace and which we choose to ignore. The history of a country's culture is also the history of its people, and how we represent that culture in the media has a real impact on politics and life. So it's possible that creating a replica of the Templo Mayor affects how the public thinks about Indigenous populations in Mexico, and how those populations are treated. It's important to ask how our actions affect the world around us when discussing history.
I think re-centering indigenous history over the history of colonizers that has dominated museums and monuments is the right path for Mexico and other parts of the world. At the same time, I can see why the way it is being done feels hollow. I do not quite understand why there would be a replica of Templo Mayor made when you can still visit the actual monument. I don’t think recentering indigenous history has to mean building anything new, nor should it mean commodifying the culture. I also think people who argue that we need to leave up statues of Columbus so as to not re-write history are simply making excuses. Yes, we should not forget the way that we have revered horrible people, but I think replacing the statue and including in the plaque the year the statue was erected and what is replaced does way more good than leaving up a statue of Columbus could ever do.
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