Return to Indo-Hispano Cultural Legacy Index Page
THE INDO-HISPANO CULTURAL LEGACY OF NEW MEXICO
Alburquerque Teachers' Institute Seminar - June 2000
Prof. Enrique R. Lamadrid
MANIFESTO
The Hispanic cultural legacy in New Mexico stems from the formal imperial projects of religion, language, and government plus numerous of Iberian folk culture that took root in a new setting. The dynamics of Native American accommodation and resistance to this project have created a varied and complex cultural landscape. The synthesis of Native American and Spanish Mexican cultures that have evolved along the upper Río Grande is unique in Spanish America. Unlike other regions where Native groups were subjugated and assimilated, a true cultural plurality developed in New Mexico.
Two cultural interfaces will be studied: relations with Pueblo Indian cultures before and after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, and relations with the nomadic cultures (Apache, Navajo, Comanche, Ute) which surrounded New Mexico. Victims, captives, and orphans of the warfare with nomadic groups were the source of the emergent Genízaro (detribalized, hispanicized) class.
Indo-Hispanic culture defines itself in its own folk traditions and collective expressions. This field based seminar on the cultural history of New Mexico will survey the oral tradition, music, dance, popular religion, and fiestas as manifestations of regional interculturality. Two major regional ritual traditions will be studied: the Matachines dance drama, and the Comanche celebrations. Questions of identity and ethnicity will be explored from the colonial era to the present.
THEMES
-Constructing the Other: Spanish and Native American Mutual Perceptions
in the 16th Century
-Noble and Ignoble Savages and the Conquest of New Mexico
-The Popular Culture of Warfare and Reconciliation
-Regional Celebrations of Cultural Otherness: Los Matachines and Los Comanches
-Genízaro Consciousness: the Emergence of a People
-"Las Inditas" - Intercultural Musical Traditions of New Mexico
-The American Occupation: the Naturalization of "El Norte" into "The Great
Southwest"
ASSIGNMENTS
-Readings: were completed before the seminar began. Review of readings
corresponded to the thematic progression of the seminar.
-Experiential Assignments: were completed on each field trip.
-Examinations: no written exams were given, but each seminar participant was in charge of
one seminar.
-Curriculum Development: each participant will wrote a curriculum unit, according to
published Albuquerque Teachers Institute guidelines. In addition, a final oral
presentation was made based on the curriculum.
FIELD TRIPS
In keeping with the experiential framework of the seminar, a total of nine classes were held off-campus, with three full day and three half-day trips. Each field trip had its own worksheet of experiential assignments to be completed on site. Seminar participants were encouraged to develop their own age-appropriate assignments for their own students for the same trips.
6/1 Coronado Monument
Kuaua Pueblo explored and Pueblo culture at the
time of Spanish contact was the theme.