Abstract
In 2011, the Indigenous Purépechan people of Cherán, Mexico began building a social and political movement in response to the destruction of the forest surrounding their community, which was being carried out by cartels in collusion with corrupt municipal officials. Working with a group of Indigenous lawyers, the town successfully fought for the right to autonomous governance, which was secured in 2015. Since then, activists in Cherán have rebuilt their local government and instilled a new spirit of civic participation in the town. In addition to many other forms of action, art making is major component of this work, and an intergenerational collective of local artists has formed in attempts to create and maintain hospitable spaces for artistic learning and collaboration. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with teen and young adult artists in Cherán, I describe how they envision the role of the arts in the social and political life of their community. I show that they attribute the arts with the power to unite the community and preserve and carry forward Purépechan culture. At the same time, there are tensions within the community surrounding the content of public art and who should produce it. While some artists have sought to recuperate pre-colonial aspects of Purepéchan cosmology in their public artworks, this at times has generated controversy among community members who identify as Catholic.
Presenters
Anthony WrightAssistant Professor, Childhood Studies, Rutgers University-Camden, Pennsylvania, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Youth Activism and Art, Indigenous Art, Youth Cultures, Mexico
