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Norma writes for Selvedge Magazine
Issue #109 -- Rise Up, November 2022
Norma Writes for Selvedge Latin Issue #89
Why We Left, Expat Anthology: Norma’s Personal Essay
Norma Contributes Two Chapters!
- Norma Schafer and Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university program development experience. See my resume.
Study Toursd are personally curated and introduce you to Mexico's greatest artisans. They are off-the-beaten path, internationally recognized. We give you access to where people live and work. Yes, it is safe and secure to travel. Groups are limited in size for the most personal experience.
Programs can be scheduled to meet your travel plans. Send us your available dates.
Designers, retailers, wholesalers, universities and other organizations come to us to develop weaving relationships, customized itineraries, study abroad programs, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
Select Clients *Selvedge Magazine-London, UK *Esprit Travel and Tours *Penland School of Crafts *North Carolina State University *WARP Weave a Real Peace *Methodist University *MINNA-Goods *Smockingbird Kids
Tell us how we can put a program together for you! Send an email norma.schafer@icloud.com
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Video: Danza de los Diablos, African Roots in Mexico, El Tule Guelaguetza 2018
Danza de los Diablos is connected with the Afro-Mestizo history of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica, the Pacific coast region between Puerto Escondido and Acapulco, Guerrero. Now referred to as Mexico’s Third Root, people of African descent are an integral part of what it means to be Mexican, more than only the mix of Europeans and AmerIndians. With the conquest of Mexico, Spanish brought African slaves here in the 16th century to work sugar cane fields, mines and agriculture. Most were men and married indigenous women. Race and class was far more permeable in Mexico than in the United States.
Only recently have academics and cultural anthropologists begun to uncover and investigate the importance of African roots in Mexican culture.
Dressed as the devil with mask, horns and horsehair, African roots
The dance and its music, with its stomping and whirling, are said to symbolize the breaking from the repression of slave owners and the church. The woman in the dance represents the mixing of races. She carries a white doll. Traditionally, the dance is performed on November 1 during Day of the Dead.
White mask, dark skin, white baby, symbol of Afro-Mestizo roots
Oaxaca Costa Chica Textile Study Tour, January 11-21, 2019–Spaces Open
Behind the mask, a beautiful countenance
Today, the dance is a testimony to Oaxaca’s rich diversity and deepening respect for her roots.
One of the pleasures I have from writing this blog is the research I do to investigate the culture and history of Oaxaca and Mexico. When I was at the Costa Chica in the last two years, I became more aware of African slave roots as as I talked with cultural anthropologists and locals.
A First Person Commentary
About Afro-Mexicans
Much more has been written about the African experience on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, at the port of Veracruz and south. The Son Jarocho music of Mexico, Cuba and the Caribbean are rooted in Africa, as is the donkey jawbone and drum percussion instruments. There is still a lot to learn.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Travel & Tourism, Workshops and Retreats
Tagged Afro-Mestizo, Costa Chica, danza de diablos, devil dance, Mexico, Oaxaca, textile study tour