Walking Tour of Morelia

After we got back to Morelia from Tzintzuntzan, I decided to walk around Morelia with my new friends from the conference, Laura and Gerardo. We started our little tour around dusk and decided to call it a night just after dark.

¡Bienvenidos a Tzintzuntzan!

Once we arrived to Tzintzuntzan, we were greeted by a number of people dressed up in traditional indigenous attire there to serenade us and lead us to the luncheon.

It was odd to have discussed “ethnic” performances to the foreign world by indigenous groups in Mexico all week at the conference and then go to a luncheon where precisely that takes place as soon as we got off the bus. All the same, everyone was very welcoming and treated us with kindness during our visit.

Tzintzuntzan is a little town that lies just 15km north of Pátzcuaro whose name means "Place of Hummingbirds" in Purépecha. Historically, Tzintzuntzan was the Tarascan capital when copper blades aided the Tarascans to defeat the Aztecs that invaded them during the 15th century.

When the Spanish later arrived with a religious mission backed by the Bible, a drive for riches, and a violent fury against the indigenous, the Purépecha chief made peace with Cristóbal de Olid, the leader of the first Spanish expedition in 1522. However, when Nuño de Guzmán arrived 7 years later with an insatiable desire for gold, he had the same chief burned alive.

Carretera Morelia - Tzintzuntzan Sept 2008

On the last day of the conference, the organizers offered all of the participants the opportunity to attend a luncheon held at a local convent in Tzintzuntzan, a little town just outside of Morelia. Here are some of the pictures that I took along the highway as we bused into Tzintzuntzan.

Mi nueva amiga, Laura

During my first days in Morelia, I was so lucky to meet Laura, another person presenting at the conference. We had a blast going to the conference, the Mercado de Dulces, walking around the city, and just hanging out in general.

La catedral de noche

The cathedral in Morelia was a stunning sight to behold at night with the surrounding city lights.

Congreso Sept 2008: Dos siglos de revolución en México

On Saturday, September 20th, 2008, I presented a paper entitled "(Re)writing Tradition in Conjuros y ebriedades: Zapatismo and Feminismo" at the conference, “Dos siglos de revoluciones en México,” sponsored by UNAM and the Comisión Universitaria para los Festejos del Bicentenario de la Independencia y del Centenario de la Revolución Mexicana. Here is a picture of all of the participants in the panel which was entitled "Mujeres y revolución."

Museo Regional Michoacano Sept 2008

Just a few blocks from where I was staying, the Museo Regional Michoacano is located inside a late-18th-century baroque palace.

On display was a number of different pre-Hispanic artifacts, colonial art and relics. In the stairwell was a mural by Alfredo Zalce entitled Cuauhtémoc y la Historia.