Week 1: Orientation

Identity

Who are we and how do we identify our self to others?

Often times we identify our self by the way others see us.

I am a daughter, my mother’s child. I am a sister, a friend. I am a European, with roots of Bohemian, Iceland, Spanish running through my veins. I am a healer of the mind. I am a lover of the earth, with the passion for life. I live in the moment and dream of the future. I am a learner, forever changing.

Who are you?

From the moment we arrive we are awakened. Interaction between people is heightened. Social life is alive, slowly transforming the lonely individual that has resided in us for quite some time, into a social butterfly willing to engage in any experience we might find.

Indigenous Culture and Cosmovision

Week events were centered in culture. Who we are reflects the customs, traditions and beliefs we place great importance on. Our lens of viewing things is intertwined with the culture we embrace. A trip to an indigenous community demonstrates how culture can create a different way of living. Conquerers continue to compromise the balance of life for Indigenous peoples. Globalization has surrounded them and they feel the pressure to conform to a culture that contradicts their own. The weight doesn’t just come from México. It also comes from their neighbors from the North. Policies made in the United States have been detrimental to México as a whole. The people of the community we visited have a long history of struggle and conflict to keep their culture alive. Similar to the Native Americans in the United States, they believe in balance and harmony. The only way to achieve balance and harmony is to respect the earth. Every thing is connected and contributes to the balance of life. This cosmovision has not been respected. The long history of disrespect has disrupted the balance and as a result people are now suffering the consequences, perhaps through global warming, water scarcity, and food shortages.

Xochicalco

Taken back to the past, this place is rich with history. The past has created the present and will continue to create the future. The inhabitants of this ancient city were underestimated in the wisdom knowledge they possessed. The remnants of this place has contributes to the present today. Xochicalco means the house of flowers is in the native tongue of Nahuatl. Towns near by this site speak this language. The ruins also reveal the history of trading that took place throughout Mesoamerica. Perhaps this was a trading center between the North and the South. It shows strong influences of Teotihuacán and Mayan art.

-by Hyacinth Mosse