Constructing a Mestizaje Girlhood: (Trans)Indigeneity in the Coming-of-Age Performances and Rituals in the Americas

• In Event: Precarious Settings, Intervening Performances

Abstract

Historically, children have played significant roles in indigenous performances, Spanish religious dramas, and contemporary theatre (Huerta, 1982; Ramírez, 1990, 2000; Flores, 1995; Saldaña, 1995; Vigil, 1996; Aragón, 2003; Lamadrid, 2003). Recent literature from Latina/o theatre scholars highlights more contemporary issues affecting Latina/o childhood identity, race, class, gender, and sexuality (Garcia, 2000; Aragón, 2003; Saldaña, 2005, 1992; McCammon, 2006; González 2006; Marin, 2007). However, few studies have focused on the roles, representations, and participation of girls within a historical performative context. As Dorothy Tanck de Estrada points out in her study, "Indian Children in Early Mexico," knowledge about children in Aztec Mexico was recorded after the Spanish conquest by Catholic missionary Franciscan friar, Bernardino de Sahagún (2007). In some of the Mesoamerican civilizations--such as Maya, Toltec, and Inca cultures--children served as sacrificial objects. The research of some anthropologists and historians such as Carlos Mari (2005), David Stuart (2003), Johan Reinhard (1999), and Scolieri (2013) points to the significance of indigenous rituals in taking the best children of the tribes to sacrifice in honor of the gods (as in the Toltec child sacrifices to the rain god Tlaloc). As a starting point, the geographical contexts of indigenous peoples of the Americas to the Spanish conquest and thereafter shaped the life experiences of children and girls whose lives exist in a confluence of two cultures resulting in a hybridity of contemporary performances for girls such as quinceañeras, ballet folklorico, indigenous danzantes, and specific roles in the pastorelas. Through an analysis of indigenous and colonial rituals, celebrations, and performances, this essay argues that girls were influenced by socializing institutions, which developed distinct values and beliefs that shaped and controlled the ethnic, religious, and political identity of a girl. Performances demonstrate how precarious intersections of gender, ethnicity, class, and sexuality serve as chief agents in constructing a "mestizaje" girlhood.

Author

• Cecilia J Aragón, University of Wyoming