Pasajuego: Etnografía, Migración e Identidad de los Pueblos Oaxaqueños a través de la Pelota Mixteca.

Session Submission Type: Film

Abstract

Director: Daniel Oliveras de Ita

In the southern state of Oaxaca, México, Pasajuego is the name of the court where the ancient indigenous game of Pelota Mixteca is played. Pasajuego is a visual ethnography about the migration of Oaxacan workers to urban centers of Mexico and the U.S. In this story the game of Pelota Mixteca, acts as a window to look through the lives of the Oaxacan people at their migration destinations. The practice of Pelota Mixteca in different contexts reflects the lives of those who play the game, and shows how culture travels with them when they migrate. It tells the story of the players, shows the solidarity among different regions of Oaxaca, Mexico and the U.S., and takes the audience through the diaspora of these migrants. This documentary film aims to capture the community contexts in which the game is carried out, and the ability of Oaxacan people to recreate their communities of origin on the other side of the border. In this journey the locations are condensed into one to describe Pasajuego as an embassy with diverse cultural expressions, geographically dispersed but unified by practice, cooperation and exchange between Oaxacan communities. Today at least two million Oaxacans live in the United States. This is the story of their ballgame, now taking root throughout the U.S.

Sub Track

• Film Festival