Fiesta of the spirits, revisited: Indigenous language poetics and politics among Mazatecs of Oaxaca, Mexico

In the interest of understanding why some social movements succeed where others fail, this dissertation analyzes a particular type of resistance movement from southern Mexico. Revitalization movements centered on the creation and circulation of indigenous language texts have become widespread throughout the Americas. Seeking to reverse the myriad marginalizing effects of colonialism and its aftermath on indigenous peoples and the languages they speak, these movements aim to create written literatures for languages that, unlike national ones, circulate primarily orally. Such projects therefore have a dual agenda: to extend indigenous language use into new realms, and to raise indigenous languages\u27 status from languages spoken by peasants and peons to languages worthy of sonnets, plays, and liturgical hymns. I demonstrate that although language revitalization movements are prominent in Mexico, the majority have failed to stimulate popular interest. While indigenous writings are useful for making national political claims, they remain largely irrelevant and unread locally. By contrast, the initiative I studied represents that rarest of beasts: a success story. Revitalization efforts in Mazatec, the local indigenous language, have met with great popular success. A broad range of speakers now writes poems, stories, and above all songs in their language. Across the region, speakers participate in annual Day of the Dead Song Contests and the burgeoning cassette tape industry the contest has generated. An even wider segment of the population uses these texts as consumers and performers. In accounting for this relatively rare popular success, I analyze the culturally specific ways that literacy and writing in Mazatec were introduced, thereby coupling them to quintessentially local, ethnically marked practices and values, especially those expressing homage to the dead through the vehicle of song. I then show how the Mazatec situation stands in contrast to other revitalization projects, both local and national. I argue that this contrast stems directly from the paradoxical position indigenous authors and minority representatives generally find themselves in when trying simultaneously to address local and national audiences