Pueblo de Indios: Syncretic Art and Architecture in the Negotiation of Indigenous Identity

Author(s): Maria Stapleton; Charles Stapleton

Year: 2018

Summary

In the years immediately following the conquest of the Aztec empire by the Spanish crown, there was a period of transition in which acculturation, adaptation, and/or adoption of new configurations of political powers, religion, and social structures ushered in the Colonial period in Mexico. One of the results of the encounter between indigenous and Spanish cultures is the syncretism that developed in the art and religious architecture of this region. Studies of syncretic art in colonial Mexico primarily focus on art produced in major convents built in previous pre-Hispanic cities and/or in new towns of New Spain. However, much less is known about the small indigenous towns or pueblos de indios beyond the cities states, cabeceras or major towns. How did they respond to their new circumstances? This study reveals how Tlanalapan - a Texcoco tributary town in pre-Hispanic times, an Indian town during the Colonial period in the New Spain, and an agricultural-industrial town today in the central highlands of Mexico - not only adopts and adapts to the new circumstances, but also uses the syncretic art of a Franciscan church facade, a crucifix made of corn, and local traditions as instruments to negotiate its own identity.

Cite this Record

Pueblo de Indios: Syncretic Art and Architecture in the Negotiation of Indigenous Identity. Maria Stapleton, Charles Stapleton. Presented at The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Washington, DC. 2018 ( tDAR id: 443295)

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Spatial Coverage

min long: -107.271; min lat: 18.48 ; max long: -94.087; max lat: 23.161 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22685