We are joined By Dr. Magnus Pharao Hansen to discuss his new book "Nahuatl Nations: Language Revitalization and Semiotic Sovereignty in Indigenous Mexico."

Nahuatl Nations is a linguistic ethnography that explores the political relations between those Indigenous communities of Mexico that speak the Nahuatl language and the Mexican Nation that claims it as an important national symbol. Author Magnus Pharao Hansen studies how this relation has been shaped by history and how it plays out today in Indigenous Nahua towns, regions, and educational institutions, and in the Mexican diaspora.

You can buy the book here: https://amzn.to/3Azr6ca

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Kurly Tlapoyawa is an archaeologist, ethnohistorian, and filmmaker. His research covers Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the historical connections between the two regions. He is the author of numerous books and has presented lectures at the University of New Mexico, Harvard University, Yale University, San Diego State University, and numerous others. He most recently released his documentary short film "Guardians of the Purple Kingdom," and is a cultural consultant for Nickelodeon Animation Studios.
@kurlytlapoyawa

Ruben Arellano Tlakatekatl is a scholar, activist, and professor of history. His research explores Chicana/Chicano indigeneity, Mexican indigenist nationalism, and Coahuiltecan identity resurgence. Other areas of research include Aztlan (US Southwest), Anawak (Mesoamerica), and Native North America. He has presented and published widely on these topics and has taught courses at various institutions. He currently teaches history at Dallas College – Mountain View Campus.

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Book: The Four Disagreements: Letting Go of Magical Thinking

In the blistering heat of New Mexico’s sun-baked earth, under the protective gaze of Okuu Pin–the Turtle Mountain that majestically stands guard over Albuquerque–a strange and persistent legend has taken hold. It’s a story of hidden Jews, of ancient rites disguised as Catholic rituals, and of shadowy ancestors who supposedly hid their true faith during the Inquisition. This is the tale of New Mexico’s crypto-Jews—a myth so tangled in folklore, mistaken identities, and selective memory that it could only have been born in the fevered heart of the American Southwest.

The modern crypto-Jew craze began, as many myths do, with an eager academic and an over-reliance on confirmation bias. In the 1980s, historian Stanley Hordes launched a search for what he believed to be the long-lost Jewish roots of New Mexico’s Spanish-speaking residents—descendants, he claimed, of an elusive and mysterious population that had secretly kept the flames of Judaism alive for centuries, hidden beneath the Catholic veneer imposed by the Spanish Empire. But when we scratch the surface and look closer at what Hordes—and his followers—were really chasing, the myth becomes apparent. A myth so potent it gave rise to an entire identity-bending industry steeped in false history.

PLUS: Chapter Two of the JUAN DIEGO CODE!

listener comments? Feedback? Shoot us a text!

Your Hosts:

Kurly Tlapoyawa is an archaeologist, ethnohistorian, and filmmaker. His research covers Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the historical connections between the two regions. He is the author of numerous books and has presented lectures at the University of New Mexico, Harvard University, Yale University, San Diego State University, and numerous others. He most recently released his documentary short film "Guardians of the Purple Kingdom," and is a cultural consultant for Nickelodeon Animation Studios.
@kurlytlapoyawa

Ruben Arellano Tlakatekatl is a scholar, activist, and professor of history. His research explores Chicana/Chicano indigeneity, Mexican indigenist nationalism, and Coahuiltecan identity resurgence. Other areas of research include Aztlan (US Southwest), Anawak (Mesoamerica), and Native North America. He has presented and published widely on these topics and has taught courses at various institutions. He currently teaches history at Dallas College – Mountain View Campus.

Find us:

• Bluesky
• Instagram

Merch: Shop Aztlantis

Book: The Four Disagreements: Letting Go of Magical Thinking

Day of the Dead is Subversive Spirituality!

Long before the arrival of Europeans, some of the Indigenous Mesoamerican traditions of honoring the dead were celebrated with two specific feasts: Mikailwitl (feast of the dead), and Wey Mikailwitl (great feast of the dead). These feasts were celebrated in early August through mid-September. In fact, we are currently in the “month” of Mikailwitl right now, as it began on August 8th or the day Chikome Kozkakwawtli in the ancestral Mexika calendar. These celebrations were dedicated to honoring the dead through dance, song, and offerings of food and drink. Altars and burials were adorned with marigolds, a sacred flower thought to attract the spirits so that they might enjoy the offerings left in their memory.

Today, these celebrations have been blended with Catholic traditions, and take place on All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Many think that Mikailwitl and Wey Mikailwitl were absorbed into the Allhallowtide (All Saints Day and All Souls Day) under the direction of the Catholic Church, as these Christian holidays also involve honoring the dead. Unfortunately, this popular claim is often repeated without any evidence to back it up. For example, a column about Dia de Muertos published on the website weareyourvoicemag states “in an attempt to convert the natives to Catholicism, the Spanish colonizers moved the celebration to November 1 and 2 (All Saints Day), which is when we celebrate it currently.”

But is this how it really happened? Listen and find out as we explore the different ways that our ancestors negotiated and navigated the colonial process by masking their rituals and ceremonies behind a catholic facade!

listener comments? Feedback? Shoot us a text!

Support the show

Your Hosts:

Kurly Tlapoyawa is an archaeologist, ethnohistorian, and filmmaker. His research covers Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the historical connections between the two regions. He is the author of numerous books and has presented lectures at the University of New Mexico, Harvard University, Yale University, San Diego State University, and numerous others. He most recently released his documentary short film "Guardians of the Purple Kingdom," and is a cultural consultant for Nickelodeon Animation Studios.
@kurlytlapoyawa

Ruben Arellano Tlakatekatl is a scholar, activist, and professor of history. His research explores Chicana/Chicano indigeneity, Mexican indigenist nationalism, and Coahuiltecan identity resurgence. Other areas of research include Aztlan (US Southwest), Anawak (Mesoamerica), and Native North America. He has presented and published widely on these topics and has taught courses at various institutions. He currently teaches history at Dallas College – Mountain View Campus.

Find us:

• Bluesky
• Instagram

Merch: Shop Aztlantis

Book: The Four Disagreements: Letting Go of Magical Thinking