Spring 2010 Semester Off to a Great Start!

“Migration & Globalization: Engaging Our Communities” is back, as this semester-long program occurs every spring in Cuernavaca, Mexico through the Center for Global Education at Augsburg College. We just began last week and are happy to report a fabulous new group of students from colleges as diverse as Augsburg, Bowdoin, Emory, Davidson, and Drake University. For the first half of the semester, we are also being accompanied by a recent graduate of Carleton College who is participating in many aspects of our program.

During the first week we spent a lot of time getting to know Cuernavaca and each other. We took Spanish pre-tests at the Universal Universal Center for Language and Social Communication, which is a highly respected Spanish school, where you can choose two of 17 different Spanish courses ranging from basic grammar and conversation courses to Contemporary Mexican Literature, Spanish for Heritage Speakers, and Mexican Art.

We also visited the ancient pyramids at Xochicalco in the southern part of the state of Morelos and learned about the cosmovision (worldview) of pre-Columbian peoples, whose spirituality emphasized unity, bipolar duality (as opposed to Western oppositional binary dualism), fluidity, interconnectedness, balance, and reciprocity.

At Xochicalco we saw the remains of magnificent temples built by the Nahua-speaking population that existed long before the Spanish conquest, as the construction there began approximately 200 years BCE, and the civilization flourished between 600 and 900 of this era. It is believed that the Toltec emperor Quetzalcoatl (known often as the “Mesoamerican Christ-figure”) studied astronomy in Xochicalco, whose principle temple is dedicated to the feathered-serpent God Quetzalcaotl. (Quetzal = the bird, & coatl = serpent in the Nahuatl language). As you can see in the picture of the pyramids both above and below, the carvings represent this great feathered serpent god who united the heavens and the earth. (In the picture below, his feathered heaad is in the upper far left corner and his serpent-like body winds around to the right.)

After visiting Xochicalco, we visited a nearby former sugarcane plantation called the Ex-Hacienda Santa Cruz. We learned about the history of the plantations that were established during the colonial period and the exploitation of both indigenous and African slaves who were forced to work on them.

We spent the night there and then spent the next day getting further acquainted with each other and talking about our roles as foreigners in Mexico. Our discussions included articles such as Ivan Illich’s “To Hell with Good Intentions” and several articles on power, privilege, and positionality. This is especially important because many of us will be conducting internships in Mexican organizations, as well as living with Mexican host families, and we want to be as sensitive as possible to this cultural context.

Have you ever been to Mexico? If so, did you visit ancient sacred sites such as Xochicalco? What have you learned about Mexican pre-Columbian civilizations and contemporary indigenous peopes? What are your thoughts about your/our responsibility as foreigners here? We’d love to hear your thoughts!