Our Sacred Maíz Is Our Mother: Indigeneity and Belonging in the Americas

by Roberto Cintli Rodriguez

“If you want to know who you are and where you come from, follow the maíz.” That was the advice given to author Roberto Cintli Rodriguez when he was investigating the origins and migrations of Mexican peoples in the Four Corners region of the United States.

Follow it he did, and his book Our Sacred Maíz Is Our Mother changes the way we look at Mexican Americans. Not so much peoples created as a result of war or invasion, they are people of the corn, connected through a seven-thousand-year old maíz culture to other Indigenous inhabitants of the continent. Using corn as the framework for discussing broader issues of knowledge production and history of belonging, the author looks at how corn was included in codices and Mayan texts, how it was discussed by elders, and how it is represented in theater and stories as a way of illustrating that Mexicans and Mexican Americans share a common culture.

Rodriguez brings together scholarly and traditional (elder) knowledge about the long history of maíz/corn cultivation and culture, its roots in Mesoamerica, and its living relationship to Indigenous peoples throughout the continent, including Mexicans and Central Americans now living in the United States. The author argues that, given the restrictive immigration policies and popular resentment toward migrants, a continued connection to maíz culture challenges the social exclusion and discrimination that frames migrants as outsiders and gives them a sense of belonging not encapsulated in the idea of citizenship. The “hidden transcripts” of corn in everyday culture—art, song, stories, dance, and cuisine (maíz-based foods like the tortilla)—have nurtured, even across centuries of colonialism, the living maíz culture of ancient knowledge.
 

Genres: Indigenous, History

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2014

About the author

Roberto Cintli Rodríguez (1953 or 1954 – 31 July 2023) was a Mexican-American columnist, author, and academic of Mexican American Studies at the University of Arizona.

Reviews

[RAT 2.o · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro absolutamente fascinante! No sólo es admirable por el contenido, sino también por los métodos de investigación que no siguen las formas tradicionales académicas. La exploración del maíz como fuente de creación y de narrativas de resistencia fue súper interesante aunque, de vez en cuando, encontré el trabajo redundante. No obstante, admiro mucho la decentralización de la narrativa occidental dominante y hegemónica por medio de la inclusión de puntos de vista diferentes. Por ejemplo, la narrativas de maíz no son contra-narrativas, sino narrativas principales porque son más antiguas. Por fin, me gusta el gran recorrido de la historia que hace para revisarla, apoyándose sobre fuentes de personas indígenas. El maíz es el elemento de continuidad constante.

[Sophie Carbone]

Had to read this for class, so I feel weird giving it a rating. Definitely interesting though!