Country: Mexico
Group: Nahuatl
Date: 4/20/2020
Team: Gabriel Cardenas (lead), Thomas Chia, Ray Gerard Regorgo
The Nahuatl are an ethnic group in Mexico, and are often associated with being descended from the Aztec. The Mexican government throughout its existence have pursued a policy of complete integration of indigenous cultures, including the Nahuatl. They have faced discrimination against their languages, clothing and culture since early Spanish colonization (Rolstad 2011), a pattern which is still evident today (Valencia, 2017). From this, in 1994 the Zapatista Uprising occurred among a range of indigenous groups (Rovirosa-Madrazo, 2012). The revolt took place in Chiapas, Mexico, and sought for the current Mexican government to be replaced with a competent and considerate government. Their declaration of war defined their struggle, which highlighted the governments neglect of indigenous rights, slavery and exploitation at the hands of rich plantation owners and extreme economic disparities that exist in the country. Although, evidence for ethnocide against the Nahuatl population specifically is hard to find, the overall sentiment of the Mexican government past and present, can be used to determine that the Nahuatl population currently face ethnocide. The overall data quality for the Nahuatl is extremely low (1).
Sources
- Rovirosa-Madrazo, C. (2012, December 21). The Maya are alive – and have made some wise recent predictions | Citlali Rovirosa-Madrazo. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/21/maya-zapatistas-predictions
- Rolstad, K. (2001). Language death in Central Mexico: The decline of Nahuatl and the new bilingual maintenance programs. Bilingual Review/La Revista Bilingüe, 3-18.
- Valencia, J. (2017, September 28). Clothes, Language Lead to Discrimination For Native Indigenous People In Mexico. KJZZ. https://kjzz.org/content/10828/clothes-language-lead-discrimination-native-indigenous-people-mexico