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xv P RE F ACE & AC K NO W LED G M ENTS Most in Mexico City know something about the Concheros, who are to be seen performing their dances—circular in form—in a variety of public places throughout the year. The Concheros contribute dramatically to the vibrant cultural life of the city and forge a direct link between rural religious practices and urban postmodern innovation. Few, however, know much about who the dancers are, what their dancing signifies, and the other activities in which they are involved (such as their all-night vigils). Despite the Concheros’ distinct religio -social identity, it is often assumed that the dancers are part of the Catholic Church. However, although their practices are indeed synergistic (and many dancers are at least outwardly Catholics), the dance as a tradition has retained its autonomy, thereby preserving many elements of a rural religiosity that goes back at the very least two centuries. The tradition has largely been an oral one until very recently, and despite claims that the dance never changes, an “Aztecization ” of certain aspects has been ongoing for some time. This has, however, occurred more openly and extensively in the last four decades and been carried to extremes by those who call themselves the Mexica. The Mexica have brought many changes to the Concheros’ dance, although just as many appear to be linked to the deaths of an older generation of dancers. The decline of orality and the upsurge of a more inscribed approach are beginning to lead to practices being externally imposed rather than emerging from experience. The book offers new insights into the experience of dancing as a Conchero, of how the P RE F ACE & AC K NO W LED G M ENTS xvi Concheros manifest their religiosity by means of the dance whilst also exploring their organization and practices. The many groups of Concheros vary in the type of dancers they attract, but this book reflects my experience of dancing with one group—Santo Niño de Atocha. This group (or mesa) had more middle-class and professional dancers than any other, whilst still attracting many gente humilde (humble people), most of whom are mestizos (although some are of clear indigenous descent). This mesa and the many others with which I had loose affiliations shared similar feelings about the Mexica, whom they considered not to be a part of the Concheros’ association. But the Mexica’s influence on the Concheros has continued to grow in the last two decades as the latter have become ever-more interested in the Aztec past. Most in the group of Santo Niño de Atocha now strongly believe that the dance is Aztec in origin, despite an ongoing foundation myth that indicates it started much later and elsewhere in Mexico. The project had its genesis when I stopped briefly in Mexico City en route eastward. I was going to Chiapas to carry out postdoctoral fieldwork in an indigenous community on religious change involving escalating affiliation to so-called protestant sects. In Mexico City, I had been asked to contact a friend of a friend, which led to my first encounter with Concheros (and I am grateful to Chloe Sayer for this initial introduction). Some time later I returned to Mexico City with a small grant. The project, as it turned out, was not only anthropologically extremely wide-ranging but also had, for me, a personal element . I had lived in Mexico in my twenties—before I became an anthropologist —in the village of Tepoztlan, Morelos (studied by both Redfield and Oscar Lewis, although I was not aware of that at the time). I lived as a painter among other painters, both Mexicans and foreigners, and went occasionally to Mexico City to find a gallery to sell my paintings, with the help of friends, and to broaden my horizons. When I returned to Mexico City to realize this project, I initially met a large number of people, most of whom danced in the group of Santo Niño de Atocha and some of whom I had known of or had come across me when I had lived in Tepoztlan. Although such coincidences came thick and fast at first, some five years later they were still happening. I had chosen to study an organization or association of people whom I had thought would be completely other but which I quickly found linked with this earlier phase of my life. The period as a painter had been a significant one for...

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