The ‘First Peoples’ of Mexico City: Local Cemeteries, History and Identity in the Urban Pueblo of Culhuacán

Abstract

The term pueblos originarios is increasingly being used to define those settlements and populations within Mexico City with long-term historical and cultural roots in the central Valley of Mexico. The use of this term points not only to the variety of populations and places that make up this complex urban environment but also to the growing political and cultural profile of these populations. At the same time, these pueblos originarios are claiming rights as originarios, nativos, and even indígenas in their fights to protect their traditions, identities, forms of autonomy, and historically important connections to place. This is also leading to changing understandings and conceptualizations of local and even national identities. In the ‘urban pueblo’ of Culhuacán, Mexico City, local struggles revolving around two neighborhood cemeteries are challenging the place of these pueblos originarios within the city as well as their relationship with local authorities and the State. These processes are also impacting on the way that some locals perceive their own histories and rights and how, therefore, they fit into the changing environment of Mexico City.