Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Department of Anthropology, 2021
In the Mixteca, Mexico, the maroma is a circus-like performance and ritual in which ordinary people transform into extraordinary artists, with the goals of transforming their public by way of wonder and shared laughter while honoring saints and deities. In the early aughts, a group of maroma performers started organizing to safeguard their tradition as it was dying out due to emigration, poverty, and uneven development. To this grass roots revitalization process, the federal institution Culturas Populares added their own resources and strategies, inspired by UNESCO's 2003 “Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.” This dissertation is an ethnographic exploration of the ways that maroma performers maintain the tradition as well as how the maroma began to be safeguarded as “intangible cultural heritage” (ICH) institutionally. In its presentation, this dissertation makes use of interviews, life histories, institutional sources, and field observations based on 16 months of research. It contributes to the performance literature; to the maroma literature by telling the history of a 5th generation maroma family; to the history of labor in the Mixteca in the 20th century; and to the question: What is set in motion when a cultural practice is declared ICH? It argues that if future initiatives want to safeguard the maroma more sustainably and equitably, then understanding its history, context, and the ways it is imbued with local meaning must be, at the very least, considered if not better understood. Moreover, it seeks to be a resource for those who want to know about past safeguarding efforts (what worked and what did not) as well as what impact these had, if any, on development, livelihoods, the artform, etc. Lastly, it proposes “neoliberal patrimonialization” (Carrillo 2019), as a synergistic process by which select local cultural practices can be turned into ICH, acquiring, as such, greater value and visibility for people at wider levels. It suggests that, despite its limits and need for further exploration, the concept helps to contextualize the different social actors and institutions surrounding practices deemed ICH and the ways heritage is approached in UNESCO-inspired safeguarding initiatives.