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Getting Involved

Getting Involved

Mexicolore’s Aztec workshop touring van

Mexicolore is going places - and you’re invited to join! The team’s vision is that of helping to create, nurture and support an international (and interactive) learning and teaching community focused on Mexico and Ancient Mesoamerica, in which all the participants – university professor, field archaeologist, teacher, actor, village elder, school pupil, musician, anthropologist, researcher, volunteer, translator, writer, linguist, librarian, artist, web developer, student... - can share inspiration, encouragement, information and intrigue in each other’s creative work.

In the long run, a valuable, thriving and living resource will exist, at the service of the international community, powerful enough to break barriers and to be a force for good. To this end, we hope eventually to establish Mexicolore as a registered Educational Trust in the UK.

Believe it or not, in London alone we could put you in touch with an award-winning author of crime fiction set in Tenochtitlan, an expert wood carver who creates replica Aztec weaponry, a team of traditional Aztec herbal medicine practitioners, a Mayan textiles centre, a world-leading expert on Mexican crafts - and that’s just for starters, let alone looking further afield...

There are many ways in which YOU can play a part in supporting and expanding this community of learners and teachers. We need more team members (follow the example of Jimena and Deborah, below!), experts in ancient Mesoamerica, researchers, translators, volunteers, software creators, and much more...

For now, let’s introduce you to our first Research Officer, Julia Flood. You may well have seen some of Julia’s beautifully produced articles around the website, most of which are available as downloads. Julia obtained her MA in pre-Hispanic and colonial history at Mexico’s UNAM university, and has studied with Dr. Miguel Portilla, Dra. Mercedes de la Garza and Dr. Alfredo López Austin. We’re most grateful to Julia for her multiple contributions to Mexicolore’s work.

As our website and general educational work on Mesoamerica grow steadily, we plan to open up our ‘Ask the Experts’ service more in the future, to develop a forum on the website (building on our new ‘Ask us’ service) and to welcome more contributions from academics and non-academic specialists in general. In other words, we plan to develop Mexicolore into a thriving free-access learning community...
In one recent 3-month period alone we opened our pages to fresh articles written exclusively for us on subjects ranging from the Aztecs and the tradition of lament (by an Anglican bishop), the ‘maquahuitl’ (Aztec broadsword) (by a London-based craftsman) to Aztec concepts of the human body as they relate to birth and destiny (by a doctoral candidate at the University of California). Thanks to them all...!

Workshadowing:-
We’ve been lucky to have had three second-year Anthropology and Development Studies students from Sussex University work with us for a day each under the university’s Workshadowing scheme, first in 2008, then in 2009, and again in 2010. Tessa Byrne, Kat Wright and Juliane Gerecke have all enjoyed the experience and helped us with our Aztec flagship programmes. Kat wrote later: Just a little note to thank you both for today. I really had a wonderful time and thought that the morning was brilliant. I feel it’s given me an insight into an area of teaching that perhaps I’d overlooked before. I would love to come and help you out again in the future if you ever needed me. And Juliane called the experience inspiring.Thanks to you all! (Follow the link below to read Juliane’s full feedback on the session she spent with us, on our ‘What we offer’ teacher’s page...)

Kat can be seen below keenly observing our Aztecs workshop from the back of the hall at Our Lady & St Philip Nery RC Primary School, Sydenham, London, April 1st 2009 (and yes, we did play an April Fool on the kids that day!)

Just as the Mexicolore team now receive messages from newly qualified teachers who were ‘fired up’ as children by Mexicolore workshops they themselves took part in years ago*, we dream of leaving a wider legacy to the next generation based on the wisdom of the Toltec artist who leaves a message behind to inspire others for the common good – I carve a great stone, I paint thick wood, my song is in them. It will be spoken of when I am gone. I shall leave my song-image on earth...

*In 2012 we were invited to run an Aztecs workshop at Preston Park Primary School, Wembley Park, London with 120 Year 4 children by teacher Louise Camprubi: when Louise heard a colleague recommend us she exclaimed ‘Oh, I remember them from when I was in Year 4 at Bishop Winnington-Ingram School [in Ruislip]’ - 14 years ago! She recalled the 1998 session as ‘colourful’ and ‘exciting’. Louise described the educational value of the Aztecs workshop in 2012 as ‘exceptional - the children were engaged and excited to learn more about the Aztecs!’ You can read Louise’s generous personal comment on the experience on our Teachers Page (link below).

‘What we offer...’Our Teachers Page
Tiahue...!’

Tiahue...!’“Let’s go...!’ - Get involved with Mexicolore...

How Mexican students developed interactive museum materials

How Mexican students developed interactive museum materialsusing Mexicolore’s Sunstone resource...

12-year-old Alex Cottriall acts

12-year-old Alex Cottriall acts in ‘A Soldier in Every Son’...

Gain valuable experience

Gain valuable experienceworking with Mexicolore in schools

Take part in an attitude survey

Take part in an attitude surveyon the Aztecs...

Comments (14)

H

Howard

9th Sep 2013

Have just discovered your fantastic web site. I think it is an excellent teaching aid and will be extremely useful here in El Salvador were we share a common heritage with the Nahua culture in Mexico. I am English and help teach the Nahua-Pipil language and culture to 5th grade students. As little attention is given to indigenous culture, here, it has always been a struggle to find suitable material. So thank you and all the best.

M

Mexicolore

Cheers, Howard, many thanks for your encouraging feedback. You keep us going! And we have plenty more still in the pipeline... If you’d ever like to consider sending a contribution on cultural comparisons between Nahua Mexico and El Salvador, we’d always welcome it...

S

Sanskriti Maity

22nd Nov 2011

amazing
could you give us websites and activity
but this is cool and helped me a lot in school and me
brilliant website
bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

X

Xilotl

4th Oct 2010

Great Site!!! I am in the process of opening a youth academy (non-profit) having to do with Mexican Folklore and Aztec dancing. I am wondering if perhaps we can be connected with an artisan to help us with Aztec materials such as the Teponaxtle, Coyollis, Huehuetl, etc...
We would love to get involved and are at your services. Please contact us for further details. Again, great site and keep up the good work!

M

Mexicolore

We’d love to work with you, Xilotl. Being UK- rather than US-based, we’re not well placed to recommend artisans ‘in your neck of the woods’, but we’d be delighted to support your work in any way we can...

A

Antonio Gritón

7th Sep 2010

Hola, felicidades por su pagina! Yo soy pintor y entre los proyectos que estoy realizando está el de un diccionario visual de Náhuatl de gran formato en el que cada imagen mide 3 x 2 metros y se ha exhibido en diversas partes de la ciudad de México, como lo es el Museo de la Ciudad de México. Algunas imagenes de estos cuadros las pueden ver en el sitio web:
http://www.laotrarevista.com/2009/10/quien-diablos-es-el-griton/
Un abrazo desde México y felicidades otra vez
Antonio Gritón

M

Mexicolore

Hola Antonio. Interesante tu trabajo... Por favor, sigue informándonos del proyecto. Si algún día se llega a usar como recurso pedagógico para niños/jóvenes, estaremos super interesados. Muchos saludos y buena suerte.

A

Alejandro Díaz Barriga

25th Apr 2010

Hola, me ha agradado mucho su página. Soy etnohistoriador (ENAH-INAH) en México, dedicado al estudio del sacrificio humano y a la historia de la infancia mesoamericana y me pongo a sus órdenes para apoyarlos en lo que necesiten. Saludos.

M

Mexicolore

Muchos saludos, Alejandro. Estamos en contacto directo acerca de una posible colaboración juntos...

L

Laura Arreola

13th Apr 2010

Felicidades por su página! Creo que es muy importante la difusión de la cultura y considero que esta es una muy buena forma de hacerlo. Soy mexicana y pertenecí al ballet folclórico de mi estado. Actualmente vivo en Oxford y me gustaría formar parte de Mexicolore.

M

Mexicolore

¡Adelante, Laura! Estaremos en contacto directo contigo para explorar la posibilidad de que te integres al equipo de Mexicolore...

A

Azucena

9th Jan 2010

Hola, Me gustaria saber como puedo incorporarme a ustedes soy de mexico y llevo 6 anos viviendo en londres. Quisiera que mis hijos crezcan con mas conocimientos de mexico. Gracias

E

EMMANUEL HERNANDEZ

19th Nov 2009

Wow!!! Your page is really amazing. I’m mexican and I’m very happy to see that there still people interested in mesoamerican culture and especially in Aztec civilization. I love you guys and I wish you the best!!!

M

Mexicolore

Cheers, Emmanuel - that’s what we like to hear!

L

LILIANA

3rd Jul 2009

I think the site is the best, about the aztecas. Thank

c

chicoaze ozomatli

17th Jun 2009

Aztecs are the ones that live in aztlan ,the pilgrams that left from aztlan,and Meshicas are the ones that live in mexico so. after living aztlan there are no more aztecs we are mexicas

a

antonio avila

16th Jun 2009

los felicito por su pagina me enorgullese saver que en otros paise se interesan por nuestro Mexico bello y su cultura.Comenterio hacerca de la contestasion del significado ce cuitlahuac, el monumento no es cuitlahuac es cuahutemoc sorry. chikaze ozomatzin

M

Mexicolore

Gracias por escribir, Antonio. No entiendo tu dato sobre Cuitlahuac - ¡el nombre de él está escrito en el monumento mismo!

M

Manu Sala

30th Mar 2009

Hello, I’m a french artist and i’m creating a poetical performance about aztecs. I’m looking for numerized codex (high def.). have you any idea ? Anyway, we can be in contact. Another question : How do you tell about sacrifices in schools ?! I think there are some important things to take back from aztec vision of world like offering symbolism. oh there is no place and time to have a large discussion... ”Cordialement” Manu

M

Mexicolore

Thanks for writing to us, Manu. On the subject of human sacrifices, for years we’ve always tackled this ‘head on’ - we don’t hide anything, we try to explain the practice of h s with reference to the gods initially sacrificing themselves for life to begin, to the Aztecs’ belief in ‘debt payment’ to the gods, to the principle of giving in order to receive, to the cyclical nature of life and death, and so on. We show strong images as well as relevant artefacts (copies of obsidian knives etc.) and we engage in dialogue with children about it. It’s a topic they find fascinating, so far better to discuss it openly with them than to ‘hide it under the carpet’. We’d love to hear the experiences of others on this...

R

Ricardo Molinet

6th Jul 2008

Hi ! I'm part of a group of aztec dancers in Los Angeles, Ca. at
the time we learn, we teach people to dance. I'm very Thankfull that some people are interested in our culture roots. I'm glad I found your page !

M

Mexicolore

Cheers, Ricardo! We're always glad to receive this sort of feedback. Every good wish for your own work...

w

walter degrande

3rd May 2008

i am very impressed by your website .could you keep me informed about your activities? thanks walter

M

Mexicolore

We don't have an e-newsletter, Walter, yet... Best advice for the moment is to keep visiting our site. We'll do our best to keep you posted. Thanks for your kind comment!

Getting Involved

Mexicolore’s Aztec workshop touring van

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