Los mecos de Veracruz: Queer Gestures and the Performance of Nahua Indigeneity

Abstract

This article examines the “danza de los mecos”, a dance performed annually by young Nahua men during the carnaval in Tecomate, Veracruz, in honor of Tlacatecolotl/Tlahuelliloc, a deceitful and capricious demon-like figure otherwise known as “el Diablo”. The performance features Indigenous men who dress as devils, wear masks, or dress as women. Drawing on fieldwork, I analyse the performance of the “danza de los mecos” as a critical site in which to examine the embodiment of indigeneity, the enactment of Nahua epistemologies, and the queer gestures that subvert colonial structures of power in contemporary Mexico. By focusing on dancing bodies, I attend to the intricate ways bodily acts transmit memory, knowledge, and imagination through ritual. I explore the role that embodied expressions of indigeneity play in the queering of colonial systems of power, while allowing Indigenous men to simultaneously assert and undermine their masculinity.