Building Indigenous Resistance

Abstract

This paper studies the transformation of urban architecture into a vehicle for Indigenous resistance. Focusing on the (re)appropriation of institutional spaces, my case study is the former seat of the Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas, arguably part of the apparatus of assimilation of the Mexican nation-state. On October 12, 2020, the Indigenous Otomí Community CdMx took over the building and renamed it Casa de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas (Yä nghü yä jhöy) Samir Flores Soberanes. Supported by Indigenous collectives across Mexico, the community transformed this architecture into a vessel for amplifying the message of Indigenous resistance against assimilation.