Download or read book Commemorations and Protest in the Zocalo written by Ana Martinez and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 612 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using an interdisciplinary approach, I study the Zocalo as a site of performance through five theatrical events in different historical periods, from the early colonial era to the present: the 1539 Civic Festival of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the 1721 Bicentennial Parade of the Royal Banner, the 1910 Great Civic Procession and Great Historical Parade, the 2001 Zapatista entry into Mexico City, and the 2010 Bicentennial of Independence and Revolution. I show how, in order to reassert power, rulers have invented traditions and recycled old rituals in their staging of official celebrations. I foreground the role of the indigenous populations in these performances: as subjects with agency, as exploited objects, and as exotic characters.