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Flower
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Set in Huehuetla, Puebla, a Totonac Indian community in East Central Mexico, The Tree of Knowledge contrasts two systems of education. The public school system uses patriotic symbols to "integrate" Indian pupils into the national culture while teaching them to reject their own identity. In contrast, the Danza de los Huehues urges young Totonacs to learn from the mestizos ("whites"), yet warns them not to abandon their own culture.
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"Throughout the film we see the divided nature
of the town: a close-up of a caged dove—the Indian locked into a Spanish
world. The remarks of the school principal (of course a mestizo): 'Our
main interest is that the children learn Spanish . . . If we speak to
a sixth grade pupil in Totonac, he is insulted. He says, 'I speak Spanish
now. Why do you talk to me in Totonac?' . . . Lane's approach is indirect
and symbolic; he avoids interpretive narration in favor of allowing visual
and spoken symbolism to carry the message . . . Lane has made a useful
contribution both to peasant studies and to the methodology of ethnographic
film as well."
—Dr. Michael Logan, The American
Anthropologist, 1984.
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But there is also a deeper, older level to the ritual:
it is not the mestizos, but the living spirits of trees, who are the real
spirits of the Danza, and who teach the Totonacs how to live in harmony with
nature. That is where the Dance began...
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Discrimination
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School
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ISBN: 1-891813-01-3
UPC: 736899374730
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The "Tree of Knowledge" DVD
includes "The Tree of Life" & "Democracia Indígena,"
playable on Region 1 (US & Canada) & Multiregion DVD players.
VHS available on request.
Also available in Spanish on Region 4 DVD by request.
Text
of "The Tree of Knowledge""
Text notes for "The Tree of Knowledge"
An oral history of the bilingual mestiza woman, now in her 80's, who was both interpreter
and informant for "The Tree of Life" and "The Tree of Knowledge":
Guillermina:
Retazos de una Vida de Amor Mal Pagada (Spanish)
Guillermina:
Glimpses of a Life of Love Unrequited (English)
