ABSTRACT
Masaya is called the “Cradle of National Folklore” (La Cuna del Folklore Nacional). The area is famous for its volcanic complex and being home to the largest concentration of indigenous (Chorotega) people in Pacific Nicaragua. From the late 1800s, elements of Chorotega culture have been appropriated by elite nation building projects to advance the creation of the “ladino” and the “mestizo.” indigenous stories and sacred performances have been colonised and subsumed into the Nicaraguan sphere. But as the Myth of Mestizaje and the logic of elimination demand, indigenous people cannot be seen as central and contemporary figures. Because of this, Chorotega people have faced harsh marginalisation by individuals and by the state, most recently embodied in attacks on indigenous communities in recent years. In this construction of a cultural tourism industry, colonisations and marginalisations interweave. Indigenous heritages are appropriated for use on the national stage at the expense of the very people from which those works of cultural patrimony have originated and belong. Sacred spaces, stories, and folklore become enmeshed in political agendas, the potentially insecure industry of tourism, and environment. This chapter considers indigenous futures as integral to the continued existence of Nicaragua.
