Dancers of Mexicanness in Cholula, Puebla (Mexico): guardians of the tradition or proletariat of multiculturalism?

Abstract

This article examines the reconstruction of a fraction of the working class in a new type of proletariat. Although at present the dominant discourse denies the existence of social classes and anchors the concept of proletariat in the image of the industrial workers of the Fordist era, the present analysis addresses the issue by pointing out that every transformation of capitalism amounts to the creation of new classes and new ways in which the proletariat is structured. Mexican dancers in the city of Cholula have become a proletariat of multiculturalism to the extent that they have entered the culture market by selling their labor force as ritual experts. To do this, along with this process, they have had to rebuild their subjectivity under the assumption of the celebration of cultural difference. Although they earn their workforce for a living, they themselves and those who hire them do not recognize them as workers, rather they are recognized in cultural terms as guardians of tradition.