Cuisine

Mexican cuisine is known all over the world. It is especially known throughout the United States. When Americans think about Mexican food, many of them think about Taco Bell or Chipotle. However, most of this food is nothing like the food that comes out of Mexico. Mexican cuisine is a style of food that is known for its various flavors and different types of spices. Similar to the races of Mexico, most of the food is indigenous combined mixed with Spanish foods after the Europeans came over.

Mexican food ingredients include meats, citrus fruits, garlic, cheese, milk, and wine. Other key Mexican ingredients came from the Aztecs. These food remain the most important in Mexican cuisine. They include corn (maize), beans, and squash. Corn is considered to be the most important food in Mexican cuisine because it is used to make the tortillas. Another key element to modern Mexican dishes is cheese. Indigenous peoples did not have cheese before the Spanish came over and introduced dairy products to the people.

According to about.com, the three most popular dishes in Mexico last year were mexican rice, chile rellenos, and flan. Mexican rice has many distinct flavors and goes well with any type of course. Chile rellenos are green chiles stuffed with cheese and fried until they turn brown. Flan is a classic Mexican desert that is made of a custard mixed with caramel.

Sources:

"Mexican Culinary Diversity and Haute Cuisine Culture" Mexican Cuisine a Facts, History, Customs, Contemporary Ingredients, and Ethnic Cookware. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://www.numkitchen.com/mexican/mexican-recipes-all.htm>.

"Most Popular Mexican Recipes in 2010." About.com Mexican food. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://mexicanfood.about.com/od/toppicks/tp/most-popular-mexican-recipes-in-2010.htm>.

sports, Africa in Diaspora

A huge part of Mexican culture is sports. The national sport of Mexico is called Charreria. This sport is a style of horsemanship in which bulls are supposed to be caught and dragged down by their tails. This sports has inspired both the Mexican and American rodeos.The two most popular sports in Mexico are soccer and baseball. Currently, soccer is the countries most popular sport. The Mexican national soccer team has never won the World Cup, but they have reached the quarterfinals twice. Currently, baseball is a huge part in Mexico. In the Mexican professional league, Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, there is a 16 team summer league and an 8 team winter league. Many Mexican baseball players attempt to play in the United States because the MLB is considered to have the best baseball in the entire world. One of the most popular sports in the last 400 years in Mexico has been bullfighting. The only sport that has been in Mexico longer is charreria. Thousands of bullfighting events occur annually in Mexico, and these events bring in money from both tourist and Mexicans.

One of the greatest statements of the African Diaspora in Mexico occurred at the 1968 Olympics that were hosted in Mexico City. It was already a time of political unrest in Mexico, and two African-Americans won gold and bronze. When they got to the podium, they gave the black power salute. They were booed, but it was a huge step forward for blacks in both Mexico and the United States.

Sources
"Mexican Sports." About Mexico -. Web. 02 Mar. 2012. <http://www.aboutmexico.net/mexico/sports.asp>.

economy, Africa in Diaspora

The economy of Mexico is a free market economy. The three major factors that make up the Mexican economy are industry, agriculture, and service. The rural areas of Mexico deal mainly with the agricultural parts of the Mexican economy, and the urban areas deal with the industry and services. Agriculture is considered to be one of the greatest failures of modern Mexico. 25% of Mexico's population lives in rural areas, but agricultural production only makes up 9% of the country's GDP (Mexico's Economy). Much of the agriculture lies in the production of fruits, vegetables, and sugar cane. Much of the industry is dominated by the private sector. The industrial sector accounts for 90% of all export earnings. The main industrial industry lies in the automotive industry. Although industry is dominated by the private sector, the ownership of oil deposits is only controlled by the government. The service industry of the country contributes most to Mexico's GDP. The service sector of the country accounts for 75% of Mexico's GDP . Furthermore, the service sector also provides 58% of the population with employment (Mexico's Economy).

Mexico is very friendly with many other countries. Mexico holds more trade agreements than any other country in the world. Mexico's largest trading partner is the United States. After oil and gas, most of Mexico's exports go to the United States. Mexico really relies on the United States to buy exports as 80% of Mexico's exports are bought by the United States (Villareal).

Sources:
Villareal, M. Angeles. "US-Mexico Economic Relation: Trends, Issues, and Implications."Congressional Research Service. 25 Jan. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. <http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL32934.pdf>.

"Mexico's Economy." BAJA CALIFORNIA BajaQuest All About BAJA. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. <http://bajaquest.com/faq/economy.htm>

government, Africa in Diaspora

The type of government that Mexico has is a Federal Republic. Similar to the United States, the Mexican federal government has three separate powers that control the government: the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. The legislative branch, the Congress of the Union, is composed of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Congress has the power to impose taxes, pass laws, declare war, and approve the national budget (Mexico). The executive branch is controlled by the President of Mexico. Mexico is a democracy in which every Mexican citizen has free universal suffrage. Furthermore, all citizens are automatically registered to vote in each election due to the identity document (Mexico). The president serves for 6 years, and cannot be reelected after his term is over. The current president of Mexico is Felipe Calderon. The final branch of Congress is the judicial branch. The Supreme Court consists of 11 justices appointed by the president with Senatorial approval. The Supreme Court justices only serve for 15 years, and they cannot be reelected after their term is over (Mexico). Currently, the political agenda of Mexico is concerned with protecting the immigrants that are going to America (Miglierini). Laws such as the immigration laws passed in Arizona are of great concern to those in control of the Mexican government.

Although the President is the leader of the country, the real power rests with Congress. As said earlier, the Mexican Congress has the authority to pass laws. In 2009, a law was passed in Mexico that decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of narcotics. This law passed extremely easily with no outside opposition. The passing of this law shows the amount of power that Congress has, even with a conservative president who has tried to crack down on drug use (Time).
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1918725,00.html

Afro-Mexicans are no different than any other Mexican citizens. Every citizen in Mexico is equal. Citizens of African descent have the same suffrage and rights as any other Mexican citizen. From the research that has been done, I have noticed how similar the Mexican government is to the American government.

"Mexico." U.S. Department of State. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. <http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35749.htm>.

Miglierini, Julian. "BBC News - Migration Key Issue as Mexico's Calderon Visits US." BBC News- Home. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8688916.stm>. 

history, Africa in Diaspora

For the rest of this semester, you will be learning about the African Diaspora in Mexico. The African Diaspora in Mexico began around the year 1521 when slaves began to be transported into the Spanish colony of Mexico. From 1521 to 1821, about 200,000 slaves were forced to leave their homes by the Spanish colonists in Mexico (Exploring Africa). As soon as the slaves arrived, they began trying to escape. When they escaped, they began heading to remote regions of the Costa Chica county of Mexico. The slave owners referred to these slaves as maroons. For this reason, the communities these escaped slaves formed were called maroon communities (Exploring Africa). These communities would try to break the slaves out of many of the neighboring estates in the Costa Chica region of Mexico. To this day, the Costa Chica region of Mexico continues to be the main region in Mexico in which people of African descent are located. However, people of African descent have seemed to  be disappearing in Mexico. Some estimate that only 50,000 blacks still live in the communities of Mexico (Aspin). This is occurring due to the intermarriage of blacks with Mexicans and indigenous Indians. The blacks have not disappeared, they have just mixed into society. There have been many attempts to revive the African culture in Mexico. However, many of these attempts have failed. It is believed that the tradition that Africans have brought over to Mexico are long gone, but the blacks in Mexico are still not ready to give up yet.

References

Exploring Africa. Web. 09 Feb. 2012. <http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m15/activity1.php>.

Aspin, Chris. "Black African Slave Legacy Lingers in Mexico - Assata Shakur Speaks - Hands Off Assata "   Web. 09 Feb. 2012. <http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/afrikan-world-news/5431-black-african-slave-legacy-lingers-mexico.html>.

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