The Absent Stone Mexican Patrimony and the Aftershocks of State Theft

Name: The Absent Stone Mexican Patrimony and the Aftershocks of State Theft
Brand: Duke University Press

Duke University Press

The Absent StoneMexican Patrimony and the Aftershocksof State Theft\nAuthor(s): Sandra Rozental\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Duke University Press, United States\nImprint: Duke University Press\nISBN-13: 9781478033127, 978-1478033127\nSynopsis\nWhere and to whom do ancient things belong? What happens when they are stolennot by a colonial power, but by a national museum claiming them as state patrimony? What kinds of healing and restitution can follow? In The Absent Stone, Sandra Rozental tells the story of the Piedra de los Tecomates, the largest stone monument in the Americas, popularly identified as the pre-Hispanic rain deity Tlaloc. In 1964, the Mexican state called in the military to forcefully relocate this 167-ton carving from the town of Coatlinchan to Mexico Citys National Anthropology Museum. Using in-depth historical and ethnographic research, Rozental traces how the stones absence continues to affect and unsettle Coatlinchan and its residents decades later, revealing th.