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Heat Over Time: Geothermal Stories from Mexico

Susan F. Hodgson

Key words
geothermal, Mexico, stories, Los Azufres geothermal field, P'urhÈpecha, Tarascos
Location
Los Azufres, Mexico; Purhepecha, Mexico; Tarascos, Mexico
Conference
World Geothermal Congress
Year
1995
Session
SECTION 2 ? History of Geothermal
Language
English
Paper number
1-hodgson

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Abstract

The Mexican geothermal stories collected here span hundreds of years. Some were found in a 1541 Spanish manuscript about the just conquered Purhepecha, an indigenous people in central Mexico. The rest, part of the oral tradition, were heard in 1993 and 1994 at geothermal sites in Mexico, many from the Spanish narrative.

The stories offer historical commentary and drama shaped by magic realism. They include Purhepecha political and religious ceremonies. Mayan beliefs, Spanish conquistadors, the Mexican War of independence, and country life after the Conquest. Ancient and modern, written and oral, the stories are the history of geothermal Mexico.

Copyright 1995, International Geothermal Association. Readers who download papers from this site should honour the copyright of the original authors, and may not copy or distribute the work further without the permission of the original publisher.

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