Santos Felipe Ramos

Every community practices El Día de los Muertos differently, but how we talk about those practices (and their histories) matters greatly.

At the same time that Mexicans in Michigan are positioned as migrants, however, our foodways also root us in many traditions that are Indigenous to this continent.

The Midwest can be a strange place for people like us. We are often called “Mexican,” yet many of us have never even been to Mexico. We are often labeled “immigrants,” yet our ancestors were Indigenous to Turtle Island (the Americas). The “authenticity” of our cultural practices is often measured in comparison to the practices […]