Mexican Female Warrior: The Case of Marisela Ugalde, the Founder of Xilam

Abstract

Social scientific research into martial arts and combat sports (MACS) — now labelled ‘martial arts studies’ (Bowman, 2014b) — commonly examines specific martial arts movements throughout dynasties and periods (Shahar, 2008), or ethnographically illuminates popular contemporary movements such as Capoeira (Downey, 2005) and Krav Maga (Cohen, 2010). Studies of Xilam (pronounced ‘shi-lam’) requires both approaches, as it is a contemporary martial art based on ancient traditions that can be considered through anthropological, historical and sociological lenses. Founded in 1986 (and registered as a social association in 1992) by a Mexican woman, Marisela Ugalde, it draws on three ancestral Mesoamerican warrior cultures: the Mexica (Aztecs) of central Mexico, the Maya of Southern Mexico and Central America and the Zapotecs of the coastal state of Oaxaca.¹ Although all pre-Hispanic (pre-Columbian) societies in Mesoamerica possessed warriors (Hassig, 1992), these three are noted — albeit through limited historical sources — for the development of specific martial arts and warrior classes. The Mexica and the Maya systems are extinct, although there have been some non-academic efforts to ‘rediscover’ the Mexica art of Yaomachtia in the United States. Despite these controversies, the Federación Mexicana de Juegos y Deportes Autóctonos y Tradicionales ² currently protects and promotes two native wrestling styles practised today in remote communities: The Zapotec Chupaporrazo and the Lucha Tarahumara in Chihuahua.

You cannot publicise; you cannot write books and articles. First, you must gestate and be a mother. It was the heaviest load I have ever had in my life. This was in 1991. In 23 years, it still hasn’t been born. It is almost Xilam, but still not. ‘These demonstrations and interviews: Ah, when is it due?’ And many people ask me: ‘And your book? Your school? When?!’ It’s like asking a pregnant woman: ‘When is it due?!’ I’m like a mother waiting for Xilam; I have everything ready for when it arrives. I don’t know when it will arrive. There has been pain, there has been tiredness, but like a good mother of Xilam, I love it very much. Like a mother, I give it its liberty: It has its path.

(Interview with Marisela Ugalde Velázquez de León (64), the founder and ‘mother’ of Xilam)