Slop.

This is my broad understanding of a fraught topic, meant to give avenues of research instead of fully presenting an argument.

• indigenismo was a component of Mexican nation-building, and an expression of freedom for an imagined, reclaimed identity that was stripped during the Spanish colonization of Mexico. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenismo)

• This is a nation building project, meant to create a unified national identity to unite behind, similar (but not identical to) the creation of whiteness in the U$.

• Moises Saenz, an early proponent of indigenismo, was a big fan of John Dewey (an asshole in his own right) , and focused on assimilation of native groups.

• The idea that all people from Mexico are Aztec invalidates hundreds of other indigenous identities, and draws on this identity built for nationalism.

This is a poor representation of the colonial contradictions in Mexico, but hopefully can serve as a jumping-off point for further research.

I'm not too well informed just what I have heard from some indigenous comrades. If I had to hazard a guess it might be similar to USians claiming indigenous heritage.