To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Mexico – History – Revolution, 1910-1920.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Mexico – History – Revolution, 1910-1920'
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 16 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Mexico – History – Revolution, 1910-1920.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Snow, L. Ray (Livveun Ray). "The Texas Response to the Mexican Revolution: Texans' Involvement with U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Mexico During the Wilson Administration." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1994. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc501180/.
Full textAbstract:
The Mexican Revolution probably affected Texas more than any other state. As the Revolution intensified, Texans responded with increased efforts to shape the Mexican policies of the Woodrow Wilson administration. Some became directly involved in the Revolution and the U.S. reaction to it, but most Texans sought to influence American policy toward Mexico through pressure on their political leaders in Austin and Washington. Based primarily on research in the private and public papers of leading state and national political figures, archival sources such as the Congressional Record and the Department of State's decimal file, major newspapers of the era, and respected works, this study details the successes and failures that Texans experienced in their endeavors to influence Wilson's Mexican policies.
2
Albarran, Elena Jackson. "Children of the Revolution: Constructing the Mexican Citizen, 1920-1940." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195359.
Full textAbstract:
The Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920 resulted in a massive population loss that revolutionary officials sought to replace with a generation of active citizens. This dissertation demonstrates that the child's role from 1920 to 1940 transformed from that of an individual bounded by the family to that of a member of the community, the nation, and a transnational generation. Children entered the historical record in unprecedented numbers. Due to the impressive expansion of public education and the increased civic engagement that it yielded, children produced a rich cache of documents--letters, drawings, plays, and speeches--that provide a measure by which to gauge their responses to revolutionary programs.First, I explore adult-produced rhetoric and policies that placed children at the center of plans for creating new revolutionary citizens. Lawmakers, professionals, and governors attempted to construct a homogeneous generation of citizens through the balanced application of sound pedagogy, firm ideology, and modern medicine. Adults transformed public space and assumed new rhetorical styles that refashioned the child as a metaphor for the nation's future.Second, I measure children's responses to government and popular efforts to construct a universal childhood, and I demonstrate the uneven process of cultural dissemination. Unexpected reactions by younger children to itinerant educational puppet shows revealed age as a factor in reception. Children's letters to radio officials demonstrated that middle class children had greater access to the new media. Contributions to the art magazine Pulgarcito suggested a romanticization of rural children.Third, I reveal the ways that participation in civic activities expanded children's social networks and allowed them to imagine themselves as part of a national and international community of their peers. Children's conferences, literacy campaigns, and anti-alcohol marches, allowed children to sample national political culture and gain exposure to its hierarchies and bureaucracy. Pan-American exchanges between schoolchildren meant that Mexican youth saw themselves as part of a hemispheric family, united by a common race and common colonial heritage. The children growing up during these decades learned skills, gained a sense of political awareness, and absorbed and created cultural expressions that became recognized the world over as being distinctly Mexican.
3
Mock, Melody. "Hojas Volantes: José Guadalupe Posada, the Corrido, and the Mexican Revolution." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1996. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc277946/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines the imagery of Jose Guadalupe Posada in the context of the Mexican Revolution with particular reference to the corrido as a major manifestation of Mexican culture. Particular emphasis is given to three corridos: "La Cucaracha," "La Valentina," and "La Adelita." An investigation of Posada's background, style, and technique places him in the tradition of Mexican art. Using examples of works by Posada which illustrate Mexico's history, culture, and politics, this thesis puts Posada into the climate of the Porfiriato and Revolutionary Mexico. After a brief introduction to the corrido, a stylistic analysis of each image, research into the background of the song and subject matter, and comments on the music draw together the concepts of image, music, and text.
4
Madrid-Gonzalez, Alejandro Luis. "Writing modernist and avant-garde music in Mexico: performativity, transculturation, and identity after the revolution, 1920-1930." The Ohio State University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1054237342.
Full text
5
Silva, Caio Pedrosa da 1984. "Soldados de Cristo Rey : representações da Cristera entre a historiografia e a literatura (Mexico, 1930-2000)." [s.n.], 2009. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/278666.
Full textAbstract:
Orientador: Jose Alves de Freitas NetoDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-13T19:47:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva_CaioPedrosada_M.pdf: 774317 bytes, checksum: 37f56a76c5bf2fe6adcb42c0a64ac81a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009
Resumo: "Cristera" é como ficou conhecida a guerra em que camponeses e organizações católicas lutaram contra as posições anticlericais do Estado mexicano, contestando assim o regime revolucionário instituído. Essa guerra (1926-1929), que só foi considerada um tema importante para os estudos historiográficos a partir da década de 1960, foi antes representada na literatura, especialmente novelas nas quais não era apenas um pano de fundo para a trama, mas o próprio motivo da escrita. Dessa maneira, alguns textos literários foram produzidos com o intuito de justificar a guerra, do ponto de vista de revolucionários ou de católicos. No presente trabalho pretende-se investigar as maneiras como se entrelaçam as representações literárias da Cristera e aquelas realizadas pelos historiadores, tendo em vista como os pesquisadores utilizaram o material literário como fonte histórica, quais desafios e temáticas a respeito da Cristera essa literatura lança para os estudos históricos, e as diferenças com que literatura e historiografia trataram o mesmo tema histórico. Para tanto, utilizaremos como material de análise textos historiográficos e de crítica literária que trataram das novelas cristeras, assim como a novela Héctor de Jorge Gram, que tem como um dos motivos principais da sua escrita justificar a participação dos católicos na guerra.
Abstract: "Cristera" is the name by which it became known the war in which peasants and Catholic organizations fought against the anticlerical statements of the Mexican State, thus challenging the established revolutionary regime. This war (1926-1929), which was considered an important issue for historiographic studies only in the 1960s, was before that represented in literature, especially in novels in which it was not merely a backdrop to the plot, but the very reason for writing. Thus, some literary texts were produced in order to justify the war, from the point of view of revolutionaries or of Catholics. This work aims to investigate the ways by which the literary representations of the Cristera and those made by historians intertwine, paying particular attention to how the researchers used the literary material as historical source, to which challenges and issues concerning the Cristero this literature casts for historical studies, and to the differences with which literature and historiography treated the same historical theme. Therefore, we will employ, as material for analysis, texts of historiography and literary criticism which deal with Cristero novels, as well as the novel Héctor, by Jorge Gram, which counts, as one of the main reasons to its the writing, justifying the participation of Catholics in the war
Mestrado
Historia Cultural
Mestre em História
6
Kiddle, Amelia Marie. "La Politica del Buen Amigo: Mexican-Latin American Relations during the Presidency of Lazaro Cardenas, 1934-1940." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/193655.
Full textAbstract:
Lazaro Cardenas (1934-1940) did more than any other president to fulfill the goals of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, by nationalizing the oil industry, establishing rural schools, distributing an unprecedented amount of land to peasants, and encouraging the organization of workers. To gain international support for this domestic reform programme, the Cardenas government promoted these accomplishments to other Latin American nations. I argue that Cardenas attempted to attain a leadership position in inter-American relations by virtue of his pursuit of social and economic justice in domestic and foreign policy. I investigate the Cardenas government's projection of a Revolutionary image of Mexico and evaluate its reception in Latin America. In doing so, this dissertation expands the analysis of foreign policy to show that Mexico's relations with its Latin American neighbours were instrumental in shaping its foreign relations. I argue that the intersections between culture and diplomacy were central to this process.
7
Silva, Caio Pedrosa da 1984. "Mártires de Cristo Rey : revolução e religião no México (1927-1960)." [s.n.], 2015. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/281166.
Full textAbstract:
Orientador: José Alves de Freitas NetoTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T07:58:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva_CaioPedrosada_D.pdf: 7283480 bytes, checksum: 6bac580ba2d433d2dfdfef8b0eebc488 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015
Resumo: Entre as décadas de 1910-1940, diversos sacerdotes católicos foram fuzilados por tropas revolucionárias mexicanas. Alguns desses personagens foram constantemente lembrados nas décadas posteriores como mártires da "perseguição religiosa". O mais conhecido dos mártires foi o sacerdote jesuíta Miguel Agustín Pro (padre Pro), que terminou fuzilado em 1927 na capital mexicana. A história do padre Pro foi escrita em diferentes contextos como forma de afirmar o lugar do catolicismo na nação mexicana, porém esse lugar não era, de forma alguma, ponto pacífico entre aqueles que se definiam como católicos. O presente trabalho analisa a história dos textos sobre os mártires católicos ¿ em especial o padre Pro ¿ pensando na maneira como eles forneciam uma visão católica para o período revolucionário que contrastava com as construções narrativas que enalteciam a revolução. A elaboração de uma narrativa da Igreja como mártir para o período revolucionário mexicano, realizada entre 1927 e 1960, serviu como antídoto para as narrativas pátrias produzidas por liberais e revolucionários que marginalizavam a importância da Igreja católica na formação nacional, ou mesmo apresentavam-se como abertamente anticlericais
Abstract: Between the decades of 1910-1940, a number of Catholic priests were executed by Mexican revolutionary troops. Quite often, these characters were reminded in the following decades as martyrs of the "religious persecution". The best known of this martyrs was the Jesuit priest Miguel Agustín Pro (padre Pro), killed in front of a firing squad in Mexico City in 1927. Catholics wrote the history/story of padre Pro in different contexts as a way of defining the place of Catholicism in the formation of Mexico as a country. However, this place was not taken for granted among those who defined themselves as Catholics. This dissertation examines the history of the texts about the Catholic martyrs - especially padre Pro - aiming to discuss how they provided a Catholic vision for the revolutionary period that contrasted to the narrative built to praise the revolution. The development, between 1927 and 1960, of a narrative of the Church as a martyr in the Mexican revolutionary period served as an antidote to the narrative produced by liberal and revolutionary authors that marginalized the importance of the Catholic Church in the national formation, or that even presented themselves as openly anti-clerical
Doutorado
Politica, Memoria e Cidade
Doutor em História
8
Kilroy, Kevin. "Trading Spaces: An Analysis of Gendered Spaces Before, During, and After the French Revolution of 1789 and the Mexican Revolution of 1910." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2019. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1405.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis investigates the affects of the French Revolution of 1789 and the Mexican Revolution of 1910 on gender roles in their respective societies. Women that contributed to political discourse challenged separations of public and private spheres, which dictated order in the late and postrevolutionary periods of France and Mexico. Given the deliberate acts by both postrevolutionary governments to send women to the periphery of their respective societies, it is vital to revisit the examples of female influence that shaped the early French and Mexican Revolutions. The understanding that comes from a detailed analysis of the parameters of gendered spaces before, during, and after revolution sheds light on the relationships between order and gender that determined the future of women in their respective postrevolutionary worlds.
9
Alexander, Ryan M. "FORTUNATE SONS OF THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION: MIGUEL ALEMÁN AND HIS GENERATION, 1920-1952." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/216972.
Full textAbstract:
Miguel Alemán, who in 1946 became the first civilian president to represent Mexico's official revolutionary party, ushered into national office a new generation of university-educated professional politicians. Nicknamed the "cachorros (puppies) of the revolution," these leaders were dismissed as slick college boys by their opponents. Despite this objection, the rise to power of this new cadre represented a major turning point in the nation's political history. The prior ruling generation, composed of military officers who had faced calamitous violence during the Revolution, had carried out a decades-long social program that sought to address social-economic inequalities, redistribute resources, and draw previously marginalized groups into a politically, culturally, and ethnically unified nation. The members of the Alemán administration, by contrast, dedicated federal resources to promoting industrial development by implementing protectionist measures and constructing massive public works. Powerful hydroelectric dams and expansive irrigation networks supported large-scale commercial agriculture, while ambitious urban projects, including modernist housing complexes, planned suburbs, and the sprawling University City, symbolized the government's middle-class orientation. Despite these advances, their program came with high social costs: suspended redistributive policies and suppressed political liberties led many to accuse them of abandoning the legacy of social revolution they had inherited, an accusation bolstered by rampant corruption. While their policies fomented impressive economic growth over the next three decades, their focus on urban industry ultimately contributed to a debt crisis and a capital city overburdened by rapid inward migration. This controversial policy agenda and ambivalent legacy reflected their collective social formation. Their experiences as politically active students and as career politicians inculcated a sense of pragmatism that set them apart from their military predecessors. Once in office, Alemán and his colleagues exploited the geopolitical circumstances of the early Cold War period to solicit foreign loans as well as private investment, especially from the United States. These leaders fashioned a new image of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Carlos Denegri, a journalist during the Alemán years, captured the essence of this transformation best: "The Revolution," he lamented, "has gotten off its horse and into a Cadillac."
10
Varela, D. Isabela. "Narratives of the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s: newspapers and a new national literature." Diss., University of Iowa, 2015. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/2019.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation examines various texts that were published in Mexican newspapers during the Revolution (1910-1917) and attempts to determine to what extent the authors of those texts combined journalism with literary creativity as they wrote about the Revolution. The main argument is that many of the texts that appeared in newspapers during the 1910s and covered topics related to the Revolution displayed language, style, and structural elements similar to those found in the official literary narratives of the Mexican Revolution that emerged in the 1920s. The argument is founded on the understanding that sociopolitical and ideological changes in Mexican society, as well as the desire for a new national literature, led intellectuals to re-classify some of the texts that appeared in newspapers in the 1910s from journalism to literary works and adopted their stylistic and thematic elements for the new literature. This is evident in Mariano Azuela’s novel, Los de Abajo and Ricardo Flores Magón’s well-known short stories “Dos revolucionarios” and “El apóstol.”
The theoretical framework of this study is informed by the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, Tzvetan Todorov, and Juan Carlos Parazuelos that contend that the value of a narrative changes continuously in response to changes in the society that creates it. Furthermore, the study utilizes Anibal Gonzalez’ notion that there is a gray area between literary narrative and journalism and, therefore, narratives that fall inside the borders of journalism and literature can be classified as one or another or both depending how they interact with social elites, governments, and political affiliations.
Finally, this study maintains that journalism, in combination with artistic expression, provided the foundations upon which the later narrative of the Revolution began its development. It was in the realm of journalism that the authors first applied the elements of brevity, direct speech, expressive, yet concise language, episodic narration, and emphasis on action over description and characterization that characterize the literature of the Mexican Revolution.
11
Belmonte, Grey Carlos Alejandro. "La formación del modernismo vernáculo en el cine de la revolución mexicana bajo el cardenismo : Estudio de tres casos : El Compadre Mendoza, Redes y Así es mi tierra." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Jaume I, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/669049.
Full textAbstract:
Este trabajo presenta una historia cultural del cine de la revolución durante la coyuntura cardenista y señala las apropiaciones iconográficas del modernismo en el folclor local para producir discursos de reinterpretación y actualización de los objetivos revolucionarios. Tres películas quedaron filtradas para formar el corpus: El Compadre Mendoza (Fernando de Fuentes, 1933), Redes (Les Révoltés d'Alvarado, Fred Zinnemann, 1934-1936) y ¡Así es mi tierra! (Ainsi est mon pays, Arcady Boytler, 1937). En ellas se exponen las tres tendencias culturales que interpretaron la revolución: la crítica y negacionista; la socialista y prometedora; la folclórica y triunfalista. La cinta de de Fuentes fue la primera que abordó la revolución como un acontecimiento dramático y una crítica a los espíritus románticos que clamaban el renacer de la nación. La de Zinnemann, originalmente un proyecto del músico Carlos Chávez y del fotógrafo Paul Strand, fue la única producción del proyecto de impulso a la introducción del socialismo en México. Y la de Boytler recuperó la estructura de la comedia ranchera exitosamente difundida por de Fuentes añadiéndole, además, la figura del pelado citadino de Mario Moreno Cantinflas. Las cintas permiten observar los síntomas del modernismo vernáculo. Es decir, la formación del nacionalismo mexicano introdujo las referencias de la modernidad alimentadas por el folclor local, combinándolo con tendencias ideológicas, estéticas y culturales de tipo transnacional. Así, estas expresiones propusieron representaciones iconográficas y discursivas del Ser nacional a fin de reformarlo y reconocerlo como arquetipo de la nacionalidad dentro del discurso de la modernidad.
12
Assunção, Fernanda Rodrigues de. "O universo de Frida Kahlo à sombra da experiência revolucionária mexicana: pintura, corpo e identidades das décadas de 1920 a 1950." Universidade Federal de Goiás, 2013. http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/handle/tede/6113.
Full textAbstract:
Submitted by Marlene Santos (marlene.bc.ufg@gmail.com) on 2016-09-01T20:11:41Z
No. of bitstreams: 2
Dissertação - Fernanda Rodrigues de Assunção - 2013.pdf: 3740011 bytes, checksum: 4c2b448ff6c0e4e97ae53aa647d49418 (MD5)
license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-09-05T13:17:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Fernanda Rodrigues de Assunção - 2013.pdf: 3740011 bytes, checksum: 4c2b448ff6c0e4e97ae53aa647d49418 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-05T13:17:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Fernanda Rodrigues de Assunção - 2013.pdf: 3740011 bytes, checksum: 4c2b448ff6c0e4e97ae53aa647d49418 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-18
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
The present dissertation aims to analyze the artistic and cultural phenomenal field developed in the revolutionary Mexico. In order to do that, those self-referential works of Frida Kahlo which transcend the central event of 20th century Mexico will be employed. By means of the works of Frida Kahlo, the presence of the revolutionary experience in art will be analyzed, and the intercultural relations fostered within the revolutionary environment will be reflected upon.
O presente trabalho objetiva analisar o campo de experiência artístico e cultural formado no México revolucionário. Para tanto, serão utilizadas as obras autorreferenciais de Frida Kahlo que transcendem o evento central do México no século XX. Por meio das obras de Frida Kahlo, pretende-se analisar a presença da experiência revolucionária na arte, bem como refletir a respeito das relações interculturais promovidos em ambiente revolucionário.
13
BARBOSA, Luciana Coelho. "Uma perspectiva sobre a identidade mexicana na obra de David Alfaro Siqueiros (1920-1959)." Universidade Federal de Goiás, 2009. http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/handle/tde/2290.
Full textAbstract:
Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:17:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1
Luciana coelho.pdf: 5663456 bytes, checksum: 7956b919163e0885341f8f3a7dbb81f2 (MD5)
Previous issue date: 2009-10-23This work has for proposal the analysis of the construction of a Mexican identity under the perspective of David Alfaro Siqueiros. This artist is an important character for the understanding of the transformations occurred in the Mexican society under the revolutionary context. The Mexican Revolution succeeded in motivating and involving the whole society and, due to the great popular participation in the uprisings, engendered the need to rethink this population contingent, surpassing the political and military character, and greatly affecting the culture. The muralist movement, on which Siqueiros took part, was significant to this question, since it tried to represent the inferior classes, inserting them in the official discourse. Under this perspective it is valid to point out that the analysis of the construction of identities is intrinsically connected to the social and political imaginary. In the Latin-American countries and especially in Mexico, object of this study, this relationship is directly connected to the notion of miscegenation. We cannot discuss Mexican identity without taking into consideration this question that is crystalline in the muralist movement and consequently in the work of Siqueiros. This identitary process is essential for the individual to engender the nation since it makes possible the integration between individual and society, despite its ocurrence in a contradictory manner, since it includes and excludes simultaneously. Hence, the emphasis of this work consists in the comprehension of how the Mexican historical context supported the Siqueirian identitary discourse.
Este trabalho tem como proposta a análise da construção de uma identidade mexicana sob a perspectiva de David Alfaro Siqueiros. Este artista é um personagem importante para a compreensão das transformações ocorridas na sociedade mexicana sob o contexto revolucionário. A Revolução Mexicana conseguiu dinamizar e comprometer toda a sociedade e, devido à grande participação popular nos levantes, engendrou a necessidade de se repensar este contingente populacional, ultrapassando o caráter político-militar, afetando sobremaneira a cultura. O movimento muralista, do qual Siqueiros fazia parte, foi significativo nessa questão, uma vez que buscou representar as classes subalternizadas inserindo-as no discurso oficial. Sob esta perspectiva é válido destacar que a análise da construção das identidades está intrinsecamente ligada ao imaginário político e social. Nos países latino-americanos e em especial no México, objeto desse estudo, essa relação está diretamente ligada à noção de mestiçagem. Não podemos discutir identidade mexicana sem levarmos em consideração essa questão que é cristalina no movimento muralista e conseqüentemente na obra de Siqueiros. Esse processo identitário é essencial para que o indivíduo possa engendrar a nação haja vista que possibilita a integração entre indivíduo e sociedade, mesmo ocorrendo de forma contraditória, pois inclui e exclui simultaneamente. Assim, a ênfase desse trabalho consiste, pois, na compreensão de como o contexto histórico mexicano subsidiou o discurso identitário siqueiriano.
14
Guerrero, Maria Consuelo. "La imagen de la revolución y de la mujer en la novela y el cine de la revolucion mexicana." Thesis, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/1559.
Full text
15
Hoyle, Rafael Dent. "Writing against the grain : Ignacio Solares' novels of the Mexican Revolution /." Thesis, 2003. http://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/650/hoylerd039.pdf.
Full text
16
Hernández, Cuevas Marco Polo. "The erasure of the Afro element of mestizaje in modern Mexico : the coding of visibly black mestizos according to a white aesthetic in and through the discourse on nation during the cultural phase of the Mexican Revolution, 1920-1968." Thesis, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/14618.
Full textAbstract:
"The Erasure of the Essential Afro Element of Mestizaje in Modern Mexico: The
Coding of Visibly Black Mestizos According to a White Aesthetic
In and Through the Discourse on Nation During the Cultural Phase of the
Mexican Revolution, 1920-1968" examines how the Afro elements of Mexican
mestizaje were erased from the ideal image of the Mexican mestizo and how the
Afro ethnic contributions were plagiarized in modern Mexico. It explores part of
the discourse on nation in the narrative produced by authors who subscribed to
the belief that only white was beautiful, between 1920 and 1968, during a period
herein identified as the "cultural phase of the Mexican Revolution." It looks at the
coding and distortion of the image of visibly black Mexicans in and through
literature and film, and unveils how the Afro element "disappeared" from some of
the most popular images, tastes in music, dance, song, food, and speech forms viewed as cultural texts that, by way of official intervention, were made "badges"
of Mexican national identity.
The premise of this study is that the criollo elite and their allies, through
government, disenfranchised Mexicans as a whole by institutionalizing a magic
mirror—materialized in the narrative of nation—where mestizos can "see" only a
partial reflection of themselves. The black African characteristics of Mexican
mestizaje were totally removed from the ideal image of "Mexican-ness"1
disseminated in and out of the country. During this period, and in the material
selected for study, wherever Afro-Mexicans—visibly Afro or not—are mentioned,
they appear as "mestizos" oblivious of their African heritage and willingly moving
toward becoming white.
The analysis adopts as critical foundation two essays: "Black Phobia and
the White Aesthetic in Spanish American Literature," by Richard L. Jackson; and
"Mass Visual Productions," by James Snead. In "Black Phobia..." Jackson
explains that, to define "superior and inferior as well as the concept of beauty"
according to how white a person is perceived to be, is a "tradition dramatized in
Hispanic Literature from Lope de Rueda's Eufemia (1576) to the present" (467).
For Snead, "the coding of blacks in film, as in the wider society, involves a history
of images and signs associating black skin color with servile behavior and
marginal status" (142).