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Dilip Gaonkar and Benjamin Lee, Series Editors

C L A U D 1 O L, O M N I T Z

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Claudio Lomnitz, Deep Mexico, Silent Mexico: An Anthropology of

Nationalism

VOLUME 8

Greg Urban, Metaadture.- How Culture Moves tbrough the World

VOLUME 7*

Patricia Seed , American Pentimento , Tbe Invention

of Indians and the Pursuit
of Riches
De ep Me xico
VOLUME 6

Radhika Mohanram , Black Body : Women,

Colonialism , and Space
Si len t Mexi co
VOLUME 5

May Joseph , Nomadic Identities Tbe Performance

of Citizenship

VOLUME 4

Mayfair Mei - hui Yang, Spaces of Their Own.

Womens Public Sphere
in Transnational-China
An Anthropolog)r
VOLUME 3

of Nati onal isni

Naoki Sakai, Translation and Subjectivity On
'zapan"and Cultural Nationalism

VOLUME 2

Ackbar Abbas, Hong Kong:

Culture and the Politics of Disappearance

VOLUME 1
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 -Copyright 2001 by the Regents o the Llniveisny of A1lnnesota

Every effort was made ro obtain permission lo reproduce rhe illustations in this book. If any
proper acknowledgment has not buen nade, we encourage copyright holders to notify us.

The University of Minnesota Press gra te fulh aeknusrledges permission to reprint the
following An earlier version of chapter 1 appeared as Nationalism as a practica] System:
A Critique of Benedict Andersons 1 hcory of Natiu nolism from a Spanish American
Perspeetive," in The Odre Minor Gmnd Theory tbrou96 Ele Lens of Latin America, edited by
.Miguel Angel Centeno and Fernando Lpez-Alves (Princeton, N. 1= Princeton Universiny
Presa, 2000), 329-59; copyright 2000 Princeton University Presa, reprinted by permission
of Princeton University Press An earlier version of chapter 3 appeared as "Mudes o
Cltizenship in Mexico. Pab1i1 )apure 1 1no 1 (1999. 209-93; copyright 1999 Duke
University Press. An earlier version of <hapter 4 appeared as "Passion and Banaliryin
Mexican History : The Presidential Persona1n Tbr (_dlective and lbe Public in Lat, America:
Cultural ldnttitirs and Polilid Order, edired by Lms Ronigar and Tamar Heaog (Londom Sussex
Academic Press, 2000). 238-56; copyright 200(1 Sussex Academlc Press. An cachee version
of chapter5 appeared as "Fissures in Contemporary Mexican Nationalism," Publle Culture 9,
no 1 (1997), 55-68; copyright 1997 Duke University Press An earlier version of chapter 7
appeared as "Ritual Rumor, and Corruption in the Cunstitution el Poliry in Mexico," Joumal
of Latirt American Anthropology I, no. 1 (1995) 20--47, copyright 1995 American Anthropo-
This book is dedicated
logical Association, reprinted by permission of American Anthropological Association,
Arlington, Virginia. An cachee version o chapter 10 appeared as"An Intellectual' s Stock io to the memory of
the Factory ol Mexican Ruins Enrique Kauzcs Blogiaphy o Power, "American launtal of
Sociology 103, no- 4 (1998). 1052-65, copyright 1998 by the University o Chicago, al]
rights reserved. Jorge Simn Lomnitz (1954-93)

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Liba, of Congruas Cataloging-In-Puhlmatlon Data

Lomnitz-Adler, Claudio.
Deep Mexico silent Mexico an anthropology ot nacional ism /Claudio Lomnitz.
p cm-(Pubhc wor]ds, v 91
Includes blhliogaphlcal referenees and ,ndex
ISBN 0-8166-3289-8 (HC zlk- paper) -- ISBN u-8166-3290-1 (PB : alk. pape,)
1 Nationaliana-Mexico 2 Croup identity-Mexico- 3. Mexico-Politics
and government 4- Anderson Benedict R. O'C. Benedict Richard O'Corman),
1936- Imagined eommunities. 5. Inmllectuals-^:lexico-History. 1- Title.
II. Series-
JC311-L7432001
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2001002740

Prinred Iu the United Status ni Amcrlet un ac,d-free paper

The University ut Minnesota is an equa!-opportumpy educator and employer.

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 Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

Part Making the Nation

1 Nationalism as a Practica) System: Benedict Anderson's

Theory of Nationalism from the Vantage Point of
Spanish America 3
2 Communitarian Ideologies and Nationalism 35
3 Modes of Mexican Citizenship 58

4 Passion and Banality in Mexican History:

The Presidential Persona 81
5 Fissures in Contemporary Mexican Nationalism 110

Part I1 Geographies of the Public Sphere

6 Nationalism's Dirty Linen: "Contact Zones" and the
Topography of National Identity 125

7 Ritual, Rumor, and Corruption in the Formation of

Mexican Polities 145

8 Center, Periphery, and the Connections between

Nationalism and Local Discourses of Distinction 165
 Part III Knowing the Nation
9 Interpreting the Sentiments o the Nation. Intellectuals
and Governmentality in Mexico 197
]0 An Intellectual's Stock in the Factory oF Mexicos Ruins:
Enrique Krauze's Mexico: Biography of Pmuer 212
11 Bordering un Anthropology_ Dialectics o a
National Tradition 228
12 Provincial Intellectuals and the Sociology o the
So-Called Deep Mexico 263
Notes 287
References 317
Index 335
Acknowledgments

To me, this book is like a "cabinet o curiosities," a showcase for a whole

extended family o subjects that were first washed upon my shore by the
tide o a previous book, Exits from the Lahyrinth. The essays that 1 have in-
cluded here were written between 1993 and 2000, and they were crafted
in an environment o intellectual engagement and friendship that is too
rich and diverse to acknowledge properly. There are, however, a few en-
going conversations, a few influences and instances o friends coming to
my aid that 1 cannot omit,
Over the past five years 1 have benefited tremendously from the criti-
cism, example, friendship, and support o my colleagues and students
in the departments o History and Anthropology at the University o
Chicago. As an anthropologist, 1 am drawn to the peripheral, te the cu-
riosities and details o human sociability. Friedrich Katz has brought me
back to the great current o world events, and in the process has also
taught me much o what 1 know about Mexican history. He has been my
closest colleague these past years.
The friendship, conversation, and example o Fernando Escalante,
Robin Derby, Roger Bartra, Beatriz Jaguaribe, Nstor Garca Canclini,
Andrew Apter, Eric Fassin, Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, Juan Prez, Liz
Henschell, Marshall Sahlins, Ricardo Pozas, llan Semo, Arjun Appadurai,
Martin Riesebrodt, Tom Cummins, Francisco Valds, Fred Myers, Annette
Weiner, and Guillermo de la Pea sustained and inspired me more than 1
can say. Some o the particulars in one or another essay benefited from the

tx =
advicc 0f Jamar Herzo,. Ete 1'tt i , as Carlos Funnent, and Cristbal
Aliovn - 1 hc late Calo t lnica mas tic <oriraocous Iricnd who helped mc
alt through srith tic original puhhs auun mn e hapicr 10 in Mexico.
1 em csi ccially iTi dcht,(i tu' 1 )il,p (di kai lor encouiaging inc Lo writc
this book 1 hc R^ic c (uluns , allccuvc sshnsc r, e rings 1 have attendeel
regularly ovcr the pass vears has aleo inspncd me in many ways_ Thc
manuxnpt as a saholc gainccl ioni tic c..cetul and critical engagement ol
Roger Rutne and Enu Van 1"oung 1 am gicdils' in clchr tu riese exemplarv
rcadcrs
A numbcr of students who liase \r ,i ked closcly with mc over tic
past years Nave been an intlucncc 1 am especially gratetul Lo Ev Meade,
Chris Boyer, Dimita Doukas, Paul Ross, F leather Levy, Daniel Resendez,
Matthew Karush, and Katherinc Bliss More generally, 1 am indebted Lo
the students o the Latin American History Workshop at Chicago. Finally, Introduction
my editors at Minnesota, Robin .Moir, David Thorstad, and, especially,
Carric Mullen, put up with this incrcasingly grumpy writer and cajoled
him finto writing a bettcr work. The Balcony of the Republic
Thc essavs in Chis book viere also wrltten under a very different influ-
There is a class o intellectuals who have the delightful privilege o con-
ence, a tide that rase and fell with the pull o the dark moon of my brother
stantly keeping their readers company-writers who take down their im-
jorge's death, and o the glowing clelight el my family, and especially o
pressions o the significant events o a communiry and supply it with a
my children, Enrique and Elisa, and my wife, Elena Climent. Conversations
steady stream o commentary - The role o these intellectuals is something
with Elena have been formative in the deepest sense, and her work as an
like that o a village priest, consecrating significant events, offering advice
artist is a source o constant insp im tion.
and sympathy, proffering henedictions, and even threatening the un-
believers with excommunicatlon. Their lives are like a book that opens
onto their communit.
Perhaps because it is, at heart, a Catholic and provincial society,
Mexico has always had a special preference for these chronicters, and
they have thrived even in today's mass society. Carlos Mara Bustamante,
Guillermo Prieto, and Ignacio Manuel Altamirano were figures o this sort
in the nineteenth century, as was Salvador Novo in the decades following
the Mexican Revolution. Currently, writers such as Carlos Monsivis,
Hctor Aguilar Camn, Enrique Krauze, and Elena Poniatowska fati finto
this category. Even intellectuals who have kept a greater distante from
the bustle o the day Lo day, such as the late Octavio Paz, or Carlos
Fuentes, descend from their lofry heights, like bishops going Lo a confir-
mation, when it comes Lo consecrating the truly importara events: the
1968 student movement, the earthquake o 1985, or the Zapatista revolt
o 1994. The cronista accompanies the communiry, guides it through its
dilemmas, consoles it in its grief, and shares in its triumph. Mimesis with

s
 the people is such that this 'mtellecttual is a natural representative o the
different, no doubt. 1 do not mean te use the hardship o the peasant mi-
nation.
grant to make my own cause more noble, nor am 1 about tu raise a class-
How different this is from my own sltuation' 1 left a fob at El Colegio action suit on their behalf. 1 cannot speak for them.
de Mxico in 1988 and carne to work in the United States not as an exile, 1 am, rather, interested in the ways in which immigration to the United
but voluntarily Although 1 go back to Mexico constantly, and sometimes States offers a critical perspective en Mexico and en the United States.
for long periods, and although 1 have access to che comings and goings o My current position in the American academy and my experience in
Mexican politics and its cultural aftairs, iv position is reminiscent o that
Mexico afford, I believe, a vista o its own, a vantage point that is mount-
o an infirm ancle who keeps ro his quarcers, and who only makes an occa- ed neither on the balcony o Mexican public opinion nor en the well-
sional appearance
greased machine of American expertise, though it leans on both. My con-
These confusing teelings of access and isolation, o accompanying the cern is to understand the social conditions in which national distinctions
nation's tribu lations Irom atar, rellect the ci rcumstances and conditions emerge.
in which this book was written The position of ehronicler can only be
attained through immersion in the day to day o that great city that is
Mexico City, the place that Porfirio Daz recognized long ago as "the bal- Depth and Silence
cony o the republie." In an authoritarian country, public opinion and na- It is common knowledge that nationalism involves an appeal to origins.
tional sentiment were both concentrated and represented in the national The Frontier Society, the Melding o Two Races, the Chosen People o
capital. The values of the pmvinees and foreign values both were realized
God, the Children o Revolution-these myths appeal to the historical
there, and they were made to radiate from there to the entire nation. My
"depth" o nations, a depth that finds material expression in the land itself.
generation is the tirst in which a few mcmbers o Mexicos intelligentsia
As in Australian aboriginal "dreamings," ties to ancestors are encrusted in
have chosen to forsake Mexico City for another balcony, which is the
the landscape, and contemporaries inhabit the outer surface of that amal-
American academy.
gam between a land and a people that is the nation. Stories of origins are
In the past, Mexican intellecnials used the experiences o Mexicans in required for spreading feelings of kinship in a heterogeneous and uncon-
the United States as grist 1nr the nati onalist mili. As the Mexican- nected population.
American folklorist los Limn has shown Mexican intellectuals have de-
Images o a nation's rootedness are also used to displace or ignore par-
cried the conditions of their fcllow countrvtnen in the United States, and
ticular claims.2 In nineteenth-century Spanish America, for instante, na-
used their condition to further political projects in Mexico. What they
tional symbols tended to he chosen from nature: the quetzal (bird) o
have rarely done is acknowledgc thc Mexican-American vantage point as
Guatemala, the copihue and araucaria (plants) o Chile, the Argentine
the sorrce of new critical perspectives.'
pampa, the Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl (mountains) o Mexico, and so
In my years in the United States 1 have often thought of my experi-
en. Alongside the exaltation o the land carne the idealization o the
ences in relation to those oi Mexican migrant workers, to their ties to
remate indigenous past: o unconquerable chieftains such as Caupolicn,
honre villages and to the ways in which rheir lives are lived andjustified in
Cuauhtmoc, and Tpac Amant, and indigenous achievements in astrono-
the United States. 1 do not mean to make too much o this comparison, as
my, urban design, and engineering, Both natural and historical images
1 am not especially interested in Mexican-American identity politics, nor
were mobilized for the exclusion o the opinions and immediate interests
do 1 seek a new group to represen[ now that 1 have "abandones Mexico-
o large portions o the population who, it was felt, needed to be civilized,
On the contrary, what I share svith many Mexican migrants is their emo-
educated, racially improved, or even, in some cases, exterminated. Ap-
tional and material investment in Mexico, the sense that the migratory ex-
peals to the "depth" o the nation have been a staple in the packaging o
perience can he used for setting pass situations right, and the ambivalent
modernizing projects, calling potential dissenters Yo order in the narre o
realization that the dithculties ol the migratory process have changed os.
a shared trajectory. In national societies, "depth" and "silence" are mutually
The sature o our investments, the sources ol our frustra tions on the home
implicated.
front, the spec ific qualities o our tiansformations in the United States are
This relationship between depth and silente reveals a national secret,

11troduc1lon
xiii

which is that denarrcctcy, popular soccn-i,,ntr and a racional governmen-
tal admin:stration are leso lulh guaina blr . 1 hc nacional state is always
involved in the work of shapinr puhl:c opirtum with che aid of rigid sys-
teniso t discipline arad exdu,ion. l hn rs be, ause che eonneetio ns hetween
che,tate che people in( che turuo:p aire am thrng [,lit harmonious and
stable- Scates are shaped in m),,,,, , r,t espansion and conquesr, or else in
processes of deculonizatiun In eiiIiei a,c. diverse people,, sometimes
unrelated te) ea, h uther are suhreeis nl thc ante st,ue
The muvcmcnu involved in elalming popular and territorial sovereign-
cy ti-tus requirc arrangem eras between peuples w^ho do not neeessarily
i dentify with une anothcr, and ,vho may Nave only tenuous and indirect
links. In extreme ssmacions, chis can load tu civil war and territorial frag-
mentation, but oven in milder cases the scgmenration of "the nation' has
profound political and cultural consequences, including che exacerbated
use o nationalism_ Moreover, che sha pe ot a territory is never perfectly at-
tuned to che tradicional habitat ot a people even in cases when such rela-
tions between a people and a territory can credibly be made. Territories
peed to be claimed, boundaries necd tu be enforced, and so they are
dependent not only un che national community, but also on its neighbors.
In short, neither a people nor its corneenuns to a state and terrimry are
stable facas. Instead, these relationships leed constantly co be shaped and
reshaped.
In Chis, Mexico is not an exception, latir rather an extreme. Like all
other nations, Mexico carne into being as the result o world-historical
conditions that were beyond che control of its inhabitants and, although
the viahility of Mexico as a polity was common serse for locals and for-
eigners alike at che time of independence, che size of che territory, its lack
o economic integration, che diversity of its people, and che desirabiliry o
its resources to foreign powers al conspirad co make nationality a desired
achievement more than a well-established fact.
In che era o independence, nacional consciousness was uniform nei-
ther in its contencs nor in its extension. [-ven as late as 1950, Octavio Paz
prefaced his book un Mexican national cultura warning that his analysis
did not apply to al] inhahitants o ,Mexico, but only to that segment o che
population that was conscious of heing Nlexican, which he saw as a mi-
nority-' Today it may be diflicult co find a Mexican who is not aware o
being Mexican, but che contexts in which nationality is pertinent, and its
symbolic and practical referents, still vary substantnally. Nationaliry is nel-
ther an accomplished fact nor in established essenee; itis, rather, the
moving horizon that acturs point to when they need to appeal co che con-
nections between che people and che poGty, when they discuss rights and
obligacions, or rey co justify oi r'elect modernization and social change-
Nacional filiation is thcrelore used in order to hanuner out a consensual,
oi hegemonic, a rra ngem ent, ir involves cajoling and purchasing, exhibits
o strength and eocrcion- Uepth and silente are che Siamese twins oi na-
tional tate formation_
Nacional Distinction Tbeory and History of National Sprices
The nacional ideal of popular sovercignty can rever be fully accom-
plished- Ir is instead like a receding horizon, a point of referente that is
used te) organize relationships between che people and che state in
processes of modernization that can rever be contained by nacional bor-
ders. As a result, che nacional space is constantly changing. Isolated com-
munities are integrated into che national public sphere, while newly pau-
perized classes are marginalized from it; power brokers rise and falla
foreign interesas are successfully reigned in and subsequently escape gov-
ernmental control, In short, che development o a national space is a his-
torical process. Abstract generalization, theorization with no historical
referent, is difficult given the currenc state o our comparative knowledge,
and yet theorization is required to make adequate descriptions o that
great abstraction that is "national space."4 A theoretically inclined history
is thus useful at chis particular junction.
But we need historically sensitive theories just as much. Nations are at
once aspects o an internacional order and the product o local processes
o state formation. As a result, their position in the internacional order it-
self shapes che ways in which theories are written and understood.5 There
is an inherent tendency for standards to emerge between nations. The cul-
ture o che state, the forro and contencs o its progranis and o its organiza-
tion, are often the brainchild o transnational comniunities of specialists.
However, this does not relieve os from having to understand systems o
national distinction in their singularity; for social theories as they are de-
veloped and deployed in practice are aspects o chis system o distinetion
ton. There is thus a polyphony, a bizarre range o harmonics, in any social
explanation or body o theory, because, for che most par, these explana-
tions resonate differently when they are sounded in che scientific or artis-
tic vanguards than when they are broughc finto national contexts as policy
or as social criticism. History thus helps understand che range o theories,
as well as their polyphony, slippage, or movement
Nationalism, which is a way o framing communitarian relations, itself
1 n i r o d u e t i on
xv =
 develops in relation to other communitarian forms, including families, vil-
o itself as the westernmost portion o "the West," a place that inherited all
lages, and religious communities. The ways in which nationalism relates
that was reasonable and open-minded o English liberalism, and yet was
to these various communities depend on the ways in which the national
unfettered by an aristocracy or by a degraded mass o "commoners."
territory is tied together, economically, politically, and culturally. More-
Today, in the United States, economics and much o political science and
over, in order to disseminate nationalism, it has to be shaped into signs
sociology are dominated by theories in which the habits o American con-
and told, it has to be tied to sites o local memory in effective ways. sumers, o American voters, and o foreign-policy makers are presented as
Finally, the very uses to which nationalism is put, the projects that it paragons o rationality. The collective habits o the world's Great Power
shapes and prometes, the interna) distinctions that it facilitates, and its
can be nothing short o "rational." Just as Mexican social scientists have
uses in dealing with what is foreign, vary.
named and shaped Great National Problems, so too have American econo-
This is why students of globalization do not tease to insist en the fact
mists given form to an allegedly universal rationality.
that globalization is not mere homogenization, and that "its" effects are
For those who share in this spirit, the historical sciences are quaint and
locally differentiated. Nonetheless making this point in the abstract is
old-fashioned disciplines that are still devoted to the study of the particu-
much easier than showing it ar work-the very persistence o the dis-
lar. No grand theories o general applicability can come forth from their
claimer en the part o students of "globalization" attests te this. This is be-
stubbornly idiographic methods. They can never add up to anything,
cause the study o the conditions in which nations are produced invohres a
though they may deserve to be modestly supported, since they can readily
historical sociology o state formation; it cannot bypass the particular.
provide those tedious facts that are still needed to avoid entirely confusing
Bolivia with Brazil.
Grounded Consonant with these imperial pulsations, non-Western areas became
a special branch o knowledge, subordinated to the universalizing inter-
Mexican social sciences are as much a part of the international horizon as
ests o "the West." Thus, the mores and intellectual traditions o Latin
any other science. Mexican authors do not hesitate to borrow from the
America have been called "non-Western," despite the fact that they have
works o foreign colleagues, and they participate actively in international
as much o a claim to Europe as does the United States. Older or weaker
discussions and publications. There is a sense, however, in which they are
empires, as Arjun Appadurai has pointed out, have been associated with
entirely enconipassed by national history, for the very justification o intriguing and vastly simplified characteristics that were useful for sharp-
Mexico's scientific establishment has been tied to national development,
ening the self-image o the West: the Mediterranean stood for honor
to the formation o a national consciente, and to addressing the kind o
and shape, India for caste, China for filial piety and minute women's
issues that Andrs Molina Enrquez called Great National Problems."6 It
footwear . . .8 Latin America provided proud and supersttious men, beau-
is fair to capitalize this expression because ir narres the fetish o Mexican
tiful seoritas, venal tyrants, and whimsical revolutions, How can widely
social science. Social sciences are supposed to respond to Great National
useful ideas emerge in arcas that are dominated by particular complexes o
Problems, when in fact it is the social sciences that have named and given
traits that are so clearly bounded in scope and limited in vision? The cate-
form to those problems in the collective imagination.
gory o the non-Western is the category o the particular; it is not a suit-
Mexican fetishism o Great National Problems occupies a position
able place from which to think through either human universals or events
analogous to the fetishism o the "Western tradition" and o "Rationality"
o world-historical significante.
in the United States. Historians o curricular development in American
In Mexico, narratives that identify the habits o the Mexican people as
universities have shown how and why schools in the United States decid-
paradigma o rationality, and therefore as universally applicable, have had
ed to incorporate their own tradition within a narrative o "the West."7
little success. The country has been hyperconscious o its backward con-
Universities were designed as neoclassical palaces or else as imitations o
dition for at least 150 years. Moreover, it has had to deal with a layered
the great English universities, an architecture that proclaimed the desire
history o imperialist depictions: in the nineteenth and early twentieth
to emulate empire while spurring republican pride, to appropriate the
centuries, Mexicans could not be made into the paragon o rationality
grandeur o both Greece and Britain. The United States has liked te think
because they were racially inferior, later on, the Mexican people were

In^ro1 ction
In tro d u cti on
= xvii
poitraycd as tiaditi onalists, as latalitiis whu.c racional capabil iti es, though
no longer biologically deniahle v, ere no less blinded by superstition.
Todas' Mexico 1, routinely lobeled a [les cl^^ping nation' Because it is al-
Icgedly not vct devclupcd. ii is nr,: in a ituauun to speak for humanity at
large Nut surprisingly, tico Mcsican Liuducs Nave conccnrrated on con-
tributions to che resolution nl tic nations problcnts. These nced to be
dealt with hrst: univcrsallty will ,unir lacre
As in che Anicrican case iNc vchucctuny ui Mexics principal univer-
sities relleces [hese aspira Go ns. Alodernisln scith its charaeteristic eom-
bination of state-ol-che-art technology, ahrc acted tiaditional rnotifs, and
che subordination of the whole to modero usage, provided che ideal vehicle.
The National Universiry is a paradigmatic instance: research and teaching
facilities are laid out in a plan that is reminiscent of pre-Columbian urban
design, while che whole was developed with che most modero materials
and techniques available.
The definition o che Great Nacional Problems and o their resolution
thus involves incorporation ro a "civilizational horizon" that transcends
Mexieo's bordees: the language of scicnce and of che arts is recognized as a
universal language, and so che process of devcloping a national consciente
or o contributi ng to national devel opment involves building an infra-
structure that is oriented to learning and disserninating works created on
che outside.1(1 Thus, Mexican modernism takes an inward turn, both be-
cause of che effort t transiate and appropriate foreign innovations and
because of che obsession with making interna) conditions more favorable
for progress.
Given Chis self-centeredness, and given che ethnocentrism involved in
imperial universalism, it is not surprlsing ciar diere are considerable diffi-
culties in getting whatever originaliry thcre has been in Mexican social
and scientilic thought recognized as innovative outside o Mexics bor-
ders, because whereas the thinking ol American authors is usually in-
scribed in a universalizing language leven in cases when its significante is
parochial), in Mexico contributions that might be o general utility are
subsumed into the language of the particular, o the national.
This state ol affairs produces an interesting complex regarding the hid-
den contributions of Mexican culture to universal civilization. Thus,
Mexicans sometimes mutter that che inventor o color television was
Mexican; that Thomas Edison reas half Mexican; that \Valt Disney stole
characters from Mexican composer i, and that historian Edmundo
O'Gorman's ideas concerning tic invention of America went unaeknowl-
edged by che school devoted tu nventcd ti adi tions." In short, we have
11., ,, 1,
che whole complex that Kasherine Verdery described among Romanian
intellectua ls as pro tochroni sm,' that is to say che doctrine that struggles
to rescue a series of nacional figures who had prcfigured well-known
'Western" devel opments from an imperial conspiracy that has confined
them to oblivion. 11
The conditions for procochronism are produced by asymmetries of
power between che scientilic establishments of Mexico and Europe or che
United States_ However they are also che result of the way in which
Mexics knowledge -stablishmcrit has been justified_ In order to engage
public interest in Mexico, in order to attract funds, and so on, one must en-
gage the Great National Problems. This means that thinkers who recycle
works and ideas produced abroad and apply them to the nacional con-
science can enjoy an undeserved (though entirely local) reputation, and it
also means that thinkers who have had a contribution to make to the broad-
er civilizational horizon can go underacknowledged, especially when the
country does not have the capaciry to absorb the work to its full potential.
1 have myself worked for many years under che strain o [hese tensions,
desiring to contribute to che discussion o Mexico's particular problems,
while holding to the conviction that any real engagement with particular-
ity requires a degree of critica) thought, a kind o thought that knows no
national frontiers. My work has therefore tended to inhabit a margin: a bit
toe theoretically inclined for most Mexican social scientists, a bit roo
engaged with Mexican political quandaries for most o my American col-
leagues. However, this situation, which is not so very singular, also af-
fords, 1 think, a certain kind o engaged critique, a kind of theoretical par-
ticularism that is well suited to the study of the national form. It is a forra
o "grounded theory" in both senses o this term: grounded because it
works through a vast and dense set o facts, and grounded because it has
to confront, and hopefully to transgress, an order o confinement.
Road Map
This is a book of essays. It carne to life as a volume when my friend and
colleague Guillermo de la Pea suggested that 1 publish a volume in Mexico
with a collection o essays that had appeared only in English. 1 followed
Guillermos advice and put together a volume that appeared in 1999 under
che title Modernidad indiana: nacin y mediacin en Mxico. As 1 prepared that
work, however, 1 realized that my general project o [hese last years,
which has been to develop a historical sociology o Mexican national
space, was not far froni completion and 1 spent an additional eighteen
I n 1 r o d u c t i on
= xix =
 months writing che essays that werc relj n ved, '1 bis hook reproduces five
of che time essays included in ,bindrn,:J.t.l im{unta (che earliesc was written in
1993), and adds co them seven newer essays that mark che end of a long
project (che las( was completed in clic hrsi months of 2000).
The hook is dividcd roto [bree pars Pare 1, "Making che Nation," is
composed of live essays. Taken togcthci, [hese chapters provide a histori-
cal and theo retical Ira1nework for u n deis tan ding Mexican nacional ism and
nacional identity as a process that hagan vvith colonization. The essays in
Chis section generally cake a very historical broad sweep.
Chapter 1 is a critical appralsal ol Benedict Anderson's theory o na-
tionalism, wriuen from che vantage point ol Spanish Ame rica. 1 show that
tire relationship lietween nacional ism, secularism, and social hierarchy di-
verges somewhat from Andersons proposition- This leads both to amend-
ments to Anderson's theory and co a discussion o che political usage o
nationalism in Mexico and Spanish America. Chapter 2 extends the dis-
cussion o communitarian ideologies i niiiated in che discussion o Benedict
Anderson by exploring competing versions of Mexican nationalism, and
also other hiscorically powerful communitarian forms that are pertinent
1or understandi ng che appeal and I'units of any nacional ist project in
Mexico. Both chapters are wide-ranging historical essays that explore che
lonyue durc.
Chapter 3, by contras[, focuses on the transformation ot Mexican
citi zenship during the nineteenth and early twcncieth centuries. Here 1
seek to hiscoricize Roberto Da laua's idea regarding che cultural logic of
hierarchy and ci tizenship in I_atin .America_ As in che essay en Benedict
Anderson's theory, 1 eomplement a cultural reading (in chis case o citizen-
ship) wich an emphasis on che political f ield in which che cultural con-
struction o( citizenship develops_ In che process, 1 argue against che view
that imagines the development of ci tizenship and democracy in Mexico as
a process that liad an carly and very brief gulden age during che Restored
Republic (1867-76), only to tal] during che porfiriato (especially after
1884), and ricen to hegin a heroic recoverv in che alcermath of 1968. 1
show that che prominente of discourses of dtizenship and o civic virtue
in che first two-thirds o che nineteenth century is related to che political
instahility o che country, and that che exaltad language of citizenship chal
was popular in Chis period declinad not so much as a result o dictatorial
repression as hecause of che alliancea among che political class that mod-
ernizatioa and economic grnwth nade possihle. The history o Mexican
democratization thus appears in a somewhat less heroic lighc chan in the
criumphal nartatives of eontentpurary democrats_
Chapter 4 complements che discussion of che political consolidation of
che Mexican state by focusing on che development o che image o che na-
cional president as a fetish ot sovereignty_ In particular, Chis essay explores
che relationship between religion, race, and images of sovereignty, and it
shows the ways in which power was secularizad, and che law and economic
modernization were indigenized during che nineteenth century and into
che Mexican Revolution (1910-20).
The final chapter of Part 1 is devoted to che contemporary crisis o
Mexican nationalism, and it can be read as an alternative introduction to
chis hook (as a eomplement tu chis Introduction). In che last two decades,
innovations in che organization o transnacional capital have provoked
profound changes in Mexico, changes that include a reorientation of che
national economy, che dismemberment o che revolutionary state, and in-
creasing class polarization. As a result, ttere is a chronic crisis concerning
the relationship between nationalism and modernization. This essay ex-
plores Chis changing relationship and discusses che strain en Mexican na-
tionalism in che contemporary moment. It thus spells out the context in
which che essays o chis hook were written, which is the long period
known as Mexico's "transition to democracy."
Commentators such as Paul Krugman o che New York Times have
crowed that che historie Mexican election o July 2, 2000, should be
chalked up to che North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and
globalization, and that che neoliberal presidents who presded over
chis transition (de la Madrid, Salinas, and Zedillo) were in fact the well-
meaning democrats that they always claimed to be 12 However, it was
Mexican authoritarianism, not Mexican democracy, that led Mexico into
che General Agreemenc en Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and NAFTA in che
first place. The full power o Mexico's revolutionary state was needed to
preside over che sea change in che economy that finally buried revolution-
ary nationalism, which is why che transition to democracy was so pro-
tracted. Now that che change in economic models was an accomplished
fact. Mexicans were allowed to choose their president freely from among
three candidates who had strikingly similar platforms, and the economists
who imposed their models on Mexico could claim to have given birth to
democracy.' 3
Par ti, "Geographies o che Public Sphere," is dedicated to the cultural
geography o che nacional space, and it is composed of three chapters. The
first, Chapter 6, deals wich che contexts in which nacional identity and
xenophobia emerge It introduces one o che central monis o Mexican na-
tionalism, which is that che nation cannot eontain capitalism and eeonomic
1 ,t r o duc
modernizatioii much o which conics ti, m ahroad The chapter proposes that it generated in Mexico are rclared co clic "balcony" from which Ti
a rudimentarv topography oi t. ont.ru zones Ti which nacional identiry seas written
emerges as a ciguilicant political resaure,c. Chapter 11 complements Chis polemical piece by analyzing che histori-
Chapter 7 irgues chas ntual rumor and contiption Nave htstorieally cal role of anthropology in shaping Mexican nationalism and conversely,
bcen the ericical mechanism, tor thc eonstitution tal nacional public opin- che role that nationalism has liad in shaping .Mexican anrhropology- It is
ion in Mexico 1 his is because c Iris clieisiuns ie su significant that broad written as a seholarly piece , sehereas che preceding chapter is written as a
sectors of che population are se te ma tic i K eycluded trom che hourgeois polemical review, but hoth develop aspects of che same argumenc regard-
public sphere Lite chapter then deselups elements of a spatial approaeh ing che preponderant role that nationalism has placed in shaping Mexican
to che study ot che public sphere social thought
Chapter 8 is about centrality and uiai ginalicy-" Insread of seeing The final chapter of the book is a critique of Guillermo Bonfil 's notion
these categories as stable piopeitics of places, they are best understood as o a "deep Mexico," a concept that 1 subscitute with a "silent Mexico." The
metaphors that are used lar che development of interna) idioms o distinc- chapter proposes a geography o silente by way of the study of local intel-
uon that are then deployed to link I actions of communities across the na- lectuals . 1 show that the mechanisms that intellectuals use co justify their
cional space. This essay, like chapter 12, uses che case o che anthropologi- authority to represent their communities provide valuable clues for under-
cally famous village of Tepoztln to develop a perspective en this matter. standing the geography of Mexican democracy , a geography that is
As a locality, Tepoztln has usually been constructed by outsiders and deeply segmented along class and regional lines.
government officials as "peripheral," but local inhabitants have deployed Taken together, the twelve chapters in Chis book are a historical and
within their town che same hinary oppositions that they have been sub- cheorecical exploration of Mexican nacional space , by way o an analysis
jected to-The essay explores che politics of chese juxtapositions. Thus, the o nationalism , che public sphere , and knowledge production . They are
three ehapters o Part II study, lirst, the geography o nacional identiry offered both as cultural criticism and as a scholarly contribution to our
production, second, the cultural geography of che public sphere, and final- understanding o these phenomena.
]y, the geography o national distinction-
Part III, "Knowing che Nacion," is about che different ways o produc-
ing public knowledge within and about the nation. Chapter 9 uses Michel
Foucault's concept o governmentality to argue that, because o the tribu-
lations o Mexico's development as a weak nation in che international
order, intellectuals who sought to speak for che nation on che basis o sta-
tistics and population studies have liad lintited success. Alongside these
"governmental intellectuals," nacional sentiment has been expressed by
others, who claim to be close to social movements and revolutions.
Chapter 10 is a polemical essay en che effeccs o che current privati-
zation o culture, by way of a critique of che work of Enrique Krauze.
This essay, originally published in English in 1998, generated a heated
polemic in Mexico. 1 have included che piece in this volume despite its
polemical eharaccer for two reasons hrst. because it deals with the role
o history and historians as nation builders and as nationalist intellectuals
and is thus of a piece with che preceding chapter en the interpretation o
che sentiments of che nation and wich my work on che history o anthro-
pology and second, because Chis is an instante in which analysis and
polities come together-both the writing of che essay and che reactions

lr 1 r o du c t i on
xxiii =
 PART1

1Vla k ing

Nation
 1

Nationalism as a Practica ) System:

Benedict Anderson 's Theory of Nationalism from
the Vantage Point of Spanish America

Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities has probably been the single most
influential work en nationalism o the past two decades. Written with
clarity and flair, Anderson's book explains nationalism as a specific form o
communitarianism whose cultural conditions of possibility were deter-
mined by the development o communications media (print capitalism)
and colonial statecraft (especially state ritual and state ethnography-for
instance, bureaucratic "pilgrimages," censuses, and maps).
Seen in this light, nationalisms are historically recent creations, and yet
terribly successful at shaping subjectivity. In fact, it is nationalism's power to
form subjects that truly arrests Anderson's attention: "[patriotic deaths]
bring us abruptly face to face with the central problem posed by national-
ism: what makes the shrunken imaginings of recent history (scarcely more
than two centuries) generate such colossal sacrifices?" (1994; 7). This con-
cern with subject-formation and identity is consonant with Anderson's prin-
cipal innovation, which is to treat nationalism not asan ideology, but rather
as a hegemonic, commonsensical, and tacitly shared cultural construct.
For Anderson, nationalism is a kind o cultural successor to the univer-
salism o premodern (European) religion. Thus, although he locates the
birth o nationalism in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries,
the preconditions for its emergence occur much earlier, with Europe's

3
 expansion in the sixteenth century. In Anderson's view, European expan-
sien created the image of plural and independent unes of civilizational de-
velopment, and this pluralism or rclativism was eventually transformed
roto a kind of secular historicisin in which individuated collectivities-
"nations"-competed with each other.
One o the most surprising turns in Anderson's brief book is that he
claims that nationalism developed first in the colonial world, and spread
from there back to Europe Despite the act rhat religious universalism is
first shaken in sixteenth-century Europe the formation of a system o
equal, independent, secular, and progressive collectivities occurs first in
America, and almost threc centurias alter the decline of religious univer-
salism. This nieve caught Latin Americanist historiaras off balance, for the
- historiography o independence up to thcn was dominated by treatises ora
the intellectual influences of Europe--uf liberalism, of the Enlightenment-
en American independence. Rarely did the Latin American specialist dare
to claim much original ity for these movements, let alone to suggest that
nationalism itself had been invented in Spanish America and subsequently
exported to Europe.
For his insistente ora che singularity of colonial conditions abone, Latin
Americanists are collectively in Andcrson's debt. However, despite Chis
boon to a profession that of ten aches to elaim singubarity for itself, devel-
opments in the Latin American field were slow to turra in Anderson's direc-
tion, with significant works using Anderson as a point o inspiration ap-
pearing practically ten years alter die book was first published.
The slothful reaction to Anderson by Latin American historiaras and
anthropologists has been owing nor only to the usual reaction o the sub-
feld's antibodies against brash foreign intruders who do not respect the
regnant doxa. It is also the result of considerable difficulty in grappling
with the relationship between the bouk's general thesis ora nationalism
(which is often inspiring) and the fact that Anderson's view o American
independence is incorrect in a numher of particulars.
My aim in Chis chapter is to carry out a comprehensive critique o
Imagined Conirnunlties, by which 1 mean a critique that interrogates both Che
conceptual and the historical theses 1 shall do so by way o a close study
o nationalism in the Spanish-American republics, and in Mexico particu-
larly. Because this arca is, according to Anderson's formulation, the birth-
place o modero nationalism, it is a key to bis general thesis. On the other
hand, the fertility o Anderson's niasterfu1 book is such that criticizing its
central thesis requires developing an alternative perspective, the seeds o
which are also presented hete.
Nntionafi . ni i^ ., Pr. ., bical Systea
Review of the Historical Tbesis
In order to understand Anderson's account o the birth o Spanish-
American nationalism and independence, we must be clear first on what
exactly he is trying to explain:
[The aggressiveness of Madrid and the spirit o liberalism, while central te
any understanding of the impulse o resistance in the Spanish Americas, do
not in themselves explain why entibes like Chile, Venezuela, and Mexico
turned out te be emobonally plausible and politically viable, nor why San
Martn should decree that certain aborigines be identified by the neologi-
cal "Peruvians." Nor, ulbmately, do they account for the real sacrifices
made.... This willingness to sacrifice on the part o comfortable classes is
food for thought. (52)
At stake, then, is the explanation o what makes a country "emotionally
plausible" and "politically viable" from an internal perspective. In addition,
there are issues concerning identity and sacrifice: why do Indians become
Peruvians, and why do privileged Creoles lay their lives down for national
independence? Anderson's explanation o why this is so proceeds along
three separare bines.
First, in Spanish America, colonial administrative practices divided
Creoles from Peninsulars by reserving the highest offices o the empire for
the latter, thereby fostering a cense o resentment and identity among the
former. Second, the fact that Creole bureaucrats were constrained to serve
only in their administrative units of origin meant that they collectively
shared an image o these provinces as their political territory. The bureau-
cratic pilgrimage through colonial administrative space allowed for the
conflation o Creole national identity with a specific patria, or fatherland.
Anderson recognizes, however, that these two factors were present be-
fore the rise o Spanish-American nationalisms at the end o the eigh-
teenth century, and he feels that they were insufficient to produce true
nationalism. The third, and indispensable, factor was the rise o print capi-
talism and, especially, o newspapers. These papers allowed for the forma-
tion o an idea o "empty time' that was to be occupied by the secular pro-
cess o development between parallel and competing nations:
[W]e Nave seco that the very conception o the newspaper implies ihe re-
fraction o even "world events" roto a specific imagined world o vernacular
readers, and also how importan[ te that imagined community is an idea
o steady, solid simultaneity through time. Such a simultaneity ihe im-
mense stretch o the Spanish-American Empire, and the isolation o its
National,sn, as a Practica] Systern
5=

compone ni par , nade ditti e nlt to imagine Mexican creoles inight learn
months luter ut dcveiopmunts in L'ucnr,s A ires, ba r it would be through
Mex ican newspa pees, flor those id thr ILr, de la Plata; and the event would
;tppcar as "si milar to rathcr iban pl.-f .,l' ce.rnts in Meato.
nt ;ne tipannh \rncncan expericnce to gener-
In thls 111111 , the facturo
ate a pennanent Spanish -Amunca-sido nationalism rodeos ehe general
Icval ol development ol tapitalnm . and tochnoingy in tire late eighreenth
cenurnv and thc'local" hackwanlnes t pan.sh eapiralism and technology
in rclanon t0 the a1111111111 tra tivc 1treic1 ol t1 1 c1111 ) Ir L> () 31
Thus, because they emerge so early, Spanish-American nationalisms
exhibit an oddity, which is that linguisrie identification does not coincide
with the territorial consciousness of Creole bureaucrats and newspaper
readers, thus allowing for tire emergente of both a series of individual na-
tionalisms and for Pan-Spanish-American quasi-national identity. In most
later (European and Asian) cases, linguistic identity would play a more
central and defining role-
What the eye is ro the oover-that particular. ordinary eye he or she is boro
with-language-whatever language hist(>rv has made bis or her mother-
tongue-is to the patrios Throsigh rhat language, encountered at mother's
knee and parted with only at the grave, pasts are restored, fellowships are
imagined, and futuros dreamed. 154)'
In short, Anderson explains the rise of Spanish-American nationalisms
(Chilean, Peruvian, Bolivian) as the result of (a) a general distinction be-
tween Creoles and Peninsulars, (b) a Creole political-territorial imaginary
that was shaped by the provincial character of the careers of Creole offi-
cialdom, and (c) a consciousness of national specificity that was shaped by
newspapers that were at once provincial and conscious of parallel states.
Once these early Creole nationalisms succeeded in forging sovereign
states, they became models for other nations.t
Definitions
In order tu decide whether this theory of rhe rise of nationalism is an ac-
ceptable account , we need tu understand precisely what Anderson means
by nationalism , and whether bis definition corresponds in a useful way to
the historical phenomena that are being explained.
For Anderson , tire nation " is an iniagined political community-and
imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign ( 6) "Nationalism" is the
N a ^ : o n .i i l s m . , , P r o . l : c : , l System
6 _
adherente to and identification with such a community Although the em-
phasis on the "imaginar)'" qualiry o narional communities is redundant-all
communities are imaginary constructs--Anderson's emphasis on national-
ism's imaginary qualiry is mcant ro signal that nations are not face-to-face
communities, and therefore involve a charactetistic form of abstraction-'
The imaginary quality of thc national community is also underlined for a
political purpose, for Anderson is critica) of nationalism and so is intent on
showing its historical conti ngency and its "invented" nature-
Understanding the "community' hall of Anderson's dehnition is, per-
haps, not as simple a matter, because community has a specific and limited
connotation for the author "[the nation] is imagined as community be-
cause, regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail
in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep comradeship. Ultimately
it is this fraternity that makes ir possible, over the past two centuries, for so
many millions of people, not so much to kill, as willingly to die for such
limited meanings" (7; my emphasis).
This association between nationalism and sacrifice is consonant with
Anderson's guiding preoccupation at the time he wrote this book, which
was the troubling fact that socialist countries were fighting nationalist
wars, showing that nationalism could provide a kind of comradery that
ran deeper than the solidarities of shared class interese This led Anderson
to investigate nationalism's secret potency, its capacity to generate per-
sonal sacrifice. Correspondingly, the question of sacrifice is, for Anderson,
the telltale sigo of nationalism, a fact that leads him to view nationalism
as a substitute for religious community. Let us pause to consider this defi-
nition before moving on to Anderson's historical thesis on the genesis of
nationalism.
The first difficulty that must be faced is that Anderson's definition o
nation does not always coincide with the historical usage of the term,
even in the place and time that Anderson identifies as the Bite of its inven-
tion (i.e., Spanish America, ca. 1760-1830; Anderson 1994, 65).
The subtleties in the usage of the term nacin can perhaps be intro-
duced through an example. In 1784, Don Joaqun Velsquez de Len, di-
rector of Mexico City's School of Mining, writes in La Gazeta de Mxico that
1 said in my letter of the year 71 that the Machine that is calied of tire was
easy to use and to conserve: but one year later, that is in 72,- the Excellent
mister Don Jorge Juan, honor and ornament of our Nation in all sciences and
mathematics, devoted himself to building that Machine in the Royal
Seminary of Nobles of Madrid- (September 8, p. 13; my emphasis)
Nata as a Practica) System
7 =
 In chis instance, Velsquez, who is writing to a predominantly Creole
audience in the context o a debate with Father J. Antonio Alzare, a fa-
mous Creole scientist and proronationalist, writes o Jorge Juan that he is
"an honor to our nation." The ambiguity of this formulation helps us
understand the process of transformation that the semantic field o the
term nation was undergoing_
In the early cighteenth century, nacin was defined strictu sensu as "the
collection of inhabitants of a province, country, or kingdom."4 This defini-
tion is already quite ambiguous New Spain, for example, was a province
(or several provinces), a country (or several countries), and a kingdom,
just as Castile was a kingdom that encompassed several provinces and
countries Thus, returning tu out example, the Castilian scientist Jorge
Juan might not be o the same nacin as most o the readers o the Gazeta de
Mexico- However, two further ambiguities in fact make this identification
possible.
First, the term nacional referred to "that which is characteristic o or
originares from a nation." Thus, Mexican Creoles could be o the Spanish
nation because they had their roots in Spain, were characteristic (propios)
o Spain, and so on_
A second ambiguity of the semantic field o nacin stems from the
movement o administrative reforms that Spain's enlightened despots set
in motion around the middle o the cighteenth century (the "Bourbon
Reforms")_ Among other things, there was a concerted effort to streamline
the territorial organization o the empire, doing away with the idea o the
Spanish Empire as being composed o a series o kingdoms and substitut-
ing this notion with that o a unified empire-
Thus, from che viewpoint of Spain's colonies o the late eighteenth
century, the term nacin could be used to pit peninsulares against Americans,
as Anderson has suggested. However, ir could also be used to emphasize
the extension o national identity by way o lines o descent and thus be
made into a synonym o blood or Gaste and thereby provide a rationale for
interna) divisions within colonial societies. Finally, the concept o nacin
could be used as a sign o panimperial identty.
Moreover, if the referent o the term nacin was ambiguous with respect
to its conneccion to territory and to bloodlines, it also had complex con-
nections to sovereignty, and this was particularly so in the Americas. So,
for instance, if someone took che "hloodline" definition o nacin, they
might point to the varyingluieros inviolable legal privileges) attached to
the Spanish and Indian republics as separate estates_ If, on the other hand,
they identified nacin with a kingdom or province, they could cite the
Nnl^ona1 1
, .,, ['ra.ticnl System
fueros enjoyed by its nobility and its citizens. It is important to note that in
both o these cases, sovereignty is not absolute -- popular sovereignty, but
rather a limited form o sovereignty comparable to that o pater potestas or
to arenas o individual sovereignty granted by the doctrine o free will.5
Thus, whereas Anderson's definition o nationhood involves a sense o
the sovereignty o a state over a territory, the Spanish definition vacillated
between an increasingly unified but nonetheless ambiguous territorial
definition and a definition around descent Both o these forms involved
specific fueros, in other words, access to limited forms o sovereignty.
It is pertinent to note that this notion survived the American inde-
pendence movements, for example, in the usage o the term Indian nations
to refer to nomadic tribes in northern Mexico, or in the ambiguous refer-
ente o the term repblica.-
Because o the ambiguity in the ties between nation and blood, Spanish
usage o the term nacin could be distinguished from a second term, patria
(or fatherland), in such a way that a single land could be the patria o more
than one nacin. This was, indeed, the case in most o the Americas, which
were conceived as plurinational patrias. This tense coexistente between
a discourse o loyalty to the land and one o filiation through descent is
visible in colonial political symbolism.' Common loyalty to the land was a
concept that was available in Spanish political discourse at least since the
sixteenth century but it was nonetheless not directly assimilable to the no-
tion o "nation." This ambiguity is at the basis o the category o "Creole"
itself, which, as a number o historians have shown, emerged in the mid-
sixteenth century, but maintained an ambiguous relationship to Spanishness
throughout the colonial periods
The move to associate nation with Common subjection to the king was
promoted by Charles III, who sought to diminish differences o caste in
favor o a broad and homogenized category o "subjects." Thus a tenden-
tial identification between nation and sovereignty was being bult up by abso-
lutist monarchs, a fact that makes San Martn's dictum that so claimed
Anderson's attention ("in the future the aborigines shall not be called
Indians or natives, they are children and citizens o Pero and they shall be
known as Peruvians" [Anderson 1994: 49-50]) iess o a Creole invention
than Anderson supposed9
A second significant problem for applying Anderson's definition to the
Latin American case is that belonging to an imagined national community
does not necessarily imply "deep horizontal comradery." The idea o na-
tion was originally tied to that o lineage; members o a nation could be
linked by vertical ties o loyalty as much as by horizontal ties o equality.
Na tlonallsm as a Practica1 System
9
Thts is most obviously relevant \1 11111 aimidering the way in which age
and sex elit( r the picwreo nauunal identity V'omen and ehildren eould
and can very much ide ntity widh therr nations oven thotigh they are usual h
not therr natlons represcnmtivc siihiccn Snnilarly a master and a seivant
cuuld he par I che lamo nanun sc nhuut having tu construct Chis tic as a
horizontal link based on fraterniw
This is a fundamental pomt lur Spanish-rAmciican nationalism in che
nineteenth century, whcn ourpurations uich as indigenous communities
haciendas inri guilds werc ovcn m,nc salicnt than thcy are today None-
theless, the point also has hruader signiticancc. Jrgcn Habermas (1991]
pointed out that the hourgeois publi( sphere in eighteenth century north-
ern Europe which was tied inextricably to che development of national-
ism) was made up ideally of private cinzens. Nonetheless, the citizen's
"private sphere encompassed his family, making the citizen at once an
equal to other citizens (Andersons fraternal bond") and the head o a
household in which he might he the only full citizen. It would be a mis-
take, however, tu presuppose that nationalism was embraced only by che
citizen and not by his wife and children.
In more general terms, the horizontal relationship o comradery that
Anderson wants to make the exclusive trait of the nacional community oc-
curred in societies with corporations, and the symbolism o encompass-
ment between citizens and these corporations is critica) to understanding
the nation's capacity to generate personal sacrifices. Nationalists have
fought battles to protect "therr" womcn, to gala )and for "therr" villages, to
defend "their" towns, lt is just as true, however, that women, servants,
family members, and, more generally, the members o corporate commu-
nities or republics could send "therr" cinzens to war. In other words, citi-
zens could represent various corporate bodies to che state, and they could
represent the power of the state in there corporate bodies.
In Spanish America che complexines of these relationships o encom-
passment (between che national state, cirizen, and various corporations)
have been widely recognized in analyses of conflicts between various lib-
eral and conservative factions in thc nineteenth century, and in the role of
local communities in che wars uf independence themselves.1 1 The rela-
tionship between the modern ideal o sovereignty and citizenship and the
legitimate claims o che corporations is indeed a central theme in nine-
teenth and twentieth-century Laun American history.
The third, and final, difliculry with Anderson's definition of national-
ism is his insistente on sacrifice as its quintessential symptom. The image
o nationalism as causing a lemminglike impulse to sacrifice because o its
Na t, on., rn , a Pr u, l ca l Sysleni
10 =
appeal to community is as misleading as the idea that nationalism is neces-
sarily a conimunal ideology of "deep horizontal comradery"; for, in order
to comprehend what nationalism is and has heen about, one must place it
in its context of use. The capacity to generate personal sacrifice in the
name of the nation is usually not a simple function ut communitarian
imaginings ot comradery Ideological appeals to nationhood are most
often coupled with the coercive, moral, or economic force o other social
relationships, including the appeal no che defense of hearth and heme, or
the economic or coercive pressure ol a local community, or the coercive
apparatus of che state itself
Moreover, there are plenty o examples o nationalism spreading mosdy
as a currency that allows a local community or subject to interpellate a state
office in order to make claims based on rights o citizenship.'t It is mislead-
ing to privilege sacrifice in the study o nationalism, because the spread o
this ideology is more often associated with the formulation o various sorts
o claims vis--vis the state or tward actors froni other communities.
In sum, 1 have raised three objections to Anderson's definition o nation
and nationalism: first, the definition does not always correspond to his-
torical usage; second, Anderson's emphasis on horizontal comradery cov-
ers only certain aspects o nationalism, ignoring che fact that nationalism
always involves articulating discourses o fraternity with hierarchical
relationships, a fact that allows for the formulation o different kinds o
national imaginarles; third, Anderson makes sacrifice appear as a conse-
quence o the national communitarian imagining, when it is most often
che result o the subjecds position in a web o relationships, some o which
are characterized by coercion, while others have a moral appeal that is not
directly that o nationalism.
Toward an Alternative Perspective
in one o his most brilliant moments, Anderson suggests that nationalism
should not be analyzed as a species o "ideology" but rather as a cultural
construct that has affinity with "kinship" or "religion" (1994, 5). Anderson's
selection o `deca horizontal comradery as the defining element o na-
tionalism is his attempt to give meaning to this proposition. The essence
o nationalism for Anderson is that it provides an idiom o identiry and
brotherhood around a progressive polity ("the nation"). Following Victor
Turner, Anderson looks for the production o this fraternity in moments
o communitas such as state pilgrimages. He also explores the conditioris
of possibility o national identity, arguing that nationalism depends on a
Natio nalisni as a Practica) Syst,.
t1 =
 secular understanding o time as empry" and o the world as being made
nationalism can even be deployed by a peasant who resists induction roto
up o nations whose progress unfolds simultaneously and differentially
the army. Finally, the very nature o patriotic sacrifica is easily miscon-
through Chis empry time
strued if we do not pay close attention to the bonds o dependence that
Thus, for Anderson, che compelling aspect o nationalism is its promise
are central to the national communiry-for citizens enlisted to go die in
o fraternity, and chis is, 1 believe, che most fundamental problem o the
World War 1 not only because o their fraternal ties with other volunteers
definition.
or conscripts, but also because their families might reject them if they did
1 suggested earlier that nationalism is an idiom that articulates citizens
not, or their communities might reject their families, and so on.
to a number o communities, ranging froni family, to corporate groups, to
In short, instead o saying, as Anderson does, that che nation is a com-
villages and towns, to che nacional state. Thc connections between these
munity `because, regardless o the actual inequality and exploitation that
communities are often themselves che suhstance o nationalist discourse
may prevail in each, che nation is always conceived as a deep comrade-
and struggle. It follows that che imagery that is used to build nacional sen-
ship," 1 define the nation as a communiry that is conceived o as deep com-
timent cannot so readily be reduced to che brotherhood among citizens.
radeship among full citizens, each o whom is a potential broker between
In order ro define the nature of nationalist imaginings, we must ask
che national state and weak, embryonic, or pare citizens whom he or she
questions such as: When and how is nationalism invoked in a man's rela-
can construe as dependents.
tionship with his wife7 How is it depleved in the dealings between a
This brings us to a final question concerning the concept o national-
small-cown schoolteacher and his villagers, or between an Indian cacique
ism, which regards che relationship between the analytic definition o na-
and a president7 For, in all of these cases, the ideology o fraternity in-
tionalism and actual usage o the tercos nation or nationalism. Although my
voked by Anderson is being used to articulare hierarchies into che polity.
revised definition would still exclude any form o ethnic identification that
The protection o che nation then becomes the protection o che family,
did not strive for some degree o political sovereigncy, 1 helieve that it has a
or o che village, or o the race.
greater capacity to include and distinguish between historical varieties o
My first amendment to Anderson's theory is thus that nationalism does
nationalism. For instante, che ambiguity between a racial and a political-
not ideologically form a single fraternal communiry, because it systemati-
territorial definition o nacin that 1 cited earlier for the late-eighteenth-
cally disti nguishes full citizens from par citizens or strong citizens from
century Spanish world is a refiection o a specific moment in nation build-
weak ones children, women, Indians, the ignorant). Because these
ing that should not simply be called "prenational," because it involves a
distinctions are by nature heterogeneous, we cannot conclude that nation-
territorially finite state and a sovereign people, even though it tolerated
alism's power stems primarily trom the fraternal bond that it promises to
significant differences between stations and even estates. Similarly, the
all citizens. The fraternal bond is critical, hut so are what one might cal]
peasant who has never seen a map or aided a census taker, and who has no
che bonds of dependence that are intrinsically a pare o any nationalism.
notion o why, say, "Germana' and "Guadalajara" are incommensurate cate-
This leads to a second, chough mino' and derivative, amendment. The
gories, can still be a nationalist because he makes an appeal as a Mexican,
pride o place that Anderson gives to sacrilice in his view o nationalism is
or because he comes home to his wife late and drunk on che nght o
misleading, for if we accept that che national community is not strictly
September 15 (Mexican Independence Day).
about equality and fraterniry, but rather about an idiom for articulating
ties o dependence to the state chrough cicizenship (fraternity), then the
defense of che fraternal bond becomes one possible symptom o nacional- Revised General Historical Thesis
ism among severa others.
The fundamental thing about nationalism is that it is a productive dis-
In other words, che power ol nationalism is as evident in che gesture o
course that allows subjects co rework various connections between social
a Nio hroe who wraps himself in tire flag and dies for his country as it is in
institutions, including, prominently, the relationship between state insti-
the gesture o che peasant who invokes his cicizenship when petitioning
tutions and other social organizacional forms. As such, the power o na-
for and, or che small-town notable who claims that his villagers and him-
tionalism lies not so much in as hold en che souls o individuals (though
self descend from Aztec ancestors when he petitions for a school. In fact,
Chis is not insignificant) as in che fact that it provides interactive frames in

Nat^anali.m ns a Yrariira1 System

Nationalism as a Pract-iba System
12 =
13 =
which the relattonship between ctao institnions and various and diverse
social reiationships r family relacion.h;pc. cite organization of work, the
detinition oI lorms of pr(>perty. nnd che regulation ot publie spaee) can he
negotiated Thus one cotild 'erice a history ut nationalism that would
Nave two bookcnds. one in sr hieh suc ,tic. vete not sulficiently dynamic
and states were insulficiendy potent lor nationalism co emerge as a useful
,pace ol negotiation and contention and another in which states are no
longer sullieiently potent and coniplex to he clic key actors ni che process
of regulating what ,Nliehel foueault called biopower.' that is, che power tu
administer a "population and to regulate ns habits. Capitalism traverses
this history from end to end. It is therefore misleading to begin che history
ot nationalism at the end of che eighreenth century, and not at che begin-
ning of the sixteenth century-
Instead o positing che notion that nationalism emerged first in the
Americas around the time ot independence, with the rise o print capital-
ism, and that it is therefore scareely two hundred years old, the Spanish
and Spanish-American cases suggest that nationalism developed in stages,
beginning with European colonization in the sixteenth century or perhaps
in the Reconquista. In fact, nationalisms developed along different, though
interrelated, tracks, such that, as in che analogy between nationalism and
kinship, one might locate diverse nationalist systems.
1 shall outline what Chis alternative perspective reveals for the Spanish-
American case. 1 will argue for several moments in the development o
nationalism, each o which involved a distinct interconnection between
fraternity and dependency. This reinterpretation o the history o Spanish-
American nationalism leads me identi f theoretical mistakes in Anderson's
general argument, including (1) false conclusions concerning the histori-
cal connections between "racism" and nationalism, as well as between lan-
guage and nationalism; (2) a misleading emphasis on che idiom o frater-
nity as the only available languagc oI nacional identity; (3) an incorrect or
successional view o the relationship between religion and nationalism
(nationalism, for Anderson, replaces the universalistic claims o religion,
yet Spanish nationalism was in fact hased on che national appropriation o
the true faith)
FirstMoment in Spanish National Fonnation: Colonization
A fundamental error in Anderson's account of che history o nationalism is
his insistente un associating it with secularization. In the case of Spain,
whose formation as a nation is cercainly one of the earliest, the opposite is
i\'' ,c tionali ,, ,, a P,a.l,ca1 Sys
the case: national consciousness emerges as an offshoot of religious ex-
pansionism_ 1 cite from Anderson once again to elarify what is at stake
In che cocarse of the sixteenth ccntury , Enrope's "discovery' of grandiose
eivllizations hitherto only dimly rumored in China, Japan, Southeast
Asia, and the Indian subcontinent-ur completely unknown-Aztec Mexico
and Incan Peru-suggested an irremediable human pluralism- Most of
these civilizations had developed quite sepaiate from che known history ot
Europe, Chriscendom, Antiquity, indeed man their genealogics ]ay outside
o and were unassimdable co Eden. ! Only homogeneous, empty time would
offer them aceommodation.) (69)
This point of view is perhaps a true reflection o the ways in which ex-
pansion was assimilated in England and the Netherlands, but it was not
che cultural form that expansion took in Spain (or in Spain's strongest
early competitor: the Ottoman Empire)." On che contrary, both the
Spanish Reconquista and subsequent expansion into Africa and to America
were narrated very much in the framework o what Anderson describes in
shorthand as "Eden."
It is well known that Columbus and other explorers speculated on their
proximity specifically to Eden, and to other biblical sites, when they
reached che New World. That they attributed their success to God's design
is evident in the ways in which they christened che land: islands and main-
land being named alternatively for roya) and for spiritual sponsors (Isla
Juana, Filipinas, and Fernandina alternating with San Salvador, Veracruz,
Santo Domingo, etc.). Neither was this identity between conquest and the
broader teleology o Christendom abandoned once colonization set in.
Franciscan missionaries interpreted their evangelizing mission in
Mexico in terms that were consonant with the messianic scholastic phi-
losopher Joachim de Fiore (see Phelan 1970); the priest Mendieta, an
apologist o Hernn Corts, derived many a moral from the marvelous
fact that Corts had been born in the same year as Martin Luther, the one
to work for God in extending che true faith, che other tu work for the
devil.'^ In fact, the whule o the conquistados "discourse o the mar-
velous" was evenly peppered with elements o popular literature (Marco
Polo, Mandeville, Virgil, chivalry novels) and with biblical stories. Cine
might argue, contrary to Anderson, that the success o Charles V gave
new lile and plausibility to a narrative o Eden that had been much weaker
in che days o Mandeville and Marco Polo, when the idea o taking
Jerusalem and o achieving the Universal Catholic Monarchy was beyond
any realistic expectation.
N a ticnalisn, as a Practica 1 Sysle,n
15 =
 But even after Spanish expansionism was waning, by the 1570s, the re-
Iationship between the true faith and the ways o local heathens was still
told as par o the Christian eschatology, as is obvious both in narratives
o indigenous intellectuals such as Felipe Guamn Poma de Ayala and in
those o seventeenth-century C:reole patriots, such as Mexico's Carlos
de Sigenza y Gngora. Both o these argued (in different ways) that
the Aztecs and the Incas had been evangelized before the arrival o the
Spaniards, and had subsequently been led astray by the devil, only to be
brought back into the fold by an alliance between the remaining loyal
Indians (such as the Texcocans or rhe Tlaxcalans in Mexico, or Guamn
Poma's own family in Peru) and the Spaniards. The significance o this
point for the history o Creole patriotism has been extensively argued by
both David Brading andjacques Lafaye.
Not only was Spanish expansion told as part o Christian eschatology,
but the social organization o the state that was being built during this
expansion innovatively identified the church and church history with a
national idea. The earliest formulation o this occurred in the days o the
Spanish Reconquista, with the legal codification o so-called blood purity
(limpieza de sangre). Certificares o blood purity, guaranteeing that the holder
was an old Christian, were necessary in order ro hold office, to enter the
church, or to enter certain guilds. Although the holders o these certifi-
cates were not identified as "Spaniards," but rather as "Old Christians,"
they were thought o as a communiry o blood and o belief that had privi-
leged access to the state.
This nationalization o the church became much more significant with
expansion to America. The whole o the first chapter o the Laws of the Indies
is in fact devoted to justifying Spanish expansion to the Indies as a divine
grace extended to the king so that he might bring the trae faith to those
lands. Moreover, holding political office or belonging to the privileged
classes is also seen in relation to faithfulness to the church, as is evident in
a law that threatens any nobleman or holder o office with the loss o all
privileges if he takes the narre o God in vain (libro 1, ttulo 1, ley 25).
Leaning heavily on these formulas, the concept o "Spanish" was creat-
ed as a legal category o identity in order to organize political lile in the
Indies. Spanish authority involved moral and religious tutelage over other
social caregories o persons, including "Indians," "blacks," " mulattos," and
"mestizos," and also served as a category differentiated from other European
"foreigners" (extranjeros). For example, law 60, chapter 3, book 3 o the Laws
of the Indies (first written in 1558) grants "the Viceroys o Peru the faculty to
entrust (encomendar ) any Indians rhat may be unoccupied [indios que hubiere
Na1,onalism as a Prac t,c at Sys lem
16 =
vacos] during their time o arrival to those provinces, or any that may be-
come unoccupied, to the Spaniards [ espaoles ] living in them ... so that
they may have them, enjoy their tribute, and give them the good treat-
ment that is mandated in our laws."
Similarly, another law (1608) orders that "O the people in aid that the
Viceroy might send from New Spain to the Philippines, he not allow in
any way that mestizos or mulattos go or be admitted, because o the in-
conveniences that have occurred" (book 3, title 4, law 15). Law 14, title 5,
book 3 orders that arms builders cannot teach their art to Indians ; title 10,
law 7 o the same book prohibits military captains from naming slaves as
standard-bearers in the army, while law 12 (1643) o the same book and
title orders army officials not to give " mulattos, dark ones [morenos], mesti-
zos" the job o soldier. Book 3, title 15, law 33 orders that the wives o the
members o the Audiencia (high court) hear Mass in a specific part o the
chapel in the company o their families, civil authorities , or women o
rank "and not Indian women, black women, or mulatas ." On the other
hand, the king ordered that when viceroys and judges named a "protector
o Indians" (a kind o free lawyer for Indians), "they should not elect
mestizos, because this is importan[ for their defense, and otherwise the
Indians can suffer injuries and prejudice" (book 6, title 6, law 7); in other
words, Spaniards, not mestizos, are the best and most appropriate defend-
ers o Indians. Examples can be multiplied.15
In short, a concept o "Spanish" emerged quickly for the colonization
o the Americas, and Spaniards were expected to take up a position o
spiritual , civil, and military leadership, The notion of Spanishness was for-
mally and legally understood as a question o descent, and it therefore in-
cluded "Creoles," even though contexts o differentiation and discrimina-
tion between American-boro Spaniards and Peninsulars did exist from the
mid-sixteenth century onward.16 This process o differentiation was predi-
cated not en blood, but rather on ideas concerning the influence o the
land en the character, makeup, and physionomy o those borra in the
Indies.17 The term criollo had, in fact, a derogatory slant, in that it tended
to assimilate American-born Spaniards with other American-born castes,
such as slaves or mestizos (Lavall 1993, 20). Thus patriotism (in the sense
o exaltation o the land o birth) became central te the Creoles, because it
was through a vindication o the true worth o the land that they could
fully claim the inheritance of their blood.18 This tension between a na-
tionalism based en communiry o descent, and a patriotism based on a
clear, delimited idea o "Spain' (as opposed both to the Indies and to other
NationaIismas aPracticalSystem
= 17 =
Lampean holdings nl thc Spanish monarcli srould iemain important in
Spain and in che Anaeucrs even altri indepen deneu
The degrce to which Spaniards Spanish ncu and che Spanish language
viere identiticd widt lile crac lailh and si ith inlizatton comes through e
lile test ul lile lollov, ing las' 1 -0

Having malle a dese examinaron U inccniiTl schethcr thc mysteries of our

Holy Catholic Faith can be prohcrlc asplained in cvcn in che post perfect
language n1 thc Indians it has eco r,, ng nizect thet chis is not possible
witlrout i,icurring great dissonances and impenccuons - - So, having re-
solved that it would he huir to inruducc lile Gostil,an language, we order
that tcachers he nade available to Indians s, Iio wish volu n taxi ly to caro,
and we have thought that diese may he lile e,icristrines.

In short, the Spanish language was not leen in the colonies as merely a
convenient and profane vernacular, hut rather as a language that was closer
lo Godao Language thusreflected lile process o nationalization ojtbe charca,
which les at the center o the history of Spanish (and Spanish-American)
nationalisms, a point o depai-wre that is at che opposite end o the spec-
trum posited by Anderson, who inaagined that secularization was in every
case at che root o nacional ism.
The civil Ieadership of Spaniards over Indians and others is laid out in a
number o laws and practices, including in laws concerning the layout o
Spanish towns and streets; in tire superiority o Spanish courts to Indian
courts (Indian magistrates ceuld )al] mestizos or blacks, but not Spaniards);
and, more fundamentally, in that the laws o Castile served as the blue-
print for those o che Indies and for every other realm in che Spanish
domain (book 2, title 1, law 2 115301 , "That che Laws o Castile be kept
in any matter not decided in those of che Indies"). In sum, che concept o
espaol, as a community o blood, asseciared wlth a religion, a language, a
civilization, and a territory, emerged rather quickly in tire course o che
sixteenth century.

Second Moment of Spanish Nalionalisni Decline in the European Theater

The first moment o Spanish national construction was, tiren, quite differ-
ent in spirit and content from that posited by Anderson; Spanishness was
built out o an idea o a privileged connection te the church, Spaniards
were a chosen peeple, led by monarchs that had been singled out by che
pope with the tale of "Catholic" As Old Christians, they were the true
keepers of lile faith and theretore lile only viable polirical, moral, and
li1t ,s , r.,.:^ca, System
lh
Figure 1.1. Nuestra Seora de Guadalupe, patrona de la Nueva Espaa, anonymous
eighteenth-century painting. Collection o the Museum of che Basilica of
Guadalupe. In chis painting, Guadalupe, patroness of Mexico, is bridging Europe
and New Spain. For Hidalgo, that bridge crumbled with tse Napoleonic inva-
sien of Spain, and divine grave, embodied in this apparition, is rooted entirely
in Mexican sesil.

J aL A
A, n:.. ..
Figure 12_ La virgen de Guadalupe escudo de oilud coruva l a epidetn(a del Matlazahuail de
1716-1738, a nonymous engraving , 1743. Col ccti on uf the Museum o the Basilica
o Guadalupe - Here che patroness ot iSMcxico is protecting the city's inhabi tants
against the plague.
economic elite .2' The conquistadores were thus instantly a kind o nobility
in the Indies and "Spaniards" were che dominant caste. In short, Spanish
nationality was built on religious militancy: descent and language al
rolled into a notion o a nacional calling to spiritual tutelage in the
Americas and throughout che world.
The Spanish language in che Indies was not simply an arbitrary tongue
among others, it was the suitable language in which to communicate che
mysteries o che Catholic faith. Even today in Mexico, hablaren cristiano ("to
speak in Christian") is synonymous with speaking in Spanish. Similarly,
che Spanish bloodline-for Spanishness usually included American-born
Spaniards-had a special destiny with regard to che true faith. Relativism
was not at the origin o Spanish nationalism, nor did che discovery o the
Indies dislocate Christian eschatology in any fundamental way. "Eden," as
Anderson calls it, was maintained as the framework for histories that ex-
plained and situated Aztecs, Incas, and the rest of them.22
Spain's precocious consolidation as a state allowed for the rise o a
form o national consciousness that was distinct from the relativist voca-
tion o Britain and the Netherlands, whose entry to che game o (early)
modero state and empire as underdogs made them fertile ground for the
development o liberalism and, eventually, o truly modero forms o na-
tionalism that are more akin to those described by Anderson.23
On che other hand, Spain's rapid decadence in the European theater
both consolidated and exacerbated national consciousness in peculiar
ways. Horst Pietschmann (1996, 18-24) has summarized the development
o Spanish economic thinking o the ate sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies, arguing that thc administrative reforms o the Bourbons in che eigh-
teenth century were not a simple importation o French administrative
ideas, but rather that they combined che latter with a native body o
economic and administrative theories and projects devoted to finding
remedies for che economic decline o Spain. Aniong these, Pietschmann's
summary and discussion o che influential work o Luis Ortiz (1558) is per-
tinent for my argument here
Ortiz argued that Spain was poor because it only exported raw materi-
als and then reimported rhem in che form o manufactured goods. The
Spaniards' disdain for manual labor contributed to the underdevelopment
of industry, as did che progressive depopulation o che countryside. As a
partial remedy, Ortiz urged that laws enhance ehe prestige of manual
labor: "these should he extended even to che extreme that the state force
al] young men (including che nobles) to learn a trade, with che penalty
that they would otherwise lose their nationality" (Pietschmann 1996, 19).
Na tionalism as a Practica! System
21
 Thesc rcconimcndations and othurs like them, hecome a staple of
seventeenth-century econonnc prt,iccts and studies, call loe the strength-
ening el the Crown for the pcopling ,,l thc country and for leveling sume
differences bctv, een the variou, ,tations.',uch recommen da ti ons are con-
cived as a matter ol natioiial lit, t_,1 and in Urtizs case, proposed pena
[Les for tailure tu comply induje lo,s uf nationality-
Three points concernimg thi, intd lectual tradinon are pertinent for
understanding the history ot nationalism Ti the Spanish world: hrst, a na-
tional consciou,ness seas exaccrhatcd hv thc pcrccption of Spain's me cas-
ing backwardness vis-) vis rts cunq>etltors econd, the solutions that were
proposed l policies concerning track populaticn. education, work, admin-
istrative rationalization, etc. i also callad systcntatically [o a diminution o
regional differences and policy reforms that involved conceptualizing a
people in a finite territory, under a more streamlined and tendentially
more equal izi ng admi nistrati on, third, the idea of re lative decline and o
competition involved a keen sense of empty time" (that is, of secular com-
petition between states progressing through time) before the advent o
"print capitalism," a fact that is obvious not only in the economic litera-
ture, but in al] manner o military and contra e reial policy.
There is in fact sonie confusion in Andersons analysis o empty time.
Following Walter Benjamn, Anderson defines homogeneous or empty
time as "an idea ... in which simultanelty is, as it were, transverse, cross-
time, marked not by prefiguring and fulfillment, but by temporal coinci-
dence" (1991, 24). The novel and the newspaper are artifacts that popular-
re this conception o time, in that their protagonista can act independently
o one another and still have a meaningful relationship to each other only
because the characters belong to the lame sodety and are being connect-
cd in the mind o the same reader
Thc question that this analysls poses to a historian o the Iberian
world is whether the novel and the newspaper were the first cultural arti-
facts that frame events and ates in "empty time-" The answer is that they
were not.
Government policy making in the Spanish world was running en
empty time long before the industrialization of print media, and elites,
Creole and Spanish, were well aware o this. Plans and programs for
streamlining administration, disciplining thc workforce, rationalizing tar-
iffs, and improving transportation systems were discussed and predicated
un the recognition of the parallel and sinwltancous development o the
great European powers- titorcovcr there discussions were widely known
and debared, as Pietschmann reminds us: "[1 deas concerning the economic
Nat'o',alism a , P , . ', t' al Sys1rrn
trouhles of the country had a truly wide audience [ in the late sixteenth and
seventeenth centurias j . since thc majority of thcir projects were printed,
and we even find their ideas repearedly in the works o writers like
Cervantes" (1996, 23 Thus , competition betwccn states , and a con-
sciousncss of relative decline were required tu promote and justtty pro-
grams of economic and admi nistrative reform . As a resulr, this mode o
imagining time liad long been available tu the cures , and cannot o i tselt
explain the risa o Spanish-American nationalism , although it does suggcst
an earlier son o Spanish collectivc c onsciousncss"
A final citation from Pietsehmann who is my principal authority in this
matter, summarizes my point concerning Chis second phase : "[T]ogether
with the affirmation o the Catholic religion (the Spanish Enlighten-
ment was qualified as being specifically Christian , and it had its reformist
current in Jansenism), we find also the patriotism o the Enlightened
thinkers, a fact that differentiates them from the cosmopolitanism o
Enlightenment thinkers in France and other European countries. This
patriotism , that gave the Spanish Enlightenment a strongly political char-
acter, was expressed in the desire that Spain reconquer its earlier eco-
nomic florescence and its poltica] position as a power o the first order"
(1996, 25).
In the eighteenth century , under the Bourbons , the discussions o the
prior century and a half were reanimated , and they generated a series o
administrative reforms. These reforms were , once again , built on the patri-
otic and national consciente that had developed since the Conquest, a
consciente that simultaneously produced a clearly delimited image o
"Spai" as a land , and o "Spaniards" as a nation (even though there was no
isomorphism between the nation and Spain).'s
As an example o the Spanish imagined community that was being
constructed through these reforms , 1 offer the following vignette, taken
from the Careta de Mxico ( November 3, 1784 ), describing the celebration
o the birth o royal twins and the signing o a peace treaty with France
and the United States in Madrid : " Rarely shall there be a motive for
greater complacency, nor more worthy o the jubilation o the Spaniards,
than the happy birth o the two twin infantes, and the conclusion o a
peace so advantageous to the national interests " ( my emphasis).
Having identified both the subjects o the ritual as Spaniards and the
interests being served by the twin birth and by the peace treaty as "na-
tional ," the Gazeta de Mxico goas on to narrare the public festivities that
marked the event, especially the content o a series of allegorical floats
(carros alegricos):
Nati on d liara as a Practica1 System
23 =
 1 st Floao Adanes Holding die Sky
The first float is preceded by drums, trumpets, pages, heralds, and eight
couples o both sexes, six o artisans, one of farmers [hortelanos], and one o
field hands [labradores],
each with che instrument o its profession. They are
followed by che orchestra and irnmediacely thereafter by a super float,
pulled like che rest by six horses, in which the stacue o Atlantis, character.
ized with severa) mottos, holds che sky. Our August Monarch Charles 111
holds with his heroic virtues and happy government che Spanish Monarchy.
The love o[ che Spaniards venerares in os glorious Monarch che Princes and
the Royal Family, so worthy also of che )ove that is bestowed to chem by tbe
Nation.
Here we have, in an officially sanctioned bulletin published in Mexico
City, the portrayal o a Spanish nation-a nation, represented by farmers,
agricultura] workers, and artisans, protected by a nacional monarch, who
holds up the sky over their heads like Atlas. Both che monarchy and the
people are called "Spanish" here, and che publication o this in Mexico is
clearly meant te make this national celebration inclusive at the very least
co a Creole audience. Yet che terricory of "Spain is clearly limited in che
ritual, in a way that diverges from the inclusive term nacin:
5th Floao Spain Jubilan[ because of che Birth o che Infantes
The las[ float . is preceded by eight couples on horseback, armed with
lance and shleld. Then two pagos, and vine couples that indicare the differ-
ent provinces o Spain, whose costumes they wear. They are accompanied
by an orchestra, to which they respond with dances of their respective
provinces.
The description o a series o allegories portraying Spain
goes en in detail
and is summed up in che following analysis:
The interpretation of chis float is easy. Spain is represented in che greatest
surge o its happiness as a resulr
o che birth ol the two SERENE INFANTES, by
[newly signed peace], by its producrs, by its main rivers, by its Sciences,
Arts, Navy, Commerce, and Agriarlture, all of which e; fomented by our
august sovereign, facilitating for Chis Illuscrious Nation che abundante and
opulence that is promised by its fernlc soi] and che constancy o ics loyal
and energetic inhabitants.
In short, a clear image o Spain, represented by a modero idea o the
public good (wich great prominence given co arts and industry, natural re-
sources, and the customs o che various folk), is present in this state ritual.
Naiionalism as a Praci ical System
24 =
At the same time, che inclusiveness o che category o "Nation" appears to
be a bit broader ehan che Spanish terricory that is so clearly delimited, be-
cause it includes the readers o che Gazeta de Mxico, who are fully expected
co share in the joy o the occasion. Around the time o this festivity,
Charles 111 would try te implement administrative reforms that would
more clearly make the territorial image o Spain inclusive o the Indies in a
way that paralleled the inclusive potencial o the concept o the Spanish
nation.
Third Moment: Bourbon Reforms and Independence
The high point o chis reformist movement, in the late eighteenth century
under Charles III, involved trying to make Spain and its colonies into a
closed economic space, with a relatively streamlined administration, an
active financial and economic policy, a decentralized administration and
army. This imperial unity was known as the Cuerpo unido de Nacin (Unified
body o nation; Pietschmann 1996, 302), and its administrative organiza-
tion was clearly the precursor o the state organizations that were generat-
ed with independence,
Interestingly, however, these reforms were promoted not only as a
response lo a feeling o backwardness and o nostalgia for past nacional
glories, but also te face che political threats posed both by the British navy
and che American Revolution. The former threat in particular made the
decentralization o administration an importan[ strategy for the fortifica-
tion o the empire. This system o decentralization and administrative ra-
tionalization also involved promoting a view o industry and o public in-
terest that is significant in the formation o a modern form o nationalism,
based en individual property, a skilled and well-policed workforce, and a
bourgeois public sphere.
Two divergent tendencies are produced with these administrative, reli-
gious, and educacional reforms. On the one hand, the formation o the idea
o a Gran Espaa, made up o Iberia and the Indies together, with a popu-
lation o subjects Lending toward greater internal homogenization under
increasingly bourgeois forms of political identity, en che other, the con-
solidation o the various administrative units-the viceroyalties and the
new "intendancies"_as viable state units, each with its own internal finan-
cia] administration and permanenc army.
These contradictory tendencies are in fact incimately related: en the
one hand, the administrative consolidation o transatlantic political units
was che only logical means te shape a strong Gran Espaa; en the other,
Natioualism as a Practica1 System
=25=

Figure 1. . Ex-oolo gining Ibanks lo tbe oi rg is: of Cuadal upe f o r a successful medica opera tion,
anonymous, 1960. Reornier of the c[ghLeen th century were convinced that divine
protection and Interjecti on were not i n conlbct aith modernizat, t i a and modern
technologies. This has been a persutent [heme in Mexican nationalism In this
ex-voto of 1960, the Virgin of Cuadalupes llght shines in the operating room.
the very process o consolidating their viability made independence al]
the easier to imagine . Alexandcr von Humboldt's voyage and writings en
Spanish America are a good example of this conundrum. Whereas in the
Laves of tbe Indies, which is a compilation made in 1680, printed materials
about the Indies were banned frota [hose lands , and foreigners were out-
lawed from going beyond the ports of the Indies, Humboldt received
a roya) commission to travel thcre, and authorities were asked to give
him all o their statistics and any in formation he might find useful.
Humboldt's publications on the political economy o the Indies followed
the spirit o the Bourbon reforms, as well as Cerman cameralist adminis-
trative theory, by treating each principal administrative unit (mainly
viceroyalties) as a coherent whole, with a population, an economy, a
map, and so on.
The administrative consolidation of viceroyalties, intendancies, and
other political units was occurring not as a ploy to keep Creoles boxed
into their administrative unas, but ratheu to strengthen the general state o
the empire, and tu give each segment a greater capacity to respond to a
N a t i o n a l i s m gis e p roo i ,cal S y s t e m
26 =
political crisis Froni the seventeenth century on, the armada from Spain
liad to struggle to ntake successful voyages to the Americas, and there
were moments when the armada was entirely incapable o managing
Spanish-American trade Creater administrative and military autonomy
would provide another line ol imperial detense.
Thus, at the lame time that the "political viability" and the "emotional
plausibility" o the viceroyalties were strengthened pollncally by the new
system o intendancies and deologically through a new emphasis on the
public good through industiy and education, so too was the notion o a
truly panimperial idenriry closer at hand than ever hefore.
These contradictory tendencies are in evidente at the time o indepen-
dence: first, in the parallels between tire American War o Independence
and the "war of independence" o Spain against the French invaders; sec-
ond, in the fact that the liberal Constitution o Cdiz (1812) defined
"Spaniards" as all o the people who were born in the Spanish territories,
with no differences made between Iberia and the Indies.
Fourtb Moment. The Rocky Road to Modera Nationalism (Mexico 181o-29)
In Latin America, the road ter national modernity was particularly cumber-
some. This was owing to the early date of independence movements, a
fact that resulted not so much from the force o nationalist feeling in the
region as from the decadente o Spain in the European forum.36 As a result
o this, the new countries faced stiff interna and foreign- relations prob-
lems, and it is in the context o [hese problems that a functioning national-
ism developed.
The fourth moment in the evolution o Spanish-American nationalism
can best be understood as one in which the dynamics of independent
postcolonial statehood forced deep ideological changes, including a sharp
change in who was considered a national and who a foreigner, a redefini-
tion o the extension o the fraternal bond through the idea o citizenship,
and of the relationship between religion and nationality and between race
and nation.
This process o radical transformation occurred alongside the emer-
gence o a new form o popular politics, in which social movements
cut across the boundaries o villages and castes, regions and guilds.
The Spanish-American revolutions may seem "socially thin" to some
contemporary observers (Anderson 1991, 49), but they were by far the
most "dense" social and political movements that Spanish America had
had since the Conquest. In this section, 1 explore the dynamics of [hese
Nationalism as a e-ractica1 System

Figure 1 4_Sa1or Reina de la Arnrrc, L? ion hy Gonzalo Carrasco (1859-1936), n. d.
Collection o die Muscum of thc Baslica of Guadalupe. Guadalupe here is the
patroness of Spanish-American sovercignty Th, image also underscores Mexicos
presumptive role at the head ol the Spanish-Anierican con federati on.
transformations through a discussion of certain key events in early inde-
pendent Mexico (18 10-29). As Andiony Pagden has shown, Creole patri-
otism was predicated on Spanish political philosophy. In the Iberian
world, sovereignry was granted by ((>d to the people, who in furo ceded
it to thc monarch. It is therefore nos surprising that the early fathers of
Narionn lien^ .i^ Pear..al Sys tea
28
Mexican independence, Hidalgo and Morelos, who were secular priests,
claimed to be fighting for the sake of religion. Here, for instante, is a for-
mulation by Morelos:
Know that when kings go missing Sovereignry resides only in the Nation,7
know also that every nation is free and is authorized ro form the class of
government that ir chooses and not te be the slave o anothcr; know also
(for you undoubtedly have hcard rell of rhis) that we are so far from heresy
that our srruggle comes down to defending and protecring in all o its
rights our holy religion, whlch is rhe aim of our sights, and ro extend the
culr of Our Lady the Virgin Islary. (Morelos 1812, 199)
Morelos and Hidalgo accused rhe Spaniards o betraying their trae
Christian mission and using Chrisrianity as a subterfuge for the exploita-
tion of the Americans.27 To uphold the true Christian faith was also to
drive out al] Spaniards who had milked the Mexicans of their native
wealth and who had driven rhem to abjection.
These early movements failed. Morelos and Hidalgo were executed,
and alrhough their followers continued rhe fight, independence was not to
be achieved under the leadership of this particular ideological wing_
Instead, an alliance was captained by Agustn Iturbide, who had been a
loyalist army officer and who enjoyed the backing of a sizable fraction o
New Spain's elite. lturbide's Plan de Iguala gave Spaniards ample guaran-
tees of full inclusion in the new republic. _
The backers o Morelos (including pardos, Indian village communlties,
local artisans and merchants) were led by Vicente Guerrero and backed a
political program that would eventually gel roto what Peter Guardino has
called "popular federalism" (1996, 120-27; 179-86). The popular radicals
o the 1 820s were interested in lowering taxes and broad electoral enfran-
chisement. They favored the formation o municipal boundaries and insti-
tutions that would help villagers defend their lands, gave free rein to anti-
Spanish sentiment, and sought to implement a liberal system modeled en
that of the United States. The elite of this group carne to be associated
with rhe Freemasons of the rite of York, and they supported a movement
to expel the Spaniards from Mexico_
In 1828 a yorquino-backed coup led ro the looting o the market o the
Parin in Mexico Ciry, where wealthy Spanish merchants had their shops,
and the expulsion of the Spaniards from Mexico followed shortly afrer.21
Thus Mexican nationalism went from excluding Spaniards in rhe early in-
dependence movement, to including rhem at independence, to excluding
rhem again, all in a very short lapso of time.
Natioriui 5,n ,rn a Iractlcal Systea
29
 Thc very viulence Di the iti, ologieal transionn a ti ora of early Mexican
nationalism suggests that a general Ti absti,ict "nationalism" does not help
in undcrstanding thc speciiio ot tts eontcnu or as dynamics of propaga-
tion In fact jusc as che noticio of kinshils s in abstraction of such a gen-
eral leve) that it can obtuscate clic natura d thc practicas that are being
summed up Ti the ealegory, so tus, can see say that Andersos cultural ist
reading o nationalism is to such a (legrar general and abstract thar it fails
to clarify che polities ot cono uunitt przxluecion.
lile speciiio fonnulations ut thc natura ol clic nation and of who was
included and who was excluded undcnvent dramatic. shifts that cannot be
attributed ro changes in conaciousness gained by new naaps or censuses
(Humboldt was still the maro scuice chal people drew en in this period).
Nor do these shifts respond lo ara intensification o travel or o che
strength o bureaucratic networks acioss che territory. The formation o
Mexican nationalism can be understood in rciation to the political condi-
tions o its production_ These condi Horas mere determined as muela by the
new nation's position in an international order as by the fact that it did not
have a national ruling class-
This latter point requires elaboration. At che time o independence,
Spanish-Ameriean countries did not hace a Creole bourgeoisie that could
serve as a nacional dominant class. Domestic regional economies were not
well articulated Yo each other; much of che transatlantic merchant elite
was Spanish; mining capital often required foreign partnerships. Thus che
Creole elite was a regional elite, and not a national bourgeoisie. Only two
institutions could conceivably serve co articulare the national space: the
church and che military. The milicary, however, was not a unified body, be-
cause it was led precisely by regional caudillos, many o whom controlled
their own milicias. The church, on che other hand, articulated the national
space in ternas o credit to some extent, and also ideologically, but it could
not serve as a national dominant class
In Chis context, uniting regional leaders inco national factions was neces-
sary. In che early years after Mexico's independence, Freemasonry had Chis
role.co It was through Masonry that regional elites forged interregional net-
works that con Id prefigure the national burcaucracy after independence.
When independence was anained, nnich o Mexico's political elite
helonged to Masonic lodges organized in the Scottish rice. These elites
were well disposed co Britain and, indeed, Great Britain was che first great
power to recognize Mexico Not surprisingly, George Ward, who was
Britain's first anthassador co ixlexico was able to reap nunaerous economic
and political concessions Froni (lit govcrnnaent of Mexico's first presi-
.A4^ ,0ra clic., Sys trm
311
dent, Guadalupe Victoria --so much so that when US. ambassador Joel
Poinsett arrived can che sccnc in 1825 , he saw gaining some o the terrain
that tire United States liad already ceded to che British as his most formi-
dable cask."' Poinsett naakcs a sustained cffort to huild a pro-Ameriean
party to councer British intluence in Mexico Part ol Poinsetts well-
calibered strategy included aid in che organization of Masonic lodges co
counter those affiliated ro che Scottish rite, arad he attached these Masons
co che rite o York (chartercd by che lodge in Philadelphia). These two
Masonic organizations t, ould funccion as political parciies" in Chis early
period.'
Both che Scottish and che Yorkish Masons tried to monopolize as many
government posts as they could. As the competition between the escoceses
and the yorquinos became embittered, che Ameriean caus' (o York) be-
gins to identify the Masons o the Scottish rite with imperialist European
interests, especially with Spanish interests. This allowed the yorquinos to
distract attention from tire US-British rivalry, and it promised co yield
juicy dividends co yorquinos in che form o Spanish property, because the
Spaniards were still che most prosperous sector o Mexico's population.
The escoseses, for their pare, because they were losing che contest for
national power, denounced the role of Joel Poinsett as a foreigner creating
che parry o yorquinos and the very existente o "secret societies."
Thus, it is in che competition between two secret societies for full con-
trol over che apparatus of che state that two critical aspects o Mexican na-
tionalism get consolidated: nationalism as an excluding ideology (even as
a xenophobic ideology)-seen both in che move co expel the Spaniards
and in che move to expel Poinsett; and nationalism as an ideology that
makes public access to the state bureaucracy a cornerstone o its ideology.
These aspects o nationalism reinforce one another because neither of che
two Masonic parties can afford the luxury o identifying entirely with for-
eign interests (because each needs to attack a different foreign power-
the yorquinos want to attack British and Spanish interests, che escoseses are
opposed to U.S. interests), and neither can openly admit that it merely
wishes to control the bureaucratic apparatus.
Finally, the links between religion and nationalism should not be taken
as constant. Although early Mexican patriotism was identified with a su-
perior loyalty to che Catholic faith, arad Mexican nationalists vehemently
excluded other faiths from che national order, both the British and the
Americans coincide in their interest in propagating freedom o religion.
Consequently, some degree o religious tolerance was necessary to main-
tain trade with England and che United States, and che polarization o the
N a t i o,t a l i s m a s a Pra ctica 1 S y s t e m
31 =
 political spectrum ended up producing a jacobin camp that was absent in
the early postindependent period.
Eventually, church properties would be to jacobins what Spanish prop-
erties had been to yorquinos in 1829: a source o wealth that could be the
spoils for political expansion in a period o little economic growth.
In chis fashion, Mexico consolidated a nacional state with a nationalism
built on three principies: che defense against foreigners, the defense o
open political parties instead of secret societies (and o an understanding
o the state as a normative order rather than as a governing caaes), and the
(uneven) extension o the beneflts o nationalism to popular levels
(whether througb the abolition o tribute, o guild restrictions, o church
tithes, o distribution o nacional lands, che distribution o spoils from the
Spaniards, the distribution o goods o new technologies). These three
pillars are in part rhe unintended result ol the contest o the secret so-
cieties, supported by two imperialist states, for control over the state ap-
paratus. These secret societies, in turn, functioned thanks to the cleavages
o economic and political interests that cut across nacional lines or that did
not reach "up" to the nacional leve) at all. In short, the bases o communi-
tarian feeling, criteria o inclusion and exclusion in the nation, the imagi-
nation o a territory, and the very conceptualization o nacional fraterniry
were shaped in the political fray.
Conclusion
The cultural density o the phenomenon o nationalism les in the politics
o its production and deployment Nationalism combines the use of
transnationally generated formulas, ranging from legal formulations to
state pageantry, with a politics that is inextricably local. A dense or thick
description o nationalism is therefore a necessary step for understanding
its cultural characteristics.
The Spanish-American and Mexican cases present a significant histori-
cal problem for Anderson's conceptualization because in Spain nacional
construction began with an appropriation o the church, and not with a
relativization of "Eden." Spanish was seen as a modern form o Latin, and
therefore was more appropriate for communicating the faith than indige-
nous languages. In a related vein, "yace" was central to early modern
Spanish nationalism, insofar as descent from Old Christians was seen as a
sigo o a historical tie to the faith, a sigo that gave its owners control over
the bureaucratic apparatus of both church and state.
Moreover, the concept o "empty time" was present in the Spanish
Nat,Onallsm n,: a Prac^,cal System
world long before print capitalism, beginning with the decline o empire
and Spains failure to attain a universal monarchy. Thus, Spanish economic
thought formulated the notion o a national economy beginning in the
mid-sixteenth century. The administrative constructs that allowed for the
imaginings o a people tied to a territory can be dated back to the six-
teenth century, when both colonial expansion and the defense o the em-
pire against European powers led to the consolidation o the notion o
"Spain' and o "Spanards." As Spain continued to decline in the European
forum, state reforms tended to target political middlemen in an attempt to
substitute regional political classes with a bureaucracy, to consolidare an
idea o a nacional territory, and to shape a Greater Spanish Nation made
up o subjects that tended increasingly toward an internal uniformity vis-
-vis the Crown.
Finally, independence itself, as Anderson recognized, was not the
product o cultural nationalism, but rather o the decline o Spain's ca-
pacity to run its overseas territories. As a result, much o the specific con-
tent o modern nationalist ideology, such as the notion that politics
should be public, or that religion should not be a criterion for choosing a
trading partner, or that a Spaniard is not a Mexican even if he sympathizes
with the Mexican cause, was the cultural product o independence, and
not its precondition.
On the theoretical front, the Latin American case leads me to modify
Anderson's definition o nationalism in order to stress botn fraternal tres
and bonds o dependence in the imagined community. It is in the articula-
tion between citizenship and nationality that various nationalisms derive
their power. As a result, sacrifice is not the quintessential feature o nation-
alism, but rather one o a number o possible signs and manifestations.
In addition, because Anderson's ideas concerning the necessiry o cul-
tural relativism as a precondition for nationalism are incorrect, it follows
that his theoretical emphasis on the centrality o language over race in
nationalism can also be questioned. In the case o Spain, at least, "racial"
identity (in the dense o a bloodline) was coupled with linguistic identity
for the formation o an opposition between "Spaniards" and "lndians," and
it was descent from Oid Christians who had fought holy wars that made
Spaniards a chosen people.
Like knship and religion, nationalism has come in various strands. In
the early modern period, we must distinguish between the nationalism o
a chosen people, such as that o Spain, and the defensive nationalism o
the British or the Dutch, who created nationalist ideals in order to affirm
their right to maintain and sanctify their own traditions. Both o these
Nat,onai,sm as a Practical System
33 =
fornis contia, t with the highly unsiablc nati unalist tomula ti ons of early
postcolonial Spanish America AdUtmallants tamily free reaches baek to
the very birth of the modem w01 TI and ideas cl political community that
lave emerged sincc then are buth muro and Icss than a cultural suecessor
ot che rellgious community 2

Communitarian Ideologies and Nationalism

This chapter, first published in 1993, is the earliest of the essays in this book. It iras written
for a wide audience, with the aim of provding very general historical parameters for the
study of Mexican communitarian ideologies.

The territory now known as Mexico has always been occupied by diverse
human groups that speak different languages and have significant varia-
tions in belief and customs. Mexican nationality is not a historically tran-
scendent entity. On the contrary, it is the historical product of the peoples
who have inhabited those lands. The goal of this chapter is to identify
communitarian ideologies that have played salient roles in the formation
and transformation of national ideology in Mexico.
Today it is common to assert that nationalism is a communitarian fic-
tion. However, the nation is a kind of community that coexists with oth-
ers, either as a complementary form oras a competing form of community,
and strategies for identifying the communitarian ideologies that are perti-
nent for the study of nationality are a matter that requires attention. Max
Weber defined communal relations as a type of social relationship wherein
action is'based on the subjective feeling of the parties, whether affectual
or traditional, that they belong together."i Thus al] communal relations,

N a l i o n a l i, ni ., , e P r,, , i i c a l Syste^
35 =
 including family relations, are hased on subjective feeling and en fictions
and (4) ancient Nahua notions correspond at many points with those o
regarding the social whole, and who "we" are
other Mesoamerican groups. My aim in considering the Aztecs is not to
In this chapter, 1 analyze communitarian ideologies by identifying the
affirm the precepts o traditional Mexican nationalism, which always saw
goods that each community marks as inalienable- This strategy is based en
the grandeur o the Aztec city as the founding moment o Mexican na-
Annette Weiner's discussion o exchange- In contrast to classical (Maussian)
tionality. Rather, it is to understand the nature o Aztec communitarianism
models of exchange, which inspected the role of the reciprocal exchange
so that we may better identify its potential for modern nationalist thought.
o goods for building ties of solidarity, Weiner focused en the goods that
When discussing Aztec notions o community, it is necessary to con-
people decide that they cannot exchange: inalienable goods.2 In so doing,
sider kinship, territory, cultural formulations o subordination and domi-
she showed that reciprocal exchanges not only assert solidarity; they also
nation, and ideas about civilization and barbarism.
chape systems o social differentiation. The objects that are exchanged in
In the Aztec period, indigenous states' areas o influence did not corre-
relations o reciprocity also underline by omission or by implication the
spond to the limits o a single linguistic or territorial community. The
resources that will not be exchanged. The relationship between the vari-
great cities o Tenochtitln, Texcoco, and Azcapotzalco housed migrants
ous things that each exchange partner withholds and keeps out o circula-
from many areas, including speakers o various languages. The great
tion objectifies a system o social differentiation.
tlatoani o Tenochtitln was the lord not only o the Nahuatl speakers o
This idea is useful for describing how communitarian ideologies are
Tenochtitln, but also o Otomis, Mazahuas, Zapotecs, and many others,
constructed. The totalizing visions that underlie communitarian relation-
some o whom had been forcibly brought to the city as slaves, while oth-
ships are always based en definitions of goods or rights that are common
ers were migrants, members of guilds, and merchants. Pre-Hispanic states
and inalienable te al]. The relationships o differentiation that are later
were thus not meant to represent a cultural community in the contempo-
constructed within and between communities are defined with reference
rary sense o the term, although communitarian ideas certainly existed.
to the series of goods that are inalienable ro the group.
These notions developed around a discourse el kinship (that is, o alliance
In out case, examining the nation's inalienable goods clarifies how
and descent) between living and dead people, as well as between kin
Mexicanness has been formed. National feelings are presented as inherited groups and land.
"primordial loyalties." One is burn and dies with them and they are passed
The cornerstone o the sense o community in the Aztec period was
un: children must also inherit them- This characteristic o nationaliry-its
the institution o the calpulli- The communitarian ideology of the calpulli
ideology o transcendence-can be grasped by studying the communitar-
was manifested in a series o inalienable goods and rights: (1) the land el
ian goods and rights that are considered inalienable because they embody
the calpulli belonged to a lineage, not an individual, so individuals could
the material transcendence O the community. My aim in this chapter is to
even sell themselves as slaves but they could not freely dispose o calpulli
use che inalienable communitarian possessions to identify the principal
lands; (2) the lineage and land were sponsored by a deity (calpulteotl), and
types of communitarian ideologies that facilitated or blocked the forma-
the link with that deity could not be broken by individual will; (3) the
tion of the feeling o Mexican nationaliry .
calpulli's links with other calpultin were manifested and symbolized in kin-
ship links among their chiefs and among the gods in the cycle o suns, a
The Aztecs myth that legitimated the preeminente o a single people (the Aztecs) and
their tutelary god over en entire era.3 This series of kinship relationships
The Aztecs are notan obligatory starting point for the analysis o Mexican
was also used to claim Aztec filiation with the Toltec line, which was the
communitarian ideologies. 1 begin with them for four reasons: (1) under-
source o civilization, and was also seen asan inalienable legacy.
standing the communitarian ideologies of pre-Hispanic states helps us to
In Chis sense, in the pre-Hispanic period the "national" question did not
visualize the full gamut o ideological sources o modern Mexican nation-
depend en "ethnicity" as we understand iq nationaliry did not depend en
alism; (2) some features o pre-Hispanic communitarian ideologies have
membership in the same Iinguistic, racial, or cultural group. The impor-
persisted, albeit in a very transformed way, (3) many Mexican nationalist
tant thing was to belong to one o a set o landed communities. Belonging
movements have tried to take up the polirical forros o ancient Mexico;
to these communities determined a relationship to a series of inalienable

Communi !oran 1dologies

Coromu,o arias Ideologies
= 36 =
= 37 =
,,oods summcd up in tire dilterent dinx nsic, ns ot tire caipulli comnion land
'Lid a kinship idiom tying all maniera ol a..ipuiG togethet; filiati on with a
local deiq^ ca ipu!leoil;. and a reccrved set ol ilb,nces between calpultin (ex-
pressed in genealogical forn) hctwc^n tamiheso t chi eis and between their
tutelary gods These relationsh, s t,crc ^spressed very powertuliy in che
words that according to Fray lfui nardi no de Sahagm) Aztec priests di-
rected to che Franciscana whu cure to convert them
They out progen noi e,ak]ri ue
all thcir 'caes of wo^+hip,
their ways of reveriog l che goda
Thus, before them we bn ng carde to our mou ths ]we swear],
so do we bleed,
we pay our debts,
we burn incense,
we offer sacrifices
Ttey [our progenitora] said
that they, the gods, are for whom one leves,
that they deserved us
How? Wherer When it was still night
And they [our ancestors raid,
that they give os
our sustenance, our food.
everything one drinks, one eats,
that which is our flesh, maize, beans,
amaranth, cha.
They are who we ask for
water, ramo,
which is why che things of dte land are produeed.'
This vision o community also hclps Lis Lo understand certain features
of che Aztecs' characteristic sense ol honran hfe. These features are ex-
pressed in che ideologies o sacrifico and slavery. When an individual was
captured in war, he was taken by the hair on the crown o his head. This
act represented che appropriation of his tonalli, his vital force, and the sepa-
ration o that vital force from che captive's original community.s
Thus, sacrifice and slavery were one naton's or community's way o lib-
erating and expending the human energy and vitality that had been sepa-
rated from anorher nation or community_ This strengthened che alliance
between the appropriating nation and che different gods that shaped its
Communii ir, ,n Id,olo
38
political licld- Sacrifice and slavery were interpreted as an affirmation of
the greater cosmology-tic period or reigning son in which it was thought
that they were livinig--through che expansion of sorne communities at che
expense o others
In tima sense, although the aalpnlli was the primordial communitarian
unir, riere was also a leve) of social identi fication related Lo the Aztec
state. The feclings of belonging to this greater political unir were built on
a numher ol relationshi ps. Wc have already mentioned tbe importance of
the system of kinship alliance between nobles. Marriage between nobles
was so important in che ideological construction of the empire that is al-
most impossible to imagine chis system without polygamy, because Aztec
lords formed alliances with subordinated peoples by accepting their noble-
women in marriage6
These kinship networks among allied, subordinated communities and
imperial centers also had an ideological counterpart in religion. Here, the
Aztecs' tutelary god, Huitzilopochtli, ruled the era-the'Pifth Sud'-as a
whole. Thus, che calpultin' s communitarian worship could also find a subor-
dinate place in a religious cosmology that included and favored the empire,
with the Aztecs' Huitzilopochtli presiding over che whole era.
Imperial society also had mechanisms for attracting individuals who
did not come as slaves or victims. Aztec expansion depended en military
and commercial domination. In turn, Chis domination required powerful
armies, and the Aztecs permitted non-Aztecs to join them and rise in rank
through battlefield accomplishments. In this way, the Aztec empire devel-
oped mechanisms for absorbing and assimilating individuals even though
they did not belong to their primordial community o origin.7
In conclusion , one can say that in pre-Hispanic society there was a vi-
sion o the human individual as an energy that had a value in itself. This
energy (figured in the tonalli) had Lo be linked to a series of inalienable
possessions that every qualified individual inherited. He or she had to be
linked to a piece of land, Lo a kin group, to a configuration o tutelary
gods, and to the political acate. The Aztecs' imperial policies were to some
degree oriented Lo channeling these various communal loyalties toward
them through a complex system o alliances and threats. They also had
the capacity to absorb individuals into the group in return for services ren-
dered, especially on the battlefield. Basically, one can say that, in the
Aztec period, belonging to a landed community that was figured as a kin-
dred was the only truly honored way o life, and to be separated from that
state o community, the ancient Nahua was destined Lo serve orto dic.
Con,sunita rian Idealagies
39=
 The Colonial Period
Notions of communiry in colonial society, can also be explored through an
analysis o the inalienable possessions that each attributed to itself. New
Spain was a caste society that recognized different types o communities
that maintained hierarchical relationships with each other. I shall briefly
review indigenous, Spanish and mestizo communitarian ideologies.
Indigenous communities partially maintained some o the calpulli's
communal attributes: the communiry remained legally and officially land-
ed through its "primordial titles," which were decrees from a Spanish
monarch that granted a series of lands and goods to a village, sometimes
in recognition o tribute paid or to confirm lands that had belonged to
those villages in antiquity.
Clearly, one o the colonial indigenous communitys inalienable goods
was land, despite the fact that communal lands could be rented for long
periods or lose through illicit sales. Correspondingly, the primordial titles
were converted into almost sacred documenis guarded by the most vener-
able elders and displayed only in special occasions. Knowledge o the
content o those titles was a central theme o local oral traditions.
As in pre-Columbian times, this collective relationship with the land
was reflected ar the ritual, religious, and political levels. Thus, indigenous
communities instituted their own ofhces-alcaldes, jueces, gobernadores, man-
dones, and alguaciles-that circulated, in theory at least, among the village
principales, the descendants o the old indigenous nobility. This political
organization o the indigenous communiry had the double purpose o
guarding village intereses, imparting local justice, and responding to
Spanish demands on the community, including tribute, the organization
o labor groups, and the enforcement o Christian worship.
A good part o the territorial, political, and religious organization o in-
digenous communities also tended to coincide with kin groups in the mode
o the calpulli, but in general the indigenous quarters and communities of
the colonial period were not direct continuations o the calpultin. In the first
decades after the Conquest, many ot the indigenous quarters (barrios) that
were organized were in fact calpultin However, this correspondence often
broke down because o the enormous Indian mortality throughout the six-
teenth century and the population movements that responded to new
Spanish economic demands. Moreover, to resolve the difficulties in con-
trolling the dispersed indigenous population the Spanish "concentrated" it
in larger population centers (aboye all in the late sixteenth and eariy seven-
teenth centuries). Still, although thc physical continuity between calpulli
1drologies
40 =
and indigenous barrio was generally imperfect, it did reproduce the ten-
dency te organize kinship relationships en the leve) o the barrio and the
community. The indigenous barrios o the colonial period were generally
composed o two or three great patrilineages_ Even more important, as
James Lockhart has shown, colonial indigenous jurisdictions tended to
coincide with the pre-Columbian units (altepetl), in such a way that the
combination o barrios formed a single political community.
On the ritual plane, each village adopted one or several saints, and the
Christian tradition o revelation articulated with the shamanism o pre-
Columbian peoples. This permitted personalized relationships between
saints and individuals (and, by association, between saints and the groups
to which individuals belonged). Thus, the indigenous communitarian spirit
maintained inalienable links with land, family, and gods, albeit in a trans-
formed way.
In addition to al] this, colonial indigenous communities were nations in
a racial sense, and this radically differentiated colonial indigenous nation-
ality from pre-Columbian nationalities. Like the calpulli, each community
identified its limits on the basis o a relationship with a series o inalienable
objects-the land, an oral tradition about the land, a series o political re-
lationships within comniunities, and a series o relationships between
communities and deities. However, it is also clear that in the colonial peri-
od this form o constituting communiry was exclusive to Indians and that
Indian was a "racial" and a legal category o persons: legally, Indians were
those people who could aspire tu belong to an Indian republic and who
were obligated to vender tribute, labor, and obediente to the Spaniards.
Racially, they were descendants o the original settlers.a
Thus, although the indigenous colonial community's interna] world
partially resembled and perpetuated the calpulli's characteristics, the colo-
nial criteria o inclusion diverged widely from those o the pre-Hispanic
period. This is because, instead o belonging to a world composed o
dominating and dominated peoples (who remained connected through re-
lationships o kinship, political alliance, and social mobility), all indige-
nous communities found themselves subordinated to a caste with which
they could not easily meld; that is, as a group, indigenous communities
formed a caste or subordinated nationality in a social hierarchy that
sought to maintain stable distinctions, however unsuccessfully.
On the other hand, the relationship between indigenous individuals
and their community also changed. After evangelization, Indians were
thought to be subjects with free will, who would be judged by the moral
choices made by each person. In part because o this, Indians who separated
Com ''hita rian 1deologies
41
thcroselve, Iront their conununities acre ns, [coger simply a nmss ot ener-
gy that could be appropiated he anothei group through sacrifice or servi-
tude On dic contrary, Indians sep.u nted tn,m thcir primordial ti ti es, therr
chiets and tlicii village palom ,Lino conld ronOnue having al] individual-
izad rel a ti onship with die saini, and c aire In s;,th their lives in a world of
ineipient social daacs In that aro r ld, indio ,dual energy mas libera sed in
forming une s iamily and in ,carch, n;; tor svagcs, leisure, vices, and cere-
monics ot social gruups that had no inalienable possessions acide from
their smil, and [he color ot L[)( 11 ,kin,.
For there dislocated Indians thr orle asailablc sources ot collective
identity were those creoted by thc racial or racist 1 organization o the
regime and by the experienee ot sharcd living in an urban quarter, mining
community, hacienda houschold, nr in a lactory or port. On the other
hand, the inalienability o the soul allowed these Indians to receive the
sacramenta of the church and to choose tlicir spo ices without strict racial
determination. The ideology of free matrinionial choice was especially re-
spected by the clergy Ti the first hall of ihe colonial period (see Seed
1988), but even in the late colonial period, the only serious obstacle to
interracial marriage was paternal opp(>sitton. For Chis reason, marriages
between members of the sane c lass leven though not of tire same lineage
or color) or between prosperous people of color and poor whites were
common.'
Among ttere new mestizo groups, two new factors in the process o
social identification began to assert themselves, money and Hispanic ac-
culturation. These were interrelated in tercos o their role in constructing
ideas about community, so 1 treat them jointly. The Spaniards o the colo-
nial period had a genealogical concept of tire nation_ its members were de-
scended from tire same blood. The ideological role o "blood" in Spain is
subtle and at the same time crucial for understanding how Mexican na-
tionality seas formed.
The importance o "blood ,n the Spanish regime dates co the Recon-
quista o Spain (immediately hefore the discovery o America), when there
were movements to separate "Old Christians' from Jewish and Moorish
converts. This was par of a broader tendency in Spain to nationalize the
Catholic church and to make Spaniards the delending knights o the faith
(as well as the principal beneficiaries o the taith's expansion). Thus, be-
ginning in the fourteenth century "eertificates of blood purity" were re-
quired forjoining the clergy, holding publlc office, or belonging to certain
guilds. These certificates were intended to show that a individual descend-
ed from many generations of Christians_ The concept is ofspecial anthro-
Co n, nin^ta^i..n I.,,olodas
12
pological interest becausc ir liiiked two important leaatres o "honor'
(1 i the individual's r<habilily aboye all with regard to religion, hur it was
assumed that this loyalw extended to otlier spheres loyalty to friends
and bravcry in defen di ng the group the fa n>ily, and o nes own honor), and
(2! the cbasty of the women ot the group Be, ause honor was mcasured
through the blood, bi ologi cal paterniry and ma tern i ty were c ri ti cal, thus
reinforcing thc links between honor, control over virginiry, and women's
sexual lidelity alter marriage.
The notion that "hlood prcdicted and redactad an individual', relia-
bility became the hasis bar the Spanish idea of nation," understood as a
people that emanated from the lame blood Bclonging to a similar lineage
or ro a common nation was important in a numher of contexts; however,
Spanish ideas of character, honor, and right also admitted the possibility
o assimilation, and sometimes emphasized the effects o che milieu on
inheritance.
The idea o patria, or "homeland," recognized the importance o the
place where one was boro and raised. This is the original sense o the
word Creole, which comes from the verb criar, torear or raise. When a black
slave was boro in Veracruz, it was said that he or she was a "Veracruz
Creole." For this reason, people of Spanish nationality boro in Mexico
were sometimes known as "Creoles' (o Mexico).
The importance given to land complicates the scheme o identity
through blood and honor. Being boro and growing up in a certain place
influenced the development of the individual. Thus, for example, there
were Spaniards who commented on the "degeneration" o heredity that
took place in America: after two generations a green pepper became a
chili pepper, and a Spanish worker had Creole sons who became lazy
bums.'o This New World influence was not always conceived in terms o
acculturation (i.e., learning); aboye all, it was thought o in terms o the
physical influences that emanated from different places' climatic and
chemical qualities. Air, humidity, heat, cold, and drinking water all affect-
ed the development o human qualities just as one's heredity did. Con-
sequently, there were widely opposed appreciations o che nature or ef-
fects o any particular land: one o the important points in the dispute
between Creoles and Iberians was the relative nobility or ignominy o
American versus Iberian lands. In sum, land and blood were central com-
ponente o the person and, by extension, o the nation in Spanish ideology-
The third important factor in the conception o the social group was
acculturation through learning. Here the word ladino provides a useful key.
This word was used to denote a person o a barbarous or pagan nation that
Con, n, u ni Carian Ideologies
43 =
 had been at casi parthr civilized Por example, it was said that an Indian
sense. When Creoles identifled or were identified as a group (which they
was ladino when he or she had a good grasp of Spanish- The same usage
often did not), they were distinguished from Peninsulars not by "national-
applied te slaves: recently arrived Alricans were bozales, bozales torpes (clumsy
ity," but rather by the influences o their respective homelands. This occa-
bozales), or bozalones, but those who now spoke Spanish and knew local cus-
sionally served to discriminate against some o them in the fields o busi-
toms were ladinos-" A ladino slave was worth more money than a bozal, and
ness, matrimony, religion, the army, and the bureaucracy. Because o this,
a ladino Indian was considerad more qualihed to assume public office in a
one cannot speak o Creole nationalism (against the Spaniards), but o
repblica de indios tiran a nonaccul turated one A ladino slave was also more
Creole patriotism: an ideology that extolled the benign influence Mexico,
dangerous than a bozal, because the tenn was most often used to refer te
Pero, and other countries. On the other hand, beyond European nationals
Moorish slaves."
boro in Mexico, this Creole patriotism also found support among ladi-
On tire other hand, it is indispensable to note the ambivalente felt
noized Indians who no longer belonged te an indigenous community and
toward acculturation or "ladinization', Jews and Muslims were considered
for whom a highly valued homeland could be important.
members o especially dangerous nations because they were ladinas; that is,
Finally, it is interesting to note African slaves' position with respect
they could imtate Spaniards and subvert their order froni within. This was
te these issues o homeland, nationality, and community. Unlike Indians,
why Jews and Moors were prohibited from entering the New World-
slaves had no inalienable possessions; al their goods were alienated.
even if they were converts. The meaning of ladino as an able but truculent,
Moreover, the very legitimation for slavery was to undo peoples who re-
two-faced person has survived into our times. It is the main meaning that
sisted evangelization. In principie, slaves were captives o "just wars"
this word has today, but in thc past it was part o a far more complex se-
against unbelievers who refused even to listen te the missionaries. In Chis
mantic field.
context, it was-legitimare te take slaves and oblige them to receive
With these considerations iri mirad we can now reconsider the Indians
Christian instruction in hopes that they would go en to a better world
who separated themselves from their communities and whose only in-
after passing through all the sufferings o a life dedicated to servitude.
alienable possessions were their souls and skin color. We have said that
Thus, unlike the Indians, slaves were not redeemable as a nation, but only
these individuals could aspire te a place within a new community through
as individuals, and this only aher the bitterness o slavery. Because o this,
money and skills. In light o the concepts o free will, blood, homeland,
black communities were regularly watched or flatly banned: the as$ocia-
and ladinization, we can better understand these people's strategies and
tion of more than two blacks and all corporate bodies except the military
alternarives.
companies of Pardos y Morenos o the eighteenth century and religious
First, although Indian migrs no longer had inalienable tres to land
sodalities were prohibited, and even sodalities were Ilegal at times be-
through primordial titles, oral traditnons, and so on, they did have ties to a
cause o their subversive potential.'3
more abstract "homeland", thev were "Indians." Second, through their par-
However, there was an important contradiction with respect to the
ticipation in the market economy, sorne o these migrants could learn
collective nature o slaves: despite all the efforts against the formation o a
Spanish ways. Thus they had certain advantages over the monolingual
slave society parallel to indigenous society, slaves were brought from
village Indian (alrhough here it is crucial to remember the ambivalente
Africa and nowhere else precisely because they could not be confused
toward ladinization. these Indians were at once superior to and more dan-
with either Europeans or Indians. Undoubtedly, this confluence o factors
gerous than those still tied te their villages). Third, if a man managed te
heles us understand the fear that the idea o Afro-American kingdoms in-
make a little money, he could invest in the transgenerational path o
spired in Spaniards. However, the tendency to form Afro-Mexican collec-
honor, for example, by marrying a mestiza or Creole ("improving the
tivities was limited to the groups o maroons who succeeded in establish-
race") and by acquiring possessions with which he could assert a certain
ing themselves in coastal arcas. Meanwhile, most slaves were marrying
honor. Successful Indians who separated from their local communities
free people and contributing te the formation o the colonial plebe that
could begin te identify with a larger homeland and aspire to win a small
constituted the popular classes in cities, mines, and ports.
measure o honor and progress
These considerations about indigenous, Creole, and black nationality
The problems of Creole collective identities were simpler in some
and patriotism are fundamental for understanding the development o

C o,, rn u u' 1 a r l., n 1Jro logres

IIomn !uuiln ran Ideologas
44
=45=
 canos. thc silvei extracted from the homelands "belly," and the pyramids
Mexican nationality properly spcal.ing. Pelote passing to that topie, how-
and other grandeurs of the pie-Hispanic indigenotis cultures, the material
ever it is lmportant co mention lene tino t i-itional pohtical etfect of the
remains ol which now tornad part of Pie land and gave che landscape its
colonial regimc ti is c leal from all thc evidente that Pie predominant ideo -
osen narre: Mexico. not New Spain_
logical, legal. and eeonomie se,l,... in th, eulnnial period helped forge a
This set of symbols, which werc of the homeland and not strictly na-
multinational society in which d,tlcrc nt national groups could share in-
tional, had first been developed by Creole patriots beginning in the late
terests in their homelands Uno must add to this, however, that the colo-
sixteenth centuey By the time o independence, these symbols had al-
nial pollucal system in itsclt helpecl lo produce images of politieal sover-
ready become part o a well-known repertoire, ,he artworks that extolled
eignty that pcople werc trylnp lo entulate alter independence_ in the
the producs and landscopes of che New World, Pie presentation of pre-
colonial period:.Mexico nv sea, the seas ot a c iceroyalq, presided oven
Columbian civilizations as panllel to those ol Greek and Reman classical
by a viceroy. sebo conccived ol himselt as Pie kings alter ego. His court
antiquity, the assertion o Mexican Christianity's legitimacy and autonomy
seas composed of nobles, the high clergy. Icarned men, merehants, and
through the cult o the Virgin o Guadalupe, the search for a pre-Hispanic
miners. The viceroy vas ultimately responsible for all branches o govern-
Christianity in such figures as Quetzalcoatl, and so en. i4
ment-admjnistrative, ecclesiastical, and mihtary . The existente o this
The novelty o independence patriotism in the face of this Creole tra-
pinnacle o state power in Neve Spain undoubtedly helped the Creles
dition was that, given the Mexican state, ene could proceed to grant offi-
and their various alijes to imagine a new state with its capital ni Mexico
cial status to these symbols. Thus, Hidalgo flew the standard o the Virgjn
City, ruled by Mexican patriots and not by Iberians.
o Guadalupe; Jos Mara Morelos used a flag with an eagle on a nopal
cactus and the inscription "VVM" (IViva la Virgen Mara[); Iturbide also
Nationality affer Independenc adopted the Aztec eagle (albeit with a crown), and in 1821 he formed the
Order o Guadalupe for soldiers, insurgents, teachers, and distinguished
One o the central ideological problems ol the independence period was
clergymen. The first coros were minted with figures o the Aztec eagle.
how to transfonn Creole patriotism roto a new nationalism ehat could in-
From 1821 to 1 853, various national anthems were composed until the pa-
clude social groups that had beca horn in Mexico but did not belong to
triotic song o Gonzlez Bocanegra was adopted. One cannot say that it is
the "Hispano-Mexican lace."
nationalistic. it is almost exclusively about the importante o sacrificing
This was a practical question even belore ll became a theoretical one:
for the homeland, and its most representative stanza is the one that pro-
how to give the homeland enough stature so that patriotic concerns
claims, "No longer shall the blood o your sons / be spilled in contention
would eclipse class and cante questions At a purely logical leve) there
between brothers / only may he who insults your sacred name / encounter
were only two solutions ti) this problem. the first was to redefine the ideas
the steel in your hands."
o nation and nationality so that belonging to a common homeland deter-
However, the speed with which the sacred signs and objects o the
mjned and dcfined belonging lo che nation; tire second was to maintain
homeland were formed did not nave such a simple counterpart in the way
the multinational system with a kuropean elite, but in a context where
the nation was defined. In fato, the national question properly speaking
everyone benefited from the fact that Chis elite was as attached and loyal
has been polemical ever sincc
to the same homeland as the lndians and blacks. On a practical level, there
The ways in which the homeland was identified with the nation were
were obviously different, extremely complex ways o blending these two
evolving in interesting ways. In tire first years o jndependence, one o the
options, which need to be expa roed. Regardless o which option was
legacies uniformly claimed for the nation was the Catholic religion. This
adopted, any independence ideology had to nave a common patriotic
nationalization o the church can be partially understood as an extension
oasis; it seas much simpler co share a love for the homeland than to agree
o the appropriation o the faith that was the ideological cornerstone o
en the characteristics of the nation.
Spanish imperialism. The church was considered a fundamental and in-
Because of this, the rst fornuilations of Mexicos sacred and inalien-
alienable legacy o the Mexican nation in all the principal laws and docu-
able goods werc very direccly linked wldh symbols of tire (home)land: jis
nients o the early independence period, from the appropiation o the
"sacred sojl." tire central mesa', Jeep bine skies, die Aztec eagle, the vol-

t a x i i ,i I d e o i o j i e s
= 47=
Virgin of Guadalupe by Father Hidalgo to che political programs of
Morelos, Iturbide, and che 1824 constitution. The Seven Laws (1835) stipu-
lated that Mexicans had che obligation to profess the Catholic religion,
and not even the anticlerical laws proanoted by Jos Mara Luis Mora in
1833 undermined che official status of Catholicism. The essennalized link
between che nation and religion was not broken until che 1857 constitu-
tion, and che process of denanonalizing religion was never fully achieved.
On che other hand, regardless of clic support that nationality eould
find in religion, che difficulty in detining che nation was reflectad in che
fluctuating ways in which citizenship was defined. Although there was a
more or less uniform movement to make tics co che homeland che defini-
tive criterion of nationality, che definition of which individuais were citi-
zens properly speaking was much more restricted. Thus, for example, in
che Seven Laws-which were valid from 1835 until che Reform laws-
only men of legal age with an annual income more than one hundred
pesos could vote. In 1846, these men were also required lo know how to
read and write. In order to be a congressional deputy, one needed a mo-
mal annual income of 1,500 pesos, to he a senator, 2,000, and to be presi-
dent, 4,000.
Thus nationalist ideology in che firsr hallof che nineteenth century per-
mitted che de facto retention of colonial social hierarchies: distinction
through money could strengthen systems of discrimination by "race" given
the fact that che majority o Indians and other people of color were poor.
However, there were also great differences between che system estab-
lished alter independence, which lavored che rich, and che explicitly
caste-based system of che colonial period. One of che central differences is
that supposedly bclonging to a contmon nation (defined on the basis of a
common homeland) made it possible for peasant villages and other poor
contingents to make their political claims in terms of citizens' rights and
not in terms of che subordinated complementarity of caste. But chis trans-
formation could also mean the loss of certain special rights for subaltern
groups, aboye al] Indians. The ideological, legal, and physical assault en
communal village lands and other indigenous community instiitutions such
as hospitals, public political offices, schools, and che management of com-
munity chests began in che tirst years of independence. The counterparts
lo chis assault were che indigenisr movements that sought co identify che
nation with che indigenous race_ Thesc carly indigenista movements ex-
pressed themselves in nacional political spheres through such figures as
che congressional deputy Rodrguez Puebla, who in che first congresses
fought co keep indigenous community institutions (except tribute) intact.
Co a m un: i a r: a n 1.iro logi
48
This political position was contrary lo che central precept of liberal-
ism, however, which was becoming the dominant ideology of the inde-
pendence movement. An indigenismo that attempted to maintain and
strengthen indigenous communities within a pluriracial national order
threatened to divide che nation. Don Jos Mara Luis Mora summed up
che liberal stance toward Chis indigenismo:
The real reason for Chis opposition was that che new arrangement of public
instruction was in open conflict with Mr. Rodrguez Puebla's desires, goals,
and objectives with respect to che destiny o che remains of che Aztec cace
that still exist in Mexico- This gentleman, who pretends to belong to che
said race, is one of che country's notables because o his good moral and
poltica] qualities, in theory, his is che parry of progress and personally he is a
yorkino; but, unlike the men who labor in Chis together, Mr. Rodrguez does
not limit his scope to winning liberty, but extends it to exalting che Aztec
race, and therefore his first objective is to maintain it in society with its
own existente. To that end he has supported and continues to support che
Indians' ancient civil and religious privileges, che status quo o che goods
that they possessed in community, che poorhouses intended to attend co
them, and che coilege in which they exclusively received their education;
in a word, without an explicit confession, his principies, goals, and objec-
tives tend te visibly establish a purely Lidian system.
The Faras administration, like all che ones that preceded it, thought
differently; it was persuaded that che existente of different races in che
lame society was and had to be an eternal principie of discord. Not only
did he [Faras] ignore these distinctions o past years that were proscribed
in constitucional law, but he applied aH his efforts toward forcing the fusion
o che Aztec race with che general masses; thus he did not recognize che
distinction between Indians and non-Indians in government acts, but instead
he replaced it with that between che poor and che rich, extending to al] che
benefits of society)'
The conflict over che place of indigenous communities in the new
national society did not end with these squabbles in the country's high
political spheres: aboye all, it translated floto regional conflicts in which
indigenous groups sought to construct their own nacional autonomies.
These movements were called "caste wars" by the nation's political classes,
but they must also be understood as nacional movements in the sense that
they sought congruency among indigenous nations, management of terri-
tory, and appropiation of religion.
Many Indians' nostalgia for their own states, a land with one blood
es Co,n m uniiarian Ideo)ogies
49 =
undcr thc role of their oven w ,e roen and thc mande of an indigenous
Christianity, translated Inl vn ial movcmcnts di various points in the
eightecndt. ninetecnih and evcn tcrcnticth ec intries For example, during
che lamous coste iras" ot Yucacin lhv Indians liad their capital in Chan-
Santa Cruz and euostruc sed thcir leadership around a cross that spoke di-
reedy to che priests ficho direcicel che ichellious odian movement. Among
other structurally similar. mcii einents wc re those that took place in the
Chiapas highlands 1865.. thc haqui (lcxrt et Sonora 1885-1909), the
Huasrcca 01 San Luis I'otos 1588 and thl enasta] Misteea region i- 1911 U.
There weic also a numher of nimviuIent niovcnients o chis type, some of
theni allied with note urbanized clases. In thc very capital o che country,
diere are currently pro-Nahua[I groups ol mlxed social origins that seek
the return of Moctezumas heacidress and che installation o a new indige-
nous empire
On the other hand, given che tact that nineteenth-century liberalism
was against upholding a "multiracial nation, racist ideas that had existed
since che colonial period could persist and hecome increasingly pernicious.
The ideologist who most intluenced educated racist thought in Mexico
was Herheri Spencer, who beGeved in che fundamental importance of so-
cial evolution and in che inheritance o acquired characteristies. This com-
bination of doctrines, applied to Mexico, led to the conclusion that che
Indians had been suhsidized by che colonial state for centuries, and that
che negative characteristics that had been acquired would continue to
plague national evolution if the proportion o fit individuals (Europeans)
did not increase.16
On the ocho hand, Spanish forros still dominated racist thought in
Mexico even alter the imporcation of northern European ideas. According
to the dominant ideologies of che colonial period, the indigenous race was
inferior to che Spanish race, but it was also redeemable through Christian
faith and procreation with Spaniards. There salas a well-known formula ac-
cording to which the child of a Spaniard and an Incitan was a mestizo, the
child of a mestizo and a Spaniard was a castizo; and the child o a castizo and
a Spaniard was a Spaniard; that is, an individual's indigenous origins could
be "erased" through a couple gcnerations o intermarriage with Europeans.
This is why, in che colonial period, racial identity was manipulated:
birth certificares were altered so that children could he classified as Creoles
and not as some inferior casto; mestizos bought access to indigenous com-
munities; rights to dress as Spaniards vide horses, and bear arms were con-
ceded ro certain Indians. With independence, che definitions and legal
guarantees of caste were abandonad, thc claves were freed, and indigenous
C o 111 11. 11 1.. I d i i.1
tribute as well as racial classificati ons in baptismal certillcates were prohib-
ited. However thc manipulation of racial identity continuad, aboye all in
che struggle for status Only in this way can we understand why Porfirio
Daz powdered his lace svhite and why politicians and rich men with dark
skin liad an exaggerated preferente for white wives-
On che other hand, alter independence, che ideas o granting the
mestizo a certain racial digoiiv and of making the mestizo into a national
mace pegan to gain currcncy In the beginning, this tendency was limited
simply to recognizing che greatness of hoth che indigenous and the
Spanish sources of nationality. However, this recognition of the central
importante o mestizaje for Mexican nationality could not be easily translat-
ed finto an ideology in which the mestizo was equal to che Mexican, for
two reasons, liberalisms attempt to rid che definition o nation of any links
with yace and the ever-greater influence of pseudoscientific racist thought.
Thus, che liberalism o Jurez and his generation-which had great po-
litical and intellectual figures o indigenous origin-was completely dis-
tinct from che indigenismo o Rodrguez Puebla. Whereas Rodrguez sought
to maintain indigenous communities within a pluralistic nacional frame-
work, Jurez showed that Indians were perfectly capable o "ascending" to
che Europeans' cultural leve] if given che opportunity and resources.
Jurez's generation o liberals sought to redeem che Indians by giving
them access to the goods of citizenship: education, universal rights, and
equality.
Jurez sought to forro a nationality composed of a citizenry (defined
by common birth in a homelanci) that had a truer equality of access to
state protection and representation. One can say that, in che 1857 consti-
tution, che nation had three inalienable legacies: national territory, state
sovereignry, and a set o inviolable individual rights. This is also why lib-
erals of chis generation broke che privileged link that che church had
maintained with Mexican nationality until then: they no longer needed a
national church to legitimize the country because che freedom and equality
of Mexicans under che rulo of law and in the framework o the homeland
were sufficient. On che other hand, the dark-skinnedJurez was himself
living proof that these ideals were attainable.
It was easier to denationalize che church, however, than it was to con-
struct a national citizenry The laws promoted by Jurez helped erode che
indigenous communities that had mantained the calpulli's transformed
communitarian legacy, but the proletarianized masses continued to be
principally dark-skinned and under the economic yoke of foreigners.
The majority of Mexico's poor continued to be excluded from che
Comnia,ifariao [ drologies
51 =
henefits o nationality (citizens equality, public education, and the right
o representation in the state) because che nacional bureaucracy's resources
were meager and, worse yes, those resources were primarily utilized for
paving che way for capitalist investmenc Fnr Chis reason, in the nineteenth
century che term Indian gained a new acceptance, fusing racial and class
factors: for che urban middle ancf uppen classes any poor peasant was an
"lndian", that is, che category "Indian" carne to mean those who were nos
complete citizens.
This also explains why Spencer's racist thought gained some influence
in offfcial cireles. Social Darwinism permiued certain official groups to
blame the victims for the negative results et post independence social de-
velopmenc Mexico had not attained che social leve] o the United States
because o che Indians' negative intluencc [-he only way to achieve politi-
cal evolution was by importing E unopcans and dominating Indians through
education or, in more recalcitrant cases, cmeler disciplinary forms. in this
period, indigenous slavery was revived and massacres of Indians were per-
petrated in Sonora and Yucatn.
The power and class strtxggles of chis period also became a nacional
struggle in some seccors because che progress achieved by Porfirio Daz
was largely based on concessions co foreign capital, and the social sectors
chat were negatively affected by those concessions allied themselves with
political groups that had been excluded Irom che monopoly that Don
Porfiris group exercised oven the bureaucratic apparatus. These alliances
gave rise to che revolution.
Tbe Redefinilion of Mationality in che Revolution
From che point o view of nationality, the Mexican Revolution was a
watershed at least as imporrant as che luruz reforms. Here 1 focos en two
features, che reval uati on of che mestizo a^ qui ntessentially nacional and
che redefinition of the inalienable goods o che nation. As already men-
tioned, che placement o che mestizo as a central personage has a history
that began with independence, but che revolution broke tics with two
doctrines that liad inhibited che adoption o che mestizo as che nacional
yace. On che one hand, Jurez's classical liberalism was complemented
with a procectionist state cha[ was seilling to cake special measures and dis-
positions for speciflc national groups sucli as Indians, peasants, and workers.
On che other hand, che racist ideas of social Darwinism were overturned.
These two ruptures were complententary and went hand in hand. The
most important figure in clic balde against pscudoscientific racism was
Comen nn., aii.in dl
52
Manuel Gamio, who is frequently considered che "father" o Mexican an-
thropology because o his role in che construction o revolutionary na-
tionalism. Gamio relied on che authority o bis teacher, Franz Boas, in
claiming both the equality of al] races and the validity o all cultures.
Based en chis, Gamio developed an indigenismo that dignified Mexican
Indian features and blood, thereby paving the way for che mestizo to
emerge as che protagonist of nacional history.
The principal ideologists of Mexican nationalism (Luis Cabrera,
Andrs Molina Enrquez, Manuel Gamio) imagined che mestizo as che
product o a Spanish father andan indigenous mochen- This very particular
formula had a twofold importante. First, it made che Spanish Conquesc
che origin o che nacional yace and culture. This point o origin was fertile
for the production o a national mythology, a task that captured the atten-
tion o prominent artists and intellectuals, including Diego Rivera, Samuel
Ramos, and Octavio Paz. Second, and even more important, che identifi-
cation o che European with che male and che feminization o che Indian fit
well with che formulation o a nacionalism that was at once modernizing
and procectionist.
We can better understand Chis by analyzing Andrs Molina Enrquez's
cose discussion o the master (1909), which was influential in che formu-
lation o revolutionary nationalism. According to Molina, who leaned en
Darwin, and en Mexican luminaries such as Vicente Riva Palacio and
Francisco Pimentel, for crucial aspects o his argument, "[t]he mestizo ele-
ment, formed by che cross o che Spanish element and che indigenous
element, is nos a new yace, it is che indigenous yace, defined as che totality
o indigenous yaces o our land, modified by Spanish blood."17 Mestizos
were thus a fortified version o che indigenous race,'a and the modifica-
tions brought about by Chis mixture o Spanish and Indian races would,
eventually, creare a population chas would finally be capable of holding its
own against che United States. 'y
In Molina, as in practically every pro-mestizo nationalist, che Spanish
race carne to Mexico through men, and che indigenous element was asso-
ciated with che feminine- This was true both literally (che mestizo was
imagined, in his origin, as che child o a Spanish man and an Indian
wornan) and more abstractly, in che characteristics of each yace. "lf che
white yaces can be considered superior to che Indian yaces because o the
greater efficacy o their action (which is a logical consequence o their su-
perior evolution), che indigenous yaces can be considered superior to che
white caces because of their greater resistance (which is a consequence o
their higher degree of selection)"10 Action, which is highly masculine in
C o,,,'non,Harian Ideologies
53 =
Chis contevt and o si,tanee chic ti is Icniinine. arc ti, erebv embodied in
che Spaniard and thc I n d i a n . reshcc t n v c l y -1 i i c onthina ti on of action and
resictancc in thc hodv ol the is I,uvccrlul. lot it combines che besa
q tialities ol cac1, racc. but with che I odian i Icntent. that is. che maternal
clement, preduminating. Thc resina arc dc,ttned to lead che nation to
;uccess aga'uut origen aggression and ncoct,Ionial cxploitation.
Mestizo nationalism dws implicitiv snpportcd che creation ol a protec-
tionist and modernizing statu. It ,ra, io hc a nindernizing tate because thc
mestizo, like bis Furopean lathei 11,111 a hropcn,ity for action. lor hi torv.
It seas protectionist because thc mestizo si'ught tu protect bis maternal
legacy from exploitabon by Europcan,, Sebo tela no loyalty whatsoever to
che land orto che Indian, and whoni Molina Enrquez saw as che dominant
class that needed to be assimilated or pushed out.
The nationalization o che mestizo also rcpresented a break with some
features of laissez-faire liberalism and introduced a new version o che na-
cional patrimony. There was no longer che notion that progress and mo-
dernity emanated simply from freemarket (orces and respect for che
rights of man, instead, there emerged che idea that progress could only
occur under che jealous protectlon ot a nationalist state.
Thus, in acidition to guaranteeing citizens rights, che sanctity o demo-
cratie institutions, and nacional sovercignty, the 1917 constitution claims
che states right to permit o prohibir the free action o foreigners in the
country and to watch over che public interesa The latter includes public
education, labor conditions, che right co expropiare any land for reasons
o public utility, che regulation of foreign investment and o the amount o
land that can be legally possessed, preferencial contracting o Mexicans
over foreigners, and so on. This consutulion explicitly siaces that all the
land o Mexico is an inalienable possession o che nation that may be
bought and sold but can always be returned ro public use when so needed-
Under che watchful eye of che postrevolutionary state, a regime that
fostered class-based corporacions as an integral portion o a ore-party
system, Mexico went from being predominandy rural and agrieultural to
having an urban majority, and the population grew from about 20 million
in 1950 to about 80 million in 1990. This urbanization and che generally
growing complexity o national soeiety besan co complicate che manage-
ment of state representation through che sectors" o che ruling party and
the policies o che one-party state_ At che same time, the mechanisms o
state bureaucratic administration could not avoid che country's bankrupt-
cy in 1982, which meant that foreign economic deniands liad to be at-
tended to.
A chain of reforms tliat besan under President Miguel de la Madrid has
tended co revive some fcacures o che nineteenth-ccntury liberal niode1,
including che redehnition of what constitutes che inalienable wealth of che
nation a decline o che so-called social rights of (he revolution and greater
emphasis on individual iight,. Foi this reason, nationalists of the old
school have compared che sale of scate enterprises and che privatization of
the ejido with che sale ol che family jewels. The legal and economic
clianges carried out since 1 982 represent a profound trae stormat ion in che
very definicion of che nation and of che things and rclationships that be-
long to ir.
The contemporary nationalist discourse appears co be reverting to che
patriotic formulas of che nineteenth century: it is long on praising che
patria and past glories o our "millennial cultura," but it is very short on
defining what the nation and its legacy currently are. There have only
been two historical moments when the relationship between homeland
and nation has been congruently and explicitly defined. The first was the
universalist liberalism promoted by Benito Jurez, when the nation was
separated from its bonds with yace and the church, This was tremendously
influential in nacional history, although it was never realized as a practical
project. The second moment was revolutionary nationalism, which is in-
ternally more contradictory than Jurez's formula because it adopted some
elements o democratic liberalism at the same time that it constructed a
corporativist and protectionist scate, This model tied nationality to race
and "mestizo" culture, and it adopted a modernizing, protectionist, corpo-
rativist, one-party regime.
The current regime has been abandoning the now rusty or fossilized
precepts o revolutionary nationalism, but it has been slow to embrace
Jurez's universalist liberalism because unpopular economic reforms have
required a strong, authoritarian state like those that arose from the revolu-
tion. On the other hand, universalist liberalism was a more potent ideology
in che hands o Jurez because he was proving with his own flesh that
Indians could gaita access to che benefits o civilization that were in the
hands o ata economic elite that did not identify with che bulk o che popu-
lation. For all these reasons, che current regime has needed revolutionary
nationalism even to destroy che regime that created it.
Current tastes reflect weariness with the epic visions o revolutionary
nationalism: today the intimare world o Frida Kahlo is o greater interese
than the epic grandiloquence o Diego Rivera; even when they distill na-
tionalism, as with the narratives o Poniatowska or Monsivis, intimate
chronicles are consumed with more interest than che comprehensive
('ora n. un ita ri an Id eol ogies
55 =
 1
national epics o a Carlos Fuentes. This situation is symptomatic o the
and "neoliberalism" because it seeks to broaden the definition o the
crisis o old nationalism: the longing for community and an inheritance
human right to defend certain general social interests against the "natural"
continues, but the state definitions o those communities are almost as
tendencies o the market (for example, defending child nutrition or the
weak as they were in the nineteenth century.
right to inhabit unpolluted spaces).
This direction also entails a recodification o civil society. This new
Conclusion civil society would rid itself o the sectorial organization that developed
under revolutionary statism, and it would create new forms o state pro-
The development o the communitai ian ideologies that 1 have tracked in
tection for the new human rights. The principal ideological adversary o
this chapter permits us to systematize certain considerations with respect
this option will be the current nationalist mythology. This mythology
to the future. As this is a moment of profound changes in the national
tends to demand a state with tutelage over the entire national interest and
question, it appears to me to be pertinent to conclude with some ideas in
includes many o the prior bases for the definition o national communi-
this regard, even if they are not necessarily novel. 1 hope at least that the
ties, such as the reification o nationality in racial terms, Also, behind this
foregoing discussion permits us to understand the known options with
greater clarity. les the proposition that the state's central role is to direct the "moderniz-
ing" process. It will be necessary to impose limits on the reign o the ideol-
Currently there are at least thrre logical alternatives for national ide-
ogy o modernization, to avoid modernizing at any cost.
ology insofar as it is manifested in the definition o inalienable goods: The
It appears to me that the third path is the only really desirable and
first option is to consolidate democracy in the way desired by Jurez's gen-
viable one in the long run_ But to move in that direction, one must be ready
eration. This option would mean giving priority to the inalienable rights
to question both revolutionary nationalism and neoliberalism. It will also
defended by Jurez, including human rights and democratic represen-
be necessary to create images o nationality and modernity that are sepa-
tation. The second option is to reanmate revolutionary nationalism. This
rate from the teleology o the muralista and the "Fathers o the Country."
option would mean maintaining the "tutelage o the state" over some
goods considered central to nationality and the public interest, such as
]and, the subsoil, the communications industries, and educational and cul-
tura] services, and industries This option could keep mestizo nationalism
unscathed but it has the problem o being championed principally by the
leftist opposition, which also needs tu sustain che value o democracy "in
the style of Jurez" to win power. For that reason, it would have to design
a kind o state that does not fall into the same antidemocratic vices that
revolutionary nationalism fe]] into when it was in power. The concrete
way in which revolutionary nationalism mixes with liberal ideals has
always been a central probieni for Chis kind o nationalism, and, if this ide-
ology returns te power, ir: will again have to confront this problem.
The third option is less clearly delineated but would have to try Lo
build a social dernocracy based on a recodification of human rights. This
formula would diffcr from the second because it would not depend on a
racial metaphor ("the mestizo") io define nationality, but would center its
efforts in defining the rights of pcrsons ir would not put "the nation"
ahead o the rights o persons, and therefore it would distante itself from
rhe populist and authoritarian formulas that have predominated in
Mexico. On the other hand, Chis option separates itself from liberalism

C o m n: u ... ^:.: e n !deol09fe

Communiiarian Ideolog,es
56 =
= 57

3
Modes of Mexican Citizenship
One o the frsi cultural accounts of citizenship in Latin America was
Roberto DaMatta's effort to understand the specificity o Brazilian nacional
culture. DaMatta identified the coexistente o two broad discourses in
Brazilian urban society, and he called theta the discourse o the home and
the discourse o the street.' According to bis description, the discourse
that he called "o the honr' is a hierarchical and familia) register, where the
subjects are "persons" in the Maussian sensc, that is, they assume specific,
differentiared, and complementary social roles. The discourse "o the
street," by contrast, is the discourse of liberal citizenship: subjects are indi-
viduals who are meant to be equal to one another and equal before the law.
The interesting twist in DaMatta's analysis regards the relationship be-
tween these two discourses, a relationship that he synthesizes with the
Brazilian adage'Por my friends, everything, for my enemies, the law."z For
DaMatta, Brazilian society can be describcd as having "citizenship" as a
degraded baseline, or zero degree, of relationship, a fact that is visible in
the day-to-day management of social relations.
Specifically, DaMatta focuses en an Liban ritual that he called the
"Voge sabe coro queni esta talando' (Do you know who you are talking
tu?), a phrase that is used tu intcrropt the universal application o a role,
that is, tu interrupt what he calls tire discourse o the street, in order to
?A =
gain exceptional status and tu rice aboye die degradation reserved for all
nobodies Thus, for instante a lady cuts in fiont ol a inc to enter a park-
ing lot; che attcndant prottst5 ancl points to che lino but she says "Do you
know sebo you are talkino to- 1 am the wile of so and so, member of thc
eabinet.' and so on_
A similar dynamic has characterized modera iNiexican citizenship For
instance, it has long beca noted that in ;Mexico much of the censorship of
thc press has boga ''sellcensorship,' and not direct govern mental censor -
ship.' Spcaking tu a journalist about chis phenomenon, hc remarked that
much el chis se]-censorship resulted frota the fact that journalists, like all
members o Mexican middle classes, depend to an unpredictable degree
en their social relations. Reliance on personal relations generates a kind o
sociability that avoids open attacks, except when corporate interests are
involved. Thus, the censorship of che press is in part also a product o the
overall dynamics o DaMatta's degraded citizenship_
The logic that DaMarta outlined for understanding the degradation o
Brazilian citizenship could easily be used to guide an ethnography o civic
culture and sociability in Mexico. The ease o application stems from simi-
larities at both che cultural and structural levels familia) idioms used to
shape a "discourse of the honr' have common Iberian elements in these
two countries, the result not only of related concepts and ideas o family
and friendship, but also similar colonial discourses for the social whole.
In chis chapter, I develop a historical discussion o the cultural dynam-
ics o Mexican citizenship. 1 begin with a series of vignettes that explore
what the application o DaMatta's perspective to Mexico might revea). 1
argue that the notion that citizenship is the baseline, or zero degree, o re-
lationship needs to be complemented by a historical view o changes in
the definition and political salience o citizenship. Without such a per-
spective en the changing definition o citizenship, a critica) aspect o the
politics o citizenship is lost The bulk o chis chapter is devoted to inter-
preting the dynamics o citizenship in modern Mexico, as it developed in
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and argues against narratives o
Mexican modernity that tell contemporary history as a simple "transition
to democracy."
Cultural Logic and Hsstory
Mexico City is a place of elaborate politeness, a quality that is epitomized
by the people whose job is to mediate (for instante, secretaries and wait-
ers), but that is generally visible in che socializaron of children and in the
Modos of Al exiean Cit;zen sh;p
59
 existente of elaborare registeis of ohscquiousness, attentiveness, and re-
Socialization into politeness, pariente, and self-censorship thus has at
spect_ AII of [hese registers tiisappcar in tire anonymity of the crowd, how-
least two significant social conditions. The first is a strong reliance on per-
ever, where people will push pul, shove, pinch, cut in front o you, and so
sonal relations in order to activare, operate, and rely on any bureaucratic
un_ There is no social connact tor che crosvd; there are only gentleman's
apparatus, che second is the reliance on personal relations lo achieve po-
pacts antong persons Drivers in iylcsico ( itv, lor instante, tend tu drive
sitions in society_ Both of [hese conditions would appear lo support
with thcir evos pointed straight ahcad and casi slightly downward, much
DaMatta's claim that citizenship is the zero degree of relationship,
like a waiter's. This way they need no( make concessions and can drive
There is, however, a difhculty in the argumenr that can be exposed by
with presocial Hobhesian rules dona give awap an inch. If, however, the
focusing closely on the implications o the saving "For my friends, every-
driver's eye wanders even juct a 1irti, ir ntav catch another driver's eye,
thing; for my enemies, the law." The saying is clearly a model for political
who gently and smilingly asks to Inc let into the flow of traftlc At this
action, yet it contains significant ambiguities in the proponed categories
point, the world of personal relations Often takes huid of the driver who
("friends," "enemies,"'law," and "everything"), partieularly if the saying is a
had been trving to keep things anunymous and he may gallantly let the
recipe for a bureaucrat or a nieniber o the political class, In many, if not
other car th rou gil.
most, situations, a bureaucrat will be dealing with neither personal friends
This dynamic contrasta wilh ncc culturc of socieries that have strong
nor personal enemies, but principally with people to whom he or she is
civic traditions, in which citizenship is che place where the social pact is
unrelated and initially indifferent_ The saying is useful, however, because
manifested (making a queue being a sac rosanct rite of citizenship in a
sume of these people will not receive the full service that the gatekeeper
place like Fngland, for instaures but where personal relationships do not
controls, whereas others will. Thus, an initially undifferentiated public
extend as lar out_ Thus, a British traer-lcr to iMexlco may be scandalized at
needs to be shaped luto "frtends" and "enemies_" Money (bribes) and prior
lhe greedy and impolitic attwde ot ncc people en the street, whereas a
personal connections are two routes tu receiving excepcional treatment (as
Mexican tvill complain that no pica or personal interjection was ever able
"friends"), but patience and politeness may at least keep you in che game,
to move al] Englisi' bureaucrat to sv mpathy
whereas a breach o politeness or an outburst o anger will in ale likelihood
What are the mechanisms ot sucralization finto Chis forro o courtesy7
place you in the "enemy" camp_ The application o "the law" as a criterion
Access ro in alleged right, or lo a p overn nt e otal service, in Mexico is very
o exclusion in each o these cases is simply the use of bureaucratic proce-
ofeen no( universal. Education, Inr instante is mean[ to be available lo ale,
dure as a fundamental mechanism o exclusion.
but it is oteen dllcult tu register a eh1ld 111 a nearby school, orto get finto a
We have, then, a logre that favors the development o personal rela-
school at ale, public medicine exista. bite it is alwavs insufhcienq moving
tions, the elaboration o fonos o obsequiousness and politeness, the cul-
through Mexico C:ity, trafiie in an ordene fashion is oteen niade difficult by
tural routinization o briberv, and che use of bureaucratic rules and proce-
ncotoveruse ol public space_ ln short ilexicn has never had a state that was
dure as mechanisms o exclusion. This logic is undergirded by structural
strong enough to provide servios tll IVCrsally_ In this context, corruption
conditions, o which 1 have stressed two: a relatively weak state, and a
and other ntarket mechanisnn casily emerge as selecriun en tersa: if you pay
large poor population. Because [hese conditions have existed throughout
money, the bureaucrat will scc vou tirst_ The systeni has also generated
Mexican history, one might expect that bribery, politeness, and a highly
forros o sociability that help shape a pracural oricntation that is well suit-
developed system o informal relationships have been equally constant
ed to tire discretionmy power that s( arcity ygives tu bureaucrats and other
practices, and that they have been elaborated according to cultural idioms
gatekce pers. One notable examp le ot ibis is summed up in the very
that apply a "discourse of the honre" in order to create distinetions be-
Mexican proverb "Whoever gets mad lirst, loses" i`El que se enoja, pierde").
tween potential users of a service. This is true at a general level.
According tu this priori pie, a [,ne person shall never explode out o
However, although the cultural logic that we have outlined shows that
exasperation, because he or she can oil, lose by such an outburst. A ser-
citizenship is a degraded category, ir also gives a false sense o continuity
vice provider will only claro up tebeo Paced with an angry user and, since
and constancy. We noted that the category o "friends" and "enemies" can
nce service is a scarcc resource. he or she \s 111 use politeness as a selection
be constructed in che very process o applying a bureaucratic role, and
criterion.
that most o che population that is being classified in this way is initially

Mojes o f hleslcnr,
ho =
= 61
 stem from che class of bis lineage; thc sane shall he observed with regard
indiflercnt tu the bureaucrat R1,1 thc de!initiun of the pool that che bu-
to those who represent che rank of captain and aboye, or who render any
rcaucrai is aeting on o not dctermincd h^ ihc cultural logie of social dis-
special service to the countiv" (article 25, The only fundamental exclu-
cance from che barrauarat oi ;;atek eche i. fo ribo words the gatekeeper is
sionary clause in tliis constitution, as in all early Mexican eonstitutions
not aetually ruling oven e pre cc i - 1 t roaj' t 1 nentls and enemies, but 'u
until that of 1857, regards the role o religion, '1 he Catholic religion shall
inste ad culturally construc ti, in tnends and cnemie5 out of a pool of
be the only one, with no toleratice for any other" (article 1)
Acople who are presclceced not hv h;;n but by theii thcoretcal relation-
In addition to a comnion movement to broaden che base o citizenship
ship lo a right.
such that lineage and race were abolished as (explicit) criteria of inclusion
As a result. i1thuugli it is corlee t sas that-- ,ivcn a bureaucral, a set
or exclusion, early procl ama ti ons and eonstitutions did tend to speeify
ul rulos. and a pool ot citisns-uti:-.cnship 111311 be che zero degree of
that only Mexicans-and otten only .Mexicans who had not betrayed the
rel ationship that needs to he complemen ted by a prior personal claim, by
nation-could hold public positions (articles 27 and 28 o Lpez Rayn's
a bribe, or bv sympathy, tic haselme of utizenship is not determined
constitutional project).5 Thus, from che very beginning, che idea was to
by this cultural logic, and it valles historically in important ways- These
create an ample citizenry and a social hierarchy based on merit: "The
variations are not trivial, for thcy define che potencial pool of users o a
American people, forgotten by some, pitied by others, and disdained by
service that is heing offered, an issue that also has critica) significante for a
the majority, shall appear with che splendor and dignity that it has earned
longue-dure history of cultural forms of sociability in connection to citizen-
through the unique fashion in which it has broken the chains o despot-
ship. A comprehensive view of modero Mexican citizenship therefore re-
ism. Cowardice and slothfulness shall be che only causes o infamy for the
quires an interpretation of the cclationship between legal and institutional
citizen, and the temple o honor shall open its doors indiscriminately to
definitions of citizenship and its cultural claboiauon in social intetaction. 1
merit and virtue` (article 38) 6
,hall atrempt to sketch key elemcnts ti such a com pre hensive view.
Despite che general identification between early Mexican nationalism
and the extension o citizenship rights in such a way as to include (forme[)
Farly Republieanisnt and che Risc of ibe ideal Uitizen slaves, Indians, and castes, there were a number o ambiguities and differ-
ences regarding the meaning of this extension. Article 16 o the Mexican
The debates of Mexico's Junta Instituyente between independence (1821)
empire's first provisional legal code, for instante, states, tellingly, that
and the publication o the first federal constitution (1824) gave little sus-
"[t]he various classes o che state shall be preserved with their respective
tained attention to citizenship. (.ates about who was a Mexican national
distinction, but without piejudice to public employment, which is com-
and who was a Mexican citizen were vaguely inclusive, with attention lav-
mon to all citizens. Virtues, services, talents, and capability are the only
ished only on the question o patiiotic inclusion or exclusion and very
medium for achieving public employment o any kind".7 On the other
little said about che qualiues and ciaractensties o che citizen. Neverthe-
hand, the federal constitution o 1824 does not oven specify who is to be
less, the process of independence hall a critical role in shaping a field for a
considered a citizen. Instead, it leaves to the individual states o che fed-
politics o citizenship_
eration the definition o who shall be allowed to vote for their representa-
For instante, Miguel Hidalgo, tathcr ot Mexican independence, pro-
tives in Congress (article 9), and the selection o the president and vice
claimed che emancipation of slaves, thc end to al] forms o tribute and
president was Ieft to Congress. Thus citizenship was to be determined by
taxation that were targeted to Indians and castes;' and the end o certain
regional elites in conjunction with whomsoever they felt they needed to
guilds monopolies over specihc activities 4 Of course, Hidalgo's revolt
pay attention to, and access to federal power was mediated by a Congress
failed, but his nieve to create a broad base for citizenship and to leve)
that represented these citizens.
differences between castes was preserved by leaders o subsequent move-
It is worth noting that most o the distinctions between who was a
ments- For exaniple Ignacio Lpez Rayn's falso failed) project o a
Mexican citizen and who was merely a Mexican national are similar to
Mexican constitution (1811) also abolished slavery )article 24) and stated
the formulation found in the Spanish liberal constitution that was prom-
that "[w]hoever is to he boro alter thc happy independence o our nation
ulgated in Cdiz in 1812. Some o the early independent constitutions are
will find no ohstacle other than bis personal defects- No opposition can

Mudes oJ AA exilan Ci1izensbip

63 =
= o2=
a bit harsher than that o Cdiz on matters o religion (e.g., Father
Morelos's Apatzingn constitution sanctioned the Holy Office-that is,
the Inquisition-and it upheld heresy and apostasy as crimes that led to
los o citizenship). In one matter, however, the constitution o Cdiz nar-
rows citizenship beyond what is explicit in the earliest Mexican constitu-
tions: debtors, domestic servants, vagrants, the unemployed, and the illit-
erate al] forfeited their rights as citizcns (article 25). This move was not
explieltly embraced in the first Mexican constitutional projects, but nei-
ther was it entirely avoided: Iturbides Plan de Iguala, which was the first
effective political charter o independent Mexico, specified that until a
constitution was formed, Mexico would operate according to the laws o
tire Spanish Cortes- The federal constitution of 1824 left the dotar open
for these mechanisms o exclusion by delegating the decision regarding
who would be a citizen to thc individual states- Finally, the centralist and
conservative legal code o 1836 rcasserted the points of exclusion o
Cdiz and added much greater restrictions, the rights o citizenship were
suspended for al] minors, domestic servants, criminals, and illiterates, they
were lost definitively to al] traitors and debtors ro the public coffers. All
citizens had to have an annual income of one hundred pesos, and substan-
tially more if they wanted to be elected to offlce.
In short, early Mexican constittnions displayed tensions between the
elimination o criteria o casto and o slavery in order to create a broadly
based nationality and the restriction of access to public office and to the
public sphere to independent malo property holders who could read and
write. The category "citizen" was (and still is) not identical to that o
"national" in legal discourse, though tiro two were tellingly conflated in
political discourse: in fact, the relationship between the two was one o
hierarchical encompassment. The Mexican citizen had the capaeity to en-
compass Mexican nationals and te) represent the whole o the nation in
public.
Inclusion and Exclusion in the Era of Nalional Vulnerability
At first glance , these early citizenship laws developed in a contested field
in which the pressure to broaden the basis of citizenship coexisted with
pressures to maintain political control in tiro hands o local notables.
Historian Frangois Xavier Guerra has argued that the urban patricians
who had controlled the bureaucratic apparatus during the colonial peri-
od usually kept control over government despite these changes, relying
un their power to materially control local election processes.s How-
Alodes of Nicv,cnn C'1'zensbip
64 =
ever, Florencia Mallon has shown that in the unstable context o mid-
nineteenth-century Mexico, the need to mobilize popular constituencies,
and the space that was available for spontaneous popular mobilization, led
to the development o forras of liberalism that catered to popular groups.s
It was in part the challenge that universal citizenship at times posed to
these local patricians and chieftains that fanned the development o a nega-
tive discourse about "tire masses" in nineteenth-century Mexico: la chusma,
el populacho, la canalla, la plebe, and other epithets portrayed masses as both
dangerous and insufficiently civilized to manage political life.
Alongside damning imagen of the plebe, a series o positive words re-
ferred to popular classes who were seco as ordered and civilized: el pueblo,
los ciudadanos, la gente buena. To a large degree, the difference between posi-
tive and negative portrayals o the pueblo corresponded to whether the
people in question were acting as dependents or whether they were diffi-
cult to control, Like the difference between the lumpenproletariat and the
proletariat, the distinction between a canalla and a ciudadano was that
the latter was a notable, or at least depended on the same system as the
notables who made the distinction, whereas the fornter had only loose
connections o dependency to "good society." In political speeches o the
nineteenth century, for instance, there are differences drawn between a
lower class that might be described as "abject" and as an obstacle to
progress, but that is also perceived as unthreatening and in need o state
proteccion, and a lower class rhat is potentially or in fact violent and dan-
gerous to civilization.
In a chronicle o his voyage t the United States, published in 1834,
Lorenzo de Zavala, a liberal from Yucatn who had been governor of tiro
state o Mexico, congressman, and apologist for the U.S. colonization o
Texas, asks his readers to
[c]ompare the moral condition o tiro people o the United States with that
o one or two os our [federated states and you will undcrstand the true rea-
son why it is impossible for us to raise our institutions to the leve) o our
neighbor's, especially in ceriain states In the orate o Mexico and in that o
Yucatn, which are tiro ones that 1 know best, of rhe 1,200,000 inhabitants
o tiro former and thc seven hundred thousand inhabitants o tiro latter,
there is a proportion of, at tiro most, one in twenty f who know how te read
and write]. [O these,] two-fifths do not know arithmetic, three-fifths do
not even know che meaning ot thc words geography, history, astronomy, etc.,
and four-fifths do not know what tiro Bible is . To this we must add that at
least one-third o the inhabitants o Yucatn do not speak Spanish, and
M odes of ;Mexican Ci lizenybip
65 =
 une-lifth of 11)e star, ul Nesita, ' in tbt sano tondino n. I hose who do not
take finto atoount tic d, i,, I sic ill;_at,on o1 dite mnsses whcn thcy make
'Tus tito natlve population ir pa rtit_dar mas ac rhe bottom of rhe
hcap , and In need ut eles ation .A simil;u sentimelit is echoed three
dotados lato , alter tito brench intcrc entiun. s, ben rhe 1857 constitution
seas reinstated There in a sessit'n iii ( iiigress . representative Julio Zrate
presented a propusal to proh.bi1 privaic ia,is in haciendas and, more
generally del uiitlase all punishmcnt that sr:s meted unt in [hese private in-
stitutions He described the cunditiom ul the Indian ni the following
tercos.
In rhe states of Mexico, Puebla. Tlaxcala, Guerrero, and Quertaro, where
the bulk el the indigenous population is t oncentrated, there is slavery,
there is abjection, riere is misci v susiaincd by rhe great landowners. And
this abject conditlon coni prises clos e to 4 ni,ilion roen
It has been eleven years sincc tire constitution was ratificd. private trials
were prohibited; flogging and other degrading punishments were abol-
ished,; and authorities were given die right ro establish jails for crimes .. .
nonetheiess, there are jails in rhe haciendas and stocks where the workers
are sunk, and rhe foreman gives lashes to tic Indians, and debts are passed
from father to son, ereating slavery, a succession of sold generations
(February 15, 1868). ''
This view of the proto-cirizen who needed to be elevated to true citi-
zenship through state protection, miscegenation, or education, and whose
condition was abject but not direetly threatening to truca nd effective citi-
zens, contrasts with other portrayals of popular tolk who are more difficult
to redeem and more menacing 1 will oler two examples from the same
congressional sessions that 1 havc fusr cired-
On January 9, 1868, representativo Jess Lpez brought tu Congress a
proposed law to banish bulllighting This iniriative was one of severa) at-
tempts to locate the causes of incivility and to transforni the habits of a
people who would not conform m tic ideal of dtizenship that the consti-
tution granted them
The benelits of a democratic constitution, which raise the Mexican from
rhe conditiou of slavery to tic rank of the cir!zen, aunounce that Mexico
marches tnward greatness under rhe auspices o1 liberty. In contrast ro this,
asan obstarle that block, Mexie,,s match tosvard prosperity, there exists in
each eommunity a place dsat svinhol,0e barbansiii
Al ' ,3''u l Al us.
Moreos el
II we desceud, sir. from riese philosophieal and moral considerations to
search for material transcendt-ntal ev,ls m socieiy. we sha11 be confronted
by die degradation oi that dase thai heeaux ol its ignorante. is called the
lowl,est class dese 5ifrou i. aud that has been indelibly inoculated with a
propensity te bl oody iris 1 li s elass. which has beeo sus' o bented from
die benchts ot enligh tenm ent. does not know tbc guodncss of vinue exeept
bv tito harnt it recervcs lor being criminal; in it tic noble sentiments that
inhere in tire human hect[ degenerme, beceusc die government and rhe
clergy, publicists and speakers tny to show th an in abstntct tire matrers of
religion and of polities that thei r unenltivated intel1 igence cannot compre-
hend. AII rhe while, the attmctlons of vice and tito emotions that are pro-
duced by certain spectacles excite and move their passions- Since it is not
possible to establish schools everywhere where this class can be well
taught, remove at leas[ [hose other [schools] where they learn evil, where
the sight of blood easily fosrers rhe savage instincts to which they have, by
nature, a propensity - If we want good citizens, if we wanr brave soldiers
who are animared in combat and humane in triumph, prohibir specrades
thar inflare sentiments and that dull [embrutecen] reason."
Readers would be incorrect, roo, to rhink that rhe dangerous'lowliest"
classes referred to itere are strictly urban and that all rural Indians were
thought to be sale for state or hacendado patronage. Rebellious Indians,
usually labeled "savages," were known to be highly dangerous. Thus, for
instante, in his campaign against Indian rebels and a few remaining pro-
Hapsburg imperialists in Yucatn (1868), Presiden Jurez asked Congress
to suspend a series of individual guarantees in Yucatn in order to carry
out a military campaign riere. One of the suspended rights was article 5 of
rhe constitution, which reads: No one can be forced to render personal
services without a fair retribution and without their full consent. The law
cannot authorize any contract rhat has as its object the loss or irrevocable
sacrifice of a man's liberty-" In other words, slavery and corve labor were
authorized for rhe duration of the Yucatecan campaign, which was fought
principally against the Indians."
Thus, a discourse of the sort that DaMatta called "discourse of the
street,' thar is, an egalitarian and universalistic discourse of citizenship,
could be applied to rhe "good pueblo-" At the same time, the fact that in
some nineteenth-century constitunons servants were not allowed to vote
because they were dependents,and therefore did not have control over
their will, was indicative of the fact rhat most of the good pueblo was made
M o ci e s o l A l e x i c a n C i t, z e n s 1, i p
67 =
 up o a kind of citizenry that veas guarded not so much by the constitu-
cional rights of individuals as by thc clainis that loyalty and dependency
liad on clic consciente o Christian patriardis-
Nevertheless , che image ot a good pueblo veas not simply that o the de-
penden[ masses either, because [hese could bc figured as a harmonious and
progressive co] lecriviry or ! as we have seco as abject slaves . In order to
comprehend ideological dynamies withln chis field better , two further ele-
ments need no be introduced: the nations position in a world o compet-
ing predatory powers , and che question of national unity.
A sharp consciousness o national decline and o uncontrollable dan-
gers for che nation can he found among .Mexican political men almost
from che time of the toppling ol Iturbide 1822 ). Referentes to decline
and to danger abound both in clic press and in discussions in Congress.
For instante , Depury Hernndez Chico elauned that thc nations situation
was "deplorable" because of lack of public funds (Juno 14 , 1824).14 On
une 12 o that sin-te yeai , Deputy Caedo svarned o che need to guard
against a In]] civil war, in light of seecssionist movements in che state o
Jalisco. The image o che republic being split apara by rival factions is al-
most always seen as the cause o chis decline or imminent disaster, as in
the case of a speech read in Con-,res, by che minister of war against a pro-
Iturbide uprising in Jalisco on June 8, 1824
Yes, sir, there are vehement indicatiuns that ibese two generals are plotting
against che repuhlie that thev des re irs ruin , that it is they who move chose
implacable assassins that aflljet thc staies al Puebla and Mexieo , they who
propagate that dcadly division that ron hnnta oon berween parties, they
who are behind Clic conspirators 'e llo cause our unease and who make life
so difficult
This feeling o pending or actual disnstcr caused bv lack o union in-
creased and became pervasive in political discourse as che country indeed
became unsrable, eeonomically ruinous and suhjected to humiliations by
foreign powers
In a remarkahly irank, but not entirely extraordinary, "civic oration"
proffered on che anniversarv ol independence in the city of Durango in
1841, Licenciado Jestis Arellano reeapped che history o political divisions
and fraternal struggle in che lollowing tenor.
Lets go hack in time to Sepecmber 27, 1x21 That day, my fellow
cicizens che very day of our greatest Iortune. also initiates che era o our
greatest wocs_ It is Irom that dar that a hon-Ible discord began t exert as
1 i _,ii' bip
deadly influence. Unleashed from che abysmal depths where it resides, it
flung itself furiously in che midst of our newly boro sociery and destroyed it
in ics crib .. There in che shadows o that frighcful darkness we can hear
che ruar o the monster that spilled in Padilla che blood o General Iturbide:
che blood o che pero who hnished che work o Hidalgo and Morelos.
There, roo, you can hear che horrible cry o that maGdous and treacherous
spirit chat sold the life o che great (benemrito] and innocenc General Guerrero
to che firing squad.15
The heroes who had iniriated the revolution (Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama,
Morelos) liad al] been marryred by Spaniards, but che two who actually
achieved independence (Iturbide and Guerrero) were both murdered by
fractious Mexicans. This was to stand symbolically in a position analogous
to original sin: Mexicans are denied their entry to national happiness be-
cause o their internal vices and divisions:
Woe is you, unfortunate Mexicot Woe is you because, not having yet fully
entered the age o infancy, you decline in a precocious decrepitude chau
brings you close to che grave! Woe is you because you are like che female of
[hose venomous insects that thrive in our dimate, and o whom it is said
thar it gives birch to its children only to be caten by theml16
Decline was caused by personal ambition and foily among leaders and
would-be leaders o government, so much so that Arellano begins his re-
markable speech distancing himself from any sort o political activity:
1 have not yet traveled-and God spare me from ever raking-che murky
paths of che poliucs that dominare us, o that science whose principies are
che whim of [hose who protess it, where che most obvious truths are put in
doubt, and where he who is bes[ at cheating and who is bes[ at disguising
his deceptions is considered wise_iz
The ultimare results o vice selfishness, and ambition have been the ru-
ination o Mexico, irs decline, irs inability to reap the benefits o freedom
and independence. For sonie speakers, [hese vices were typical o one
parcy: monarchical interesas of conservatives, for instante; or Catholic fa-
naticism that led to blocking che doors to colonization from northern
Europe and che United States, or to federalist folly in delegating too
much power and autonomy to states. For all, they reflected a lack o virtue
and che fall o public morality. To quote again froni Arellano: "We must
acknowledge that our vices have grown and that public morality is every
day extenuated, that our country has been a constan[ prey o ambition, o
Madr, nf hlexi can Ci lizesship
= 69=
tealousy. il rrtncidel tuulc nclcs ^,I aiti)ct vis ve nde tras ol insatiable
usuty Ol lamttcism and up rstti nn ol incptiuide and pe vetsity. and ol
chimsy and inhumano mandarins
In sum it is nnstaken tu imagine 1 1.11 in rts ongi ns. tito discourse ol citi-
^enship vas in am simple clac nbl t.[i se'.tl ine. a zero degrec o relation-
ship" ()n thc cotlitar v carls epc ocies had quite signiticant strictures re-
garding who could bc a citizen l liese restrictions rcadily allowed for the
t-inergence ol une spedlic dise nurse about tito gooci and ihe had pueblo:
,>00d va, thc prctla that cr_n Icecheeii tito porcion of Mexican ca-
tionals svho allowed thcnuchcs p( aselullq to be represenred by tNiexican
citizens; had pueblo was thc [uebi-.> thar seas not governed by the class of
local notables, and this included rchellious Indians (like those cited in
Yucatn or in Durango) as much as the feared dcaes 6vitnas that were notas -
siniilable through puhlic education.
At ihe same time, che ten de nev to con tia te vatio nalty arad citizenship,
at least as a utopian idea, existed hom (he very beginning, and this al-
lowed for another kind of distinction between good and bad citizens. This
distinction focused on "petty tyrants" Some ni three were perceived, par-
ticularly alter rhe constitution of 1857, as local caciques or hacendados
who kept 1odians in a siavelilee position and separated from their rights as
Mexicans, as was rhe case in tito spccch, cited carlier, against jails in ha-
ciendas. Others, and this was particularly prevalent in the earlier period,
were tyrants in their selfish appropriation of what was public.
This latter forro o dividing between virtuous and vicious elites readily
allowed for rhe consolidation of a discourse o messianism around a virtu-
ous caudillo, as is illustrated in another patrioric speech, pronounced en
September 1 1, 1842 (anniversary of rhe triuntph against rhe Spanish inva-
sion of 1829) in the city o Orizaba,
The political regeneration ci Anahuac [.mexico] seas rescrved ab initio to a
singular Vctacruzano_ an encrepreneurial gcnius an animated soldier, a
keen statesmart a profound poli tician, or, in sum, to Santa Anna tito great,
who, llke another Alcides and Tesco, wi II purtiy ihe precious ground of the
Aztecs and tid it o that disgusting and criminal riftraff [canalla] o tyrants
of all species and conditions-19
In short, ihe political field around ihe delinition o citizenship involved
three kinds of distinetions- one hetween a pueblo that would be encom-
passed by a group of notables anda pueblo that would not; another be-
tween selfish and falso citizens who suught private gana from their public
position as citizens and thosc who cquamd citizenship with public service
,Ate les o] , s,_,i 1 i.. ish il'
0 =
and sacrifice; and a thtrd hetween citizens who strived to open the way for
the extension of citizenship nghrs and those who blocked them in order
to cnhancc their own tyrannical authority.
In some con tesas, th ese vi, ws could be arti Gula ted to one another; for
example, the situation of thu bad puehlo was compared to citar of a young
woman who was not under ihe tutelage of a roan, it was fodder for "sedue-
tion" by bandits or by iactious aspiring politicians. In other words, ihe bad
pueblo was fodder o rhe vicious po hi tici an, as much as it was ihe principal
challenge o enlightened li bcral governments sello sought te) expand pub-
lic education, eliminare ihe obscurantist intluence of tire church, prohibir
bullfights, cockfights, and other forms o barbarie diversions, and so on
The description ol citizenship as a zero degree o relationship is mis-
leading , then, because it emphasizes only one aspect o tito phenomenon,
which is the fact that familial discourses have always been used to super-
sede tito universalism o tito legal order. Moreover, ihe notion o ihe citi-
zen as tito baseline of all political relationships is historically incorrect, be-
cause in tito early national period it was clearly a sigo o distinction no be a
citizen, and even alter ihe constitution o 1857 and tito revolutionary con-
stitution o 1917, it still excluded minors and women. Having established
this general point, let us return to our evolutionary panorama o rhe devel-
opment o citizenship in Mexico.
The Demise of Early Liberal Ctizenship -
The first truly liberal constitution of Mexico (1857) develops an inclusive
and relatively unproblematic identification between citizenship and nation-
ality: in order to be a citizen, al] that one needed was to be a Mexican over
eighteen (if one was married, over twenty-one if one was not), and to caen
an honest living (article 34). Simplicity, however, is sometimes misleading.
Because in theory everyone was a citizen if they were o age (the article
does not even specify that one needed to be male to be a citizen, though
this apparently went without saying, because female suffrage was not to
be allowed for another hundred years), the constitution and the congresses
that met aher its ratification were very much concerned with giving moral
shape to the citizen.
Fernando Escalante ends his pathbreaking book on politics and citi-
zenship in Mexico in ihe nineteenth century arguing that "[t]here were
no citizens because diere were no individuals. Security, business, and poli-
tics were collective affairs. But never, or only very rarely, could they be re-
solved by a general formula that seas at once efficacious, convincing, and
Modrs of Adcxi c an C.fizeeship
71
 presentable ' ' [lis book demonstrates lhar diere was a high degree of
pragmatic accord berween liberals asid conservatives on che matter of laws
and institutions not beir.g applicable in a systematic fashion because con-
solidating state power was more tundaniental and urgent, and neither
group couId adequately resolve che contradicriun between creating an ef-
fective and exclusive group o citizens and tlie actual politics o inclusion
and exclusion demanded by che sor iety numerous corporations
Despire this pragmatic agrecment regarding the priority that consoli-
dating state power had over citizenship rights, the ideal of citizenship was
about as obsessively pervasive in Mexican political discourse as was che re-
jection o politics as a site of vice. Part of this obsession was a result o the
fact thar, until Jurez's triumph over t`9aximilian in 1867, political instability
and economic decline raised fears that Mexico could be swallowed up by
foreign powers or split apart by interna rifts. Collective mobilization
seemed che only way forward, and diere is a sense in which Mexican his-
tory between independence and die French intervention (1821-67) can
be seen as a process o increasing polarizarion. In che end, it was this pro-
cess, in conjunction with emerging capitalist development and the con-
struction of che first railroads in che 1 870s that allowed the first successful
centralized governments of Jurez and, especially, o Daz, to operate.
Escalante has argued convincingly thar the old idea, championed by
Coso Villegas, that Jurez's restored repuhlic was a genuine experiment in
liberal democracy is simply wrttng, and rhat che consolidation o the cen-
tral state unde-Jurez and Lerdo needed to sidestep che legal order and te
create informal networks of power as much as che Daz dictatorship that
followed it.
I have no space here to go finto detail coneerning che evolution of citi-
zenship under che Daz regime ( 1876-1910), but a few remarks are nec-
essary_ First, che achievement of governmental stability and material
progress pushed earlier recurrent obsession over citizenship into the back-
ground. A plausible hypothesis is that a strong unified state and the con-
comitant process of economic growth led hy foreign investment was a
more valued goal for the political ciasses than citizenship. In fact, the ear-
lier fixation on citizenship was in large par che resulr o the fact that re-
gional elites needed ro appcal to altruistic patriotism in order to try to
hold che state together; once thc state could hold its own, this motivation
disappeared21 A discourse on "order and progress" quickly superseded ear-
lier emphasis on citizenship and che universal application o laws as the
only way to progress, and a strong state tbat could guarantee foreign in-
vestment was [he key to rhat progress.
A111d s oJ Ales. , , ( i iiz en sl,ip
72 =
Thus, during che Porfirian dictatorship, it was the state, and its power
to arrange space and to regiment an order, that was the subject o political
ritual and myth; the masses, it was hoped, might eventually catch up to
progress or-if they opposed che nacional state, as the Yaqui, Apache, and
Maya Indians did-be eliminated. In short, whereas the law and the citi-
zen were the ultimate fetishes of the era o national instability," progress,
urban boulevards, railroads, and the mounted police (rurales) were the key
fetishes o a Porfirian era that upheld the state as the promoter o that
progress, and che vehicle for [he ultimate improvement of Mexico's abject
rural masses."
Contemporary Transformations
If chis were the end of che story, however, how could we come to terms
with che fact that in the 1 930s Samuel Ramos, the famous founder of a
philosophy about che Mexican as a social subject, identified che pelado, that
is, the subject who had been considered beyond the pale of citizenship
since independence, as che quintessential Mexicana Ramos argued that
Mexican national character was marked by a collective inferiority com-
plex, This inferiority complex was exemplified in the attitude of the pelado
(urban scoundrel), who is so wounded by the other's gaze that he replies
to it aggressively with che challenge of "Qu me ves?" (What are you
looking at?).24 Thus, where che driver o our earlier Mexico City example
seeks anonymity in order te act like a wolf, but becomes a gentleman with
eye contact, the pelado rejects eye contact with a threat o violence. But
whereas the nineteenth-century politician would not have hesitated in
identifying the trae citizen with che (unconstantly) amiable driver and the
pelado asan enemy o al] good society andan individual lacking in ove and
respect for his patria, postrevolutionary intellectuals such as Ramos made
the urban rabble foto che Ur-Mexicans, Why che change?
Before che revolutionary constitution of 1917, Mexican citizens had
individual rights, but very few social rights. The right o education existed
in theory but, as historical studies o education have shown (Vaughan
1994), public education during che porfiriato was controlled to a large ex-
tent by urban notables, a fact that was reflectad in extremely low literacy
rates. Moreover, as 1 mentioned carlier, che right to vote was often nulli-
fied by che machinery of local bosses, who controlled voting as a matter o
routine.
The 1917 constitution and che regimes following the revolution
changed chis in severa) significant ways. First, under che leadership o Jos
Modas of Mexican Ci ti zen sbip
73
 Cl OS n che 920s arel in an cllon u, wrench che tormation of eiti -
zens from the hands of che chute h h.iblic cdueation ,test on a crusade to
reaeh out us che popular clases Tito etioit successful to a significan[
degrce and sc houls wcrc built cn ir rrmi,tc agrarias communities
tiecond che 1` 17 constitunm cstaislichcd che iight ot access to land tor
agricultura) workers_ The )and, ,,,or,ling t, ths constitution, belonged to
che nation, as did che subsoil and territorial waters Cirizens had rights to
poitions of that national wcaltb incie] cenain conchtons Third, che 1917
constitution speelied a series ^,1 ' ,rkci s rights. nduding minimum identiticd corporate toinis of property as a central obsiacle co citizenship_
,caces, che prr,liibcion ot chilcl labor thu prohibioon ot debt peonage.
maxTmum working hours, and clic filie. Thus, bcing a citizen promised
ghts of access to certain forros o protection against che predatory prac-
tices of capitalists, who, signihcantly, werc often identihed as foreign in
constitucional debates.
ldentifying members o che urban rabble as the prototypical Mexicans
was, in this context, consonant with die state's expansive project. The
modal citizen should, indeed, be clic a!lahlc and reasonable member o the
middle classes-and Ramoss portraval o Ihe pelado was in no way lauda-
tory; however, Mexicos backwardness and che challenge of its present made
it useful to identify the typical subjccr as bcing off center from that ideal.
At the same time, the revolutiionary stare, like the Porfirian state, did
not concern itself so much with producing citizens. Instead, the goal was
to creare and to harness corporate groups and sectors finto the state appa-
ratus. Although presidents Obregn and Calles upheld the ideal o the
privare farmer in the 1920s and thought it a much more desirable goal
rhan thar o che communitarian peasant, the task o building up the state
was more important to them rhan building up the citizen-
The principal shift between thc Portirian and che postrevolutionary
state is that che latter consolidated a political idiom o inclusive corpora-
tivism that could be used to con, plemenc che Porfirian (but still current
and useful) [heme of the enliglitened and progressive state. By che time
President Crdenas nationalized che oil industry (1938), political dis-
course in the Mexican press by and large lacked any referente to the ideal
citizen and portrayed,instead,a harmoniousinterconnection between
popular classes under che protection of the revolutionary state.
In short, early republican obsession wirh citizeriship was primarily
owing to che extreme vulnerabilicy of .Mexicds central state. It was not
produced by an existing equality among citizens, bur rather by existing di-
visions among che elites and by clic pressure of popular groups. As soon as
a central state was consolidated. citizenship went from being sean as an
xi., n t i.. z, nslri p Malles
74 =75=
urgent and supremo ideal to being a long terco goal that con Id be achieved
only alter che enlighte sed, scientific state liad done its job. This perspec-
tive was, in its turn, transformad by clic postrevolutionary state, which
co nc ple roen ted ir with the o rganiza t ion of che pueblo Tito corporati o ns that
wcrc regulated and protec tt d bv che tate
These broad shifts have liad their correspondi ng counterparts in (he
history of the privare sphe re1 be priva te sphere of citizens in Mexico has
rever been very fully guaranteed. In clic early republican period, liberals
specifically, they targeted Clic property of Indian communities and of the
church. However, che expropriation of both communal and ecclesiastieal
corporate holdings in 1856 did not lead to the desired end, which was
to creare a propertied citizenry, but instead to even greater concencration
o landed wealth in che hands of an oligarchy. As a result, wide layers o
the population lacked a secure base o privacy and lived either as depend-
ents or as members o communities whose rights could only be defended
collectively.
Alter the 1910 revolution, the state sought to protect individuals from
slavelike dependence on the oligarchy, but che relations o production
that it fostered were equally problematic from the point o view o the
consolidation o a private sphere. Agrarian reform failed to build a Lockean
citizenry in the countryside because ejidatarios (land grantees) are not legal
owners o their land, Moreover, they depend on local governmental sup-
port for many aspects of production, and so are feeble participants in the
construction o a bourgeois public sphere. Similarly, the numerous in-
digent peoples o Mexico lack a secure private sphere, as ethnographies o
che "informal economy" have amply attested: people working in the infor-
mal sector lead lives that are largely outside o che law. As a result, they
need to negotiate with state institutions in order to keep tapping into 11le-
gal sources o electricity, to keep vending in restricted zones, to keep liv-
ing in property that is not formally theirs, and so on.2'
Thus, although incorporation into a modern sector was one o the criti-
cal goals o postrevolutionary governments, che modalities o incorpora-
tion retained significan[ sectors o the population that not only did not
benefit from access to a privase sphere that was immune froni governmen-
tal intervention, but in fact depended on governmental intervention in
order to eke out a living in a legally insecure environment. O che three
sectors that made up Mexico's state parry, two-the peasant sector and the
popular sector-had no sacrosanct privare sphere from which to criticize
che state, and therefore no protected basis for liberal citizenship.
o f ,A9exi,.i.. Ci i ize,isbi p
 This situation complicates the vision ofcitizenship asa debased catego-
This is apparent in the use o dress in the various rallies, for although the
ry, for it is through claims of citizenship that the peasantry and the infor-
presidential candidate dressed up as member o the sector that he was vis-
mal sector have negotiated with the postrcvolutionary state-exchanging
iting (as a rancher when in a rally o the peasant sector, as a well-dressed
votes and participation in revolutionary national discourse for access to
worker in a rally o the labor sector, or in a suit in a discussion with ex-
lands, credirs, electricity, or urban services At the same time, Chis citizen-
perts), the relationship between "the suit" and other costumes is not one o
ship belongs to a faceless mass, not to a collection o private individuals
equality. Rather, the suit is the highest formal garb, the one that the candi-
The pelado who, in Ramos's account felt wounded by the mere gaze o the
date will use on a daily basis when he is in the presidency, and the one that
erstwhile modal citizen, and who asserted his right tu nationality by his
he has daily used as a government official prior to becoming a presidential
involvement in revolutionary violence, is harnessed back into nationality
candidate. The suit is the modal uniform o the public sphere. Public ses-
not through patron-client tics tu privare elites, but through a series o ex-
sions devoted to the discussion o regional and national problems are
changos with state agencies through which he receives the status o mas-
attended almost exclusively by suits, even when their inhabitants are rep-
sified citizen.
resenting interests associated with labor or agriculture. Thus, the image o
Let me illustrate what the shape of official citizenry was like in the era
the citizen with a voice stands in contrast to the massified citizen.
o single-party rule- In the 1988 presidencial campaign o che Partido Revo-
This situation has been identified by Mexican democrats as a lack o a
lucionario Institucional (PRI), which was in many respects che last tradi-
civil society, and [hese same democrats have been building a narrative o
tional PRI campaign, public rallies and events were divided into severa]
Mexican democracy that has the heyday o the corporate party (the 1940s
types.s` There were, tirst, events targered tu specific portions o the party's
and 1950s) as che historical low point in Mexican citizenship. According
tripartite sectorial organization peasarit sector; labor sector, and popular
to this view, che corporate state effectively funneled Mexican society into
sector), second, there were meetings with regional and national groups o
its mass party until the 1960s, when certain groups, especially middle-
experts, who organized problem-focused discussions with the candidate
class groups-but also some peasants and urban poor-no longer found a
and an audience (CEPES [Centros de Estudios Polticos y Sociales] and
comfortable spot in the state's mechanisms o representation and resource
IEPES [Instituto de Estudios Polticos y Sociales], both o the PRI), third,
management, producing the 1968 student movement.27
there were massive public rallies that were meant to show the party's
The violent suppression of this movement, and che expansion o state
muscle by uniting the whole pueblo in a single square; and finally (chis was
intervention in the economy in the 1970s, gave a second wind to the cor-
an innovation for che 1988 campaign), there were talk-show-like events
poratist state. However, an unencompassable civil society would keep
where the candidate lielded questions from callers who were not identified
growing during chis period and would reemerge politically in the mid-
as members of a party sector.
1980s, when the state's fiscal crisis weakened its hold on society. This situa-
The image o the nation as it was generated in the massive public ral-
tion has been leading inexorably to the end o the one-party system and
lies was thar of a corporate organism. Iike public displays o che social
che rise o Mexican democracy
whole since che colonial period, che public o these rallies was divided in-
During the period o state party pile, political classes in Mexico had a
ternally by sectors, each of which signaled its corporate presence with
pretty clear mission, which was to tap into resources by mediating be-
electoral paraphernalia (sheets painted with the candidate's name and the
tween state institutions and local constituencies. It was in this period that
name o the supporting sector: flags, T-shirts, tags, or hats that had the
a clever politician coined che phrase "vivir fuera del presupuesto es vivir en
candidate's initials and those o che party or sector), but also with a certain
el error" (to live outside o the state budget is to live in error). The expan-
uniformity of look, peasants in their hats and sandals, railroad workers in
sion o che state for severa] decades was a process o always incorporating
their bloc hats schoolteachers in their modest, lower-middle-class garb,
political middlemen as new social movements emerged- Thus, in the 1970s
and so on.
and 1980s, positions were created for leaders o squatters' movements, for
Alongside this hierarchical and organic image of che nation as being
leaders o urban gangs, for student movement leaders, for teachers' move-
made up of complementary, uncqual, and interdependent masses, however,
ment leaders, and others.
campaign rituals also presented certain modal images o the citizenry.
The fiscal crisis o che state that began in 1982 severely limited its

AAod,, oJ AI, , r: : (:I:zenslip

ModosofMexicanCitizensbtp
possibility ol cngaging in thn , , -uptivc stratcgy, and so rhe numbers o
nongovernmental organizations in artive service roce dramadeally, as did
oppositioti pa r'ties l here has undoubtc(1h buen an intensification ot eiti-
zen activity in Chis period s. ith sast numhcrs ol people rejecting massfied
corporate forros oi political )ar tiupatton that are no longer providing real
beneflts, and ctrong voten partir ipation as well as a huge increase in partici-
pation in political rallies, dem onsoatiom. and rhe like The press roo, has
broken with rhe unspoken rulo ol prescning rhe figure of rhe national
presiden[ irom direct attack and ts crit11 '5m of government has become
much loe der.
Ar the sane time, howevcr, rhe lact that many political leaders and me-
diators are now living outside of the fiscal budget may also mean that a
new forro of massified citizenship is beiog constructed. The economic
costs o democracy and democranzation are so far very high in Mexico,
and a lot o money is going to al political parties, as well as to running
electoral processes Elections and electoral processes have become a
source o revenue in their own right, and the jockeying between party
leaderships could beeome divorced irom rhe ever-growing needs o rhe
country's poorest, particularly because the middle and proletarian classes
are now large enough to sustaln such an apparatus. This situation is illus-
trated in Are fact that today, although there is undoubtedly more democ-
racy in Mexico than at any time in recent memory, rhe extent o urban in-
security, the numbers of fences and walls, and the presente o the military
and o privare security guards are also rhe highest in recent memory.
At this juncture, as in rhe posrrevolutionary years in which Ramos was
writing, there is an increasing number o pcople who are tinprotected by
relations o privare patronage, unprotected by rhe state, and who have in-
sufficient private possessions to participare as reliable citizens. On the
other hand, as in the unstable years o rhe early and mid-nineteenth cen-
tury, there is an increasingly large class ot lumpenpohticians who seek
to funnel die "bad pueblo" finto "factious movements. And the passage
from unruly anonymity to amicable personal contact may beeome more
strained as the capacity to claint that "whoever gets mad first, loses" itself
loses credibility
Conclus-ion
DaMaua's analysis of thc relationship hetween liberal and Catholic-
hierarchical discourses in the negotiation of citizenship is a useful entry
point for rhe descriprion o debased torno of citizenship as they have ex-
isted in Iberoamerica However, bis strategy is hest suited to highlight rhe
micropolitics of access to state institutions and does not elarify rhe specihe
ways in which citizenship is filled and emptied ol contents. It therefore
misses in important dimension of rhe eulture ot atizenship, including
how, when, and by whorn it is politicized.
In Chis chapter, 1 have presented a rough outline o rhe politics sur-
rounding citizenship in modern Mexico. 1 argued that there have been
two periods when discussions of citizenship Nave been truly central to
political discourse The first period which 1 analyzed in sume detail, is rhe
era o political instabibty and economic decline that followed Mexican in-
dependence; the second is the contemporary, post- I982 debt crisis period
o privatization and rhe end of single-party hegemony The view that 1 de-
veloped suggests that the intensity o discussions surrounding citizenship
in the first five decades alter independence reflected both the complex
politics o including or excluding popular classes from the political field
and the fact that national unity seemed unattainable by any means other
than through unity among citizens, and violence against traitors (be these
indigenous groups or fractious "tyrants" with their clientele of canallas). In
other words, citizenship was continually invoked as the foremost need o
the nation ata time when rhe country had no effective central state, a de-
clining economy, and was threatened both by imperial powers and by in-
ternal regional dissidents.
Beginning with Preside n[ Jurez, but especially under Daz, the nation-
al state was consolidated and a national economy was shaped thanks to
the state's capacity to guarantee foreign investment and national sover-
eignty. As a result, the "bad pueblo" was slowly neutralized and substituted
only by rhe growth and expansion o what 1 have called the "abject pueblo,"
or the people who were not fit for citizenship (not knowing how to read
or write, not speaking Spanish, or living in conditions o servitude that ef-
fectively precluded full participation as independent citizens). In rhe pro-
cess, rhe national obsession with citizenship diminished even as the cele-
bration and fetishization o the state as the depositary o rationality, order,
and progress grew. The combination o national consolidation, rapid
modernization, and rhe extension o a degraded form o citizenship to the
vast majority is par[ o the backdrop o rhe Mexican Revolution o 1910.
The constitutional order that emerged from rhe revolution allowed
Mexicans access to a series of benefits, including land and protection
against employers. Nevertheless, the postrevolutionary orden did not
achieve rhe liberal goal o turning rhe majority o the population into
property holders. In fact, the fragility o rhe privare sphere for large sections
Modes of Mex ican Citrzensf D
79
 o the population has been one of the constante in modcrn Mexican history.
As a result, the revolutionary state combined the Porfirian cult o enlight-
ened, state-led progress with an organicist construction o the people.

4
This revolution gave citizenship another kind o valence. Inscead o at-
tacking communal lands and trying to transtorm every Mexican into a pr-
vate owner, postrevolutionary governments gave out land and protection
as forms of citizenship, out they retained ultimate control over those re-
sources. As a result, citizenship in the postrevolutionary era (up to the
mid- or late 1 980s) can be thought of in par as massified and sectorial-
ized, because peasants and workers of the so-called informal sector re-
ceived beneHts en the force of their citizenship, and yet lacked indepen-
dence froni the state. Thus, the debased citizen that DaMatta speaks of is
different in the prerevolutionary and the postrevolutionary periods, be-
cause, in the latter, "nobodies" coulcl make daims for state beneHts on the
oasis o their collective identity as part o a revolutionary pueblo, whereas
in the former they could not.
Passion and Banality in Mexican History:
Part of the current difficulty in MMexican citizenship is that social critics
acknowledge that state paternalism and control over production led to un- The Presidential Persona
acceptably undemocratic forros o rule and, indeed, lo policies that led to
the bankruptcy of the country. However, at least the 1917 constitution
envisaged parceling out some benefrts tu people by virtue o the fact that
In Mexico, theories about nacional destiny have often eclipsed broader
they were citizens. The contraction o che state has produced massive so-
concerns with human history. Development in Mexico has been national
cial movements and a very strong push aruund democratizaban and the
development, history has been national history, and theories of history
category o che citizen, out the current emphasis on electoral rights risks
have been theories o national history. This phenomenon is not caused by
emptying the category o iis social ccntents once again, and, given the fact
isolation. It is instead the result o a pervasive peripheral cosmopolitanism,
that Mexico still has a large mass of poor people with little legal private
of an acute conscience o wanting to catch up, to reach "the level" o the
property or stable and legally sanctioned work, and given too that Mexico's great world powers,
state is still incapable o extending rights universally, we may yet see the
The need to explain the dynamics o national history stems from the
reemergence a pernicious dialectic between the good pueblo and the bad
nacional project's failure to deliver its promise, its failure to free Mexico
pueblo.
from subservience and to make the nation an equal o every great nation.
Curiously, however, theories o Mexican history do not usually begin by
inspecting the impact o national independence en the sense of disjointed-
ness that generates national self-obsession. Instead, they always want to
reach further back in an attempt to force a national subject who can then
be liberated through the sovereignty o a national community.
My argument in this chapter takes an alternative route. Ideally, sover-
eignty may indeed coincide with the liberation o the nacional subject, out
this has never been a realistic expectation. Instead, real sovereignty, in-
dependence as it has actually existed, has generated a dynamic o cultural
production that shapes Mexican obsessions with national teleology because

Moler of Mrx, :.r,, Cirrzevsbi Jr

81 =
it creares a systanatic divide ben,cen nati],cal ideolugy and actual power
relatiuns 1-his chasm is espcdalls cvident In Clic states tense relationship
io modernizati on and to che ],roed prole, t I cultural modernity.
Al] nacional state, can be th,caccned b, modcrnlzation. After al], eapi-
talist development has thnved mi clic inahility ot srates fully to encompass
che economies of their peoplc lhe tcchmcal social organizacional, and
cultural Innovacions that are linkcd io indu,tnal growth (i e, moderniza -
tion) can thrcaren boch che interests and che teehnical hasis of state
power. Cultural modernity tor: is en esl,ansive projeer thac has chal-
lenged specihc state instiitu tions hv shaping and upholding a series of
rights aiound che category o che citlzcn, by insisting on a degree of au-
tonomy fui artistic and scientilic production, and by fostering a "public
sphere" froni which state policiies and institutions can be evaluated and
criticized.
In Mexico, che scates active role in propitialing and channeling devel-
opment and modernization has depended en institucional forms that often
contradice democratic ideals of dnzenship, freedom of expression, artistic
and scientiflc autonomy, and other ideals of cultural modernity. This fact
is manifested in che resilience o1 che category ancien rgime' in Mexican
political and historical texts Eighleenth- century modernizing reforms
introduced by the Bourbons are correctly casi against a classical ancien
rgime, which is described as corporatist and premodern, but corporatism,
che ownership o political office, and the primary importance of personal
negotiation with a sovereign did not die with these reforms. Historian
Frangois Xavier Guerra discusses che 1910 Mexican Revolution against the
backdrop o a still-crumbling "ancien rgime," despite che fact that Porfirio
Daz was indisputably a modernizing dictator and that Mexico had been
independent for nearly ninety yeais when che revolution broke out.' Even
today, political writers have resurrected che ancien rgime label, but Chis
time to refer to the postrevolutionarv one- party system that is in the pro-
cess o collapsing.
The persistente o che epithet ancien rgime' is a manifestation of the
perceived divide between che nacional ideal wherein che law has universal
extension and application, and real state power, which is seco as making
decisions on a self-serving and ad hoc basis. This chasm has been che de-
clared cause of revolutions and reforms. However, reforms have failed to
redress che gulf between che real and che normacive order, modern and tra-
dicional "hybrids" proliferare, and chis process usually ends up being inter-
preted as a manifestation of che resihence of a nacional culture- The cycle
of nationalist angst is therehy closed, because the failure of modernizing
P,:,, ion and Bi,:nliiv in Al r:!; ca,: Hi, ,ory
projects is i cself used to construct che nacional subject that is meant to be
liberated by the nacional scatc, and by che next set o reforms.
1 Nave argued that che limitations o various modero projects in
Mexico Nave reflected che highly segmented quality of che public spherc
there. This segmentation can be properly understood through a geog-
raphy of mediations. My rescarch agenda has been to develop such a ge-
ography by focusing boch on agents o mediation, such as intellectuals
and politicians, and en che public enactment of nacional unity and artncu-
lation in political ritual In Chis chapter 1 will focos on che secular process
through which che ideal o nacional sovereignty was incarnated; 1 mean
che shaping o che public persona o che president of the republic. 1 will
argue that the rocky process by which presidential power became rou-
tinized affords a glimpse of che way in which the state has brokered
Mexico's modernity.
First Time as Farce?
Disturbed perceptions o che disjunction between the central tenets of na-
cional ideology and actual political practice are visible in Mexico as early
as the independence movement itself. For instante, Jos Mara Luis Mora,
a man who worked tirelessly and to a large extent unsuccessfully at creat-
ing the persona of the liberal citizen, complained that his contemporaries
believed that "[t[he constitution and che laws are here to place limits en a
power that already existed and was invested with omnimodal power, and
not that they are here to create and form that power."' In other words, the
presidency alter independence saw its power as preceding the roles and
laws of the constitution, which might limit it in some ways, but not shape
it ex nihilo. State power was not boro of a formal social contract, but the
nation allegedly was.
Despite the persistente o chis ideological disjunction, liberal theories
regarding social contract, political representation, and citizenship flotar-.
ished. This fact can be understood in part as a mimetic strategy for che
state's survival: che adoption o the great powers' own idiom of statehood
was necessary for navigating a weak state in international waters. The
temptation to cloak local struggles for national power in a language that
enjoyed a degree of international prestige, a temptation that was pro-
voked at once by imperial pressures and by che strategic utility of foreign
ideas for internal self-legicimation, produced political habits that Nave been
described since che early moments o Mexican nacional independence and
up until che present day as a grotesque penchant for imitation-imitation
Yassian nnd Banality in Al rxiran History
83 =
 flor only o liberal idcals, hut of everv kind of glorious foreign practice. 1
quote again froni Mora,
The raen who arroganlly chist '],al 'comtimnons are sheets of paper that
Nave no value other than ihar wlnch die governmcnt wishes t give them"
are deludcd That expression vhidt seas in some v.ay tolerable coming
from thc hero oI Marring of jcna aod ol Austcrlitz, ro ni the inan who
saved Franco a thuusand timos and Icd its armies vietoriously 111 YO Russia,
has been repeated not lar hnm mis bv pygmics without mera, service, or
presti ge s
Here, Mexican politicians are tiny AGicans, aping Europeans in their
banana repuhlic. But, as historian Fernando Escalante has demonstrated,
the citizen that was meant to monlmr these politicians was an equally fie-
titious character, hecause the power oI die 'tate was never sufficient to de-
lend the property and the rights of Mexlcans who enjoyed formal citizen-
ship. ln this context the office ol ihe presidency became a vehicle for
imagining sovcrcignty, and presidente built ibeir authoriry by shaping and
embodying these images.
Excommunication ani) Primary Piocess"iiice Jodependence
Once Miguel Hidalgos (1810) movement lar independence had ravaged
severa) towns o the Bajo regios, thc bishop o Michoacn and erstwhile
Iriend of Hidalgo, Manuel Abad y Queipo, decreed the excommunication
of the priest and o his followers.' This act, and some o the insurgent
clergy's reactlons, set the tope for l ater meraphors of national unity and
apostasy.
The bishop began his edict with a citation from Luke-"Every king-
tlom that is divided finto factions c11,11 he dcstruycd and ruined"-and then
proceeded tu review ihe ravagcs of die wars in French Saint-Domingue
JHaiti), which were caused, he reminded bis dock, by the revolution in
the metropole. The result of that revolt was not only the assassination of
all Euro pean' and Creoles, but also the des truction of four-fifths of the
island's black and mulatto population and a legacy o perpetua] hatred
between blacks and mulattos. No good could come from a falce division
between Europeans and Americans.
Abad then expressed particular chagrin regarding the fact that the cal]
of disloya]ry and arras carne from a priest, ^tiligucl Hidalgo of the parish o
Dolores, who not only killed and injured Europeans and used his robes to
'seduce a portion o innocent laborcrs,' but aleo,
P.+s=ion and Bnn.iy r ,. Jlex,can
Hisiory
8.l
[i]nsulting the faith and our sovereign, Ferdinand VII, painted en his han-
ner (he image of our august patroness, our Lady of Guadalupe, and wrote
the following inscriptiom. "Long Live the Faith. Long Live Our Holiest
Mother of Guadalupe- Long Live Ferdinand VII_ Long Live America, and
Death to I3ad Government.'o
Abad y Queipo subsequendy excommunicated Hidalgo and threatened to
do the lame to any person who persisted in fighting on Hidalgos side or
in aiding him in any way.
This edict, which was soon endorsed by the archbishop o Mexico,
caused great indignation and rape with Hidalgo, Morelos, and other mem-
bers o the insurgent clergy. Hidalgo made a formal reply, in which he
swore his loyalty to the Catholic faith: "1 have never doubted any o its
truths, I have always been intimarely convinced o the infallibility o its
dogmas.`7 Hidalgo then vehemently deplored his excommunication as
a partisan act: "Open your eyes, Americans. Do not allow yourselves to be
seduced by our enemies: they are not Catholics, except t politici their
god is money, and their acts have our oppression as their only object." s He
then called for ehe establishment o a representative parliament that,
saving as its principal object la maintain our boly religion, will promete benign laws
[leyes suaves], useful and well suited to the circumstances o each pueblo. They
shall then govern with the tenderness o parents, they shall treat os as
brothers, banish poverty, moderare the devastation o ihe kingdom and the
extraction o its moneys, fonient the arts, liven up industry , . _ and, after a
few years, our inhabitants shall enjoy al of the delicacies that the
Sovereign Author o nature has spilled en this vast continente
In sum, Hidalgo warns against tire use o the trae faith for the enrich-
ment o foreign oppressors. He identifies national sovereignty with rule o
the Catholic faith, a rule that is to be paternalistic fin that it shall recognize
the specific needs and circumstances o each pueblo, and he imagines a
nation guided by a single true faith that will quickly become a kind o
Christian paradise in which poverty is eradicated by the fraternal senti-
ment and benign intentions that exist between true coreligionists. Thus
Hidalgo performed a kind of counterexcommunication o European im-
perialista who used Catholicism in order lo "seduce" those whom they
sought to oppress and exploit.
Hidalgo's position found concrete jurdica] expression in the edicts o
bus follower, the priest Jos Mara Morelos. In his first edict abolishing
slavery and Indian tribute (1810), Morelos proclaimed that "[a]ny American
Pas 'ion nnd 13ruia1ily in Mexican liistory
= 85
who owes monee Lo a European is not oblit;ed Lo pav it- It, on the con-
ti-are, it is thc 1 uropean who owes. hc shall rigonxisly pay his debt Lo the
.Ameriean" Moreover e vete lanwner sha bc set ice wlth che knowl-
dge tirar il he eomni its thc satine dime nt air c othei that eontradicts a
mans honeste, lic- '11,111 be mmh, ti
These Iaws portrayed Turopeans as uuirious'y living o o "Amen ca os
such that there was no possihle Anacrican debt to the Europeans that liad
not been hanclsomeIv paid lor bclrehand and that the judgment o
e rimes unid el thc Spalis h reginn rs a. ses tematically unlair. In sum, che
c ountcrexcommunieation ot INC Spanish clergy by Hidalgo and Morelos
tuses the nacional ideal with a Christian utopia. Paternalistic beneficence
and brotherhood would be achieved in an independent Mexico ruled by
true Catholics, instead of by oppressors who used Catholicism to pursue
their unchristian aims: the cxtraction o money and che oppression o a
nation.
Morelos's political spirit would perdure because che defense o nation-
als against foreign extortion and the dispensation o Christian justice
proved impossible to achieve after independence. Thus, Hidalgo s image
al sovereignty as the Christian adm i n ist ration of plenty remained a
utopia, and Mexican governments alter independence were just as subject
to the polities o religious appropriation/excommunication as their
Spanish predecessors.
A similar formulation o national ideals can be found a hundred years
aker Hidalgos cry in Dolores, issuing from the pen o that foremost ideo-
logue o the Mexican Revolution, Luis Cabrera, who blasted the official
celebration o the centenary o independence just two months prior to che
first revolutionary outburst o November 20, 1910:
The celebration of our glories and the commemoration of our heroes is a
cult, but those who suffer and work cannot arrive togerher at the altar o
che fatherland with [hose who dominare and benefit because they do not
share the lame religion- Just as the Ch ristian's plea to pardon all debts can-
not fit in the same prayer as the lew s plea tor daily bread exacted from
profits, neither can ttere be a unilied hnmage te our fathers by those with
an insaciable thirst for power and hy the noble desire for justice that moves
che hearts of the pueblo that suffers and wnrks11
This significant, indeed foundational, strain of,Mexican nationalism there-
fore lees the national state as the ideal medium for achieving a Christian
community- In fact, however, the standards lar sovereignty that were set
by Hidalgo, wherebv poverty would be bar'shed "in just a few years," or
Ya ssi o n und Ira n l r d.l. , nn n 1listo ty
80 =
by Morelos's declaration o a elean siate for all, would be impossible to up-
hold. They were ill suited to serve as the hasis for consolidating a huge
territory peopled by a weakly integrated nation that gained its indepen-
dence at a montent o iotense imperial competition.
Dead Presidents
The consolidation o a central authority has been a eomplex problem in
Mexican history, for although such an authority existed during the colo-
nial era in the figure of the king and his surrogate, che viceroy, establish-
ing a central state and authoriry after independence proved to be highly
problematic.
Monarchical solutions to this quandary were consonant with the ideol-
ogy o Mexican independence, which leaned heavily en traditional
Spanish legal thought to legitimate itself. The dream of a smooth tran-
sition between the colonial and che independent order was simply not to
be. On one side, radical insurgents were not keen to see the precolonial
status quo upheld to such a perfect degree. On another, Spain did not im-
mediately relinquish its claims over the new Mexican empire and attempt-
ed to reestablish a foothold on the continent for ten more years, sufficient
time for an anti-Spanish sentiment that had been growing along with the
construction o Mexican nationalism to become virulent. Moreover, the
United States was clearly and loudly opposed to che establishment of a
monarchy in Mexico." As a result, monarchists were forced to set their
hearts en acquiring a European monarch with che simultaneous backing o
al] or most European powers, a solution that was tried and failed in che
1860s. Thus the early fractures among the nascent national elite were con-
nected ab initio to che contest between the United States, France, Spain,
and Britain.
It was not until 1867, after the French departed and Maximilan was
shot, that Mexico finally earned its "right" to exist as a nation. Until that
time, no strong central state had existed, and the country's sovereignty
was severely limited. In the words o a Porfirian commentator,
[before che wars o intervention] being a foreigner came to mean being the
natural-born master o all Mexicans. It was enough, as a few o the excep-
tionally rare honest diplomats acknowledged, for a foreigner to be impris-
oned for three days en poor behavior or intrigue for that person to become
a creditor for fifty or one hundred thousand pesos to the Mexican national
budget as a result o a diplomatic agreement.
Passion u,d Bana1,ty in Mexican History
= 87
 The state had become the guarantor o foreign interests against its own
persona: the strategy o the martyr, the strategy o the exemplary citizen,
people. The bullet that killed Maximilian effectively ended the possibility
and the strategy of the modernizer. In discussing selected aspects o these
o ever establishing a European-backed monarchy, while making a highly
three presidential repertoires, 1 hope to clarify one aspect o the distante
visible international statement about the sovereignty o Mexico and o its
between legal forms and actual political practice.
laws. Until that time, Mexico had been routinely "Africanized" in foreign
oyes.
In the years between 1 821 and 1867, Mexican leaders had tried a series An Arm and a Leg
o strategies for constructing central power, combining varying forms o
The saliente o martyrdom in politics has often been noted in popular
messianism, aspects of monarchic power, republicanism, and liberalism, in
commentary in Mexico. Mexico has a large pantheon o national leaders
a large number o short-lived presidencies Civen the nonexistence o a
who were shot or martyred, including Hidalgo, Morelos, Allende, Aldama,
successful hegemonic block among early postindependence elites, and
Iturbide, Guerrero, Mina, Matamoros, Maximilian, Madero, Villa, Carranza,
given a number o foreign pressuies that were not fully comprehended by
Obregn, and Zapata, to name only the most prominent ones. The first
these elites until half the country's territory had been lost, the difficulty in
martyrs o independence were Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama, and Santa Mara,
constructing an image o national sovereignty and authority in the office
whose heads were severed by Spanish authorities and displayed in the
o the president became a major cultural challenge, for whereas political
four corners o the Alhndiga de Granaditas, where Hidalgos army had
ritual and the stability o office in the colonial period reveal a clear-cut
massacred a number o Spantards and Creoles. Many other leaders o in-
ideology o dependency-that is, of a combination o subordination,
dependence were also executed in later periods.
complementarity, and mutual reliance-this cense o reliance and encom-
When it carne to insurgent priests, Spanish authorities tried to degrade
passment between the centers o empire and Mexico was decidedly shaken,
the leaders before and after execution. The subjects were defrocked in ec-
and sometimes completely shattered, alter independence.
clesiastical courts and then turned over to the civil authorities, who dictat-
The difficulty in shaping presidential power was increased, too, by the
ed their sentences. In cases where military officers had to take justice into
weakness, and at times nonexistence, o modern political parties. Political
their own hands, some officers "reconciled their duties as Christians with
organization around che time o independence flowed to a large extent
their obligations as soldiers" by undressing the rebel priest, shooting him,
through Masonic lodges. In the early independence period, there was
and then redressing him with his robes for burial.10. Despite these and
only one Masonic rite, the Scottish rite, which had been imported by
other degradations, [hese dead became the martyred "fathers" o the nation.
Mexico's representativas at che Cortes o Cdiz in 1812. A second lodge,
The use o messianic imagery was significant en two levels: it was a
o York, was established in Mexico by the first U.S. ambassador, Joel
way o identifying the presidential body with the land, and it cast the
Poinsett, with the explicit ami o consolidacing a federalist, republican,
people as being collectively in deb to the caudillo for his sacrifices. The
and more Jacobin organization finto Mexico's political arena, In neither
relationship to kingly ideology is clear. Because Mexico was unable to en-
case, however, were these lodges open to public scrutiny, as political par-
shrine its own king, in whom a positiva relationship between personal
ties are, and political power was taken in the name o ideologies, such as
welfare and national welfare could be state dogma ("The King and the
federalism, centralism, liberalism, or conservatism, with no party structure
Land are One"), its national leaders had to create this relationship nega-
tu back them.
tively, through sacrifice. Thus, it was through personal sacrifice that the
As a result, the construction o the persona o the president as the per-
president could attempt to convince people o his capacity to represent
sonification o sovereignty was both important and highly problematic. It
the entire nation.
involved creating an iniage that could risa ahoye and reconcile a regional-
The most successful example o a president who relied primarily en
ly fragmented society, an image that could also be manipulated in order to
this strategy for fashioning his persona was Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna,
seduce orto frighten off imperial power-contradictory uses that are sure-
who dominated Mexican politics during the first half o the nineteenth
ly par o the famous distante hetween the p,?s real and the pas legal. 1 shall
century Santa Anna was called to the presidency eleven times, alterna-
explore three significant strategies in the evolution of the presidential
tively as a liberal, a conservative, and a moderate. Ideological purity was

Passion nnd 13 1
'1y ,n t` CXJC11 11 11 isiory
Passion and Banality in Mexiean HisIory
88
89
clearly not che way to estahlish onesdl as a durable alternatve for the
presidencv in carly nineceentli ,, ntury ,Vlcxico_ Instead, historian John
Lynch observes chat Santa Anua sale El ini e l as a preserven of order, not as
an ideologically Inconsisccnt opporuinist 1 -he fault !,aceording to Santa
Anua] las with the political par ti,, ss bici, dlvidcd Mexico and created a
need for reconciliation" : 1992, 3s6
Aboye the political fray hetwee n nothing remained in the rheto-
iic of the period but the fachciland ,p.nna. itsell, and so Santa Anna culti-
vated bis repuiation as a war heru He led clic defense against the Spanish
in 1829, bis leg was amputated alter wounds acquired in cine "Pastry War
against the French in 1839 (offsetting, somewhat, bis humiliating defeat in
Texas), and he organized the defense against the U.S. invasion ata time o
political disarray.
In 1842, Santa Anna was once again called to power, and at that point
he attempted co build the rudiments o a political geography that would
have him at its center. He had a luxurious municipal theater built (the
Teatro Santa Anna), with a statue of himself in front o it. A solemn and
much-actended ceremony was cnacted to inaugurare a third monument,
which was a mausoleum in which bis left leg was reinterred.
The significante o Santa Anna's Icg-a limb that linked him to Hidalgo,
Morelos, and all the dead heroes whose ]ove for the patria at that point was
the only ideology capable of unifying the country-is best appreciated in
Santa Anna's own words:

The infamous words the messenger read me are repeated hete: "The ma-
jority o Congress openly favor the Paredes revolution . . The rioters im-
prisoned President Canalizo and extended their aversion to the president,
Santa Anna. They tore down a bronze hust erected in bis honor in the
Plaza del Mercado. They stripped bis narre from the Santa Anna Theater,
substituting for it the National Theater. Furthermore, they have taken bis
amputated foot from the cemetery ot Santa Paula and proceeded to drag it
through the streets to che sounds of savage laughter and regaling ..." 1 in-
terrupted the narrator, exclaiming savagely, Stop' 1 don't wish to hear any
Figure 4.1. Vlceroy don Juan Vicente Guemes Pacheco y Padilla, segundo Conde de Revillagigedo,
more! Almighty Codi. A member ot my hody, lose in che service of my
anonymous painter, eighteenth century. Oil on canas, 52 x 41. Collection of
country, dragged from the funeral urn, broken into bits to be made sport
Banco Nacional de Mxico. This is a usual representation o a viceroy's arrival in
of in such a barbarie mannert' In that moment ot grief and frenzy, 1 decid-
New Spain- The viceroy is assisted on one side by the power o arms, and en
ed to leave my native country, objeet of my dreams and o my disillusions,
the other by che power of justice, the same two powers that caudillos claimed for
for all time 15
themselves when they claimed to stand aboye all parties.
Civen Mexico's ideological rifes, the dilflculcies in creating a national
center in the face o interna] divisions and international pressure, the only

Pa, sion nnd Daneii1 y .u Xlexican Hirirry

90
1 ieure 4.2 hnagni de iura Len releen de Frmm,nlo VII ;monymous painter, ninereenth

century. Oil cn canvas, 1-40 x 98 cm_ Collcetion ui !Museo Regional de Guadalajara.

1-he message on the painCing reads. leluved Fernando, Spain and the Indies placed
on your head this [imago o the croes n 1 the bottom reads,'This ion, which is
the Spanish nation, will rever lel gu Ironu i lit,hes rhe teso worlds of Ferdinand
VII" The representation of the king oo Str ikinglq ,imitar ti) portraits of Iturhide
and Santa Anna_ 1 igure 4.3. Santa Anna as presiden[-
,,ood president could be a seltkss one The dead insurgents beeame ex
acoples ol this ideal, and the ea' licsi viable examples o the presidential
persona wcre built around the ligare ot the martyr-presidents who did
not reecive salaries, whu saeriheecl theii iniilics who abandoned their
lamily l'artene. who gavc [Ti' their health iris tbctr country.
Santa Anna lost his leg and it beeame the focus o contention. Alvaro
Obregn caudillo of the Mexican Revolution, president from 1920 te
1924, reelected for office in 1928. and murdered on the day of his elee -
tion, lost an arni in the battle el (elava against Pancho Villa- This arre was
preserved in alcohol and it hecame tlie centcrpicce of a monument built in
his trame by the man who created thc Partido Revolucionario Institucional
that ruled the country for seventy-one ycars. Obregn's martyrdom was
thus used to funnel charisma finto a hureaucracy that has insistently called
itself revolutionary.
Two less well known and curious stories are the ends met by the bodies
o Guadalupe Victoria and of General Francisco (Pancho) Villa. Guadalupe
Victoria, Mexico's first president, died in 1842. During the U.S. invasion
of Mexico in 1848, American soldiers violated the tomb where his mummy
and preserved innards were kept. According to one hagiographer, two
U.S. soldiers drank the alcohol in which Victorias innards were preserved
and died-the remains o Guadalupe Victoria were still powerful in the
struggle for sovereignty. In 1862, just before the French invasion, Victoria's
remains were transferred to Puebla by General Alejandro Garca, and they
were placed at the foot o the Angel o Independence in Mexico City by
President Calles in the 1920s.16
U.S. patriots apparently also had a bone to pick (so to speak) with
Pancho Villa, whose tonib was desecrated and whose head allegedly
ended up in the Skull and Bones Society at Yale University, a secret society
o which George Bush was a member-1' It would appear that Villa, who
was initially portrayed by the U.S media as a great popular hero and then
demonized as the bandit who had the gall o invading Columbus, New
Mexico, and getting away with it, beeame die object o "scientific interest"
by patriots in the United States, whlle Villas invasion o Columbus is still
a source o pleasure for Mexican revnncbis les.
The politics around these remains reveals the degree to which the
nation's inalienable possessions llave been vulnerable to foreign appropria-
tien, as well as to interna] desecration- It suggests that martyrdom has
been fundamentally linked to an elten unworkable ideal o sovereignty in
modern Mexico Sovereignty, that ideal locatien where al! Mexicans are
1,e1 1 1 as 1 11 .1 B .1 .I!. ', Vrxrcan His1ory
v4
created equal, has been a place that only the dead can inhabit, which is
why we sometimes fight over their remainsls
Unconventional Conventionalists, or the Fetishism of the Lau,
It fell to Benito Jurez to create the first strong image o the presidency as
an institution o power that seas truly aboye the fray, and his strategy was to
present himself as a complex embodiment o rhe meeting between the na-
tion and the law. As an Indian, Jurez could stand for rhe nation; as an im-
penetrable magistrate and keeper of the law, he attempted to create an
image o the presidency as being aboye ambitious self-aggrandizement.19
Francisco Bulnes provides a biting creole perspective on Jurez 's distinct
public image:
Jurez had a distinctively Indian temperameny he had the calm o an
obelisk-that reserved nature that slavery promotes to the state o co-
matoseness in the coldly resigned races. He was characterized by the secu-
lar silente o the vanquished who know that every word that is not the
miasma o degradation is punished, by that indifference that apparently al-
lows no seduction but that exasperates .. Jurez did not make speeches;
he did not write books, use the press, or write letters; he did not have inti-
mate conversation , nor did he have esprit, an element that makes thought
penetrating, like perfume . Nor was he subtle or expressive in his gestures,
his movement, or his gaze. His only language was official, severe , sober,
irreproachable, fastidious , unbearable. His only posture that o a judge
hearing a case . His only expression the absence o all expression . The physi-
cal and moral appearance of Jurez was not that o the apostle , or the martyr,
or the statesman ; it was instead that o a god in a teocalli, inexpressive en the
humid and reddish rock o sacrifices.30
Jurez created a lasting image o what the relationship o the president
to the nation should be: he had no need o the kind o martyrdom that
Santa Anna utilized because his yace already proved his links to the land.
Nor, as Bulnes says, was he an apostle , in that his role was to remind Mexicans
and foreigners o the role o the law. The result appears at first as an im-
possible combination: the legalistic bureaucrat as national fetish.
Jurez's construction o the presidential persona as the embodiment o
the law depended on a racial element for its success. Mexican presidents
who belonged to the local aristocracy could only achieve full identifica-
tion with the land through the theater o messianism and martyrdom.
Jurez, on the other hand, relied on the mythology o the Aztec past that
P a s s o n a n d B a n a 1 i 1 y i ,i M e x i c a n H , t , ,
= 95 =
 was important in Mexican nationalism as a way of establishing a credible
relationship to the land without relying on messianism . When he relied on
hiblical imagery, Jurez usually turned to Moses, the lawgiver and libera-
tor, and not to Jesus and the martyrs . This was because Jurez's challenge
was not to demonstrate loyalty to the land, but rather to show that he
could 'rise aboye his yace." The law resolved this problem to some extent.
The Indian, who indisputably was connected to the land , could identify so
fully with the law that he would become faceless: a national Fetish of the
law, an idol in a teocalli, as Bulnes says . This contrasts with the role of the
law in the persona of the messianic president , whose actitudes in this re-
gard were usually inspired by Napoleon.
Jurez was aided in this project by the fact that he presided over the
definitive defeat of European powers , the execution of a prestigious
European monarch, the defeat of the clergy, and an alliance with the
United States . He succeeded in identifying himself with the land not
through the greatness of his individual acts ( as Bulnes would have liked),
but rather through his sober image as the inexorable instrument of the law.
After Jurez , two alternative images of that national fetish that is the
president had been rudimentarily established : the presiden [ as messianic
leader- overflowing with personality , ideologically inconsistent, and
abandoning his fortune for the sake of the nation - and the expressionless
leader who claims the rule of law in the narre of the nation . The fact that
the two could not easily be combined is evident in a satirical verse direct-
ed to Len de la Barra , interim president of Mexico alter General Dfaz's
fall in 1910:

El gobernar con el frac Governing with a tuxedo

y ser presidente blanco Being a white president
es tan slo un pasaporte Is only just a passport
de destierro limpio y franco 21 7o certain banishment.

One could use a tuxedo like Jurez if it underlined a fusion between the
Indian and the law, but if one were white and sought to be president, one
could not cake on the persona of the bourgeois or the bureaucrat; instead,
one needed the force of arms and a messianic language.
After Jurez, the image of saving che law in che narre of the nation be-
Figure 4.4. Tlahuicole, by Manucl Vilar. Collection of Museo Nacional de Arte;
photograph by Agustn Estrada. This exemplar of indigenista art from che time of
Jurez has the Indian embody the classical ideal of strength and beauty. The dis-

carne a powerful way of claiming the presidency and of shaping the presi- crepancy between che potential of the Indian race in its moments of sovereignty

dencial persona, and this despite che fact that Jurez's self-serving use of the and its degeneration, caused by foreign subjugation, was implicit in the represen-

law was no different from either his predecessors nor his successors.22 tation itself.

During ehe Mexican Revolution, Madero revolted against Daz in the name

P ,S510n and B,nnlity in Alrx,can Hisfory

96
Figure 4.5 I,idios carboneros y labradores de Li vecindad de Mxico, lithograph by Carlos
Nebel (1850)- This re presentati o o ol eoniempoi ary Indians is characteristic of the
period and contrasta wlrh the ideal cmbodied in Tlabnicole-

of the 1857 constitution and he was punctilious in setting himself up as a

law-abiding citizen. In fact, Madero combined the messianic image with
that o the law provider in his "apostle o democracy" persona. Carranza's
army called itself the "Constitutionalist Army" when it organized against
the usurper Huerta; Villa and Zapata called themselves "Conventionalists"
and claimed to be fighting Carranza out of respect for the resolutions o the
Aguascalientes Convention- Finally, and perhaps most important, Mexico's
dominant party, established in 1929, saw itself as the institutionalized heir
of the revolution, which was interpreted as the fount o nacional comunitas
whose spirit was embodied in tire constitution o 1917. In each o these
cases, including jurez's, the nationalization o che law was a way to con-
struct a viable presidential authority whose actual policies often had no
more than a casual or after-the-facr relationship tu the law. Figure 4.6- President Jurez, anonymous engraving autographed by Presiden[ Jurez.
Jurez, the Indian who studied law and who made Europe pay for its intervention
by ordering Maximilian's execution in conformiry with that law, is the modero
Inventos del hombre blanco: Modernizalion and Presidencial Fetishism reconciliation between che idealized pre-Hispanic Indian and che promise held
out by national sovereignry- Jurezs identity as a civilian demonstrates the po-
1 have outlined two ways in which thc presidenr's persona was shaped: che
rential of Mexican society ro back this ideal, while simultaneously affirming that
messianic strategy and che indigenized-legalist strategy. These alterna-
tives were developed at difterent moments. though hoth are components national liberation would not be attained by "caste wars "

P.iseion and Oa salii> ,, ;blexicnn Hislory

v8
 IGNACIO M. ALTAMIRANO.
Figure 4.7. Allanurano, lhe Indian Gmlor, anonymoiu engraving published in Evans
(1870)_ Ignacio Manuel Altamirano seas, on che cultural plane, a symbol quite
similar co Jurez. The Indian body elothed in European high culture was a recla-
mation o what had been due te che Indiati yace. It was a consequence of sover-
cignry and hecame its fitting symbol_
of contemporary Mexican "presidentialism The messianic strategy was
che first successful option because [here was no way that the presidency
could feign ideological consistency in che first half o che nineteenth cen-
tury. The fetishization o che law occurred in coniunction with the consoli-
dation o Mexico's position in the international system and as a result o
the polarization o che country to a degree that only one party could con-
ceivably emerge as che victor_
The third strategy that 1 will discuss concerns che nationalization o
modernization as a presidencial stracegy. According co historian Edmundo
O'Gormam
) i i. A:,'xi:nn History
100
Figure 4.8. Presidente Benito Jurez, by Hermenegildo Bulstos. Collection of che
Senado de la Repblica (Mexico). This contemporary portrait o a green-eyed
Jurez hangs today in Mexico's Senate. The mestizaje of Jurez is here embodied
in che whitening of his face, a strategy that made sense while Jurez lived.
[In che early and mid-nineteenth century] [w]e have two theses correspon-
ding to two tendencies [che liberal and che conservative tendency], which
struggle against each ocher because o their respective aims and because
they are founded on two different visions of che direction o history. How-
ever, [hese two theses end up postulating the same thing, co wit, they both
wish to acquire che prospedty of che United States without abandoning
Passion and Bnnulity in Mexican History
101 =

figrtre 4.9a. Caballero guila. Sculpturc
lrom the Mexican pavilion of the
Exposicin Iberoamericana de Sevilla
1929)- These twin statues, adorning
Mexico's con tribu(ion te che Ibero
american Exhibition in Seville, makc
the Spanish and Indian nobles equis a
ents- Mestizo power is die logisal
consequence of this vision
Figure 49b Un caballero espaol del siglo
XVI Sculpture from the Mexican pavil-
ion et the Exposicin Iberoamericana
de Ser dla ! 1929)
u'aditional ways of being, because these were judged tu be the very essence
of the nation. Both comenta wanted thc benehts o moderniry, but neither
wanted modernity itsclf"
In other words, the contest ter nm oderniza tion (niaterial and techno-
logical progress) asas a high aim of the national struggle that was
claimed by all factions, while cultural modernity was, in different ways,
rejected This tendency was clearly expressed at the muro o the twen-
tieth century-when the contest herween liberals and co nserva tives
had been transcended-in irielisnm, an ideology that posited the spiritual
supcriority of Latin America over the United States and envisioned mod-
ernizing Latin American countries without absorbing the spiritual de-
basement created by the all-pervasive materialism that was attributed to
U.S. society.
Although Enrique Rod's Ariel ties Latin spirituality to a Hellenic inheri-
tance, the fundamental tenet o arielismo (greater spirituality that is none-
theless compatible with selective modernization) has multiple manifesta-
tions, some o which are present even today in the forro of indigenismo, and
in nationalistic forms of socialism. Taken at this leve) of generality, arielismo
presupposed a certain cosmopolitanism and a high degree of education (at
least at the leve) o the elites), combined with the maintenance o hier-
archical and paternalistic relationships within society. The cosmopolitanism
and spiritual education o the elite were required, in fact, in order to guar-
antee a well-reasoned selection o modere implementa and practices to
import. In other words, arielismo was an ideology that was well adapted to
the circumstances o Mexican political and intellectual elites from the end
of the nineteenth century to the end o the era o impon substitution in-
dustrialization ( 1982), because it cast Mexicans as consumers o modern
products that retained an unaltered "spiritual" essence, an essence that was
embodied in specific-unmodern-relations at the leve) o family organi-
zation, clientelism, corporate organization, and so on.
Moreover, arielismo, indigenismo, and other avatars o this posture implic-
itly fostered a defensive cultural role for the state and its statesmen_ to
guard Latin societies against the base materialism o U.S. society. Given
this mediating position, the state was meant to be savvy about the con-
sumption o modern produces. Its knowledge was derived from the hu-
manistic education of its leaders and the spirituality of communal relations
in Latin America. This mediating position allowed the appropriation of
modernization as part o the presidential manna. "Los inventos del hombre
blanco' (the white man's inventions) were a third critica) prop in creating
Pns sian arad E)aueliiy ir. Mexican His to ry
103 =
 a stable view of sovereignty and of presidential power in the history o
ideological uncertainty.
In the cal y nineteenth century, there are relatively few examples o
this political usage o modernization by the presidential figure. One par-
cial exception is the use of statistics, to show that, morally, Mexico City
was the equal of Paris, with lower percentages o prostitutes, higher edu-
cational levels, and other illusionsr' Early efforts were usually cultural
rather than technological-Santa Auras choice to build a theater as his
most public work is an example. However, rhese never had the nationalist
power o the later technological imports.
The image o the state presiding over or introducing some major tech-
nological innovation or material henefit has been critica) to the con-
struction o the persona o the presidenr since Porfirio Daz's regime
(1876-1910), whose introduction of the railroad did much to lend
verisimilitude ro Daz's studied resemblance of Kaiser Wilhelm. Recent
examples o the nationalization of modernization include the construction
Figure 4.10 . Excursin al puente de Metlac, photograph by C. B. Waite (early 1900s).
o the Mexico City subway under President Daz Ordaz (1964-70), Che Feats of engineering , such as the bridge over the ravine o Metlac, became em-
construction of the National University's modernist campus and the de-
blematic of Porfirio Daz and his accomplishments as president.
velopment o Acapulco under Miguel Alemn (1946-52), the development
o Cuernavaca under Calles (1929-34), the construction o the Pan
while his modernizing policies eventually gave him popularity with
American Highway and the naUOnalization o the oil industry under
Mexico's industrial classes. Arguably Lzaro Crdenas (1934-40) also had
Crdenas (1934-40), and the electrification o the Mexican countryside
under Echeverra (1970-76)_ a credible mix of these ingredients. At any rate, since World War II, with
peace in the land and sustained economic growth for a couple of decades,
The identification o the president with modernization has at times
the image o the modernizing president became more and more significant.
been used against the more racialist imagen of the presidency as the em-
Moreover, with the exhaustion of models o industrialization orga-
bodiment o national law and o the nation's martyrs. This has especially
nized around the national market through import substitution industrali-
been the case in times o great economic growth, when presidenta usually
show ideological eclecticism . The father o this eclectic style is Porfirio zation, variants o arielismo as an official ideology have become increas-
ingly untenable . Therefore, modernizing presidents lince the 1982 debt
Daz, who nonetheless concentrated in his persona much o the two earlier
crisis have gambled everything on a successful bid to be like the United
coniponents o Mexican presidentialism (idenrity as racially Mexican, and
idenrity as war hero)_ Dfazs unparallcled personal success in combining all
States-materialism and all. As a result, the Mexican presidential image
has suffered greatly, especially to the extent that presidents have failed to
rhree strands of thc presidential persona seems to have received divine
achieve the promised goal.
sanction: the day of his namesake, San Porfirio, coincided with Mexican
Independence Day; the birth o the pero and of the nation were thus cele-
brated on the same day. Conclusion
This almost ideal overlap between a modernizing image (gained only
The idea o sovereignty was firmly entrenched in New Spain before in-
by presiding over the country in a moment of economic growth) and an
dependence, but it became an elusive ideal afterwards. The source o this
image of personal sacrifice and racial legitimacy has only rarely coincided
insecurity was the weakness o Mexico's position in the contest between
lince. To a cenan degree, Alvaro Obregn (1920-24) had it: his pickled
imperial powers and Mexicos internal economic and cultural fragmenta-
arm, which was bluwn off at the I3attle of Celaya, linked him to the earth,
tion, a situation that made the construction of a central power difficult.
Pas^ioe ^^nd 13anniii^ .^. Alrxisan His^ory
Passion and BanaIlty n Mexican fistory
104 =
105 =
Although tli e unccrtaingV ot o,eic pntr vaa, mast keenly telt in the peri- UNA LECCION DE PINTURA.
EL BUEN MODELO.
ods bctwccn 1821 and 18c and h,-neern 1910 and 1939, the cultural dy-
1 - I il I'll Ili'llll'llllili^Pl
camics ehat wcrc unleash ed hv thca: tuxemirGes h ave bcen releva nt for 11I!1llf'Ii ^ ^ ^ l ]Lhl .:.
tire whol,> nl ,slexicos independent pistan
The thrcc strategics lar utn stnicct n:; thc presldcnt.al figure chas 1
have discussed originare and culminare in ditferent moments-all three
were routinlzed roto the presidencial otlice in che postrevolutionary era

- E. erta eec proteXO enmendar mi esftlo.

Figure 4 .12. A Painting Lesson, El hijo del Ahuizote, July 31, 1887; Benson Collection,
University of Texas. A newspaper portrays the young President Daz modeling
himself after Jurez . The virtues associated with Jurez are civilian (constitutional-
ism, civism , respect for che law, firm principies , intelligence , patriotism) and

Figure 4.11. General Porfirio Daz presideole de la Repblica para el perodo 1877-1880, Indian ( abnegation, modesty, constancy, discretion, and honesty). Daz the war
Gustavo Casasola Collection. Daz as n war pero--a representaron reminiscent hero had co copy some of these.
of Santa Arenas self-fashioning strategy.

,,,\1,,,,a, History

Figure 4.13. Arc of Triumpb Erected in Honor of Porfirio
Daz Here miliitarism, indigenism,
and modernization are rolled into one. the construction of the are is a feat of engi-
neering and architecture, a sign of rhe wealth produced by modernization, a nod
toward Europe, andan identifcation of Daz as a savior, a soldier, and an Indian.
Nonetheless, representing the nation internally while maintaining an ade-
quate externa) facade has been a chronic difficulty. The importante o the
nation's self -presentation to the externa] world, and the
conflicts between
che states needs in this regard and its connections to interna ) social
groups, led to the invention o a state theatcr that was often divorced from
the quotidian practices of state rulo.
As a result o this structural prob]em, moments o governmental self-
presentation before foreign powers have buen vulnerable targets o public
protest, as occurred during Daz's centenary independence eelebrations in
1910, before che Olympic Carnes in 1968, and on the day o the inaugura-
tion o che North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) enJanuary 1,
1994. Clashes between communitarian revivas o che idea] o sovereignty
and stiff and self-serving international presentations o the state have
often been understood by analysts as manifestations o what Victor Turner
Pnssion oid 13ana.ily in iltesican History
108 =
(1974) called "primary process" in his classical essay on Hidalgo's revolt.
These are moments in which the original idea o sovereignty as a moment
in which the Mexican nation would be free to construct its own destiny
and to ]ve in fraternal bliss are revived. Nevertheless, these moments o
communitarianism are always betrayed because the popular ideal o sover-
eignty has been a structural impossibility for Mexico. As a result, Mexican
history generates a characteristic combination o passion and banality,
with long periods o modernizing innovation being perceived, despite
their novelty, as facade or farce, and short bursts o unrealizable communi-
tarian nationalsms as the manifestations o the true feelings o the nation.
The martyrs that are generated in these moments o primary process are
subsequently harnessed and appeals to their image are routinely made by
aspiring presidents and used as che blueprint by which to build a more
stable political geography.
At the same time, this very strategy o constructing a national center
by brokering modernity through the presidential office, and by nationaliz-
ing it through the cult o martyrs and through the racialization o the law,
is what has helped generate a national self-obsession. This obsession was
fostered to a large degree by che aspiration o liberals and conservatives,
o arielistas and indigenistas, to modernize selectively and to attain the prom-
ised modernity within a national framework. Arielista cosmopolitanism, the
cosmopolitanism o che statesman as the nations official internacional
taster. is at the heart o the preponderante o the nation as an intellectual
object in Mexico. This cosmopolitanism, which sometimes conceives of
itself as provincial, has forged sagas o national history that reach to che
Aztecs or to the Conquest for an understanding o che qualities and prop-
erties o the Mexican nation, but it is Mexico's persistent dismodernity
that generates this form o self-knowledge.
Pa ssion and Baxality in Mexican History
109 =

5 that are mcant to put Mexican science in liase with an international stan-
Fissures in Contemporary Mexican Nationalism
Mexicans have been tormented with recurring modernizing fantasies and
aspirations ever since independence Dreanis of the nation wrestling with
the angel of progress have been especially haunting in moments o pro-
found social change, such as those that are transpiring in Mexico today.
Worrisome symptoms of epochal cultural and social transformation
first carne to the attention o the reading public in the mid-1980s. At that
tinte, many a social diagnostician thought that Mexico had contracted
"posttnodernity" and that its twisted historical trajecrory might at last have
hrought it to that vanguard that ends all vanguards (albeit in a disheveled
state). Nevertheless, Chis notion was soon corrected by Roger Bartra
(1987) who, having carefully analyzed Mexio's symptoms, came to the
sohering conclusion that, although indeed strange things were happening
regarding modernity in Mexico, diese might more aptly be described as
a particular form of dismodernity or, more playfully, as "dis-mothernism":
a mixture of a quite postmodern drsn odre (chaos) and continuing aspira-
tions to an unachieved modernity.
Unsatisfied with this state ot aflairs, M(xicos political parties and the
press soon nade the issue of modernity finto their central theme- In the
political realm, lor instante, democracy has received obsessive attention. It
has become a hegentonie idealogy. bringing rogether all parties, including
110 = =
such unlikely democrais as iMexico's longtinte state party (the PRI) and
Mexicos traditional left. In the sphere of scientiflc and aeademie produc-
tion, the government has !mil, m cnted e1rae onian measures for nioderni-
zation, doggedly promoting standards o1 production and productivity
dard." Finally, in the economic realm, the idea of competing in global mar-
kets has gained enormous autliority, and it has ser-ved to justify the trans-
formation ot state en terp ri set that were run on a red istti butive ideology of
''national interest' and "social justice" into privately owned, competitive,
and, yes, "modern" businesses-
The confluente o al] o these changes and themes of public discussion
reflects, undoubtedly, the fact that Mexico entered yet a new phase of dis-
modernity in the past two decades. The 1982 debt crisis dealt a terrible
blow to the regime o state-fostered national development, and the eco-
nomic arrangement that has emerged provoked an intense struggle for su-
premacy between diverse modernizing formulas. Those involved in this
contest continuously make appeals to various idealized national audi-
ences, but those audiences have themselves changed-
In this chapter, 1 explore one aspect o this transformation, which is the
relationship between national culture and modernity. Specifically, 1 dis-
cuss the ways in which national identity has changed from being a tool for
achieving modernity to being a marker of dismodernity and a form o pro-
test against the most recent reorganization o capitalist production. In the
process, both the substance and the social implications o nationalism
have been deeply transformed.
The Telltale Naco
One phenomenon that helps to capture the changed relationship between
nationality, cultural modernity and modernization is the way in which the
connotations o the term naco have changed in the past decades. Until
sometime in the mid-1970s, the terco naco, which is allegedly a contrac-
tion o Totonaco, was used as a slur against Indians or, more generally,
against peasants or anyone who stood for the provincial backwardness
that Mexico was trying so hard to emerge out of. In the 1950s, Carlos
Fuentes described the nacos counterparts as "little Mexican girls .. -
blonde, sheathed in black and sure they were giving international tono to
the saddest unhappiest flea-bitten land in the world."' The naco, then, was
the uncultured and uncouth Indian who could only be redeemed through
an international culture
FI Sf U ICS in ,tl osica n Na ti on a i,
111 =
 In the past twenty years, however, the connotations o naco began
names come from comic books, magazines , and soap operas, and they are
breaking out o their rustic conhnement to such a degree that naquismo
rejected by anti-naco sectors, who are increasingly inclined to use names
carne to be recognized as a characteristically urban aesthetic. Similar
from the Spanish Siglo de Oro (e.g., Rodrigo, Mara Fernanda) or from
processes have occurred elsewhere in Latin America, with tercos such as
cholo in Peru and Bolivia, and mono in Ecuador. Resonating with the imag- the Aztec and Maya pantheons (e.g., Cuauhtmoc, Itzamnah, Xicotncatl).
This latter group sees the former as nacos, but one could also argue that
ery o colonial castas, che aestheiics of the uaco denote impurity, hybridity,
the distinction is rather one between closet nacos (modernizers who are
and bricolage, but, aboye all, the more recent usage o naco designates a
special kind of kitsch. nevertheless worried about erasing historical distinctions between high
and low, foreign and national culture) and open or "popular" nacos, who
The naco's kitsch is consideren vulgar because it incorporates aspira-
couldn't care less. This is recognized playfully by some in the distinction
tions te progress and the material culture of modernity in imperfect and
between "Art-Naqueau," which is a more elite naco, and "Nac-Art," which
partial ways. We recognize a form o kitsch here because the naco is sup-
is based en commercial North American culture, a distinction that flags an
posed te feel moved by his own modernized image. So, for example, the elitization o history. Whereas the popular naco
Haca is moved by the sopas in her living room and she seeks to preserve hreaks with the weight o
tradition (the mother is called Petra, the daughter is named Velvet), tradi-
their modernizing impact by coating them with plastic.
tionalists try to appropriate History with its Rodrigos and Cuauhtmocs.
It is worth noting, however, that in defining naco in this new sense, the
Thus we can distinguish between nacos who try to affiliate to the modern
category can no longer be confined or reduced to a single social sector or
va the great national or Western narratives, and those who erase history
class, because the kitsch o modernization affects upper classes quite no-
and simply luxuriate in modernization.
ticeably, and 1 have in mind not only such outstanding naco monuments as
The popular nacos move toward the diminution o the weight o na-
former Mexico City Chief o Police Arturo Durazo's weekend house that
tional and Western history brings some problems to those non- or closet
is known as "The Parthenon," but also many of the attitudes o Mexico's
nacos who depend to some degree on those histories. For example, in poli-
bourgeoisie, whose self-conscious fantasies are easily perceived in the do-
tics certain new populist styles have debunked long-standing poltica
mestic architecture o any rich post-[ 960 neighborhood.
forms in Latn America, In La Paz, Bolivia, a highly "cholified" city, "El
The category of naco as modern kitsch is thus directly connected to an
compadre Mendoza" and his sidekick, "La Cholita Remedios," DJs of
idiom of distinction that appears to have lost its moorings in the indige-
a popular radio station, have won important political posts. In Ecuador,
nous and peasant world: it now targets that whole sector o society that
former president Abdala Bucaram identified simultaneously with Batman,
silently sheds a tear o delight while witnessing its own modernity. And it
Jesus, and Hitler, while in Braslia, Mexico City
is this self-consciousness, this unnaturalness o the modern, that explains , Buenos Aires, and
Lima presidents and ministers have protagonized intense melodramas-
the persistence o a (derogatory) Indian brand, for, like the colonial
confrontations between spouses, rivalries between brothers, leve affairs
Indians, today's nacos have not fully internalized their redemption; they
between cabinet members-that generate sympathies and antipathies that
are therefore unreliable moderns in the same way that Indians were un-
threaten to overshadow the significance o the great narratives o national
reliable Christians, and so the whole country is dyed with Indianness.
power. Thus the new vulgarity is at times a threat to traditional political
In addition to marking a kind o kitsch, che epithet naco also connotes a
forms, just as it can threaten traditional mechanisms
certain lack o distinction, or at least a lack o hierarchy, between "high o class distinction,
reducing the old elite to ever-narrower and culturally obsolete circles o
culture" and its popular imitations. Specifically, naco can be used te desig-
"oligarchs."
nate an overassimilation o television and o the world o capitalist com-
These threats to civilization are complemented by a growing horror
modities. It is an assimilation o the imitation with no special regard for
toward the masses, a situation that is attributable to the combined effects
the original. For example, forcign-sounding names such as "Velvet,"
of the lack o respect for "distinction" involved in the new naquismo and the
"Christianson," and "Yuri" have proliferated in the past decades. One un-
tremendous growth o urban unemployment and crime. The fear o loot-
usual but telling example is 'Madeinusa,' a name that was inspired by the
ing and o armed robbery has a counterpoint at the leve] o distinction:
label "Made in USA" and that is used in Panama. Broadly speaking, these
fear o proletarianization and o blending in with the "vulgar classes."

Fissu res in Alex,can ; Valionaiism

F,s,ures in Mexican Nationai,sm
112
113 =
Political seientists are scan<lalizcd hy e caes "IumpenpoliGes, eloset nacos
are scandalizcd by upen llrlios. and che gheist ut che Indian haunts America
once more not as e redeemed Indian hut a, al) incdeemahie Indian.
The emergente cal neto- tones ol chstinction that are evident in che
crarsformatun of che tate ory oi r n in 1ts e llange from a diseriminatoty
terco almed at peasants to a Iow-status aesthctics ot modernity that is
arguablv applicahle to che vast maionty of che urban population, is symp-
tomatie of a proeess of deep cultural cham;,e in Nlexican national spaee.
Until recently, nationality liad lucen e nicehanism lar modernization-
I his identification emerged as early as clic wats ol independence, when
ideologues such as Carlos Mara Bustamante placed che blame for the eco-
nomie backwardness of Mexico at che leer of Spanish colonialism, and
progress was neatly associated with nacional sovereignty and freedom.
Moreover, che idenfilication between nationality and cultural modernity
was strongly fortified in the aftermath of che 1910-20 revolution, when
the state intervened actively to chape a lay, modero citizenry out o
Mexico's agravian classes. This proeess was to be achieved through educa-
tion and economie redistribution, through land and books," as one agrarista
from Michoacn put it.'' The result of chis would he, according to presi-
dent Lzaro Crdenas's well-known formulation, not to Indianize Mexico,
but to transfonn Indians finto Mcxicans.
Accordingly, the old usage of nrtco marked peasants and other tradi-
tional peoples and practicas as Indian," that is, as not yet fully Mexican.
The new usage, contrarily, marks Mcxicans on the whole as not fully at
home in modernity. Nationality and national culture are no longer che
vehicle o modernity; they are che lingering mark o dismodernity.
Understanding the Background. i''vlodentily and Citrzenship onderlmport
Substitution Lcdustrializaton and in ihe Neoliberal Era
The crisis of nationalism iir che current era has to be understood against
che backdrop o Mexico's regime of import suhstitution industrialization
(ISI), which lasted roughly from 1940 m 1982 That era o intense mod-
ernization developed under the aegis o a one-party system that was ideo-
logically founded en revolutionary nationalism. The public sphere was
largely centered in Mexico City, where institutional spaces were carved
out for intellectuals to interpret "national sentiment" on che basis o highly
ritualized political manifestations hy social groups that had little direct ac-
cess to che media of national representa tion and debate 3
Fr ssurrs t u. ',IeL ,.t,. v'e dona 1'1m
114 =
This whole system ol ritualized mobilizations, segmented spheres o
political discussion, and intellectuals with privileged access to clic media
was complemented by the once ntested power of arbitration and interven-
tion o the nacional iresident who became a much-sanctified figure
[ti Chis respect, clic ene percy regime that was ir che hcight o power
during ISI can be seco as a retashioning of the colonial system o political
representation, when the viceroy was the highcst arbitrator and political
expressi ocas were channelcd roto che ritual life ol various corporations
Ocae major difference hctween the two systems, however, was that diere
was only a very incipient public sphcre in che colonial period: the press
was stringently controlled and void of all political commentary, the uni-
versity had no autonomy, there was no national parliament, and the
1
Inquisition still stood as a symbol o state vigilante over belief and expres-
sion. Moreover, the colonial system was premodern in that it was dogged-
ly determined to prevent the separation between public morality, science,
and art.
On che other hand, neither can it be said that national society in the
postrevolutionary era was unflinchingly modern, for although there was a
public sphere in the Habermasian sense, che forums for discussion and
che citizens that they included were a very restricted proportion o the
population.
Moreover, although Mexico had effectively achieved a separation be-
tween church and state by 1930, it had not achieved a separation between
politics, science, and art. Instead, both art and science were fostered under
the patriarchal umbrella o the protectionist state, and were ultimately
confined by it. Scientific production in Mexico has thrived disproportion-
ately at its public universities, especially the national university, which
until recently produced about 70 percent o Mexico's scientific output.
On the other hand, policy making in Mexican state institutions has not al-
ways held scientific production at che forefront o its preoccupations: edu-
cation has been too deeply associated with state-fostered mobility, and
sound scientific policies have at times been eschewed in favor o using the
educational apparatus as a mechanism o redistribution. A similar sort o
argument can be made for state policies in financing che arts. Few Mexican
intellectuals have escaped che ensuing ambivalente toward the revolution-
ary state.
At the regional level, until che 1970s Mexican culture was constituted
out o a dialectic between che capital, which was both the center o na-
tional power and che paradigmatic center of modernity, and various sorts
o provinces. Incorporation to modernity meant incorporation to state
Flssu res In Mexican Natiocaulisrn
= 115
 institutions, especially schools, and knowledge and culture found their cl-
investors, or on highly exclusive and specially targeted governmental
max in Mexico City. This led to a simplilied view o the provinces as a
scholarship programs. The status of scientists and artists as social groups
homogeneous bedrock of tradition and backwardness, a feeling that is
was undermined. In chis way, intellectuals benefited from some decen-
summed up in the famous maxim: Fuera de Mxico, todo es Cuauhtitln"
tralization and a bit more autonomy o cultural production from the state,
(Outside of Mexico City, there is nothing but Cuauhtitlns),
at the cost o impoverishment and reduction o the size o the community
In fact, however, Mexican regions were spatially fragmented into a
of cultural producers, and a significant takeover o this arca by private
complex system o localities and classes with concomitantly rich idioms o monopolies.
distinction between them-I have called the ways of lile o these spatially
At the level o regional cultures, rural localities became less tied to
fragmented classes "intimare tintures-" Abstractly stated, regional cultures
their historical regions. Increasing dependence on industrial commodities,
were made up o combinations o agrarian and industrial classes. The
and agite modes o communication (the telephone and TV), have substan-
agrarian classes comprised peasant villagers, day laborees, cowboys, and
tially simplified what had until now been spatially quite intricate nested
ranchers, and each o these had regional peculiarities and various degrees
hierarchies o productively and commercially interdependent localities,
o prominente in each region. On the other hand, the period o ISI was
and television plus the urban experience have served to instate a more
also a time of accelerated urban growth and o migration from rural set-
standardized idiom o distinction in the regions. This latter aspect some-
tings to cities, giving cities a strong presente o peasant folk, many o times provokes a feeling of homogenization and o cultural loss: the in-
whom returned to their villages at least for fiesta days and became active
creased social role o industrialized commodities, standardized and publi-
transformers of village social lile as weIl
cized by a monopolized medium (TV).
The entry into a new phase in social and cultural history can be traced
In sum, in the era o ISI, Mexico was made up o a complex and differ-
to severa] sources, including (1) urbanization and new industrial poles o
entiated set o cultural regions. The state had a pivotal role in fostering in-
development outside o Mexico City-most notably on or near the U.S.
dustrialization and in creating che institutional framework for a national
border; (2) the consolidation of television and the telephone in the na-
citizenry, and these two processes were intimately reeated. The state as
tional space (which can be dated tu around 1970); and (3) the 1982 debt
educator, as employer, as provider o social security, o agricultural credits,
crisis and the corresponding end o the regime o import substitution in-
or o housing subsidies was the main modernizing agent. Becoming a fully
dustrialization and o models for self-sustained growth. These changes
fledged citizen, unencumbered by conflicting loyalties to native commu-
radically altered the regional organization o production-including cul-
nities, was thus a sigo o modernity.
tural production-as well as the government's place in the modernizing
In the past few decades, however, the mass media has created forms o
project.
transregional communication that circumvent governmental institutions
The reduction o the role of the state in the economy led to govern-
and that transcend their unifying power. For example, since Carlos Salinas's
mental attempts to divest from its tormer role in science, education, and
presidential campaign (1988), television stars were used as a main draw to
art: public universities found thcir budgets strangled; Televisa, the prvate
attain public attendance at his rallies. On the other hand, the withdrawal
television giant, stepped up its role in "high culture," filling part o the
o the state as a primary employer, and its constrained sponsorship o intel-
void that the government was leaving behind by building a major modern-
lectuals, artists, and journalists, serve to sever the identity that had existed
art museum, consolidating its cultural TV channel, and creating strong
hetween citizenship and modernity. More recently, opposition parties
links with one o Mexicu's two main "intellectual groups."s
such as the Partido de la Revolucin Democrtica (PRD) have used tele-
On the other hand, because o the government's will to maintain party
vision and movie stars as successful candidates for congress.
hegemony and the social system's acknowledged reliance on both higher
education and research, the government tound that it could not afford
simply tu abandon its ties to intellectuals, and so it developed new forms o Consumption , Recycling, and the Resilience of National Identity
patronage For restricted groups o artists and scientists. Thus, state divest-
Given this general context , forms o consumption have become perhaps
ment left most intellectuals dependent on Televisa and other corporate
the single most important signs o the modern, and recycling is one o the

Fissurrs in Aleen.' " N's dona l i sm

Fi ssu res u Alex,can Na tlonalfsm
= 116 =
= 117 =
maro signs 11111 dion]s ot distincti un It is usehd tu distinguiste between
stracegics ot staggered dise ibution that are designed co underline degrees
of separation ron] the holy (rail ol che sr,-c alled international standard or
tashion and recve Ing propei st h,eh involves cranstorming the use of a
standardized iteni 1aperopriatiun resistan[ e (>r atfirmation ot ditterence).
In che first category we hace as examples the distribution o films,
which is spatially ordered in sueh a way that the hlms chat mark higher
status are sereened in che Uniteri States lirst then in lancier Mexico City
theaters and ni a lew provincial capitals and ttnally in thc popular cine-
mas. It is also evident in che phenomenon of dumping' in the tashion
industry -where prestigious brand, are mimlcked with cheap imitations-
or in software, where piracy prevalls and few people own manuals co their
(often slightly outdated or virus-intected) programs. On the whole, the
distribution o brand names and goods places Mexicans slightly off the
cutting edge o international consumption.
In contrast co this form o staggered distribution recycling involves
improvisation: using generic instruments lar fixing the big brand names or,
more drastically, using produces for entirely different aims [han they were
designed for: plastic bags as plant pots, a hroken-down refrigerator as a
trunk for storage, and so on The prevalence o both o these forros of dis-
tribution and recycling invades the whole country with a sense o second-
classness. This feeling is menacing to most political elites, including as-
piring oppositional groups, and they correspondingly develop forms o
distinction that stand against Americanization and turn either to Europe
or inward (to the hacendado, to che urban notable, to the Aztec lord) for
inspiration. In Chis way, various local and nacional elites can obviate a des-
tiny o becoming a middle-class periphery of Houston.
In Spanish, there is a saying, "Ms vale cabeza de ratn que cola de
len" (I'd rather be the head o a mouse than the tail o a lion). People who
are interested in asserting leadership need co construct themselves as
being at the head o a community wich a degree o sovereignty; they can-
not simply be the lower-middle cog in a system o distinction that has its
capital Ti some corporate headquarcers in Atlanta, and this situation re-
inforces the legitimacy of state-protected monopolies and political pre-
rogatives that Mexican elites, and lo some extent Mexican citizens, hace
always had in therr country, thereby pitting nationalism against a globaliz-
ing forro o modernization.
This lame problem can also be gleaned kom another anglo. One char-
acteristic o Mexico's modernity has been the persiscent reproduccion o
vast social classes that are not fully incorporated into modero forms o
F . ....... A I e , . e : A a b o n a l i s o ,
= 118
work the resilienee o che pcasantry the ubiquitous presence o personal
servants for che middle and upper classes, the vas[ urban class of semi
employed." political control over [hese seccors. whose direct dependence
on specific capitalists has o!ten been unstable, was until recently achieved
through corruption.
Corruption worked in two importan[ ways: first, specific state institu-
rions were appropriated bv nidividuals who took charge o dispensing re-
sources and repressing dissenters: second. corruption tended to reinforce
or creare a corporate structure both beeause it involved consolidating ae-
eess co work via the mediauon of a politiiea! leader, and because policiical
leaders legitimated their position to superiors and subordinates by way o
various political rituals that involved come redistribution. Thus, modern
Mexico prolonged the haroque tradition o popular representation in a
spatially intricate fiesta system.
In the current moment, however, Chis system has undergone serious
strains. The retrenchment o government has hegun to erode the commu-
nitarian framework that was ultimately the referent o these various rituals.
For example, local village factions used to strive for gaining the PRI nomi-
nation to therr municipal presidencies. The fact that the struggle occurred
within a single party signified that local village factions acknowledged the
encompassment of the village as a whole by both the state governor and
the national presiden[ (both o whom always belonged to the PRI). This
tacit recognition o encompassment helped consolidare an idiom o vil-
lage unity that was expressed in the inclusiveness o village fiestas.
The contraction o national government has meant giving up some
party control over Chis hierarchy, and it will certainly mean giving most o
it up in the near future. Village factions today are often funneled into sepa-
rare political parties This multipartisanship may well strain some o the
communitarian ideologies and rituals in national space. For example,
when che late Fidel Velzquez, perennial leader o the officialist con-
federation o unions called the CTM (Confederacin de Trabajadores
Mexicanos), announced that, for the first time, the CTM would not carry
out a Labor Day parade en May 1, 1995, unions and people sympathizing
with the opposition participated in a-now uncontrolled-demonstration,
that was widely interpreted as a rift between state and nation.
Thus the incapacity o the new state to funnel employment, and its
concomitant difficulty in securing key ritual spaces, added to the severity o
the current economic crisis, creating an image o a state that is controlled
by and used for the benefit of a [hin and unpopular Americanizing elite that
is overlain on a popular, Mexican nation. This image is unquestionably
F , s s a res ,, mcx,c an Nnbonalrsm
= = 119 =
 new (although it has historical precedenes) and threatening. Corruption
today appears as a more individualistic phenomenon than it was in the
past: instead o being a system that had che president at its apex and
worked smoothly down from there, today higher officials are seen as plun-
derers who do not share with a broad base o supporters. The connection
between corruption and corporate ritual is not as pervasive now as it was
in che SI period, leading to an image o a schism between people and
state, Whereas the image o the pyramid was a root metaphor for Mexican
society in the period o ISI, today the elite is often portrayed as a techno-
cratic crust that is increasingly out o touch with society.'
In sum, the two logics o distribution-staggered distribution and re-
cycling-both tend to reaffirm che incorporation o Mexico into a system
o distinction that has its capital in the United States. However, this same
fact generates two forms o nationalism to counter it; one comes from the
recyclers and the other from al] manner of political leaders. Recyclers af-
firm difference from the international market simply by existing. Politicians
need to affirm nacional difference in order to place themselves at the apex
o the various levels o an imagined national community.
On che other hand, the capacity of political leaders to portray them-
selves as sitting at the apex o a cultural and political community has been
seriously eroded by transformation in the economic system, whose con-
traction has led to democratization and to a reduction o state sponsorship
o communitartan rituals. As a result, the pyramidal imagery that was typi-
cal o revolutionary nationalism has heen replaced by various images o
che political elite as a free-floating crust of predators This makes their
identification with the nation problematic.
Nationalsm and the International Standard
So far 1 have described a situation in which demands for che extension o
che benefits o modernization and modernity have expanded to all levels
o the regional system, while contradictions have emerged between these
decires (whose pulsating vitality is evident in the ebullience o naco aes-
thetics) and the very limited response froni state institutions that have
heen retreating from their roles as providers. In this context, there is much
ambivalente regarding che so-called international standard: free trade
means producing for an international market and competing inter-
nationally, so that any Mexican product, sports hero, artist, or scientist
who can compete internationally risks being transformed into a metonym
o Mexico's idealized place in a commoditized world o equals. Thus che
Fis su res in Mrxlcan Nniionalism
120 =
"international standard" achieves a status akin to that o truth for scence'
competing internationally is the ultimate legitimation7
On the other hand, much o che country's population, which grew and
developed under the systemic logic o import substitution cannot easily
reach this standard, and this population seeks che protection o the state
against the global market, while it asserts che value o
local cultural forms,
traditions, and producs. There is thus a cultural dialectic between accep-
tance and rejection o globalization that is obvious in che ambivalent posi-
tion o naquismo: enthusiasm for modernity and a (sometimes involuntary)
assertion o the individuals eccentricity.
From a spatial perspective, this dialectic implies a change in the places
and contexts in which nationalism is deployed. Whereas nationalism under
ISI was the hegemonic idiom o the state, an idiom that was appealed to in
negotiating local political demands but that was less relevant in the day-to-
day reality o production and consumption, nationalism emerges today as
a quotidian question that is deployed in connection to issues o work and
of consumption Whereas under ISI there was only one dominant form o
nationalism, and it was predicated en the teachings o the Mexican Revo-
lution and had the national state, personified in che president o the repub-
lic, as its ultimate locus, today there are two forms o nationalism, one that
sees reaching full modernization and che rule o the international standard
as the ultimate patriotic end, and another that insists en the intrinsic superi-
ority o local products and traditions and that sees che neoliberal state as
having traded its patriotic legacy for a bowl o U.S.-made porridge.
The first form of nationalism requires a credible bid to enter a North
American economic community in order to survive. The feasibility o this
today is questionable because o both Mexico's economic crisis and a na-
tionalist backlash against NAFTA and against Mexican migrants in the
United States, The second form o nationalism has not yet devised a politi-
cal formula that can simultaneously work in a contested democratic field
and provide the kind o state protection that revolutionary nationalism
once offered.
Conclusion
The transformation in che logic o capital accumulation and in the role of
the state in the economy has had a counterpoint at the level o cultural pro-
duction in national space. Changes at this level include (1) a reduction of
the cultural independence o provincial and Mexico City upper classes and
a standardization o idioms o distinction through mass consumption; (2) a
Fistures in Mexican Nationalis
121
eontraction o state sponsois hlp ol scicnec and art and a concomitant
growth in the control ()ver those seo tors br a untple ot industrial groups,
i 31 a relative decline o NIccico (io as the uncontested center of national
modernit . 'i a neo- bardo ovci thr- runtcnis ot nationah s ni that spills in lo
the ways in w h ieh tia nsfonna ti uns in the se tete ot production a nd in coi) -
sumption hahits are embraced oi rejcctcd, 51 a breakdown in the regional
ehain o corruption and controllcd poltieal ritual that has transfonned the
imagos with which tic governnncnt is portraycd from a pyramidal meta-
phoi lo vatious imagos o pa ras i tism. ani( i tr, a divisiun between those who
recyele witbotrt regard ro the status detinitions of mass consum ption and
those who do their utmost lo be in the hrst cycles o consumption. PART11
AII o this adds up to a serious crisis in the politics o nationalism.
Under the protectionist revolutionary state, nationalism and modernity
carne in the same package, today nationalism can serve as a counter to
globalization. However, the hopes of using the state effectively as an
alternative route to modernity llave not bcen renovated with ideas that
G e o g r a phies of
make it seem more viable than the model that was already tried and ex-
hausted or than failed attempts to foster socialism in one (dismodern)
state. On the other hand, neolibcral politicians have not succeeded in re- the Public Sph ere
formulating Mexican nationalism in a way that preserves the sense that
the nation has its own interna) system of value production. As a result, the
opposition between state and nation, between a "deep Mexico" and a com-
mercial, international, and super6eially modernizing elite, emerges as a
common image o the national situatiion.
Politically, these dialectics of nationalism and national culture do not
hold positive promise. Mexico is currently condemned to continue being
a nation-state for a while, given the United States' ever more militant
resolve to patrol its borders and control intmtgration. As long as current
aspirations to modernity go unquestioned and unanalyzed, and as long as
new formulas for state intervention in a modernizing project are not in-
vented, the future looms darkly, one o economic decline and unresolvable
political divisions.
The spatial analysis o the cultural dialectics o modernity/dismodernity
that 1 have presented here is a necessary stop for envisioning alternatives,
and could be particularly usef ul en two levels- in the elaboration o possible
alternative narratives for the nation that are in line with its best real pos-
sibilities; and in understanding che cultural implications o the geography
of modernity, thereby helping to specify the sorts of social and political
demands that are truly relevant in the refonnulation o political programs,
beyond ourcurrentideologicalhankruptcy

122
 6

Natonalism 's Dirty Linen:

"Contact Zones" and the Topography

ot National Identity

The production of knowledge, the narrative strategies, and the psychology

of colonial and postcolonial relations have been the topic of a body of writ-
ing that has come to be known in the anglophone world as "postcolonial
theory." Within this broad field, there is an arca of sociological inquiry that
is of central importance, which is the systemic aspect of national identity
production. Until recently, nationalist narratives were predominant, and
they portrayed national identity and national consciousness as processes
of "self-awakening " National identity was portrayed as emerging out of a
dialectic that was interna) to the national community.
In the past couple o decades, this approach has itself been shown to
be an instrument of national identity production. Instead of looking for
the secret of national identity within the "soul" or "spirit" of each nation,
contemporary analysts have looked at the history of nationalism as an as-
pect of transnational relations. Local innovations to nationalist imagery,
discourse, and technique are communicated between politicians, experts,
and intellectuals the world over, in a complex history that leads to the
standardization of various strands of nationalism. This history implicates
scientific theories and measurements, narrative strategies in fiction and
nonfiction, and aesthetic solutions to shaping the national image in art, ar-
chitecture, and urban planning. 1

= 125 =
 achieved statehood long before as territory was bound together in a "na-
National identity has thus hcrn showto
Ti he fashioned in transnational
tional marker" or by a "national bourgeoisie." As a result, the territorial
nctworks cal specialists, intelleeuials and pulitieians. many of whom pro-
consolidation of the country mas a long, eonflict-ridden process involving
veed to eover thcir tracks and te cell ihcir tales as it they were strictly local
secessions, annexations. civil wats, and forcign jnterventions. National
nventions 1lorcover che denial ut interdci^cndency hetween nations has
consolidation carne hall a centup alter independenc e. and was still called
been shows to have a varete c't pu,rtiea] ises Thtu. intelleetuals from
roto question on severa late, occasioos- As a result, understandi ng the
colonized arcas have criticized che unes in which their countries material
process of identity formation in Mexico is both a historical and a socio-
and intellectual contri butions have lacen appropriated bv the great pow-
logical challenge_ It is a historical challenge because jt has been such an
ers, whose nationalism js thus casii\ icientilied with rationality" and eivi-
uneven and differentiared process. Ir is sodologically demanding because
Iizanoll l'he nationalism ui we ak nations e as a result, in eonstant need
identjdes are always relational; che specihication of che relationships that
of self-assertion, arad it tends to mino, che nationalism of che great powers
generate national identity mphies a sociology of national identity.
by claiming independent or prior invention ol c ivilization for i tself 2
The case is thus a paradigmatic context for what 1 have called "ground-
The shift Irom interna accounts of che origins of national identity to
ed theory": the confrontation o a historical and a political problem that
accounts that understand nationalism as a cultural product that is generat-
requires sociological innovation The theoretical requirement here is con-
ed in a web o transnational connections is thus o great consequence.
strained by che historical object (Mexico), an object that is generally be-
Nevertheless, this development has nos yet provided all o the elements
lieved to be provincial. The knowledge that stems from that which is
that are required for a systematic account ol che contexts in which nation-
provincial is usually thought to be parochial and prosaic. As opposed to
al identity actually emerges. Nacionalism, as Benedict Anderson argued,
England, France, Germany, or the United States, the Latn American
is not a coherent ideology, hut rather a broad cultural frame in which a
countries have generally not been held up to be che cradle o anything in
variety o contradictory claims are made' We know that states put forth
particular that is o world-historical significance.s Moreover, even Latn
their proposais for a national image and inaplement them in schools, muse-
Americs status as "Western" or "non-Western" is ambiguous, and it thus
ums, and public squares, but ay which points, in which social relations, is
falls short in providing a radical sense o alterity for Europeans. Thus, the
national identity pertinent, underlincd, or referred to by other actors?
continent has not usually been cast in the role that "the Orient," Africa, or
It is quite easy to produce lists of disparate contexts and relationships
Oceania have played in che Western imaginary-at least it has not often
in which nacional identity "naturally" emerges: in the exclusion o an up-
done so for the past couple o centuries. Mexico and Latn America have
wardly mobile urban Aymara teenager from an afternoon social by her
much more often been portrayed by Europeans and Americans as "back-
"white" Bolivian classmates; in the negotiation o a business deal in broken
ward" than as radically different.6
English; or in the film that features an exotic woman who is made to repre-
On a theoretical plane che, continent would thus appear to be destined
sent the bounties o her country to potencial foreign investors ... The list
to play Sancho Panza to the North Atlantic's Don Quixote: not a radical
o identity-productog social relationships Is limidess, and placing its di-
other, but rather a common, backward, and yet pragmatic and resourceful
verse items in the Trame o a broader poltica economy is a challenge. 1
companion. An inferior with a point o view. A repository o customs and
seek here to put order in the various sorts of contexts in which national
relations past, where universalizing theories that were built Lo explain
identity "naturally" emerges. The master is of some importante to the gen-
world-historical phenomena are constantly applied, and yet are often too
eral project of this book, which js to understand the conditions for the
high and disengaged from ininiediate interese Even now, when the very
production o "Mexico" as a polity, as national identity, and as national
notion o a historical vanguard has been so thoroughly questioned, the so-
culture.
cial thought emerging from these provinces is soniewhat cumbersome
These conditions have often been precarious.^ Like many peripheral
when it is put to work elsewhere, usually requiring further extension and
nations, Mexico emerged as the result of che collapse o an empire more
translation. "Grounded theory" is a kind o theory that fijes more like a
than because o an overwhelming popular desjre for national indepen-
chicken than a hawk.
dence. Nationaljsm was thus nos widely shared at che time o che national
My aim in this chapter is to propose a simple generative principie for
revolutions. Moreover, like most Spanlsh-Amerjcan countries, Mexico

Na i ie r: a i, n Ls Dirty Linen
Na bona li, m '. D!riy Liten
= 127 =
126 =
 national identity production in peripheral postcolonial societies. From
this general principie 1 derive four classes of social dynamics that generate
particular frames o identity production. Each o these is discussed and il-
lustrated with historical examples from Mexico.
National Identity in tbe World System (Sand)o's Lersion)
Weak national communities adrift in the international system constantly
run the risk o indecent exposure, of involuntarily revealing the tenuous
connections between national imagery and everyday practice. Quite
simply, a country's weakness in the internacional system undermines the
basic tenets o modero nationalism and thereby calls national identity into
question_ These basic principies are, first, that the nacional state is a vehicle
for the modernization o a people that shares a set o values and traditions;
second, that this process of modernization chiefly serves the interests o
national community and not those of foreigners; and thed, that national-
ism is a sign o progressive modernity and not o backwardness. The pe-
ripheral postcolonial condition poses constanr chalienges to the most fun-
damental dogmas o nationalism. This is my general structural principie.
Te this we should add one general historical principie, which is that
peripheral nations generally develop in a forcefield that is shaped by two
contradictory impulses: che desire to appropriate for the nation the power
and might o the empires that they have broken away from, and the im-
pulse to shape modero national comnwniues based en an idealized bond
o fraternity between citizens. These two impulses can be thought o as a
tension between liberalism and ("internar:' colonialism, a tension that is
heightened by weakness in che international arena. Maintaining the sys-
rem o interna) differences inherited froni the colonial world, the hier-
archical differences o race, sex, and ethniciry that are used to organize ex-
ploitation can he seco as antagonistic to the ideal of the nation- a charge
that can be levied not only by the lower classes o the country, but also
by foreigners, who can use the charge to raise their own claims. It is in
relation to these principies that one can develop a sociology and a topog-
raphy of the frames of identity production in which national identity is
generated.
National Identity
Our subject is the interactions that generate an awareness of differences o
ascription among actors, contacts between actors who identify as "nation-
Nn ti"un l^sre ', Diriy Linera
= 128 =
al" in contrast to others who are portrayed as "foreign_" This specification
is necessary because many contacts between persons, or between persons
and objects that represent other persons, are not marked in this way, even
when differences in nationality exist,
The ongoing implementation o "neoliberal" policies in Mexico, for ex-
ample, has led some people to "foreignize" the government officials who
have furthered these policies. From their point o view, neoliberal officials
are serving the interests o U.S.-controlled institutions such as the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and they are following
teachings o their equally American professors at Harvard, Chicago,
Stanford, or MIT When this powerful movement o reform began, how-
ever, there were a number o intellectuals and politicians who had been
calling for a "return" te the liberal policies o Benito Jurez and Sebastin
Lerdo de Tejada, Mexican nacional heroes o the nineteenth century The
same set o policies and relationships were "indigenized" by sume and
marked "foreign" by others_ Thus "neoiiberalism" in Mexico is an ideologi-
cal tendency that involves questions o national identity for some, and not
for others. For a cultural contact to be considered under the definition that
interests us here, it must serve to construct a difference in national identity
between actors.
Frames of Contact
The concept o "contact frame" refers tu the relational contexts in which
national identity production occurs. We can identify classes or types o
such contexts from the dynamics o nation building and transnational
interactions that can be isolated en the analytic plane. Contact trames
are thus the minimal analytic units o a vast topography o national
identity. For example, there is an entire class o contact frames that is
produced by the logic o commodity production and consumption
under capitalism, which is an international system that national commu-
nities can never completely encompass or regulate: a shop that sells for-
eign goods in La Paz, Bolivia, is called "Miamicito" (and so provides a
frame that marks both the foreignness of its wares and the nationality o
its customers); during the 1970s, the Latin American left referred to
Coca-Cola as "the sewage" (las aguas negras) o Yankee imperialism, and
thereby framed its distribution and consumption as so many episodes in
the national struggle. We shall identify severa) such classes o contact
frames.
Nai,onnlism's Dirty Linera
= 129 =
"(onfacf ZonrC ve d tbe Ti^pog n^pi>y ol ;Valiou,il Id rntily
Ti traditional gu>gnpha diem is n diste nr tittn hetteeen the coneept o
"zone ian 1nternal ly huno eeiie us sp le e a,el 7egion " thc functional in-
tegradot of chtterenc kinds'' -1 1nt1 - hall cal] ara iTi te rnal ly homo-
geneous class of contact franxs a Id, 1 -.J1 C unmct iones are integrated
finto a broadcr "regiod' ol national identity production that includes a
zone ol state institutions that delirae r^ghts vid obligations tor citizens and
produce intagcs and narratives tal n:^tionali-c and iones o local and class
identity production ihat are egoalle t r [ti,_! 1 b us contact iones are par
of the region uf nacional identity production which is che national space,
complete with che cultural production ol clic state and the interna ] idioms
o distinction that give shape co national culture. These national spaces
are, in therr curn , part of a global system of identity production. A ty-
pology o zones o contact hice the one see are proposing here thus forms
part o a hroader project , which can be conceived o as a topography o products o mass culture when it was judged that they conspired against
national identity.
In Chis chapter 1 distinguish among loen classes of trames o contact in
che topography o national identity . Thev are generated by (1) che mate-
rial culture of capitalism ; ( 2) che ideologica1 tension between tradition and
modernity that is necessary to che tounding o nation-states ; ( 3) the en-
tropy of moderni zacion , which is intrinsie to che development process;
and (4) che nternational field of ideas and models o civilization , science,
and development that forros par o what could be called the civilizing
horizon o nation - states 1 now describe each o these trames o contact riots were spurred en by menibers o regional political elites who saw the
using Mexican examples in order to understand how che contact frame
challenges the stability o national regimes
International Business and Intjorted Material Culto re
The tour types o contact zones that 1 discuss are abstractly related to an
intrinsic quality ot nation-states. they are political communities within a
world system ot communities , but they are part of in economy that can-
not be contained by national boiders This quality of nation-states means
that economic modernization ( and ics agents ) can generate spaces o
national identification and confronration . This is especially che case in
1 peripheral " nations , for which technol ogical innovation and capital often
come from abroad- In these contexts espeeially, consuming commodities
or adopting productive techniques ol foreign origin can be understood in
relation to nacional identity
1 D: r ly
130 =
Por example , ir wc look at che history of Mexico, a number o anti-
foreign manitestacions hace eentered on commerce- anti-Spanish senti-
ment in che first repuhlic id to the sacking of Mexico City 's Parin
Market in 1828 This in turra preceded che expulsion of che Spaniards,
who only eight years earlicr liad been proclaimcd to be fellow Mexieans
by the triumphant leaders of independence Sonic o the most acutely
xenophobic movements in Mexican history associate foreigners' suppos-
edly pernicious influence with thcir position as husi ncssmen . This was true
of che anti-Chinese movements in Sonora during che revolucion and of
lournalists complaints againsr itinerant commerce hy lews and Arabs in
Mexico City during the 1930s Morcover, there are numerous occasions
when che products themselves have been seen as transporting a pernicious
foreign influence . Thus, much o che activity o the interior ministry's cen-
sorship commissions in che 1950s and 1960s was geared to chis. For years
trese commissions were in charge o censoring comics, films, and other
basic Mexican values . In other words , anti-Spanish , anti-Semitic, anti-
Chinese, and anti-American discourses have been constructed around the
space o comnierce and iniported material culture."
This is significan [ because the causes o cach o [hese xenophobic
movements were in fact different from each other The anti - Spanish
movement at che dawn o the republican era was related to the competi-
tion between England and che United States for political hegemony in
Mexico and to power struggles between local parties ; che anti-Chinese
Chinese as easy cargets; the identification o itinerant commerce as "for-
eign" in che 1920s and 1930s was a strategy to diminish an activity that
affected established businesses . Despite these different motivations, how-
ever, the identification o foreign businessmen and products as a danger to
national integrity is a viable political argument because they do not con-
form co Mexican national customs and interests.
In the 1920s and 1930s , che Mexican press emphasized that the trade
in narcotics in Mexico's northern states was in che hands o foreign-
ers: Chinese , Americans , and Russians . Vice was being brought in from
abroad. During the Daz Ordaz presidency in the 1960s , an attempt was
made to restrict che importation o films and records that promoted the
hippies' "effeminate decadence ." Daz Ordaz 's crusade against American
pop culture went hand in hand with his repression o a number o middle-
class social movements . More recently , a proposal before Congress sought
to bao the carteen show Beavis and Butthead from Mexican television
Na iion a ls Dirty Linera
131
 because it perverted the nations values, especially as regards proper ado-
duced deep rifts between national versions, une o which sought to pre-
Iescent behavior.
serve the Catholic and Hispanicist traditions, while the other sought to
International business constantly produces national identity because
found nationality squarely on liberal principies, and was fervently anti-
businessmen can be credihly portrayed as furthering foreign or private
Spanish and anticlerical. These two nacional versions even honored two
interesas at the expense of the national community. Also, the exogenous
distinct heroes o independence and two different dates for national in-
material culture o modernization can be perceived as corrupting morais
dependence." Each side accused the other o lack o patriotism and o
or subverting che ruling forms of cultural distinction that can easily be collusion with foreign interests.
nationalized. Thus, the fact that national communities do not successfully
This situation changed with che end o the civil wars that followed the
encompass and control the national economy generates a zone o contact
French intervention (1867), a peace that involved a pragmatic arrange-
that is manifested in an open-ended number of contact frames. In each o
ment between liberal and conservative factions under a universally ac-
these frames, a social actor identifies a producr oran agent as foreign" and
knowledged liberal hegemony. The peace also allowed Mexico to make a
as opposed to the "national" collective interest This way o framing the
concerted effort to galo international respect and to attract foreign invest-
national interest usually advances more particular interests that are un-
ment. This involved dispiaying the individuality o its culture to foreign-
named and fused into the national collective
ers, an aim that was more readily achieved with tequila than with whiskey
and with indigenous buipils before manufactured shirts. Since that time,
Tbe Tension between Tradition and Moderniiy the official construction o tradition necessarily visited certain features o
Mexico's rural and artisan life, not only the pre-Columbian past.
The second type o contact zone arises From the very logic o nationalism
At the same time, the relationship that the state was trying to create
as an ideological construct It is known that , in different ways , nationalism
between tradition and modernity continued to hold. In some cases, the
depends en ideological constructs that tic tradition" to " modernity." This
existence o a "Mexican tradition" made it possible for Mexico to claim a
dependency is necessary because modero nation - states are supposed to be
particular modernity, but it never denied the nation-state's fundamental
vehicles for che modernization o collectivities ( nations ) that are, in their
and eternal aspiration: modernity and modernization.12 Therefore, the
turn , defined in a genealogical relation to a "tradition ."
10 This ideal rela- great official points o pride couid not and still cannot reside principally in
tionship can be precarious , however, especially in the case o weaker
the world called "traditional": the modern must be granted a privileged
nations . When national tradition is perceived to be divorced from or op-
place in the national utopia. Thus, some o the crown jewels o Mexican
posed to modernization , a contact zone emerges.
state nationalism have been President Santa Anna's theater, Emperor
In Mexico, postindependence nationalism appropriated the pre-
Maximilian's boulevards, Don Porfirio's trains, Lzaro Crdenas's national-
Hispanic world in a way analogous to che Furopean appropriation o clas-
ized petroleum industry, Miguel Alemn's Acapulco and the National
sical antiquity, but with a twist . The Aztccs were the forerunners o in-
University campus, Lpez Mateos's National Museum o Anthropology,
dependent Mexico ; the colonial period was a parenthesis that served to
Daz Ordaz's subway and Olympics, and Echeverra's highways, Cancn,
bring Christianity and certain traits o civilization , but it also barbarously
and nationalized industries. O these examples, the National Museum o
degraded the condition o the indigenous peoples . Therefore , in principie,
Anthropology is exemplary in that it combines traditional aesthetics with
the glorification of che pre-Hispanic past did not imply claims en behalf
an avant-garde architecture that relies heavily on state-of-the-art tech-
o che contemporaneous Indians because their habits and condition were
nology. In this formulation, tradition is like the country's spiritual dimen-
seen to be the result o colonial degradation Thus, in the early postinde-
sien, which is incorporated as an aesthetic into a unique modernity that is
pendent era , modernization could readily be made tu trample over indige-
the country's present and, aboye all, its future.
nous traditions without challenging national identity , The same was not
However, Mexico's position as a relativeiy peor country in the inter-
true, however, with respect to che preservation o Catholicism and o a
national order threatened the ideal relationship that nationalism con-
number o che mores o the Spanish colonial worid.
structs between tradition and modernity, making it into a fissure where
Thus, modernization in che tirst half oi che nineteenth century pro-
iones o transnational contact could endanger that very nationalism.

Na tiona 1i s rn s L),r iy Line

Na tton a lism 's Dirty Line,,
132=
= 133=
Touris ts, ti av elers. ucientists and othci inyuuitive foreigners llave gen-
111,11 sector, and ver rhe states ca-
erally tended to roen rowarci thc triditiona
pacity tu get visitors to apprcc rat, che allegeel conneetion hetween che
tradicional and che niodern has a lseavs bcen lim,tu el . For example El te
Lolov describes thc history c,l iht hippie movement in Mexico as a case ol
cultural producrion in thu curnt, i ot transnational communication.
Antong his sources Zolov cites tire PI [r> Guie to Alexico travel guide,
which llegan to be publishcd in che 19(,0, espeeielly for eountereultural
tourists. In its hcvdav, Chis hool: served t, oricnt die hippie ro counter-
cultural pilgi image centers and to nvaid Indico with otficial Mexico. In a
passage dedicated to the problems that hippies suffer when they cross the
border, for example, the guide points out thar, tu beat che system, "we
look like sniall town teachers or collcge students from che early Sixties
[when we cross] - . The bordee ofhcials lave it""
In Chis case, che foreign visiror is disguising herself as rhe Mexican gov-
ernments ideal of an American visitoi a clean-cut student or teacher eager
ro visir the Mexico that the government was interested in exhibiting.
Once Chis tourist crossed rhe bordee, however, she presumably removed
her bra, put che beads back un. and ibera moved across the national terri-
rory with greater interest in Mexic is "hackward" arcas and more suspicion
o as "progressive" sector than was desirable.
The contact frames that tomism and scienrific srudy open up between
che traditional and modero worlds had their first problematic moments
long before thc hippie movement. The U.S. and European travelers who
carne to Mexico in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s frequently felt more at-
tracted to che rural, indigenous world than ro che modern, urban one,
which generally was less modern than their own cides. However, at that
time che attraction that rhe foreign intellectual felt for the indigenous
world went hand in hand with rhe states own renewed interest in identify-
ing with that world- rhe Mexican Revolution had reconfigured the ties be-
tween che indigenous and modern worlds in some respects. Also, even
many ofhcial Mexican indigenistas ot rhe penad trequently sought inspira-
tren for che modern in the indigenous. '' On che other hand, as che revolu-
tionary order hecame more routinized and Mexico entered a modernizing
era with ever more tenuous tres tu rhe agrarian and popular world o the
revolution, the relationship with che traditional world became more pro-
pagandistic, and foreign visitors' and intellectuals' lack o interest in mod-
crn Mexico could become irritating.
The counterculrural hippie movement was rhe niost conflictive mo-
ment in tire recent history of chis contad zone because it coincided with a
.A' D L ri en Na
13-1
phase of national development spurred by a strong, closed state that want-
ed ro transform che country's position on rhe international scene While
President Daz Ordaz sought tu show che world a Mexico that was ca-
pable oi hosting che Olympics-a Mexico with a recently inaugurated
subway system, an Olympic village built expressly tor rhe event. and an
architecturally impressive new gym, pool, and sradium-a number of
people who rejected the labor and very idea of progress looked for mush-
rooms in Huauda, walked aromad in peasant sandals and changed che
very image o Mexican youth
The contact zone that inverts che hierarchy o tradiniion and modernity
also touches the history of anrhropology. This discipline's fieldwork
methodology made middle- and upper-class Mexicans and foreigners privi-
lege che peasant over che local schoolteacher or the village merchant.
Anchropological fieldwork gave cultural authority lo people who in their
own regions had been disdained or even silenced for their supposed back-
wardness, a practice that world be repeated and reinforced by travelers
who were attracted to Mexico's indigenous people and peasantry.
The search for the aurhentic, in both science and travel, sometimes in-
verted che scale o prestige; by showing little interest in Mexicos modero
sector, travelers interested in authenticity exposed its lack o distinctive-
ness. The sector that was paraded internally as che vanguard and latest cry
o modernity was oid hat to che foreigner. By revealing rhat the country
was not on the cutting edge o modernity and by nonetheless exalting its
traditional sector, foreign visitors and scientists could destabilize the ideal
relationship between tradition and modernity that is so essential to all na-
tionalism. Thus foreigners in che traditional world generare a contact zone
that produces nationalist reactions.
The famous educator Jos Vasconcelos discussed the politics o chis
contact zone in his autobiography, in which he describes his childhood on
che Mexico-U.S. bordee. Vasconcelos recounts that, as a Mexican child
who crossed roto che United States every day to go lo school, he was im-
pressed by the fact that che U.S. school textbooks shared his sympathy
with Mexican Indians and rejected che Spaniards. As an adult, however,
Vasconcelos viewed che love that Americans professed for the Mexican
Indian as a thinly veiled desire to replace che Mexican Creole with an
American. By denying che ties between Mexico's modernizing elite and its
indigenous traditions, che country was defenseless against U.S. imperial-
ism." Other active agents in this contact zone do not necessarily seek tu
strengthen an imperial center against Mexico's government and officiai
clon e l sm'c Di riy Lineo
= 135 =
 culture. However, these agents can create doubts about che government's
takes material form and can be displayed to insiders and outsiders; that is,
effleaey or even che legitimacy of its modernizing goals.
states seek to create a "front stage" (public) image characterized by an
ideal combination o modero and traditional components. They usually
The Disorder of Modernization seek to show a booming country that marches inexorably toward progress
and modernity.
Modernization as we have seen repeacedly. is critica) to che legitimation o
However, the very creation o this public image leaves disorder in its
che nacional state. When modernizarion desrroys an aspect o the status quo
wake: che history of tourism is che supreme example o chis. In Mexico,
that can be claimed as a nacional tradition, a contact zone emerges in which
Cuernavaca was probably che first modero tourist destination, developed
che modernizing agent is assimilated wirh foreignness." When traditional
during che 1920s and 1930s. Cuernavaca's main attraction was its stupen-
sectors o the country are portrayed by foreigners as more accomplished
dous climate, its proximity to Mexico City, and che fact that both the na-
than the modern sector, or as being in an unhealthy competition with it, a tion's jefe supremo, Don Plutarco Elas Calles, and the U.S. ambassador,
contact zone emerges- There is yet a third related source o nacional iden-
Dwight Morrow, built residentes there. This attracted both che Mexican
tity production, which is the entropy of modernization. Our third type o
political class and an important contingent o American retirees. In addi-
contaet zone is generated by the difficulties that nationalists face when the
tion to che climate was che Casino de la Selva, which offered distractions
disorder that is produced by modernization is exposed. In order to under-
to tourists who might otherwise get bored by che quaint and che pictur-
stand che contours o chis contaet zone, wc need to review che place that
esque. However, che casino was also seen as a bad influence en che popu-
modernizing projeccs have in che cultural production o che state.
lation, presenting an undesirable image o Mexico as a place where for-
The culture that states produce has diverse purposes. On one hand is
eigners could shed che moral strictures they faced in their own countries.
what Arjun Appadurai has called the "ethnographic state."1e This is che
Reflecting on chis, Presiden[ Lzaro Crdenas judged that che casino cre-
form o state cultural production that describes che national population-
ated undesirable frames o contaet a form o tourism based on che promo-
which is che alleged subject o che state--by manufacturing censuses, tion o public vices.
questionnaires, histories, and statstics. Alongside the ethnographic state
The "ugly" side of tourism is not easy to mor out, however, and around
is che "modernizing state"-the form of nificial cultural production that
tourist centers che differences between foreign tourists and national work-
seeks to ]ay out the task o development Once "che population" is de-
ers in terms o their consumption and purchasing power became apparent.
scribed, che ethnographic state's scales and measures serve to define lacks
Therefore, beginning wirh Acapulco and continuing wirh Cancn, Ixtapa,
or scarcities such as "poverty,"'illiteracy," and "unhealthy conditions," as
and others, che cides constructed for tourism are "twin cities": a "front
well as a series of growth- and progress-oriented measures that define the
stage" coas[ and hotel zone is exposed to rhe tourist, and "backstage"
efficacy o governments.'7
zones combine poverty, prostitution, and so on. This relationship be-
Together wirh these two aspeccs of state cultural production is a third,
tween che presentable side and its hidden consequences makes a number
which is che production o che councrys image for both international and
o politically volatile frames o contact possible. For example, in her work
domestic consumption. This includes cultural production for attracting
on prostitution in Mexico City during che 1920s and 1930s, Katherine
tourism, internacional sports events, international congresses, national
Bliss describes che discussion that took place in che capital eity govern-
museums, television scations, and schools- All institutions that are present-
ment about che creation o a red-light district near the La Merced market.
ad as national dedicate at leas[ come effort to shaping or conforming to
The neighbors organized to protest against che project. Among their ar-
che national image. A fundamental difficulty for Chis third aspect o state
guments was that the red-light district should not be authorized because it
cultural production is that the national image is not at al] easy to manage.
would be located on che mute between the Mexico City internacional air-
Erving Goffman's cheacrical mecaphor of ' front stage" and `backstage`
port and downtown, and so would be one o che first images that visitors
describes che relationship between a subject's public presentation and would have o che city.'v
what he or she wants to hiele or proteet_18 -1-he state production of nation-
In the lame way that a housewife fries to make sure that her visitors
alism seeks to construct spaces where che official image o che national
stay in che parlor and do not see che mess in che bedrooms or kitchen, che

N a t i o n a L: m U: r y Linee
National ; s nl 's Dirty Linera
13Fi =
137 =
goventnrent. tuurist adoso \. and a yund number ol patriots seek tu dis-
play an mergo of urdo and clc:uil.ness to lcrvigncrs, and the strain in -
volved in riese etlorts easilV turras ini, a peliucal iiahiliiv. In a 191(1 essay
orlad I.os dos patriousmns 1ic i r') patnoti>msi. Luis Cabrera, who
svould he one c,d the principal idcr...,gucs ^l tic ,Mexican Revolution, de-
scribed bote tic Purlirian elite ccrganized a spcctaeular celebiation of the
independence centennial tor tire bunetit mainly o toreign investors. The
tesdvities wcrc so concemad w.th managin tic national image thai when
a ragged group o( women s.orkeis orgamzed ihcirown eelebratory mareh,
it was brutally dispersad be the police. fhc natumal image is diftlcult ro
control, not only because it is difficult to keep the ragged workers from
the view o the investors, but also because rhe very occasion of a national
show is a tempting occasion for union leaders tu display them. A better-
known exampie o a similar polirical conrext is the violente o the Mexican
'68, which was ried to upholding rhe national image during rhe Olympics.
Indeed, President Daz Ordaz and ihe antisrudent social sectors spoke in-
sistently of evil foreign infiuences that goaded rhe innocent Mexican stu-
dent: only a foreigner would seek to sully Nlexicos public image before
rhe world
Other cases, such as the bordee cides oi norrhern Mexico, present the
lame probleni in a more toutinc fashion- These cities are all part of
bicephalous urban sets often calied "twins," though if they are twins they
are clearly of rhe fraternal kind, because, even though they develop in tan-
dem with one another, they are not ideorical one par o the urban zone is
located in the United States and rhe other in Mexico. The relationship be-
tween rhe Mexican and U5. parts of the urban border zone has not been
symmetrical, but rather symbioric and in many senses rhe cides en the
Mexican side have generally been a "backstage" for rhe U.S. cides. The
Mexican border town's prosperity has depended en abortion clinies, di-
vorce lawyers, judges, bars, prostitutas, sweatshops, garbage dumps, and
so ora. The fact that Mexican cides constirute the backstage o U.S. cities
threatens nationalism's fou idational credo: nioderniry is for the nation's
own benefit and not for foreign outsiders.
The Trames of contact created he the entropy of modernization can
generare extreme nationalist reacrions. 'l la was rhe case in Cuba, where
rhe image of Havana as a brothd seas ara important morivation for many
revoludonaries to risa against die Batista regime. In rhe case o Mexico's
northern border, rhe very conLept u( a border zone," whieh for many
years occupied a marginal position tr'ith res peer to the rest o rhe country,
was supposed to resolve the contradictions of this contact zonc. The in-
habitants of that liminal zonc wcrc said tu have a dubious sense o belong-
ing or even ot loyalty to tic country, a faer that was reflected in their
impuro pocho language zoor- suit clothing, and other marks of cultural ini-
purity Controlling rhe "border zone" proved to he impossible for rhe
.Mexican govern ni ent. however and the incorpora tico ot ever-greater pro-
portions ot Mexico into rhe backstage" of US economic interests has
been an inexorable process. Peasant villages from al] over the country
have been turned into rhe seasonal equivalent of dormitory com mun ities
whose inhahitants traed to work in inferior conditions. as 'illegal mi-
grants,' in the United States, while rnagtiiladora assembly plants can now
set up shop un any porrion ol rhe territory Cultural impurity can no
longer be contained at tic border, and the dark sido of modernization is
harderto hide than ever.
The Scientific Horizon as a Contad Frante
The final type o contact exists because nation-states are supposed to
march togetber toward progress Without this ideal, there would be no ob-
session with national history, because modero history as we know it is
only understood in tercos of rhe dogma o progress. The universal impor-
tance that al] nation-states atcribute to progress implies that there is al-
ways a civilizing horizon or vanguard o progress on the international
level. This civilizing horizon is identified in tercos o technological devel-
opment, scientific advances, and rhe techniques used to govern the popu-
lation. The civilizing horizon serves tu measure a country's individual
progress as well as different countries' relative progress The parameters
used tend to be produced in countries with robust cultural and scientific
infrastructures. Therefore, science, art, and fashion can destabilize the na-
tion's dominant models.
The recent work o Alexandra Stern en Mexican eugenics provides a
good example o the ways in which scientific development constitutes
a zone o contact.20 Between 1920 and 1950, a number o medical doctors
and anthropologists participated in international eugenics congresses,
read international journals in that discipline, and formulated ideas about
the Mexican racial and genetic inheritance. Their work served two ends:
un rhe one hand, it strengthened the "mestizophilic" Mexican Revolution's
antiracist argumenta; ora rhe other hand, it tended to characterize Mexico's
various poor populations (from rural Indians to urban workers) as compara-
tively dehcient. Eugenics' racial relativism (each race was supposed to be
adapted to a specific environment and so was in some respects superior,
N a l i o , i a li> ni , Uir1y Linen
139 =
 and in others inferior, to the restl and its simultaneous characterization of
or interna] political facuonalism that can profit from assimilating economic
the Mexican majority in terms of a series of relative lacks offered hope for
competitors to foreignness.
eventual equality between Mexico and European peoples. It also offered
The second and third types of contact zones are produced by the diffi-
ample justification for a kind o "interna] colonialism" Eugenics offered a
culties that weak nations Nave in managing the national image. The sec-
way to objecrify and quantify dilterences between poor Mexicans and
ond emerges as a result o the comparative weakness o these nation's
ideal nornis represented by clic elite This in turra permitted the state's de-
modern sector. This situation al]ows foreigners or opponents to the domi-
velopment mission to be detined, while clic peor national majority could
nant nationalist scheme to attribute greater value to the "backward" than
remain scientifically deva]ued. Ar rhe same time, the potential uses o race
to che "modern" sector, and even to portray che modero sector as antago-
science to undercut che imagined potential of Mexico's "halfbreed" race is
nistic to tradition, and therefore as failing to develop a trae or successful
well known and was always a potential liabi]ity for the nationalists.
nationalism. The third type o contact zones emerges as a result o the dif-
The introduction o new ideas and theories ahvays presents challenges
ficulty that these same governments face in controlling clic modernization
and opportunities to governments and Yo processes o national identity
process, and in successfully sweeping the adverse aspects o moderniza-
formation. The ideas o "scientihc socialism" allowed opposition move-
tion under the carpet.
ments like the guerrilla movenient led by Genaro Vzquez in southern
The fourth type o contact zone is produced by the instability that is
Mexico in clic 1960s to refer ro die Mexican governnient as the "dis-
generated by che (international) civilizing horizon. This contact zone,
government' and to propose a series of demands to che state in name not
which is produced through che mediation o scientists, professionals, and
on]y o Marx and Lenin, but also in that o thc heroes o national indepen-
artists, can destabilize the national image by portraying it as old-fashioned
dence. The monetarist ideas o clic Chicago school o economics allowed
and out o tune with modernization. Conversely, nationalists can try to re-
a group o technicians ro take control of che Mexican state, accuse the
ject a deve]opment in these fields by portraying it as alien to che national
previous governing elite o backwardness, and describe the Mexican state
interest, to che national aesthetic, or to custom, Like each o the other
as "obese." The scientific ideas of Darwin Freud, and Marx were at the
contact zones, this fourth type lends itself to shrewd political usage and
center o a schism in the Mexican educacional establishment in che 1920s
can respond equally to interna] factionalism and to important changes
and 1930s, and they were used tu rethink nationality. The Lamarckian
emerging from abroad.
notion that acquired characrerisrics are inherited Ied some members o the
1 have extended Mary Louise Pratt's term contact zone to refer to trans-
Porfirian elite ro advoeate an aggressive policy of European immigration
nacional spaces o national identity formation." As we have seen, however,
before reforming che Indian rhrough education.
the concept o "zone" implies a geography o regions: a zone is a kind o
Each o these movements has liad implications for national identity
place within a system o functionally related places. What position do
and the precepts of nationalism_ The scientific contact frame produced by
these contact zones occupy in a broader geographyz The Trames o con-
the international civilizing horizon destabilizes dominant formulas o
tact that we have analyzed are relationships that emerge from che tension
nationality and good government, it presents growth opportunities for
between che nation-state as a certain type o political and cultural commu-
certain sectors and threatens others.
nity and the fact that modernization neither begins nor ends in such a
community. This fact is problematic for nationalism because nation-states
Reflections ora the Four Types of Coni acl Zoiies are erected as forms o social organization for coordinating moderniza-
tion: zones o contact with che rransnational dimension o capitalism and
1 have identified four types o contact zones AII are related to the nexos
progress can therefore cali roto question sorne o che basic precepts o any
between modernization and nationalism as it develops in weak or periph-
particular nationalism. Moreover, che very process o shaping and extend-
eral nations . In che first case, there is a contact zone created by the in-
ing nationalism opens a country up to foreign interesas and forms o con-
stances in which foreign business concerns or imports unsettle local ar-
sumption that can undermine che nationalism that made room for them.
rangements or mores , This is a zone that may appear whenever there are
This is the case with frames o contact that open up because o the rela-
technological innovations , changes in che inrensity of foreign investment,
tionship that nationalism postulares between tradition and modernity. This

A'a ti ona l., m , Di r;y Li raen

Na t,o,a1,sm 's Dirty Line
140
141 =

rel aci onship rxisted becau,c co, h t ountrv tones part of in interna ti onal
avstem antl sn must inain a sensc ('1 ,pccilit it, tAlorcover, in che case ot
poste olonial ur b ckwartI c ountrics nacional mingo)ante is ni ore readily
builc out of their tndittonai ^ tuna thar their modera sector,. In che
Mexican case it has proved ca,ier ttu t unstn.ct a nacional singularity on the
oasis of pulque ol k dancing wov en or;tpc. and bce1 tacos than on the hasis o
whiskey, rock rol], tuxedos and French aiisine even when the latter may
alto be local producs At the sanie ti;ne thc dencificatlon of che nations
sutil with che traditional world and its bode seith che macicen world is an un-
stable formularon because cho seorld callctl traditional" persists as under-
devclopment and in a series of relationships of domination that are gener-
ally understood te) be continuotis with colonial domination. Foreigners
pursue their own relationships witIi those modcrn and traditional worlds,
creating a zone of contact that can challenge nationalist narratives.
In addition, 1 showed that the scenic prescntation o national achieve-
nients mobilizes resources that can Ti tara spoil the presentation. Just as
Brasilia, the model city of Brazilian modernity, provided the material con-
ditions for che growth of shantytowns that could never enibody che
supreme rationality of nationality, so were al] che great tourist projects and
grand international macroprojccts boro with their own dirty twins, On
che other hand, even che most avant-gardc example o national modernity
ages , thus creating new challenges to national identity and the state.22
In each o trese cases, contact tones frame relationships in which che
logic of national development clashes with che transttational logic o mod-
ernization, and they exist because che production and consumption o
commodities is a transnational process, because people can cross national
borders for work or recreation, and because there is an international hori-
zon o scientific and technological progress. Therefore, contact zones are
border arcas between the logic o the nation-state and capitalist progress
that exist within che national space.
Condusion
1 conclude with some thoughts on che iniplications that diese Trames o
contact have for che construction of interna] frontiers between social
groups in che national framework. It is clear enough that frames o contact
created by commercial and tourist relationships, labor migration, and sci-
entific and artistic production produce instabiIity in che interna] forms o
social distincrion. This instability is rcilecccd both in fashion cycles and in
the reeonfiguration and reproduction of social classes.
I)uity Lite,;
Nntiun.i Ii t Si
142 =
For example, when che Mexican state assigned iisclf clic task o mod-
cinizing, national elites unniediately took on thc cosinopolitan role par
excellence they were clic Quicial agcnts o forcign contact hecause their
patriotism, their resourccs and their educated tate gave them greater
access te thc civilizing honzun. 11111, clic comprador elites" o Mexicos
nineteenth ccntury inhabited a contact zone that ideally served to dis-
criminare hetween the aspccts o modernity that were desirable and those
that were undesirable co che naton_ l heir maturity and special role gave
them license to fashions and affectations that thcy would then try to bar
from general consumptton in their countries C )nly a strong cultural elite
could design the ticket that a weak and backward country needed to be
allowed into the "concert of nations"
However, Mexican elites have not aIways been able to maintain a privi-
leged position in the arca o foreign contacts. The migrant who manages
to become the owner o an auto-repair shop in Los Angeles can return to
bis village with more money, prestige, and knowIedge o the modero than
che old political boss there. An Indian from Zinacantn, Chiapas, may
converse more extensively and gain more information from an American
anthropologist than the mestizo rancher who oppresses him. Moreover,
the spectacular growth o the middle class in che second half o the twen-
tieth century also made che political brokerage o the "civilizing horizon"
increasingly difficult to sustain. Thus, neither che government nor the po-
litical claes has full control over the national image.
Here, it seems to me, is a key to understanding the interna) dynamic o
the frontiers o social distinction, and even o violente. A social move-
ment that can cast doubts en che national image may become the object
o state violence. At times, violente explodes when a group whose mem-
bers had been designated as part o che nation's traditional residue prefers
to shape its own separate political community and paths to progress.
Violente also erupts when che state insists on controlling spaces where
there is little possibility of establishing the ideal order in a permanent
fashion but where the ideal order must nonetheless be asserted. This is the
case o violence against itinerant commerce or against Ilegal housing set-
tlements. It is also occasionally deployed against social movements that
governments cannot assimilate as properly national because they conspire
against the country's public image. This is the case o much o che repres-
sion against youth subcultures.
We cannot conclude from these examples, however, that patrolling the
national image is only che contera o the government, o political classes,
or o other elites, for these sanre contact zones are also used to denounce
Nn oci a alisen ', 1)irty Linera
143 =
 sectors o these very elites as strangers to the national community. Thus,
elite-directed attempts to change mores and social practice can be targeted
and ridiculed as Americanized, Francophile, Jewish, or Oriental. Attempts
to professionalize che state bureaucracy have ar times been portrayed as
"technocratic" reforms, and therefore as Aniericanizing. Criticism o new
forms of consumption, such as lasr-food chains or brand fetishism, are
7
other common examples.
On the political plane, rhe Porfirian cultural elite, the cientficos who had
such a key historical role in shaping Mexico's nacional image, was por-
trayed by Mexico's revolutionaries as foreign. Marxist parties during the
Cold War portrayed the Mexican government as a pawn o US. interests,
Harvard-trained President Carlos Salinas was often compared to the
national traitor Santa Anna alter che tal o che peso in 1995. These denun-
ciations are thus used both in che construction o difference and in the
organization of political opposition_
Ritual , Rumor, and Corruption
Nation builders try to fashion che national image the same way that
people build a house. Starting with che most modero materials and designs
at their disposal, they want to have diverse, functionally and hierarchical- in the Formation of Mexican Polities
ly organized interior spaces, including spaces for exhibition to whoever
comes in from outside AII this is ideally governed by the political equiva-
lent o a paterfamilias who seeks rhe entire lamily's orderly modernization
This chapter provides a perspective en the connections between ritual and
and regulares contacts between his home and the outside world, However,
polity in Mexico. Evidently, constructing even the roughest map o this
national architecture and space do not have che stability o a house and
relationship is a daunting task, both empirically and conceptually. Never-
che government lacks a patriarch's security because the nation's internal
theless, as che number o historical and anthropological studies o ritual
order is always warped by transfcrmations in the conditions o pro-
and politics grows, so roo does the peed to construct various organizing
duction, consumption, and communication Therefore, nationalism's dirty
perspectives.' 1 shall propuse such a vantage point here by exploring the
finen can be exposed by the exploited stepdaughter, the disinherited son,
historical connections between various sorts o rituals and che devel-
or che affronted mother if there is a window-a contact frame-that per-
opment o a nationally articulated public sphere. My ultimate goal is to
mits them to do so. This relative openness and permeability o national
clarify the connection between political ritual and che constitution of po-
space becomes a dynamic facror in che production o fashions and distinc-
litical communities in che national space.
tions, but iris also the roor o xenophuhia and violente.
In order to carry out chis aim, 1 propuse a fine o historical and spatial
inquiry that is driven by a set o methodological and theoretical innova-
tions that may be summarized as follows, First, 1 hypothesize a complex
relationship between che existente o aneas o free political discussion and
the centrality o political ritual as an arena where political decisions are
negotiated and enacted. At any given local level, the relationship between
public discussion and ritual is negative: ritual substitutes for discussion and
vice versa. However, when une sees the relationship in an integrated
national space, che relationship can be complementary: localized political
rituals become che stuff from which a (restricted) nationally relevant public
Naiionnli^u , Diriy Line
144 =
145 =
sphere dcnves t6 legitimar ^ Sea ond. 1 p i ipocc a few chava, teristi es of the
gcographs ot public sphcies 'in tht plural cmphasizing thc fact that
ci vic discussion in Mesico has br cu sepincntcd along class and regional
mes. and that thc sonso idation 'a: national puhlic opinion has always
hcen an pruhlcmati<- aran r. fhiid 1 post ibat thc ucaoon ot a nacional
puhlic sphcrc in dhis spatially scgmcnied liuld ot opinion and discussion
nvnlvcs creating mechanisms ior piivilcgcd iiucipretations ot a dtffuse
popular v ill 1 therciorc cxplorc thr relatr'nship hetwecn political ritual,
rumor and thc di amati_ation ui :ntcrests 1inally, 1 argue that
there is a general iclationship betsrcc n politieal ritual and localized appro-
priations ol state institutions (cunruptiuii Che expansion o state institu-
tions is historically linked to thc contlicting dcmands o antagonistic local
groups, a factor that strengthens the importanee of ritual, o festivities,
and of the redistrihutive actions that are associated with them. As a result,
there is a connection between loo ring the bill of these rituals and the ways
in which state instl tutions are appropriated The ineeption and growth o
state institutions involves the production uf ritual, so the patrons o these
rituals have a degree o control over thc local branches of those institutions,
Locating Public Spberes
Fran4ois Xavier Guerra has painred a portrait of Mexico's nineteenth cen-
rury in which he maintains that Mexico's tradicional political and social or-
ganization was leh without a political ideology and program to support it
alter independence- Without the monarchy, the nation's regions, its politi-
cal bosses and clients, its corporate indigenous communities, hacendados,
and retainers had to create or accommodate to a system o political repre-
sentation that was in theory based on equal individual rights.2
Thus an idealized national community was shaped by an elite made up
o military leaders, hacendados, miners, merchants, and intellectuals whose
discussions occurred in insti tutional forums provided by Freemasonry, by
che development o a commercial press, by a few urban literary and scien-
tific institutes, and in salons and social gatherings (tertulias)- This elite was
the national public opinion that mattered, and its ideas and ideals were
formally nationalized in institutions such as Congress, the supreme court,
and the national presidency
As a resulr, there was considerable distante betwecn what oceurred in
the national public sphere that was shaped by the opinion o these men o
substance and the way in which popular intereso were actually interpreted
and dealt with by thc government. For example, Porhrio Daz maintained
Ri we1, I^u mc a 3J t or, upiion
.t =
a remarkable , continuous , prvate correspondence with all of Iris governors
and some jefes polticas and local notables In this corres pondenee, regional
issues were frankly discussed , instructions were received, and suggestions
were provided _ Governo rs would in their tu rn , ineet with representatives
of what Guerra calls the principal collective actors of their regions rep-
resentatives of villages , jefes poi lcos, heads o elite families of hacendados,
merchants , and miners , and they would engage in closed - door discussions
that paralleled those that had been carried out with Daz . Finally, these
leaders would institute the new policies-
Thus, public opinion seas constructed almost exclusively by elites, and
there was no open nacional or regional forum for civic discussion during
the porfiriato (or, a fortiori , in any o the previous regimes ). On the other
hand, the various collective actors whose leaders were hrought together in
closed-door discussions also had their own local forms and forums o com-
munication , some o which involved free public discussion and some o
which did not , and the criterio o inclusion in these foroms were also di-
verse and not always hased en citizenship . This is why it is necessary to
speak o public spberes ( in the plural).
Overview of Mexican Public Spberes
Mexican cities in the preindustrial age had as their main collective actors
local urban elites (merchants, miners, hacendados, church authorities,
civil and military authorities), artisanal guilds, and petty merchants, Indian
community members, andan urban rabble that at times acted collectively
but had no official corporate status , In rural arcas , major relevant collec-
tive actors for Chis early period included textile workers and miners, in-
habitants o haciendas and o ranches, and inhabitants of peasant commu-
nities. Most o these collectivities were organized in the religious plane in
cofradas (sodalities for the cult o saints) and were also visible as collectivi-
ties in the period's best-attended events, such as bullfights, the entrada o a
viceroy, archbishop, alcalde mayor, or priest, or major religious festivities.3
Participation in these cofradas provided occasions to discuss the inter-
nar affairs o the collective actors. This is probably the cause of the occa-
sional conflicts that emerged between local authorities and slave and black
cofradas, and o colonial regulations regarding the place and time when
these brotherhoods could meet-4 The organization around the cult o each
collective actor's patron saint also allowed discussion and expression o
collective interests within each of those groups.
Colonial society offered no political arena in which discussions could
Ritual, Rumor , and Corrup lion
147
 be publicized and broadened, so each group depended on the crown's jus-
equals. Instead, information and opinions are weighed by powerful family
tice. Direct arbitration, added to investiigative political reporting (climax- members who make up their minds and impose their decisions.
ing in the famous visitas), was crucial- Newspapers, which were introduced
Of the main agrarian collective actors (hacienda and ranch dwellers,
in the 1720s, did not become a Iorum for public discussion until the late mine and obraje textile workers, and peasant communities), only peasant
eighteenth century, and then discussions were limited to scientific and villages developed institutionalized local public spheres. Unions were
technical questions. For the most par, newspapers provided short infor-
prohibited in haciendas, factories, and mines, and the fact that hacienda
mation briefs en the ritual life of che city, glorifying the political life of the
workers often lived en the land of the owners limited upen discussion be-
colony (for years, each issue of the Gaceta de Mxico began with a short
tween members of those collectivities. Instead, discussion was informal,
biographical note on a past viccroy or archbishop), and occasionally an- with no forum to focos collectively en a single issue and to sound out a
nouncing major international events (battles won in Europe, ships coming
collective will. Dsscussion among equals operated as rumor, while public
in and out of Veracruz and Acapulco) -
lile was dominated by ritual and by centrally controlled forms of publicity.
In short, collectivities were represented in the ritual life of the king-
In most peasant communities, in contrast, we have both a ritualized
dom but their problems were not examined in a national forum of public
display of community and a public sphere based en discussion and delib-
opinion. Instead, collectivities relied on the crown's justice and en its re-
eration. This public sphere has had various forms, with institutions such as
spect for acquired and traditional rights and prerogatives (usos y costumbres) town meetings, meetings of thejuntas de mejoras, the Lion's Club, or the aso-
or, at best, on some discussion and debate of these rights in the town ciaciones de padres de familia serving as forums of discussion. Discrimination
council.
by sex in these forums vares and has received little systematic attention
Each of these corporate groups was nade up of networks of families, from either anthropologists or historians7 Although my impression is that
friends, neighbors, patrons, clienu, and allies. These networks have gen-
they are usually dominated by men, there is also plenty of female partici-
erally not been characterized in communicative terms by free dialogue
pation, and many key instantes where women are the central players.s But
and discussion.
it must be noted that, in addition to the various community-wide fomms,
Elite families, for example, have been known to gather hundreds of
there are sex-specific forums of discussion and debate, including paradig-
members in family rituals and to construct complex webs of communiea-
matic forums such as the cantina (bar) for men and the water well or the
tion within these large groups. Yet, most uf these familia) decisions and washing arca (lavadero) for wornen, and these should alert us to the need to
debates could not be raid to occur democratically because members do
describe the gendered spaces of discussion and their interconnections in
not confer in an unrestricted fashion. lnstead, discussion occurs in a hier- various local contexts,
archical framework: women and men argue in different ways and places,
In sum, the institutional spaces that stand out as having been arenas of
and there are rules of seniority and significant status differentials between
discussion among equals are associated with village or urban life. The bar,
major power holders and weaker family members, who are systematically the well, the village or school association, the cofrada, the Rotaries, or the
inhibited from participating in discussion. Thus there is a rich ritual lile in
town meeting allow for some public discussion that may have been some-
elite families, where che results ot complex negotiations, alliances, and de-
what less limited by the strictures of family authority on one side, and
cisions are displayed, but these do not add up to an "open" forum of public state authority en the other.
discussion, Instead, familia) ritual and communicative practice are more
The articulation of various local forums finto a national public sphere
akin as a decision-making process to what Habermas called "representa-
developed in distinct historical moments: (1) after independence, with the
tive publicity," that is, public representation of the whole en the basis of
constitution of a national public sphere, (2) with the birth of modero in-
hierarchical status, and not as the result of free internal discussions dustry during the porfiriato, (3) with the incorporation of a workers' sector
The same conclusion applies to the typically smaller kindred of peas-
into the reigning party after the revolution, (4) with the emergence of
ants, workers, artisans, and small merchants: we see significant familia)
middle-class professional groups in the mid-twentieth century, (5) with
rituals, strong channels of information, and opinions coming from all mem-
the emergence el an independent union movement (1970s), (6) with the
bers of the family, but only 1imited intrafamil ial discussion by members as
emergence of social movements that do not explicitly represent class

Rl i,,ai, Rumor. and Lovupiian Ritual Rumor , and C o r r u p t o r

1.18 =
149 =
nterests but focos rather on sclcc t, (i ["Lo s such as housing, women,s
rights dctense against developmeni prolects and so un.
Although 1 do not wish to go Inn, cach ^,1 these developments here, a
tew considcratiuns on the tran,f t,nnation of tic public sphere are needed.
1-irst, with ndcpendence, a natiunnlls articulated public sphere emerged
tor the tirst time wnh the commcrcial pies and Congiess as its two maro
torums. This ttansition meant that arbitration troni rhe political center
was no longer rhe only or even ncces,arily the principal, way of arguing
lor rhe rights uf a colle( tive actor In,tead ol mercly eepressing rhe collec-
tivitys inclusion in rhe realm by rcay uf tic malo liestas, riese collectivi-
ties sometimes found their usos y wslinuhres ^ traditional rights) being debat-
cd and changed in rhe new national public sphere, and this without any
local imput_ This was notahly the case of indigenous communities, whose
traditional instirutions carne under aitack almost immediately alter in-
dependence, and who lost most of lucir legal protection in just a few
decades.
Moreover, most o the social actors of rhe period were illiterate and
lacked properry and other chanctcristics liar were deemed central to
being a citizen. Because o this, tic ritualized representation o a national
order continued to be o significance, although liberal governments fought
hard to wrench this system o representation out of the hands o the
church and into those of civil authorities. This process was politieally
painful and was never achieved in its entirety. The difficulty was in part
owing tu rhe fact that the civil framework set up by liberals had no room
for formally recognizing rhe collective actors that were on the scene,
whereas these had previously been acknowledged in rhe organization o
cofradas, in the commemoration of patron saints, and in major religious fi-
estas such as Corpus Christi and Easter.
In other wurds, rhe creation ot a national public sphere, "fictitious"
and highly iniperfect though it was, was a real threat to the traditional
status o collective actors, because it set up an arena where new rules
could be made that affected rhe very toundations of the collectivities in
question. In this respect, the struggle against the clergy in rhe nineteenth
and twentierh centuries takes on special significante, for rhe conflicts
were not only connected to the power of the church as it has usually
been considered (land, wealth, induence through schooling), but they is-
sued, much more subtly, because rhe church had provided spaces o rep-
resentation and political mediation for a series o collectivities. This tan
headlong against the liberal project of creating a national citizenry that
was shaped by individual opinion The ultiniate results o this clash in the
Ritoai. R , .' n d p t
150 =
nineteenth century are we1i knowm a de jure separation o church and
state, and a convulsivo history ol struggle over local rights between vari-
ous classes and communities
The second sign1Ocant c oii idt ratiun on tic tra nslormat ion of rhe pub-
lic sphere concerns ihe toi ination ol a modern proletariat and its historical
connections to the public sphere_ In the mirial phascs of modernization,
the Mexican proletariat found little room for eepression or representation
in government. A proletarian public sphere did emerge, however, around
trade unions and with tic hclp of tic pcnny press, and it produced two
of Mexico's most noteworthy intellectuals, rhe anarchist revolutionary
Ricardo Flores Maltn and rhe artist fos Guadalupe Posada.
In other words, the early srages o modernization-especially in min-
ing and in textiles-saw die constitution o proletarian collective actors
and the articulation o rhe proletariat to the national public sphere, al-
though both o these processes were hindered by state repression, as well
as by low literacy rates and by the many social ties that Mexican workers
Nave with nonproletarian kinsmen and friends.
After the 1910 revolution, such proletarian organizations and voices
found much support from government, which took a leading role in orga-
nizing and coordinating union confederations-first the Confederacin
Regional de Obreros Mexicanos (CROM) and later the Confederacin de
Trabajadores de Mxico (CTM), which still hobbles along today. This
process, however, also led to the formal inclusion o unions in the official
party apparatus, a simation that ultimately weakened that class's interna)
forums o discussion and compromised proletarian inclusion in civic, non-
governmental forums. A comparable process occurred with peasants who,
thanks to the political strings that were attached to land reform, were ef-
fectively incorporated in the state's "masses." Thus we get relatively weak
presente o these two classes in the nationally articulated public sphere.
This meant that riese collectivities maintained arbitrated and ritualized
relationships with rhe state that were in some respects comparable to
those that existed in rhe colonial era, except for rhe fact that rhe state-
through a particularly rich development of nationalist mythology-was
able to wrench most o these ritual functions away from the church.
Among rhe first collective actors to ron headlong against this "neo-
baroque" system were rhe new middle classes. Ricardo Pozas Horcasitas
has described this process in his study o the medical doctors' movement
o early 1960s. These doctors cared little for revolutionary rhetoric. They
had already been trained in a fully modern era, and expected rhe benefits
o modernity without rhe forros o state tutelage that had been imposed
RitualRurn ar and Co r rup tia n
151
 on most peasant and working-class collectivities. They also expected to
tors" and have pointed to their internal forums o discussion and their con-
control their own discussions and to have free access to the press,9
nections to the state through ritual, closed-door discussion and decision
The government showed a distinct unwillingness to open up to these
making, and to the national public sphere. In addition, 1 have given some
new political actors, either by conceding liberties for self-organization or
elements with which to imagine these various collectivities in their re-
by allowing greater freedom o access to media and policymaking. Repres-
gional locations. It is in connection to these factors that a profitable dis-
sion o the emerging middle classes continued throughout the 1960s and
cussion o the place and role o political rituals can take place.
into the early 1970s, after which point the government began to embark
on a series o political reforms that are collectively known as "the tran-
sition to democracy." Political Ritual in National and Regional Space
Middle-class pressures on the Mexican corporate state (movements o
A poignant introduction to the role o ritual in consolidating Mexican
doctors, schoolteachers, students, parents' associations, etc.) grew in tan-
political communities can be found in the early contact period, which was
dem with the development of the new social movements," which were no
a time when the capacity for dialogue between Spaniards and Indians
longer strictly class-based and were not directed toward the control or
was minimal, and powerful interests were vested in maintaining some mis-
redistribution o the benefits o production, but rather centered on the communication between them.' 1
conditions o reproduction: housing, urban services, pollution control,
At that time, a Franciscan friar, Jacobo de Testera, sought to create an
schooling, parks, transportation costs, women's rights, and so on.
atmosphere that was propitious for the rapid conversion o Indians, an
It is important to note, with regard to trese movements, that many o
atmosphere that would not require extensive communication between
them were not new in a strict sense: Castells has described the renters'
Indians and priests. To this end he used a form o pictographic writing in
strike in Veracruz in 1915 as a case in point, and urban riots in the colonial
which icons were to be spoken out in indigenous tongues, while the
and early national period were concerned with issues such as grain priees,
rounds that were thereby emitted approximated those o the Latin ora-
conflicts between church and state, and abuses by priests.10 What is new
tions o the Mass. Through a mock form o reading, Testera put Christian
about the movements beginning in the 1970s is their scale, which reflects
orations in the Indians' mouths: they read out "flag" and "prickly pear"
rhe vertiginous growth o cities, and particularly o Mexico City, the di- (pantli, noxtli), he heard something quite like "Pater noster,"'2 and this mis-
versification o demands on government asan institution responsible for
understanding allowed both parties to participate in a critical communi-
providing an ever-expanding set o services and forms o social protection,
tarian ritual: the Mass. Thus, ata time when there was no bourgeois public
and the fact that, being goal-oriented, these movements sometimes lacked
sphere in Mexico, before the existence o a national language or even o a
mechanisms for defining participants as stable members o collectivities.
coherent project for a national language, rituals were a fundamental arena
This final point means that movements usually jell around leaders and
for constructing political boundaries and relations o domination and sub-
issues and can then decline to such an extent that they define ageneration ordination within the polity,
rather than a collectivity that reproduces through time
Gruzinski has written extensively on the crucial significance o non-
AII o these conditions meant that the "new" social movements had
discursive forms o communication in the conquest and colonization o
enormous potential for widening the base of discussion that made up na-
the Indians. He has shown the centrality o icons in this communicative
tional public opinion, and that they were not easy to incorporate to the
process, and has even spoken o a "war o images" in lieu o public debate.
sectorial apparatus o the official party and the state. The combination o
At the level o images, and especially in ritual, pragmatic accommodations
these variegated pressures, including those from professional and proto-
between participants may occur without any corresponding accom-
professional middle classes and nonincorporated unions and peasant
modation at the leve) o formally stated policy or discourse. This sort o
communities, forced the state to develop new strategies o encompass-
politics-pragmatic accommodation while formally adhering to a discursive
ment and inclusion, as well as to expand forms of access to national public
orthodoxy-has been insistently remarked upon by observers o Mexico,
opinion.
some o whom trace its beginnings to Hernn Corts, whose dictum to
1 have provided a historical overview of Mexico's main "collective ac-
King Charles-"I obey, but 1 do not comply"-has become famous.13

Ritual, Rumor . nnd Corruption

Ritual, Rumar and Corruptio
152 =
= 153 =
 and rumor. Specifically , 1 argue that both ritual and rumor can be seen as
In fact historian Irving 1 ' onan) tclt tila[ Chis was a debning character-
occupying spaces of expression that cannot find other ways into the pub-
,stic ol the dominan[ aesthetic se nsthihtp ol the soalled Baroque era
lic sphere . Ritual can serve as a way of constntcting a high leve ) of region-
roughly 15RU-I?SU,, which wm bascd on regid adhcrencc to a iew basic
al integra tion with unly a nunimum substratum o common culture and,
principies of Catholic dogma ano to tilo apphcation ot wit to embroider-
especial ly , of discussion _ This view leads away Iron' looking at Mexican
ing around thcni" L.ikcwisc, Gntsinsk, argues that clic transition finto the
history as a simple secular process toward democracy and modernity-
Baroquc era ot represemation was eceompanled by an attack en [odiar,
Third, 1 discuss the connections between ritual and corruption . This puint
Icarning, by che decline of che boak among the popular elasses, and its
helps te) clarify che ways in which tire state is locally appropriated and in
utbstirution bv Imagcs that wcrc conventional_"
which a hegemonie order is constiituted-
This protoundly antidialogic t,, [1,1 did nnt dic along with lile Counter-
Retormation_ Nlexicus Fnlightenment and 1'ositivist eras were also eharae-
terized by tilo use of modernity as a rhetoric that departs from everyday Ritual and tbe Expansion of Siate Institutions
practico in civic life.10 Generally spcaking, anthropologists and historians
A good starting point is to explore the relationship between Foucauldian
have recognized that Mexico has a Icgalistic, formulaie tradition that is
institutions (with their techniques o bodily discipline) and rituais that aim
combined with keen political pragmatism, a pragmatism that has often
to construct an image o consensus around a notion o "the people" (el
been compared co Machiavellianism." The flexibility that Mexicans may
pueblo). In a study o the history of patriotic festivals in the state el Puebla
lack at the leve) o formal political discourse and discussion they have in
(1900-46), Mary Kay Vaughn shows that tilo interconnection between
political practice, and these accommodations are enacted in ritual and
schools and festivals passed through two stages: during the porfiriato, festi-
its imagery. Correspondingly, the study o ritual allows us to witness the
vals were organized by the local jefe poltico with the aid o the local elite o
ideological articulations of a sociery that has always been both highly seg-
hacendados, ranchers, and notables. Civic fiestas emphasized the patriotic
mented and systematically misrepresented in formal discourse.
participation o Pueblans especially (May 5-the battle o Puebla-was
In sum, ritual is a critica) arena for che construction o pragmatic politi-
the main celebration). At the sane time, schools catered mainly to the no-
cal accommodations where few open, dialogic forms of communication
table families and, te a lesser extent, to inhabitants o the main cabeceras
and decision making exist. In other words, there is an inverse correlation
(municipal seats), but they decidedly excluded the rural and poor majo rity.'a
between the social importante o political ritual and that o the public
After the revolution, tilo strength o schools was undermined concomi-
sphere. Moreover, one could add a cultmalist argument to this sociologi-
tantly with the strengthening o the agrarian community and the weaken-
cal one. once the Spaniards abandoned al] serious attempts truly to con-
ing o the regional elites. Schoolteachers did not have the coercive power
vince and assimilate Indians into their sociery, certain aesthetic forms were
developed (the colonial versions ol "baroque sensibility"), and these be-
that prerevolutionary jefes polticos once had, so they could not organize
local work parties in support o the school and federal funds were insuffici-
came values that permeated tire socicty deeply, affecting family relations,
forms o etiquette, and other social forms in al] social strata. Thus Mexican
cient, This situation began to turre around in che 1930s through the reviva)
o the patriotic fiesta by the teachers, who now used competitive sports to
ritual and ritualism would have both sociolugical and cultural roots.
draw in a wide constituency. These sporting competitions became a venue
This very general appreciation is merely a starting point, however, for
for local social lile as well as for traditional forms of competition and so-
in order te organize the variegated literature un political ritual and, further-
ciability between villages and barrios. As a result, local agrarian communi-
more, to propuse an agenda for futuro research, we need te arrive ata more
ties vied in getting schools built and provided the badly needed support
precise formulation of the specific soits o political work that ritual does
for their sustenance.
and has done in different regional and historical contexts. 1 focos en three
Hence, perhaps the most fundamental modern institution o discipline
majo poincs here: First, 1 argue that political ritual reflects the dialectics o
and uniformity, the school, spread not so much as a result o state imposi-
opposition and appropriation hctween sute agencies and collectivities.
tion as by its capacity to bridge and reconcile state piares with various
This point leads os away froni a simple opposition between popular and
state ritual- Second, 1 discuss sume of the intcrconnections between ritual
forms o local politics. The school became, in fact, an alternative arena for

Ritual, Rumor , a,,d corruption

Ritual, Rumor . ., n,i i onruption
155
154 =
 giving materiality and visibility to local communities in a way that is analo-
o che church, because schooling Bases movement across che nacional
gous to che role that the church had played in che colonial period, and
space in search for work, and therefore ultimately contributes to weaken-
ritual (the patriotic festival with its attractive sports features) played a
ing che agrarian community. 1 merely suggest that che system o political
central role in che expansion o schoolsjust as che religious fiesta, with its
and cultural representation o the Baroque needs to be taken seriously as a
secular and spiritual attractions, had been central to che earlier expansion
o che church. preceden[ in order to understand che role o political ritual to chis day, and
that Chis is because religious and civic ritual is a key to understanding the
Vaughn provides a valuable clue for understanding che ways in which
expansion o state institutions in Mexico.
che revolutionary state succeeded in taking representational functions
over from che church. In che Porfirian arrangement, schools and patriotic
festivals were mainly organized by and for regional elites, and che church Rumor, Ritual, and the Puhlic Sphere
still provided che broadest arena for che political assertion of eollective
l have argued that throughout Mexican history there have been various
force in its fiestas. It is only alter che revolution, with che decline in the co-
social organizacional forms and collective actors that have nor developed
ercive power o local politicians and che introduction o competitive
the sor[ o open discussion of che classical bourgeois public sphere. This
sports, thar che civic fiesta became a forum in any way comparable to the
does not imply, o course, that communication does nor exist within these
church fiesta, and, interescingly it is only at chis point that oral school-
groups, or that they are incapable o arriving at eollective agreements or
teaehers mustered the local supporr they needed to really expand che
o representing [hese agreements in public. It means simply that public
school system with the tight budgets that they have always had.'o
sentiment is formed in communicative contexts other [han [hose o an
In other words, state institutions cxpand in a fashion that is dependent
open dialogue between equal citizens.
on che local, regional, and nacional politics o culture. The institutions
Hierarchical organizations such as landholding families, haciendas, or
that creare an idea o simulcaneous nacional development are also con-
factories do nor have free interna) discussion, nor can their individual
strained by che various local cultural and political (orces.
members always participare in che formation o national public opinion
The results o this situacion have varied historically as che force o
because they have usually had restricred access to the media. For che
modero institutions has grown, but ovcrall they may be synthesized as fol-
members o these subaltern groups, opinion is formed in che sor[ o con-
lows: in Mexico, public opinion and nacional sentiment still have public
cext that Erving Goffman has called a "backstage": in che kitchen, io the
popular ritual as a critica[ forum, and che leveling media o che bourgeois
washroom, while bending down to plant or pick, in che marketplace, or in
public sphere (newspapers, television, Congress) have generally been
che anonymity o a crowd.
used as a cool for providing a discursive interpretation and solution to the
ritual manifestations o "popular wilL"
These are the spaces where information flows. Because they are "back-
stage," they are typically seco as subversive o official truths as well as o
Evidently, Chis situation had been intermingled with che lack o a for-
the national public sphere, and they are correspondingly feminized. Thus,
mal democracy in Mexico, but it would be a mistake to attribute Chis lack
in Mexico, "frank," "open" talk at public meetings is often contrasted to
o democracy exclusively to a dictatorial imposition from che presidency:
"washerwoman' s gossip" (chismes de lavadero o de asotea), and political dialogue
authoricarianism is the product of complex interconnections between
is characterized as "manly" (direct, open, rational ), whereas rumor is cow-
various local, national, and international forces. Moreover, there devel-
ardly (it occurs behind one's back), it is 'women's talk" (chisme de viejas).
oped a culture o accommodation to [hese circumstances, including well-
This form o mapping gender onto che frontstage/backstage relation-
established forms for expressing political demands, for interpreting them,
and for resolving them ship between public spheres and che multistranded currents of rumor can
be understood as a ploy for undermining che validity o rumor and it
This does nor mean, however, that che role o political ritual has re-
should not be taken as a de facto correspondence between a feminine/
mained constan[ in Mexico since che Baroque era, Nor does it imply a
masculine dichotomy and public sphere/rumor. The same rumors that are
simple substitvtion o church ritual by state ritual The extension o schools
feminized and called "washerwomen's gossip" one day can be hailed as che
has long-term effeces on che local community that are distincc from chose
egregious "sentiments o che nation" che next day. Moreover, backstage

Riturt 1, liu mor, a,i Corruptfon

Ritunl, Rumor, and C orruption
156=
157
 identi fication of a movement with "the people," and as such its demands
c ommunication i s 1111[ a prer'ogative nt wumen. just as niany women en-
can he put forward in a clearer way to che public and che specter o co-
gage in public speaking-
optatiou of a specific leader ur of a small co nsti tuency dimi nishes. The use
It is useful to think o rumor a, Inllnwing rhe negativo mold of rhe vari-
of niasks is a Brechtian son ol strategy, ellacing rhe individual and stress-
uus public spheres that hace (10011 dostusscd AVherevei civic discussion
ing che social persona by rclyi ng >ir imagos denved from the mass media
and open argument are precludcd bv thc a,ymmetries o power, alterna-
This is entnely difterent from ritualized social movements that are not
tive communicativc relationships 0merge and rumor predominates. In
directed to che media ihat represen[ national public opinion, for example,
Mexico, rhe nationaily articulated puhlic sphere has never achieved wide-
in small towns, In [hose cases, che people" are represented directly by
spread credeneu-roo many coitos aro excluded from it. Because of this,
known people, and it is che prescnce of particular individuals that convinces
people usually pretor a personal marco ot inlnrmation gossip'1 to a merely
others to join in_ Consequentl y, [hese movements are not mediated by a
official one '
national public; they are direct expressions o local opinion and, although
This situation leads lo Mexicos classical legicimacy crisis. how to inter-
at times they seek support from national inedia and public opinion, they
pret, conform, or channel whatJos Marca Morelos called "the sentiments
do not usually entertain high hopes for che efficacy o these mediations.
o the nation" As we have seco, intellectuals have had a leading role in fill-
Also interesting is the use o inversions of public and domestic realms
Ing this communicational void, just as newspapers became a privileged
in mediated versus face-to-cace movements. Whereas in local movements
media for the interpretation of national sentiment.
these sorts of inversions are direct appeals to revolt, in mediated move-
Nevertheless, intellectuals, like rhe oracles o old, need signs. Going
ments they serve as poented appeals to public opinion and are thus gestures
out and asking citizens in a systematic fashion was always seen as prob-
o revolt Thus, middle- and upper-class women take to the streets o
lematic, and has only gained ground in reccnt years-21 This is because the
Mexico City to protest che construction o a highway or to protest the
poli involves making the backstage front stage; in other words, it involves
high costs o a devaluation. This provides powerful "photo opportunities"
constructing a free-flowing, confessional relationship between citizens
for an urban movement. Similarly, ranchers from the Altos de jalisco fill
and the state, a relationship that involves a corresponding notion o gov-
Guadalajara's central square with tractors to protest new agricultural poli-
crnmental accountability. Because chis accounrability did not exist under
cies. The inversions o public and domestic spheres are usually more
authoritarian forms of corporativism, neither could a candid relationship
sharply subversive in smaller communities, where local opinion can im-
be built except in cases where "dtizens" felt that they had little to lose,
mediately be swayed. For example, when women took to che streets in
and perhaps something to gain.
Tepoztln in 1978, che men backed them and took over the municipal
The signs that intellectuals and politicians read are therefore complex,
presidency. In che mediated urban context (which is an ever-growing field,
for political manifestations are interpreted mainly in their expressive and
given the current expansion o che national public sphere into ever-deeper
symptomatic dimensions. Hence che work o interpreting national senti-
levels o the regional system), inversions are used as appeals to a public
ment does not end with che gathering o opinions, for opinions chat are
opinion that will then exert pressure on government by nonviolent means.
unlinked to action, opinions that have no practical consequence, are easily
In sum, whereas niany collectivities are routinely recognized and re-
discounted as 'women's gossip" or "talk." -1 he true national sentiment is
constituted in rituals that can substitute opon interna) discussion, there are
only meaningful in connection to puhlic action, to political ritual. 1 say
also political manifestations o public sentiment that are created in back-
"ritual" because the weakness o Mexico's national public sphere guaran-
stage contexts, socialized through rumor, and converted into specific
tees that political events will be interpreted symbolically, with expressive
movements that can be analyzed as political ritual because their signifi-
dimensions counting at least as much as instrumental ones 22
cance depends on their modo o insertion in a body o public opinion that
Moreover, significant differences emerge between political manifesta-
is not smoothly created out o discussions in che public sphere. The the-
tions that are geared to the media and events that are oriented to direct
atrical element is therefore o special importance.
action in smaller-scale collectiviries_ Inreresting in chis respect is che use o
The centrality o ritual in che constitution o polity can therefore be
masks in two recent cases, that of' Superbarrio" in Mexico City and that o
understood in two dimensions_ en che one hand, rituals can be expressions
the neo-Zapatistas in Chiapas. The use o masks allows for a more abstraer

Ri tua i, Ru,ll or, ,,,,d Co rrup 1 io

k ,,unl, x",,,-, ,,nd ('o,r,, pii oe
= 159 =
 of collective vitality and interests within the sanctioned political order; en
che other hand, public political manifestations are understood as expres-
sions o a public sentiment that is construcied in the backstage, and that
has therefore not (yet) been harnessed by che state. This second dimen-
sin means that political movements are heavily ritualized. They are in
fact the maro signs that political interpreters read.
Corruption and Ritual
1 Nave suggested three important roles that ritual has in the constitution o
political communities in Mexico First, on the most general level, ritual is
crucial because social segmentation and power relations undermine dia-
logue in the nacional community. Second, ritual has been used to build al-
liances between local collectivities and state and church. The dialectics o
this process involves competition or struggle between collectivities or
classes, and alliances with state or church are used to further local interests
In those struggles. Third, ritual is critical to the constitution o national
public opinion in an authoritarian state because it is the principal sigo that
interpreters read, occupying a role that is analogous to that o the poli
(and that is no less manipulable); ritual substitutes for a bourgeois public
sphere. In this section, 1 inspect the relationship between ritual and cor-
ruption in the Mexican system.
The problem o corruption can be understood en three levels: first, on
a functional leve] (what it does for government, what it does for individual
participants and victims); second, at the leve! o aceusations o corruption
(what a discourse o corruption does in the world o politics); and third, at
the leve] o the moral sensibility of a people (how discourses and practices
o corruption affect personal attitudes and definitions o self).
Throughout Mexican history, corruption has consisted o appropriat-
ing portions o state or church machinery for private benefit (arguably), to
the detriment of the state's interesr as well as that o the public. However,
these appropriations serve various functions and have varying implications
during different periods. For example, throughout the colonial period, of-
ficial governmental posts were seen as prizes that the crown handed down
in recognition either o social proximity or o past favors, or else in ex-
change for money. Correspondingly, officials were expected to profit from
their posts they were not civil servants, but rather royal servants. Com-
parable situations have existed well inca the modero period.
Because the church was the fundamental arena for collective expres-
sien, and because it had its own independent sources o taxation, corrup-
R i ^ u n 1, Rumor , ., u d Corrup
160
tion in the church was also important. Local constituencies could at times
play these two sets o ambitions off against each other. Villagers partici-
pated fervently in their fiestas in par as a show of alliance with the
church, which might then intervene in their favor against the abuse o
landowners or officials, whereas suits against priests could be brought to
civil authorities. Local ritual could also stand as an affirmation o local
rights against both church and state, both o which could easily conspire
against the subaltern classes. Ritual had a mediating role in the colonial
period, where the boundaries, strength, and rights o a collectivity could
be expressed at the same time that alliances were forged with the church
or the state.
In this context o negotiation, corruption was reflected in what might
be called an extended "cargo system." Anthropologists have been prone to
take a narrow view o what religious cargos are about, stressing their sig-
nificance in indigenous communities and their links to forms o prestige
that are allotted only within the limits of traditional communities. In fact,
variations o "cargo systems" exist and Nave existed throughout the nation-
al space, and the burden o paying for celebrations has usually reflected
the expected distribution o the benefits o reigning. For example, Mexico
City notables and officers had to come up with money for all sorts o com-
memorations o the roya] family's affairs, as well as those o the viceroy.
Smaller towns and villages had to incur parallel expenditures to commem-
orate their saint's day. But it was these very forms o public festival that
also gave political recognition to these places and allowed for the funnel-
ing o resources to the community leadership.
This same logic survived finto the national period. In Tepoztln, for in-
stance, carnival became the most expensive fiesta and was bankrolled to a
large degree by the local notables. This contrasted with the humble barrio
fiesta, which was paid for by collective contributions. Local notables fun-
neled their money reto comparsas (dance organizations) that represented
their barrio o origina thus notables created solidarity with poorer mcm-
bers o their barrios and subsequently depended en this local basis o
support to successfully control municipal offices during the nineteenth
century and most o the twentieth century.
In the Morelos highlands, de la Pea has described how hacienda own-
ers increased their popularity and that o the municipal notables by con-
tributing resources to the local fiesta 23 Finally, in Zinacantn, the classic
and much-debated instante o the traditional "cargo system," Cancian has
shown that financing local fiestas was a crucial item o prestige and local
power for many years, and that the system only carne into crisis when the
Ritual, Rumor , and Corrupi,on
161 =
local economv di vcrsihed and thc population greca, creating a spbt be-
, e capnalist en t repreneurs. 21
tween che oldcr peasant notable, and 1,)LI
Che elders hace kep Clic voung genci auon Irom sponsoring che Gestas, and
che cargo svsicm has therctoie declinad .1, a locos of political expression.
The correlauon between iinanc Ti,,;Icov inca and real) 1118 che benehts
of che state for o appropriating local branc bes of che state) has parallels in
che ways in which che PRIs poliurtl cam pait; ns are financed- Until che
demociatic refxms of che 1Oleas. calculatmg costa ol olticial parcy can -
paigns seas imposible, becau,c hisioad ol ,corking ,,ah a cencialized eof-
Icr and budget amipaign c osi, wc 1, dillused among supporcers, all of
whom expected co bencht 1ront ihc tate in cxchange for diese expendi-
tures. Governors and municipal presidenu usad up che ir budgets to show
their personal support ot a presidencial candidate and, through that per-
sonal support, the support o che collectivities co which they were linked.
Union leadership that had privileged support from che government used
union funds and working hours co support che candidate_ As in the fiesta,
participants in campaign events were also nieant to gain things for them-
selves: a day off work, free food, and a fiesta, or at least a renewed rela-
rionship with cheir immediate patron_
Thus, political ritual has been cied to corrupton beeause che finaneing
o ritual reflecta che actual or expected ways in which local leaders and
communities appropriate porcions of che state apparatus-these rituals are
enactments both o a persorialized style of state redistribution and o che
power o the whole constituency vis-h-vis che more abstract nacional state.
The connection between fiesta and corruption does not end here,
however, for mosc fiestas combine a concrolled and an unrestracned aspect.
Solemn Masses are followed by turkey in nicle sauce, drinking, and danc-
ing; carnival ends with the High Mass of Ash Wednesday; political ralles
rypically are followed by free-flowing strcams o alcohol. Even che most
Apollonian rituals, such as che once popular oratory contests, were pep-
pered with occasional comic or lyric moments, and secular festive events
such as the bullfight or che cocklighc tended co reccive some governmen-
tal supervision, wich formal moments wherc supervision was asserted.
This combination o political control and unrestrained popular expres-
sion made the fiestas occasions where a certain complex hegemony was
enacted, for popular expression was at once unrestrained and encom-
passed by the authorities. This is che mosc surte sense in which political
ritual can be said to he tied to che history of corruption: fiestas assert the
significante of a collectivity vis 5-vis che state and chus they have been
used to jockey for position on che nacional map. On che other hand, once
l, i u a I k u ni c .. , i n .I C o r r u p t i o n
162 =
a collectivity is receiving sorne benefits froni che state once it has a leader
or a class that appropriates che state and representa it locally, [hese leaders
are expected to foot thc hill of much political ritual for che ritual will
se:-ve as a manifestation ol clic colleccivitys continuad vitalicy to higher
officials. Thus fiestas are usually signa of che vitalicy of both "che people
and che state." "Corruption underwrites Chis whole rclationship because
che state is only extended inm ch(se col l ecti vicies on che condition chat it
be locally appropriated'usually by local elites) and that some o che bene-
tits of chis appropriation spill ayer to tire test ol che local population
Finally, rituals presenc popular moral standards regarding corruption_
Ungenerous leaders are shunned, as are leaders who do not finance fiestas
or do not recognize or acknowledge their own people.2 1 In general, an
ethics o respect, generosity, and comtnunion is enacted, and chese values
provide che rudiments o a technology that is used for articulating che na-
cional polity. In this respect, che Catholic ritual is a standard that continu-
ally haunts che politician.
These pervasive connections between ritual and corruption, both in re-
lation to local appropriations of state machinery and in che construction
o an ethics o xhose appropriations, demonstrate che critical significante
o che study o ritual for understanding hegemony in che Mexican nation-
al space.
Conclusion
1 have explored che connection between ritual and political communities
by looking at public spheres developmentally. In the process, 1 have sug-
gested relationships between rumor, ritual, and corruption. Ths analysis
leads us away from three trends in che study o political ritual. The first is
che one that divides rituals finto state versus popular ritual- The second
is che trend that fries to construct a secular progress between premodern
ritual and modero democracy. Against che first trend, che perspective de-
veloped here stresses the dialectics o opposition and appropriation be-
tween state agencies and various collectivities. This dialectic affects both
che constitution o subjectivities by the state and che ways in which state
institutions are locally appropriated. Against che second trend, our per-
spective stresses che persisten[ obstacles to che creation o a bourgeois
public sphere in Mexico. Mexican modernicy continues to segment and
exclude large numbers from che promised benefits o citizenship and mod-
ernization, and Chis has allowed for a continuous reconstitution of a ritual
]fe that has ics origins in che Baroque era.
Ritual. K iim co and Corruption
= 163 =
 For these reasons, the specter ot an `ancien rgime" seems never te die
in Mexico: ir survived the 1857 colis ti tution, it survived che revolution,
and it may oven survive che current transition to democracy. The regional
study of ritual offers a way of specifying these relationships, of under-
standing their historical evolution, and of clarifying the nature of social
change in che polity.
8
Finally, a third trend that must be modified is the one that seeks to syn-
thesize national culture by way of che study of national rituals. Our con-
tribution to chis perspective is to show nce significante of developing an
overall geography of ritual as a necessary prior step. Once this is done
(and chis chapter is only a heginning of such a geography), che social and
political referents o rituals can be clarified and placed in their proper per-
spective. Because our fundamental thesis is that political ritual is substi-
tuting for arenas o` discussion and argumentation-creating hegemonic
idioms o agreement between various and diverse points of view (cultura] Center, Periphery , and the Connections between
and political)-the study of these rituals can serve as an entry to under-
standing hegemony geographically, but rituals cannot be used to homoge-
nize the culture of their participants in any simple way. Nationalism and Local Discourses of Distinction
b

It is now commonplace to recognize that centers and peripheries have his-

torically constituted each other: "the Orient" was as critica] for the forma-
tion of a narrative about "che West" as European colonialism was to the
formation of Asan nationalisms, che Americas and Spain mutually consti-
tuted each other, and, much more generally, ideas regarding cultural and
economic modernity and modernization rely on constructions of "tradi-
tion" and therefore on producing peripheries. -
A somewhat less understood dimension of center-periphery relation-
ships is how peripheralization and centralization are practices that can
help us to understand the ways in which localized idioms of distinction
and political language are created This point is often overlooked because
of the strong temptation to portray centers and peripheries as stable and
homogeneous and then to make these categories into vast abstractions:
"the West" is central, "the Rest" is peripheral; "the First World" is central,
"che Third World" is peripheral. If prompted for greater detail, then a
speaker may say, within the Third World, metropolises are central, rural
areas are peripheral, or formal sectors are central, informal sectors are pe-
ripheral. Such attempts to classify places as central versus as peripheral tend
to bracket the fact that center and periphery are always coexisting as ele-
ments in idioms o power and o distinction throughout che social system,

Ritual. Rumar, a":i Corruption

164 =
165
 notion of "eultur' and practica] reason. Part o thc conceptual diffieulty
hecause center--periphery tropel are hiera rclucal in Louh Durrmoti LS sense,
stems also from lack o1 attention to rhe analysts o spatial systems, and
that is, they involvc complenxntants and encnmpassment' Thus, al-
speci fically tu the disti ncti un hetween various uses of center/periphery as
thciugh one may igree that in lile late mneteclith celLUrv Britain could, on
an organizational scheme The contlation ot a center-periphery scheme
thr rvhole be s_lassllied as central tu lile rer n'Id sestent, while India eould
ur the organization ot produaion with a ccnter-periphery scheme tor
hv counted as a periphery. we can alpe, rutunni_c that ccnter-periphery
political domination and a center-periphery logic ot cultural distinction
discuurses viere equally rclevnnt tur lile dcr clopment ot distinetion in
leads inevitably to the sort ot abscracted and idealized cores and periph-
both places cries that we seck to reject. It is thc muddle in lile spatial model-a confu-
In Chis chapterl explore lile histnricnl tnmtrlr mation ul centel, Periphery
luc-lacten svctem rt or^anlzm sial cpaee_ [Ti ti,, anthropoIogicaliy
sion that can be shared by cultuialists and pragmatists-that sets the stage
as a va tor Chis ethnogra p hic paradox
lamuus village ()j Tepoztln, iNiexlt o blq purp use u tu show historien.]
clianges in ti,, ways in which the Lento, has buen locally construeted- 1
also aim to demonstrate a few of Lile competing strategies for centraliza- Consciousness of a Peripheral Status
tion and marginalizarlon as they base playeel out in local pulules of dis-
Tepoztln is located about seventy kilometers south o Mexico City, in
tinction and in che enunciation of local demands to state agencies or for
what was until recently lile agricultura) periphery o the state o Morelos,
rational public opinion.
whose capital is Cuernavaca Until the early 1960s, chis meant that vil-
By focusing on center/periphery as a key metaphor in the dialectics of
lagers were primarily peasants, many of whom were called "Indians" by
distinetion within Tepoztln, 1 wish to ]cave a nagging paradox behind.
city folk. The town as we know it was created between 1550 and 1605 in
When analysts rely en center-periphery metaphors in order to under-
response to Spanish authorities, who concentrated the more scattered in-
stand what Redfeld called folk soceties they tend either to exoticize
digenous inhabitants of the jurisdiction called Tepoztln luto a nucleated
lile marginal society by analyzing it as it it viere culturally coherent, or to
settlement, Thus, the very constitution o this agricultural village was to
deny the existente of a collectively g,enerated "eultur' and to substitute
sume degree orchestrated from without. Later, investors and power hold-
that notion with a more atomized, indlviduallstic culture of multiple adap-
ers organized the region that is today called Morelos in such a way that
tations. In other words, they tend either to "orientaliz' a reified local cul-
irrigated sugar fields in the lowlands would benefit from cheap seasonal
ture or to dispense with the notion of a locally generated collective cul-
labor, firewood, and grazing lands provided by an impoverished highland
ture in favor of sumething like 'adaptation' or even "rational choice." In
peasantry that was concentrated in villages such as Tepoztln. This deci-
the case o Tepoztln, Robert Redfield fell finto the orientalizing trap by
sion was renewed from lile time o the formation of Spanish landed estates
overdrawing the separation hetween 'folk and "urban societies, while
in the late 1500s to the moment o industrialization, beginning in the
Oscar Lewis dissolved Tepoztccan "eultur' finto a set o pragmatic adapta-
19505.3
tions to an environment that was shaped by nationally dominant classes
In short, Tepoztln occupied a peripheral position from the time of its
and polticos.
This theoretical bind emerges in numerous forms throughout the an- colonial reconstruction. Economically, it was to serve as a source of trib-
ute, of revenue through commercial exploitation, and o cheap seasonal
thropological and historical literauue_ Olten, differences map opto the
opposition that Marshall Salilins called "culture versus practical reason," labor in lowland plantations. Politically, it was defined as an indigenous
where the culturalist will emphasize lile internal coherence o local cul- jurisdiction that was to be controlled from a distante by a Spanish alcalde
ture (and thereby construct a sharp break hetween the culture of periph- mayor who was, in turn, named by the heirs to Hernn Corts's estate, lile
Marquesado del Valle.
erfies and that of centers), while lile economic reductionist will emphasize
rational adaptations that generate statistically verifiable differences within "The center" has tilos been "in the periphery" for most o Tepoztln's
post-Conquest history, both in the sense that it has had a critical role
and between localities that do not add up tu a holistic local culture.
Nevertheless, lile conceptual origins of this muddle are not restricted to in fashioning the place, and directly through specific institutions and indi-
che (by now largely transcended ^ opposition hetween a Saussurean-inspired viduals that have been charged with administering this peripheral status,

Center, Perip1,y, andC

p , d: .i 111 11 1e1 11a1 1 s
167 =
= 166 =
ineluding evangelizing priests, indigenous nilers, merchants, schoolteachers,
policemen, and municipal officers. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that
hoth centrality and marginality have been elaborated in Tepoztecan
mythology.
One revealing set o stories that deal with these aspects o Tepoztecan
society are about El Tepoztcatl, the mythical "man-god" o Tepoztln
who was meant to be both the local ruler in the pre-Conquest period and
the first Indian to become evangclized in the region (en September 8, day
o the Virgin o the Nativity, who is said to he his mother and who is also
the patroness o Tepoztln).^
The story of El Tepoztcarl has two niain portions. One occurs before
and at the time o Conquest when El Tepoztcatl vanquishes the lords o
major surrounding towns, thereby gaining centrality for Tepoztln. A
second refers t the period shortly alter Conquest, and it runs roughly as
follows:
Tepozrcatl's lile was exemplarv He helped and protected al of bis sub-
jects and Tepoztln thrived more during his reign than ever before. One
day Tepoztcatl wcnt to visir Mexicn City and he found thar people were
having great difficulties in raising rte maro bell to the tower o Mexico's
cathedral. Since Tepoztcatl was a friend o rhe god o wind, he enlisted his
hele and the wind god blew a srrong whirlwind thar blinded everyone
white it raised Tepoztcatl finto the air, brll and all When the people
looked around, Tepoztcatl was already in rhe church tower sounding the
bell, much m cveryone's amazement.
In order to thank Tepoztcatl for his hele they gave him a box and told
him to bury it in rhe maro square of his village Tepoztcatl received it with
joy and walked back to Tepoztln When he arrived there, people asked
him what was in the box He answered thar thcy had given him the box
and thar he could not open ir, but rather liad to bury it, which is what he
did. However, people's curiosity was roo great and they dug the box up
that night and oponed tt rhe next morning When they oponed ir, four
white doves flew out in different direetions. Onc posed itself en the church
tower, another on the tower of Mcxicos cathedral, a rhird en the hill where
Tepoztcarl lives, and rho fourrh in the town af Tlayacapan. That is why no
one discovered what Tepoztcatl had been given, hut allegedly tt was a
greattreasure -
Upon receiving rhe news o what rhe curiosity o the keepers o the
treasure had brought them to, Tcpoztcad said- "The doves that flew out o
rhe village were fortune, but thcy new went tu enrlch other towns, and our
C en ter, Per,pbrry. and Conneetians
108 =
village shall always be poor. There shall be intelligent people, but they
shall leave the place just as the doves thar you freed lefa "s
As a whole, the story provides a genealogy o Tepoztln's poverty and
o es destiny always to lose its brightest lights to other towns. More sub-
tly, the story also notes the role o Tepoztecans in the construction o
the center. In point o fact, a number o Tepoztecans did work in corve
labor to build Mexico City's cathedral during the colonial period,6 but
Tepoztcatl's role with rhe cathedral's bell is also potent symbolically be-
cause the bell was the principal marker o time in the period, and, ulti-
mately, o the dominion o the Spanish faith. Finally, the story makes
Tepoztcatl a staunch ally o rhe church (Tepoztcatl as rhe first convert,
Tepoztcatl as ido basher, Tepoztcatl as son o the Virgin o the Nativity),
thereby representing Tepoztln as a voluntary subordinare to the colonial
regime, despite the fact that die village was burned no the ground by
Corts during his campaign against the Aztecs in 1521 because its lord
would not become his ally.7
In sum, the legend o Tepoztcatl is a story about Tepoztln's terms o
submission. These terms, which are performed yearly on the day o the
Virgin o the Nativity, include, first, public acknowledgment o hierarchi-
cal encompassment o the village by a larger political society centered in
Mexico City and identified with the church; second, a recognition o what
Tepoztln has brought to the center; third, an emphasis en voluntary sub-
ordination to and adoption o this order; fourth, a proud affirmation o the
continuity o local tradition, a continuity that is enunciated in the very act
o recalling Tepoztcatl as man-god, as ally o the wind god, as lord o the
mountain and guardian o the village. The story o El Tepoztcatl thereby
reflects, to a significant degree, the prolonged vitality o a colonial dis-
course o hierarchy and marginality.
It would be mistaken, however, to imagine that this colonial discourse
o encompassment is the only way in which center-periphery relations
have been constructed by Tepoztecan ideologues. In fact, there are sever-
al center-periphery discourses operating simultaneously, and their signs
and artifacts are constantly manipulated in local jockeying for status,
wealth, and power. By way o illustration, 1 shall consider one example o a
more modero formulation of Tepoztln's peripheral status, beginning with
a story written by Joaqun Callo titled "The Intruder."
`The Intruder" is an allegory. A group o blond foreigners whose char-
acteristics make them a composite o communist spies, evangelista, and
anthropologists has come to Mexico with the mission o "study[ing] the
Comer, Perlpbery, nnd Conneetians
169
customs, the psychology ot che people ol che vdlages. their ways o lile,
their thought their degree of c olture and. above all, their religiosity
They believed that it was c.uier <o e nrvince simple and poor villagers and
to attract them to their own pOint ol t iew" Che leader o the group (who
has been nanted Ivani goes to Ccpoztln He asks v illagers all sorts of
questions that are intended t o Libvert the dominan[ order by iinplying
that Tepoztecans are being exploitcd be caplralists, by government, and
by priests-
After his inicial inquines. v,.n loes to ( ucrnavaca ro cable a message
thar reads Trentendous soeces It is case to attract these sandal-wearers
(huaranbudosJ: rhev can'[ rcad They only cat tortillas, beans, and their
explosive mole." Nonetheless, this impression of Tepoztecan ignorance and
pliability proves deceitful, because, with their kindness, the purity o their
faith, the beauty o their ways, and, predictably, their women, the
Tepoztecos succeed in converting [van to their persuasion:
He became convinced rhat people are happier in liberty, in peace and tran-
quillity. He found that although [he, is poverty [in Tepoztln], conditions
are not wretched and that people's convictions are worth more, much
more, than promises o equaliny rhat are ncver kept because those that
manage the party rule the lives and goods of others.
Ivan takes a job in a nearby hacienda and courts Catalina, "a pretty
dark girl with large eyes," but he is mmdered by the men from his parta.
This story is not especially popular or well known in Tepoztln, but it
rehearses a number of themes that are popular among romantic enthusi-
asts o the place, who stress both che ignorante and humility o the people
and their greater purity and simplicity. The story also usefully summarizes
a discourse that has been deployed by Tepoztecans themselves in their
political dealings with outsiders, a srrategy that involves mimicry o the
idealized "Indian' o Mexican narionalist discourse.
One early instance o this mimctic srrategy occurred in 1864 when
"Tepoztecan Indians' went ro pledge allegiance to Maximilian o Hapsburg
and simultaneously petitioned hico to solve a land dispute with neighbor-
ing haciendas. These "Tepoztecan Indians' were led by members o che
local elite .9
The portrayal o Tepoztln as "Indian" is central in the cultural con-
struction o a class o notables during che porfiriaato, whose members fled to
Mexico City during the revolution and tounded a Tepoztecan colony that
was active in Tepoztecan politics and cultural affairs during the 1920s and
1930s, reviving local indigenismo An idealized Indianness was deployed
ry and Counec
170 = =
again in thc carly days of Tepoztecan tourism, beginning in che 1940s,
when prominent artists and intellectuals settled in Tepoztln and found in
che place a kind of prototype ol the true Mexico More recently, in the
1960s, local movements against hippies" deployed a similar discourse o
mustie purity and tradltionali sm a purity that has also been mobilized at
times against Protestan[ missionizing, in discourse highlighting che value
o lile in Tepoztln as against che migratory experience in the United
States and in che 1990s, for niustering local and external allies in massive
mobilizations against two modernizing projeets a suburban train that was
ro link Mexico City with Tepoztln and a development project that was to
build a golf course and an urhan development on communal lands.
This most recent social movement has been of such proportions that it
led, among other many things, to che overthrow o the municipal council
and to the promotion o a "popular council" in in; stead. The ceremony in
which the new council was sworn in makes powerftil usage o the ideologi-
cal mechanisms discussed here:
Before a crowd o three thousand in a popular assembly [asamblea popular],
Lzaro Rodrguez Castaeda took office today as che first mayor o che
"free, constitutional and popular municipio o Tepoztln" In a symbolic
act, che Lord o che Wind, El Tepoztcatl, gave Rodrguez the red o ruler-
ship [bastn de mando] as Che new tlatoani of the community - The new popular
municipal presiden[, who shall load Tepoztlds destiny, swore that en no
account shall he allow che Club de Golf El Tepozteco to be built, nor shall
che municipio become "che parrimony o any oligarchy"1
Although "the intruder" o Joaqun Gallo's story is ambiguously por-
trayed as communist agent, U.S. evangelist, and foreign anthropologist/
psychologist, and the story is true to some o che political usage to which
the discourse o Tepoztecan "simplicity" has been put, one must add key
agencies o the Mexican government itself as critica targets o this dis-
course o cultural purity. This distinctly modero peripheralizing discourse
involves the double move o portraying ordinary Tepoztecans as Indians
and as true representatives o the nacional ("popular") soul, thereby legiti-
mating polirical mobilizations that can serve to negotiate che terms o the
Iaw and o state policy. The discourse is also for aspiring politicians, inso-
far as it does not deny che ignorante o the villager, and thereby provides
political leaders with acople room for negotiation or manipulation. It is an
ideology that can be deployed both to defend the village against actions
o an "external agent" and to cal] for progress.
In short, Tepoztln's position asan agricultural periphery, as a source o
tions Center , Periphery , and Connections
171 =
 migran[ workers for the United States , Mexico City, and Cuernavaca, as a
poor municipio within the state system, and as tourist site-is recognized
culturally in complex discourses o marginaliry . Nevertheless , it would be
mistaken to take this as justification for labeling Tepoztln simply as "a
periphery," a simplification that obscures more than it reveals. Instead,
the complexity of even rhe two peripheralizing discourses that we exam-
ined thus far signals that Tepoztln has occupied severa ) peripheral situa-
tions, often simultaneously , corresponding to varying ways o organiz-
ing economic and political space As a result, one symptom o economic
marginaliry-for instante , peasant production - can serve to claim cen-
trality in political discourse in rhe shape o "Indianness ." In the sections
that follow, 1 shall review rhe relarionship between center -periphery ide-
ologies and the dynamics o distinction in Tepoztln.
Indio, de razn, and notable m rhe Organization of Llrban Space
One key element o Spanish colonialism was the equation o urbanity
with civilization. The extreme opposire o rhe urbane and civilized per-
son was, o course, rhe uncivilizable barbarian who, following Aristotle,
was thought o as a "natural clave," that is, as a creature entirely devoid
o reason whose bes[ hopo was to be ruled by a rational person and
harnessed to civil society (see Pagden 1982). The barbaran was an en-
tirely physical begng, o brutish force, ruled by his own emotions-a
wild man alone in nature. Between rhe wild man and the cultivated aris-
tocrat there were, of course, gradations of civility and coarseness. A logi-
cal corollary o( Chis view was that signs of urbanity became a factor in
local and regional politics of distinction. the construction o churches,
o squares, and o public offices are an example, but there are others, in-
cluding the official status awarded to a town (be it ciudad, villa, or pueblo,
cabecera or sujeto, etc.), the proximity of hotises to the central square and
church, the durability o materials with which houses were built, the lay-
out o streets, rhe layout o a graveyard, and, not least, the general bear-
ing o rhe inhabitants.
In Tepoztln [hese elements and others have been deployed in varying
ways and for diverse purposes and, athough we do not yet have continu-
ous evidente for rhe history of diese uses, there is sufficient documenta-
tion to sketch a general outline o rhe role of urbanity (and thus "centrality")
in local politics of distinction.
The hrst major colonial census o Tepoztln was carried out around
1540 and has been translated from Nahuatl into Spanish by Ismael Daz
Center , Prri pire,y . an.i Connections
172 =
Cadena." Although the interpretation o this document is demanding, a
few interesting elements emerge with clarity. First, "Tepoztln' was, at that
time, the name o a jurisdiction roughly equivalent to todays municipio o
Tepoztln, but perhaps not the name o a nucleated village." The jurisdic-
tion was made up of fine calpulli. In other words, Tepoztecans of this peri-
od did not yet cal) their primary neighborhood units barrios (a term that is
in use in the 1580 "Relacin de Tepoztln"), but still used the Nahuatl
term that designated a social organizational unit that was conceived as a
patrilineage with an attached territory. O [hese nine calpulli, Ateneo was
that o the local tlatoani, and thus rhe highest-ranking calpulli. By the time
o the 1540 census, a number o Tepoztecans had already been baptized,
presumably by the Dominican Fray Domingo de la Asuncin, who al-
legedly baptized El Tepoztcatl o the story narrated earlier, and who
brought down and shattered rhe main ido) dedicated tu the tutelary god
Ome Tochtli, building a provisional church at rhe foot o the steps leading
to Ome Tochtli's hilltop temple.'
The census shows, too, that rhe households o nobles included mayeque
serfs or slaves, and that not all o rhe local population were ethnic Tlahuica
Nahuas (Carrasco 1964, 1976). Thus, chis first census suggests a class
structure in which the principal divisions were those between the nobility,
macehuales (conimoners), and mayeque serfs or slaves. The village was further
divided finto Christianized and pagan people, a social fact that was marked
in the villagers' names, which appear as either Christian or indigenous in
rhe census.
Around 1550, rhe Dominicans began construction o a convent and
church with a spacious open-air chape!- Although we know little regarding
the specific location o each of the vine calpulli prior to [his time, it is clear
that these units begin to be identified as barrios around this time, keeping
both the name of the calpulli and adopting a patron saint. The noble calpulli
o Atento thus became Santo Domingo Ateneo, taking rhe name o the
mendicant order that dominated the village unti! the parish was secular-
ized in the mid-eighteenth century)4 Three other calpulli became the bar-
rios o San Miguel, La Santsima Trinidad (calpulli Tlalnepantla), and Santa
Cruz (calpulli Teycapa). The other five calpulli became the outlying hamlets
o Santa Catalina, Santa Mara, Santo Domingo, San Juanico, and San
Andrs. Thus, four calpulli were aggregated into the nucleated Villa de
Tepoztln as barrios, while rhe other five became sujetos o that villa. The
difference between the villa and its sujetos was subsequently marked in
terms o urbanity. the villa (which 1 shall henceforth cal "Tepoztln") had
Center, Peripbery, and Connections
173 =
the ntain church and monastees It sc as alst^ rhe seat ot rhe government of
tic repb6cu1 estahlsil cd according tu tic New 1 aws o1 1542.
The idcntity ot Santo Ih nningn as a bario rd nobles may slowly Nave
icen tlndcrmined bcginning ss ith tic csils- Spanish prohihition against
Indian nobles kceping claves. ( )n tic saholc dre internal structure o the
barrios tended toward structural equival ent e, cach barrio be ing 1nhabited
by a series of noble prindpr,ic, ano ala. risudi s ommoners while the wholeju-
risdietion seas under tic political dntninion ol une or two majar noble
lamilics that took up Spanish la.t Che most lamous and eontinu-
ously impon taus ot riese lamilics sr as tic Rojas tamily, whose members
held thc principal political offices wrth great frequency from che seven-
teenth to the nventieth ce n tu tics."
Thus, centrality and marginality werc slowly redefined during the six-
teenth century A city center, with rhe church, a square, and government
buildings was establ ished, and rhe most worthy subjects lived clase to it.
On the other hand, hierarchy hetwecn barrios tended to dissolve and was
substituted by a relationship ot structural equality and competition be-
tween them. This relationship ol competition is expressed in each barrios
efforts tu build its own chape].
Thus, centrality was indexed by urbanity, and cultural distinction was
arranged in some consonance with this idiom of centrality. Correspond-
ingly, Tepoztecan elites (including a few Spaniards) tended to occupy the
village center They also were bilingual Spanish and Nahuatl speakers,
dressed in the Spanish mode, rode horses, and so en, thereby occupying a
nodal position in a political organizarion of space that had Spanish towns
as coros and odian jurisdictions as peripheries. Moreover, although for
severa] centones the outlying sujetos o rhe jurisdiction o Tepoztln were
in positions almost entirely analogous to those o the villa's own barrios,
Chis began to change slowly, as some inhabirants of the central barrios
o Tepoztln hecame Hispanicizcd and identified more closely with
Tepoztln's urban institutions
The whole process can be imagined as a shiit froni an initial hierarchi-
cal relationship between calpulli, to a tendency for structural equivalente
between barrios (and hierarchy between rhe villa's Hispanicized center
and rhe barrios), to a tendency lor some inhabirants o barrios around the
center o Tepoztln to see themsclvcs as more urbano and less "Indian"
than inhabitants from outlying barrios and hamlcts This third phase
gained momenwm alter 1ndependence, wirh die introduction o an ideal
o democratic politics.
r. P.iipi., a-i Cono eclions
174
Tino Local Strategies for Reworkinq "centrality
Center-periphery dialectiics in Tepoztln have usually peen experienced
as a set o local disti nctions, and not as a mere replica of a system o dis-
tinction that has its center in Cuernavaca or Mexico City. One o Robert
Redfield's firmest convictions when he observed Tepoztln in 1926 was
that Chis was a "folk society, that is, a place that was lis own cultural cen-
ter, where information and cultural artifacts from outside the village were
reprocessed and assimilated in a highly discriminating way. Although
Oscar Lewis was more concerned with rhe impact of national conditions
and events en local society than was Redfield, he did not question the fact
that these conditions were reworked locally.1fi Both authors perceived that
rhe connections between rhe interests o regionally dominant classes and
local dynamics o distinction were actively mediated by Tepoztecans. In
this respect, rhe indiscriminate application o rhe term subaltern for local
Tepoztecans and for Tepoztecan culture would present some difficulties,
because Tepoztecans have often combined wage labor with more inde-
pendent forms of work, such as subsistente farming, artesanal production,
and petty commerce. They have therefore preserved political and cultural
spaces that have been limited-but not necessarily occupied-by region-
ally dominant classes.
Correspondingly, rhe constructs o centrality that we have reviewed
were contested since their inception in rhe early colonial period and well
into rhe second half o rhe twentieth century, when the very definition o
centrality began to shift significantly. In this section, 1 wish briefly to iden-
tify two local strategies for manipulating centrality. The first is a form o
asserting a disjunction between political centrality and social - moral cen-
trality; rhe second is a way o appropriating the center for discretionary
local usage . 1 review riese two forms here in order to demonstrate that
ideological mechanisms o contention and appropriation are well estab-
lished. In later sections , 1 will review the transformation of center-periphery
dialectics in modero Tepoztecan history.
The first strategy is to reject professional politics and political dis-
course entirely.17 By relying on traditional ideas about the nature o sick-
ness and health, about rhe necessary complementarity within the peasant
family and rhe central importante o reciprocity for social and cultural
reproduction, this strategy convincingly casts peasant agriculture as an
inherently "clear" activity and politics as a necessarily "dirty" one. Peasant
production is "clean" because its goal is to fulfill an entire cycle o produc-
tion and consumption within the household, exploiting no one, and relying
Center, Peripbery , and Connecllons
= 175 =
 instead un a "natural" complementarity hetween the sexes, between young
gory (''Indian") that refashioned elements o the local life-world. In identi-
and old within the household, and on reciprocity between households.'"
fying with the romanticized Indian o national mythology, Tepoztecans
These relations o complementarity and eyuality resonate in a powerful
could stake a claim for special treatment within the national state. At the
way with local ideas concerning health, nutrition, and the body.19
same time, however, utilizing this strategy also meant learning nationalist
Politics, on the other hand, is inherently "dirty" because the politician's
discourse and exhibiting this learning in public. It is not coincidental,
livelihood is based on producing and mcdiating confiict. As a result, po-
then, that Tepoztecans who used this strategy since the 1 860s promoted
litical speech is to be systematically distrusted because it is always mask-
schooling actively, while insisting simultaneously on activities such as
ing the politiciads interest. The popular apliorism "A ro revuelto, ganancia
learning the Mexican national anthem in Nahuatl, or performing local
de pescadores" (roughly, Muddied waters benefit the fisherman) is used to
folklore in schools or political rallies.
describe the politician: his job is to generare confusion and then exploit
This strategy has also been used to market local products for outsiders
societal conflict for his own benefit.
and to protect selected resources from unleashed market forces. The
On the whole, these ideas reinforce a habitus that has local society as
adoption o urban discourses regarding the value o pure air, o the pictur-
Its center, insofar as they orient peoples actions toward strengthening rela-
esque beauties o the village, or even o the "vibrations" o the mountains
rions o complementarity and reciprocity within and hetween households
and the pyramid have served simultaneously to defend local resources
and provide, in the process, a view oi the meaning and goals o h fe that is
against the intrusion o unwanted corporate investors and to commodify
not brokered or mediated either by the city or by the state. Moreover, the
local resources.
state, its representatives, and its activity ("politicians" and "politics") and
The very same discourse that is used to sell an agriculturally worthless
capitalist merchants and produccrs are seen as living off o the contradic-
piece o land with a good view at an exorbitant price is used to bar the
tions o clean people, contradiciions that are tire unlucky result either o
construction o a building that will block that view. The same discourse
necessity (as when an individual is landless) or o foolish disregard for the
that is used to convince fellow villagers to "work for progress" is used to
precepts o local wisdom_ This ideology does not deny the power o the
bar unwanted forms o investment or state intervention from the village.
state and (he market, but ratlier sees its power as an evil that must perhaps
Thus, although a center-periphery dialectic has been at the core
he endured, sometimes resisted, but never emulated. The relation o local
o local cultural history since the early colonial period, and although
society to state agents is casi not as a relation o complementarity, but
Tepoztln as a whole can plausibly be described as "a periphery" because
rather as a relation of exploitation. As a result, regional loci o power are
its centers are outposts o more significant centers, and because local con-
not seen as the center of local society, but ratheras externa) to t.
ditions o production have been dictated by dominant groups who have
The second strategy for reworking the ndationship between Tepoztln
privileged other spaces, we must also recognize che existente of local ide-
and the centers of power that encompass it 1 cal the "artificial flowers strate-
ologies and practices that rework dominant center-periphery ideas in sig-
gy," in honor o an episode in the local school during the 1860s, when a
nificant ways, ranging froni a rejection of centers o power as legitimate
community member was dispatched on the long walk to Mexico City to
centers o value, to a discretionary refashioning o center-periphery rela-
purchase artificial flowers that woud serve as (loor prizes for student con-
tionships that serves to transform and to reposition local society vis--vis
restants The strategy consists of enshrining urbanized or industrialized
the state and the market
objects that represent tems that are tound profusely in a natural state in
the local environment (such as Howers)_ This is tren used to link local socie-
ty ro the national community or to elite culturc in a highly discretionary Class Strife and Redefinitions of Centrality
rashion, both to malee claims on powerful individuals or state agencies and
1 have argued that, although it is legitimate to classify Tepoztln asan eco-
ro hector the local population toward more involvement in state institu-
nomic and political periphery , power centers have always been present
Gons or in idioms o distinction that come from dominant centers.
there both indirectly ( shaping the contours o Tepoztln as a productive
Por instante, the self-identification of Tepoztecans as "Indians" before
space ) and directly ( in the form o agents and agencies and in local ideology
emperor Maximilian of Hapsburg was a form of enshrining an urban cate-
and cultural production )_ 1 have also singled out two alternative strategies

Cenier, Peri,ohrry, and Con,, eci,ons

Center , Perip bery , and Connecl,ons
16
177 =
rhat are deploved ro reforme ni manipulatc center-periphery relationships
local ly In this section. 1 wish to danta the social impon of these straregies
hy inspecting the svay in which ccntia]ity ,vas contestad in a ti especial y
conllicted moment [Ti the altermath al the Vlexican Revolution-
Class contct n otten a latero thanc in iepoziecan political history - It
has usually bcen subsumed nio pe,litical baulcs that cut across classes,
making che language ol class sirife roto the son ol discourse that James
Scott has callad a hidden tianscript re lerriiig to the faet shas most forms
nl class struggle involving peasaot are nos articulated openly or explieitly,
lavoring instead more oblique torno ol enunaation through resistanee_
One significant historical exception to this role did occur, however, in the
years immediately following the Zapatista revolt of 1910-19.
Tepoztecans suffered rerribly during the Mexican Revolution. The vil-
lage was burned down on severa] occasions, many were abducted by the
federal army, others fought alongside Zapata- Peaceful villagers were forced
lo ]ive in the mountains for months al a time, where they suffered famine
and plagues , while others fled to Mexico City, Cuernavaca, and Yautepec.20
In many ways, the revolutionary process destroyed the central insti-
tutions o the porfiriato. In 1911. local Zapatista commanders burned the
municipal archives, where land records were kept. The houses o local
caciques and o the church fathers, even the church building itself, were
periodically turned roto barracks, and the region' s main haciendas went up
in smoke. Nevertheless, the destruction o the region did not lead to a
simple collective takeover. Instead, Zapatistas were divided among them-
selves and much o Tepoztln's local leadership was killed in interna] frays.
Moreover, the unpredictabiliry of the outcome o the war between
Zapatistas and Federales was such that villagers had to learn to live with
both factions. Although most of the town's pacificas sympathized with
Zapata, they usually portrayed hoth Federales and Zapatistas as a menace.
By the time the pacification of the village came in 1918, local Zapatistas
did not contest the command of a relatively benign federal army officer.
Instead, his main opposition carne from elites who wanted to regain con-
trol o local government. Thcy expected to be reinstated now that Che de-
feat o Zapata was certain. Moreover, most Tepoztecans who fought with
Zapata lefr the village to do so, and ofren came back lo Tepoztln almost
as srrangers , hnding that many of their possessions had been taken by
those who had stayed, and fearing overt poltica identification as rebels
both because o the military defear of their movement and because most
local Zapatistas had dispersed in various armed hands and did not return
to the village as organized units."
Per ipbrry ar,d C. or n r c tions
178 =
However, the military defcat of Zapatismo did nos lead to the recon-
struction o the Porfiriao settem_ The seizure of the nauonal presideney
by general Alvaro Obregn in 1920 i nstared the remaining ZapaUStas Ti
the Morelos siare governmcnt. Zapatista general Genovevo de la O be-
came military commander ot die region, all o which allowed Tepoztecan
Zapatistas lo express their convictions and hopes for land reform and po-
Htical change openly.
The village's notable families had emigrated to Mexico City at the stars
of rhe revolution and lived in the neighborhood of Tacuhaya, where
a Tepoztecan colony o exiles was established- These exiles, including
not only the town's main caciques, bus also tes principal intellectuals and
many people o more humble origin, formed an association, the "Colonia
Tepozteca," which was simultaneously a historical society, a philanthropic
society, and a political group. The Colonia took an active role in reacti-
vating local education, and it published a newspaper on Tepoztln using
rhetorical formulas that were reminiscent o the prerevolutionary intelli-
gentsia's indfgenismo.
However, nos even the intellectuals and politically active individuals o
the Colonia Tepozteca were united under the banner o an old-style caci-
cazgo. On the contrary, at least two prominent ones were affiliated with
the socialist and Obregonista labor confederacy that dominated Mexico
City politics in the early 1920s, the Confederacin Regional de Obreros
Mexicanos (CROM). This combination o factors allowed for the confor-
mation o a sort o local Zapatista politics that had never emerged in a co-
herent fashion during the highly uncertain years o armed insurrection.
Local Zapatistas allied themselves lo the Mexico City CROM leader-
ship, raised the red-and-hlack banner o Mexican anarcho -syndicalism,
and created a CROM-affiliated' Unin de Campesinos Tepoztecos" (UCT)
that gained the support o the Zapatista state governor and o President
Obregn himself. Moreover, there was a family o Tepoztecan peasants,
the Hernndez brothers, who had been officers in Genovevo de la O's
army and who quickly became the armed branch o this movement. 1 do
not have space to detail the ways in which these political relationships un-
folded in the highly turbulent 1 920s, and shall turn instead ro the ways in
which social space and centraGty were reconfigured during Chis decade.22
We have sean that representations o civilization relied on symbols o
urbanity, symbols rhat were concentrated in the center o the town, which
is where state, church, and niarket had their seat and where the most sub-
stancial citizens resided. This view o civilization had the potential o ex-
panding outward from that center, a tendency that was manifested in the
Center. Perip hery, and Connecii"ns
179 =
 urban iza tion o barrios, che improve ni erito barrio chapels , che expansion
o education , and che adoption of urban ways , nival celebrations. In doing so, che centrales sought to maintain the older
including shoes and dress,
core-periphery ideology that saw "che party o progress" as a movement
and tire adoption o certain pieces of furnicure ( mainly beds , in che early
twentieth century , hin also solas , cables , and later radios , that expanded from che center outwards and successfully encompassed a
television, etc-).
portion of che local poor, at che very least those who inhabited che lame
"Che adoption of modero status symbols occurred principally at the
barrios as che rich.
individual leve) , through education language practicas ,
and forms o con-
In other words, che centrales strongly resisted being identified either as
P agai tsc proper folk ," " sandal-wearers"
sumpcron tht pitt rich or as che old caciques. Instead, they wished to be seen as progressives
( ) a mainst da Ind ans i -s1, and users of rhe fork , che bed, and
who were interested only in improving local conditions. They tried very
che table against users o tortillas as eacing implements , mats (petates) for
sleeping , and scools around che hearth for eacing . hard not to appear hostile to che local poor. In a characteristic example o
However, che move-
ment o "progress " was also visualized in aggregate form, making some what 1 earlier called che "artificial flowers strategy," for instante, a writer
who used the pseudonym o El Tepoztcatl, and who routinely addressed
places more civilized and modero than others , according to whether they
had roaos , houses built with solid macerials and so on Tepoztecans from the pages of El Tepozteco-a paper put out by che
In che Tepozdn o the porfi riato and of che 1920s and 1930s, progress
cacique-dominated Colonia Tepozteca-wrote: "Even out most humble
neighbors-once they have been invested with the representation o pub-
was correspondingly expressed in barrio competition . The fact that local
elites lived in the three " lower barrios " that are adjacent to the plaza al- lic functions-are owed unconditional obediente, not only because o che
representation of authority that they wield, but because chey wield Chis
lowed those barrios to be identified as scronger , wealthier, and more civi-
authority because of che morality o their public actions and because o
lized, despite che fact-demonstrated by Lewis-that there were numer-
their good personal habits" (El Tepozteco, December 1, 1921).
ous poor residing in chem 21 It is not surprisi ng , chen , that postrevolutionary
Taking on che voice o El Tepoztcatl to address his compatriota, Chis
conflicts oven che definicion o centers and of their place in local society
political writer apparently favors peasant political power, but is in fact
were manifested in che very conception of local urban space.
subtly stressing the critica) importante of "progressive" behavior in politi-
The political situation o che 1920s produced intense conflict between
cal posts:
che old Porfirian elite and che members of che new Unin de Campesinos
Tepoztecos , a conflict that revolved around control over che municipal What can be expected of a town that is mled by authorities plagued with
presidency, over che local milicia, and oven che exploitation o the commu- vice that, forgetting che investiture o which they are unworthy, and having
nal forests. lost all dignity ... instead of making public show of their morality and
Members of che Unin de Campesinos Tepoztecos felt that local peas- good conduct creare public scandals in such a drunken state that, because
ant demands could articulare wich a nacional and regional movement, of their indecent accs, they deserve not only immediate demotion but also
represented by che CROM and Zapacismo ( respeccively exemplary punishment?
). Radicalized
Tepoztecan peasants imagined a comcnunity without a local landholding
This apparently neutral cal) for civilized behavior subtly reasserted a pre-
elite but ehat could still be par of national politics. As a result, they tried
revolutionary politics o distinction, by calling for reinstating religion'24
to marginalize tire old class of caciques that had traditionally represented
public morality, the significante of education and o literacy.25
che national center in che village . Acnvists called for che death or expul-
The care with which che old elite dealt with this issue, never discount-
sien o local caciques as they rallied under che red-and - black banner.
ing local leadership out o hand because o their class origins, but judging
Significantly, these caciques were also referred to in Chis period as "los
them instead en their distinction, reflecta che power o the movement pit-
centrales," that is, as che people froni tire towns center.
In their turn , che centrales defined supporters of che UCT as " ted against them. ft is not coincidental that almost all political articles in El
Bolsheviks" Tepozteco are signed with pseudonyms (mainly "El Tepoztcatl" and "Alexis'-
and, in a stunning strategic move as `los de ancha," that is , as inhabitants of
che Aztec and the Hellenic) and that they take en an impersonal and al-
che tour upper barrios that were removed from che plaza and could not
legedly impartial voice. By presenting their faction as che party of educa-
compete successfully in expressions o urbanity such as the expensive car-
tion, the centrales mapped che factionalism o the period onto a distinction

11, .,".i 111 n,r bono

Center. Peripbery, and Conneclians
81 =

between Che backward' upper bar nos and Che progressivc lower ones,
and rejccted thc map thot pttted pca,ant' ron, all barrio, against inhabi -
tants o l the ccntee
This illustrate, Che vulnciahil,ts ol ni,[,n ihe periphery, as well
as Che czistencc ol altcrnatisc e Hiena lor inarp inahzati on and inelusion
in a system ol distinction lor ssheruas sr ntpathizers of the Unin de
Campesinos lepozte,os streesed ns therr criterion ol inclusion or ex-
clusion 'Che acople versus thc cacique,' 'the acople versus os cen-
aks, therr oppone-nt, invokcci o dl.tinc[ion based on urbanity that was
then mapped onto thc lower versus Che upper barrios inhabitants of upper
barrios were portrayed as ignorant, poor Indians"'0 In Chis way, an appar-
ently innocuous cal[ fui progress in lact vas used to reconfigure urban
space against the peasant coro-periphery model that was based en class.
A significan[ innovation of 1920s politics is that there was a concerted
attempt by soma poor villagers ti, control ocal government, and thereby
to disentangle the connections between the power o the state and the
power of money Redfield unwittingly rctlecred Chis novelty when he in-
genuously classihed politics as a imito occupation (that is, as uncouth or
Indian).27 Although Chis may nave beca truc in 1926, it was entirely false
in the prerevolutionary era. In fact, the idea o making the village as a
whole roto a peasant outpost within a broadly based workers' union whose
main source of governmental support was in the national presidency was a
deep change from the prerevolutionary spatial model, when the Morelos
state governor, who carne from Che region's hacienda-owning elite, named
Che subregional jefes polticos and dominated Che municipal presidency in an
alliance with local economic elites. Thus, Clac terms and Che very nature o
che presente o state and market poseer were the object o a local politics
that was manifested in a struggle over local categories of centrality and
ntarginality
RecentReconfi'guratovis of Centmlity avd Maejnolty
In an carlier work, 1 suggested that Che analysis o regional culture can pro-
ceed by looking at Che ways in which residual, dominant, and emergent
forms o organizing economic and administraiive space are interwoven in a
specific place 28 In Che case o Morelos, [lacre clearly was a long-lasting eco-
nomic organization o regional space hased on interdependencies between
lowland segar and rice plantations and poorly irrigated highland villages.
This organization entered a critical state during Che final decades o the
nineteenrh century when a series of tactors-ranging from Che intensifica-
Per
[ion o production in sugar haciendas to incrcased pressure on land resulting
from population growth and Clac rise of a small-town agrarian bourgeoisie-
steadily increased tensions between villages and haciendas. It was at Chis
junction that Che revolution broke out, destroying Che regioris haciendas
and initiating a new stage in the organization of economic space.
Although some aspects ol Che old economic system were revitalized
alter Che revolution (see Warman 1976), Che economic organization of
Morelos never regained thc clear-cut features o carlier periods. Industriali-
zation o selected arcas began in Clac 1950s. Tourism, construction, and
real estate have picked up steadily, crops have shifted, seasonal migration
to the United States has ebbed and flowed These and other factors have
contributed to a much more diversified set o economic relations, which in
turn translate into a multiplication o economic "centers."
On Che whole, these twentieth-century transformations have altered Che
hierarchical order that once existed between localities, moving progressive-
ly away from a system that was characterized by a neat overlap between
economic and political space to a system with important disjunctures be-
tween various economic interests and che hierarchy o political administra-
tion. In some cases, these changes in Che spatial organization o economic
production have been overlaid on Che old agrarian core-periphery organi-
zation o the region. Such was the case, for instante, o industrialization,
which proceeded in such a way as to Cake advantage both o the preexisting
infrastructure o Che region's main towns and o the cheap labor that could
be gotten from peasant peripheries. Other activities, such as tourism and
construction o weekend hemos for people from Mexico City, operate ac-
cording to a logic that is largely independent o Che principies used to orga-
nize space in Che agrarian era.
In this section, 1 shall review aspects of the reconfiguration o center-
periphery dialectics in Tepoztln since the 1950s. 1 shall argue that al-
though Che old dialectics o distinction successfully spread the ideals o
progress throughout the village, transcending the oid divisions between
Che center and Che barrios and even between los de arriba and los de abajo, the
result has not been a simple incorporation o Tepoztln and o Tepoztecans
roto a standardized idiom o distinction (if, indeed, such a standardized
form can be raid to exist). Instead, Che space that was historically shaped
in the struggle over local power and distinction has left room for forms o
subjectivity that are not shaped in a simple fashion by state discourses and
institutions.
1 have argued that since independence there has been a progressive
civilizational movement in Tepoztln This movement was spurred through
C e n t e r , P e r i p b e r y, and C o n n e c t i o n s
183
 competition between individuals and by comperition between villages and
lectuals, artists, financiers, and politicians. At the same time, the large num-
barrios. "Progress" also involved attaching local culture and history to na-
ber o daily visitors that come to the pyramid and the market have been a
tional mythology, a move that served multiple, and not always commensu-
boon for local commerce, especially in the market and around the plaza,
rable, purposes, including enhancing tire position o the local intelli-
and for several hotels, restaurants, discos, and video stores. Tourism and
gentsia and political elite, marketing local resources for outsiders, and
colonization produced changes in the center-periphery dialectic.
defending Tepoztln against specitically targeted state and prvate devel-
First, the colonists and homeowners have acquired a collective identity
opment projects. I have also noted the existence o an antipolitical, and to
that is separate from the village. Although a number o these individuals
some extent "antiprogressive," discourse that upholds the autarkic commu-
have good tres in the village, when tensions arise, people in the valley are
nity composed o independent households as its ideal. This discourse can
spoken of as "foreigners" or as "Tepoztizos" (false Tepoztecos). At the
be allied to that o the progressive nationalist's, since the very existence o
same time, social and cultural differentiation by the traditional eight bar-
a traditional culture is a significant instrument for claiming positions vis--
rios has been erased thanks to this same process, because barrios are all
vis the state, but it can and has also stood against "progress," opposing no-
roughly equally urbanized and land value is roughly equal throughout.
merous state and prvate schernes leading up to rhe massive protests against
a golf course. The premium placed on scenic beauty no longer makes living close to the
plaza particularly desirable, and the wealth o the local elite is overshad-
When rumors first circulated regarding plans to build a road linking
owed by that o the new inhabitants. As a result, the last severa decades
Tepoztln Lo Cuernavaca, they were received with much enthusiasm: "If
have brought the traditional divide between the city center and the bar-
this [project] comes to fruition, it will be of great importance, because
rios to a close. In its stead there are now divisions between the village and
Tepoztln will be visited by foreign and domestic excursionistas."29 The
the valley, as well as between the traditional old barrios and some o the
image that Tepoztecans had then was oi tourists who would come te
new settlements on the margins o the village, which are poorer, have
spend the day (excursionistas), visit the pyramid, and cave a few pesos be-
fewer urban services, and include significant numbers o migrants from
hind in local food stalls or perhaps in an inn. Matters developed quite dif-
outside the village.
ferently, however.
Second, the growth o the real-estate market has made agricultura
The road connecting Tepoztln and Cuernavaca was finished in 1936,
and Tepoztln did receive some excursionistas in the 1940s and 1950s, as value a secondary consideration in the organization o space. This has
combined with long-term shifts in family economies to almost completely
well as a small mimber o promincnt artists and intellectuals, some o
sever Tepoztln's identity as a periphery o a lowland agricultural core.
whom helped bring state resources Lo ti e village.30 Beginning in the
Growth in the local construction industry, in petty commerce for tourists,
1960s, however, the nature and scale of tourism and colonization changed
dramatically. and in services for weekend homes began making Tepoztln into a recep-
tor o migrant workers, and wage labor in lowland agriculture has all but
In 1965, a direct freeway to Mcxico City was built, leaving Tepoztln
less than an hour away from the ciry. As a result, weekend homes prolifer- disappeared. This process did not occur without conflict or resentments-
for instance, in connection to water usage by weekenders for lawns and
ated, and the price of land began tu rise- L.arge portions o the Valley o
pools while local agriculture lacked irrigation-but it has continued in-
Atongo, just east o the village, had been bought up by three investors in
exorably, making agriculture finto a complementary economic activity.
the 1940s and they resold plors slowly, favoring settlement by families who
Third, tourism and colonization also involve the adoption o a series
maintain a relatively rustic look hut who are wealthy by village standards.
o values that come along with commodificatiom the construction o
Beginning in the 1980s, and especially aker the devastating 1985 earth-
Tepoztln as a "natural," "traditional," and "picturesque" place has had its
quake in Mexico Ciry, a number of middle- Lo upper-class people moved
truth-value confirmed in the market. So has the idea o the place as a cite
permanently to Tepoztln, forming schools for their children and engag-
for an alternative lifestyle te) that o the modern ciry, a process that opened
ing in varying degrees with local Tcpoztecan society. By the early 1990s,
a market for earrings, incense, crystals, tarot reading, and tai chi lessons,
)and prices in Tepoztln were among the highest in the country, and the
as well as for crafts that are made elsewhere but sold to tourists locally.
village had a number o famous homeowners in its midst, including intel-
From the perspective o center-periphery relations, this process gave a

Cen trr, Ver,pe,v an,l Counectio ns

Centre, P pi,ery , und Con nec to ns
184
185
new twist tu lile earlicr nativism, whiclt liad inainly scrved to tic the vil-
lage lo a national mythology and wa, used in appeals te) the state The
cCmmodificatian ol lepoztl,in a, a ,c Mn,' ul scenic bcauty and o an
al terna ti ve cultural traditiion operas the place up to a kind of multicultura] -
ism whose paraphernalia ,ncludes (,uatem,lan k, t,, incense, masks
from Guerrero, herbal medicine, Kun;; Fu (,aen Mai, and su ora. The con-
struetion ot place nos, combine' rhe nativist idcntilication of Tepoztln
as a center o Mexicanness seith constructs emerging ruin the hippie
movement, and espeaally that mixture of ,piritual rraditions known as
New Age "
In sum, tourism and colonization nave dramatically reshaped the dy-
namics o distinction in Tepoztln Although tourism does not employ the
whole village by any means, it has aflccted land erices, patterns o urbani-
zation, and the definition of what constitutes a local resource. From the
perspective o economic cores, the town has gone from being a place
where agricultura) labor was cheaply produced lo a place where city folk
can find reprieve and alternatives tu their lives As such, Tepoztln has
moved from being a periphery of Morelos's irrigated lowlands to being a
posh periphery o Mexico Ciry; it has also gone from providing labor,
grazing lands, and wood lo lowland haciendas lo providing scenic beauty,
goods, and cervices for tourists and colonists. These processes have
helped to expand urban services in Tepoztln at a quick rate and, as a re-
sult, economic differences hetwcen the village center and the barrios, or
between upper and lower barrios, have practically disappeared. New divi-
sions, however, have emerged between colonists o the valley, who are
sometimes portrayed as "foreign," as rich, or as eccentric or sexually pro-
miscuous, and "real' Tepoztecos These divisions between trae locals and
new arrivals ar times also spill into antagonlsm against migrant workers,
who come mostly from Guerrero, but can come from as far away as Oaxaca
or even Guatemala. Finally, peasant agrictdture has diminished in impor-
tance (not only because o tourisin), although it does remain as a comple-
mentary activity for families.
Another shift that accounts for a modihcation in local core-periphery
dialectics has been the rise of wage labor and o professionalism. Begin-
ning in the 1930s, villagers invested in the education o their young. This
process, which was aided by connections with politically influential visi-
tors, gave Tepoztln an educacional edge over tire vast majority o Morelos.
In the 1970s, there was a relatively largc number of Tepoztecan school-
teachers,- today there are also many Tepoztecan professionals in a host o
helds. The growth in local education was tirst bnanced by the sale o char-
Ceurer, Pr, ery ,nA connec t,ou^
186 =
cual and wood from the comnrunal forests but, beginning in the 1950s, it
received support from income coming from local construction and from
work in tbe burgeoning new industries around Cuernavaca-
This process did nor however lead lo lile full assimilation o Tepozre-
cans finto formal-sector svhite- and blue -callarjobs because the biggest
growth in high school and college graduates-heginning in the late
1970scoincided with thc siome in employment frrr these sectors. As a
result, reliance on self-employment and/or on trying tu control local
sources of employment has grown, making these educated sectors highly
oriented lo communiry lile and te) Tepoztln as a place that can provide a
crucial space for reproduction This is reflected in the fact that some,
though by no means all, o lile leadership and militancy against projects
such as the golf course and lile fast train has come from these educated
Tepoztecos.
This apparent paradox can be better understood if we acknowledge
that professionalization and skilled industrial wage labor presentTepoztln
with yet another alternative core-periphery structure, wherein the so-
called formal-sectorjobs that are controlled by the state and industries are
a core to an "unemployed," "underemployed," "self-employed," or "infor-
mally employed" periphery . In this context, Tepoztln is a home in the pe-
riphery that deserves to be defended against intruders who not only will
change the Pace o Tepoztln, but will also not employ skilled Tepoztecos
and ruin a valued community and lifestyle by Booding the town with edu-
cated and higher-income colonists who will impact further on scarce local
resources, including water and land, and eventually squeeze local inhabi-
tants out of their homes. The expansion o education in a period of eco-
nomic uncertainties has strengthened many an educated Tepozteco's re-
solve to re-create a local tradition.
The cense of a new investment in the locality has also been strength-
ened by migrants who spend months working in the United States and
Cavada. A significant proportion of migrant dollars are invested in better-
ing homes, buying furniture, and in domestic infrastructure in lile village,
thereby reaffirming the value o Tepoztln as locus o cultural and social
reproduction, and once again casting Tepoztln as a periphery to new
centers, this time in the United States and Cavada, while retaining the
place's desired and cherished value as the Bite o reproduction, as the end
o their investments.
These three elements-tourism, the rise o ara underemployed educat-
ed class, and migratory labor to the United States-have transformed the
center-periphery logic in significant ways. Internally, the spatial layout o
Cera ter, Pule bery, and connectioin s
= 187 =
 the village is no longer part of an idiom of centrality, except in the distine-
tion between vil ley and con ter and, Da more subtle tone, between neigh-
borhoods o poor niigrants from Guerrero and the rest o the barrios.
Centrality is, however, assertcd in the wav in which Tepoztln' s status as a
"pur' place gets reconstituted, and here we see a confluence between the
symbols that attract tourists to Tepoztln and che ways in which profes-
sionals and migrants invesr themsclves in the place- 1 next illustrate the na-
cure of this confluence with changes that Nave transpired in the ways in
which the local carnival is celebrated-
Carnival
In earlier sections, we saw that neighborhood and village have been social
organizational units that embodicd distinctions such as those that separate
Indianness from urbanity, wealth froni povcrty, and so en. These dynam-
ics generated competition between barrios, a competition that tended to
make them homologous with one another. cach barrio had (and has) its
chapel with its patron saint; cach barrio was meant to have its own charac-
ter, reflected in an animal nickname (specifically, toads, lizards, ants, opos-
sums, badgers, and maguey wonns); cach barrio organized its own fiesta;
and barrios organized collective work parties for various purposes. In ad-
dition to chis tendency toward homology between barrios, we noted that
center-periphery dialectics were once expressed in an opposition between
the lower barrios around the plaza and the poorer upper barrios. This op-
position found ritual expression in carnival because the biggest expendi-
ture for that fiesta, the fabrication of <bfrtelo, (elaborate carnival costumes)
and paying for prestigious bands, was hankrolled by barrios and not by
the village as a whole. Only the dirce lower barrios had sufficient re-
sourees to organizo successful dance cornparas-
Anthropologist Phillip Bock did a Lvi-Straussian analysis o barrio
symbolism in Tepoztln." He argued that tbe sigas o barrio identity, in-
cluding animal nicknames, barrios saints' names, barrio fiestas, and carni-
val comparsas, were part of a "tradicional Tepoztecan cosmovision" that was
alive and well when he studied it in the early 1970s. According to such a
view, the distinctions between barrio animal names and the separation o
the village roto an upper and a lower poition are al] par o an elaborate
symbolic code that representa che organization o Tepoztln asan indige-
nous agrarian village. If we pay attention to the dates o the fiestas and
organize barrio symbols along an axis of symmetry that corresponds with
the above/helow division, chen these symbols suggest distinctions be-
gente , 'erip ,ry. .,r.d C,,,.r, ec ttons
188 -:
tween night and day, between wet and rainy seasons, between rich and
poor, and between odian and mestizo- However, the symmetry that is so
crucial to the kind of coherent worldviews that are posited by structural
analyses such as Bock's prove to be historically precarious when we try to
articulate them te the history o distinetion. Instead o trying to fiad such
a transcendental symmetry, we can look to the carnival, to the barrio fies-
ta, and to the symbolism associated with place in Tepoztln as arenas in
which the changing relations between places are manifested.
In recent years, for instance, the barrio o Los Reyes changed its carni-
val sigo from a badger (a nocturnal animal associated with the mountains
and with the dry season) te a little king (representing the Theee Magi
whom the barrio is named alter). San Sebastin, who once shared the
opossum with the barrio o Santa Cruz, has since changed to a scorpion,
and San Jos adopted a leal instead o sharing Santo Domingos frog. Al-
though these changes alter the apparent symmetry and neat intertextuality
o the previous arrangement, they are not a reflection o the decline o
carnival or o barrio fiestas- Quite che contrary, these fiestas are perhaps
even better attended today than they were a couple of decades ago.
lf we inspect recent changes in the carnival carefully, we note three sig-
nificant tems: flrst, carnival comparsas now incorporate all eight barrios of
the village and no longer exclude the upper barrios; second, today's bar-
rios never share their nicknames in carnival (it used to be that San Jos and
Santo Domingo shared che frog, and Santa Cruz and San Sebastin shared
the opossum); therd, some barrios have taken up symbols that are simply
indices o the barrios name, relinquishing the obscuro symbolism o ani-
mal names: San Jos is a neighborhood that was always known as "La
Hoja" (the leal), and it is no longer represented by a toad but by a leal; Los
Reyes is no longer represented by a badger but by the Magi; and San
Pedro abandoned its maguey worms for a representation o its chapel.
These shifts reflect several facts that relate to our discussion o centers
and peripheries. Barrios are no longer an ndex o differential urbanity.
There is no longer an opposition between che central and the upper bar-
rios, a fact that is reflected not only in that comparsas now bring together
upper and lower barrios, but also in the fact that barrio symbolism is used
strictly as a form of individuation, and noc as a way o expressing alliances,
as was the case when San Jos and Santo Domingo, two lower barrios,
shared the toad, or when Santa Cruz and San Sebastin, two upper barrios,
shared the opossum. Also, the new version o carnival reflects a loosening
o the ties between the ritual cycle and the agricultura) cycle, a fact that is
manifested in the current discomfiture in handling and understanding the
Comer, periphery, oa Connect,ons
189 =
tradicional animal nicknames I he signilieance or even the range of asso-
ciations of soma ol [hese animal, n lost un nurst local peoplc, and so they
triad ro wced out dilficult or unplc.oant svmbols. such as San Pedro''
maguey wormc, that could set theii upe Ii ir ndieule. Instead ol being in the
hands ot barrio cldcrs, nim 1i otnual barro, symbolism today has fallen
finto the hands of schooltcac hers who ser thc carnival symbolism nor as a
reflecrion of traditional prochietive teehniqucs and social organization, bur
racher as par ol a timeless local tradition cdebrating the village
Ti short, harrio symbolism ir. , ii nivai ntanilests sevenl of the changes
we have been discussing Urbanity is no longer the principal sigo of een-
trality [Ti local idioms ni distinction .Nci ther is there a clean-cut spatial
division between the party of progress and the party of tradition. The
enormous vitality o "tradition" masks the fact that agriculture has been
steadily receding as a defining activity for Tepoztecans. The key position
taken by educated Tepoztecans in reshaping barrio symbolism makes the
fiesta a celebration of an idealized tradition whose links to older forms o
production and social organization are increasi ngly tenuous.
This picture, however, does non reflect the vitality o local sociery even
as it can be gleaned from fiestas such as carnival, for alongwith the decline
o the core-periphery dialectic that was hased on an agrarian political
economy, we find new personal investments in the place and its signifi-
cance vis--vis "the outside worid." These pulsations are obvious not only
in the huge crowds o tourists and locals who are present, who are danc-
ing, who are drinking and eatnng, but also in sope of the symbolism o the
carnival itself, particularly in the cosuimes.
Lavish expenditure en elaborare carnival costumes (chinelos) is a com-
mon investment among Tepoztecos who work as migrant laborers in the
United States and Canada. Their savings allow them not only to improve
their houses and to buy consumer products, but also to participate lavishly
in Chis expensive fiesta. Many other Tepoztecans, educated and nonedu-
cated, wage earners and petty merchants, also invest in these expensive
costumes.
In 1993, chinela carnival costtnnes were embroidered mainly with four
kinds o motifs: (1) stereotypical (calendarike) images o Aztec prinees,
princesses, and pyramids that reallirm the village's lineage in the dominan[
nationalist discourse, (2) figures irom cartoons such as Donald Duck,
Tweety, and so un, (3) voluptuous women either in the sexy Indian or in
the Barbie-doll modos; and 14) hect caos, tequila bordes, or Coke, These
images play with the diversification ot economic centers that Tepoztecans
deal with, reaffirming an idcalized imago o the Indian, appropriating
p ice .^u.l CuuuecHani
= 19U =
ready-nade imagen from the media that circulare as widely as Tepoztecans
can hope to circulare playing with consumption, and fantasizing with
exotic sexual affairs All are dreams that are shared while dancing in the
carnival o Tepozdn
Condusion
Center and periphery are mutually dependen[ terms.More inportant, they
are ni a relationship [fiar is constantly renegotiated This fact is sometimes
forgotten because o the political dividends that accrue from reifying cen-
ters and peripheries. It was expedient in the 1960s to define the whole o
Latin America as a periphery to a northern Europe and North America.
But the very ease with which we fall prey to such reification is a sigo o the
conceptual difficulty involved in spelling out the ways in which center-
periphery relations are intertwined. This difficulty stems in part from the
tendency to collapse economic, political, and cultural core-periphery
structures as if these relationships al mapped onto each other neatly.
They need not do so.
In the case o Mexico, for one, nationalism was built not en the culture
o the bourgeoisie or o the urban proletariat, but rather around the ro-
manticized figure o the Indian and peasant. As a result, the cultural
core-periphery structure (which can be abstracted out o an analysis o
the dynamics o distinction) is impacted and thus does not follow neatly
from economic considerations. For instante, Tepoztecans have claimed, at
times effectively, a special tic to lo popular in order to negotiate conditions
with the state. Economic marginalization can place a particular group o
people in a politically advantageous position as potential representatives
o "national culture."
Theoretical positions that take only economic factors as their criteria
for organizing core-periphery models tend to tender the complex politics
o center-periphery invisible. Instead o visualizing a politics o distinc-
tion that permeates most o the world system at every level, this strategy
tends to envision regional blocks competing with each other. For instante,
Immanuel Wallerstein (1974) used countries as units in his classification o
the core-periphery structure o the capitalist world system. This makes
sense to the degree to which, as Wallerstein argued, the transfer o capital
between nation-states has been a crucial mechanism for capitalist expan-
sione Following this same logic, analysis who seek to go beyond an inter-
national core-periphery structure and finto peripheralization within a par-
ticular country have been logically drawn to concepts such as "internal
C e n t e r , P r r i p by' and C o n n e c t o n s
191 =
 eolonialism," which still allowed arelatively clear-cut division between
Families with construction workers, petty merchants, or skilled laborers in
centers and peri phcries. Unfortu late y, [hese views tend tu imagine places
their midst still like to grow sorne coro for their own consumption, and al]
as distinctly "central" oi "peripheral," instead of as loci with different kinds
are worried about having sufficient water or about retaining or acquiring a
of center-periphery dialectics_
small plot for their children to build on.
1 hope to have shown here that "clic center" has always been present in In Chis context, claiming peripheral status from one angle can serve to
Tepoztln, but that the processes of claiming centrality and of peripher-
challenge a competing form of peripheralization. Nativism is used co
alization have changed hisrorically. In fact. in at least one key moment
counter large corporations and large-scale development projects that
during the 1920s, a traditionally defined centra-'s capacity to encompass
threaten Tepoztln as a Bite for social reproduction, while economic
and, hence, to successfully peripheralize the whole village was seriously
necessity is used co legitimare commercialization of local culture and
called finto question-this despite che fact thar, from a macroeconomic
resources. The ideal of personal progress heles spur migrants on their dif-
point of view, M-lexico (and Tepoztln) remained as "peripheral" as ever. ficult journey north, and the ideal of coming back to celebrare the fiesta
1 also showed that peripheralization in che period following industriali-
helps to keep them going. It should not be entirely surprising, then, that
zation, especially since che 1960s, has hecome an increasingly complex
so many Tepoztecans-peasants or wage-earning, educated or not-are
phenomenon due tu the coexistente of competing logics and loci of "cen-
willing publicly to take on an indigenous identity that was described by
trality": che relationsh ip with che nation-state is now strongly influenced
Judith Friedlander only three decades ago as "forced identity," for this is
by transnational currents of Tepoztccan migrants, by urban middle- and par of what it takes to reproduce at che margins.
upper-class colonists, by educated and wage-earning Tepoztecans, and
by che very process of commodifying local culture and resources. This di-
versification of economic centers and che definitive decline of che old
agrarian core-periphery structure Nave produced significant ideological
alterations, even though some of [hese are niasked by che apparent conti-
nuity of traditions such as che earnival.
Not long ago, local politics of disti nction di fferentiated che uncouth
peasant indio from che urbanized and educated citizen. At the same time,
,orne Tepoztecan intellectuals were invoh'cd in dignifying Indianness
using che "artificial tlowers" srrategy, rhat is, by teaching Nahuatl, literacy,
learning che nacional anthem n Nahuatl and so on. This strategy allowed
[hese intellectuals simultaneously to reinforce their position as what
Redfield called correctos" and to stake a polihcal claim for che rown vis--
vis che state_ From a peasant perspective, however, all of [hese strategies
were bese kept at arm's length, separare ron che morality of reciprocity
and of household production rhat was at che center of their lives. In this
period, the terco indio was indeed what Judith Friedlander (1975) called a
"torced identity"; in other words, it was a discrimi natory term used to dis-
count a peasant's authority as a pubhc speaker oras a progressive citizen.
Today it is increasingly difficult ro categoriza Tepoztecans as Indians,
as peasants, or as suhjects in need of civilization. There is no unified local
elite. There is no single encompassing economic center. At che sane time,
che importante of Tepoztln as a site of social reproduction is as strong as
ir ever was Migrants wanc their (modernizad) honres to come back to.

Peril,br^y ,,nd f o n.eeiio Cenier, periphery and Connectfons

192 =
= 193 =
 P A R T 11 1

Knowing

the Nation
 9

Interpreting the Sentiments of the Nation:

Intellectuals and Governmentality in Mexico

My aim in this chapter is to inspect the sources of legitimation that have

allowed Mexican intellectuals to represent national sentiment or public
opinion, It is common to contrast the role of intellectuals in Mexico with
their role in the United States: Mexican intellectuals are thought to be
more involved in public debate and in political society, while intellectuals
in the United States are thought to be cloistered off from that world by a
well-greased academy that makes them into erudites or technicians. This
opposition often leads, in turn, to an argument regarding whether the so-
cial position of the Mexican intelligentsia in fact follows a more European, -
and specifically French, model. These contrasts can be misleading, how-
ever, lince they may be taken to imply that the differences between
Mexico and the United States are simply the result of the application of
distinct models of knowledge production.
Both French and American examples have been chosen by technicians
and policy makers to model Mexican governmental institutions. The hos-
pitals, educational establishments, and prisons that were created or re-
formed during the porfiriato (1876-1910) were often imaged on French
models. The establishment of El Colegio Nacional, which is a more recent
creation, was inspired by the Collge de France. The influence of the
United States as provider of institutional models has been equally great,

= 197 =

cspeeially sine( \Voild \Var II ami thc new e: univcrsities and rescarch fa-
ulnles Nave oitcn h)llowcd Amercan ryalnple,. I rencli in ti United States
institutional model Nave Jiu, cu,, yiSicd n AIcxico since che late nine-
teenth cenulrv and so thev cannLII hc malle tulle lo account lar the srrate-
,gics that Mexican intellec ulah harc Incd t', epll:sent nati:mal sentiment
Instead, a more general analysu ol che hlstoncal connections between
state-furmation and intellectuals w rcquiral In chis chapter, 1 contribute
tn this endeavor by inspcct:ng che rc a.ionsh ii between intellectuals rep-
reacntation ol popular sentiment and thc hisutnV ol what .Aliehel Foueault
called govcnvn cntalit}," that b to sar thc h:stoly ot thc ways in which
che state described and adntinistercd .Muxicos population. My general
contention is thar tlie economic and political circumstances surrounding
Mexican independence produced a long dclay in the effecrive implemen-
tation o a governmental state1 During chis protracted period, a style of
intellectual representation that gamed its authority from political revolt
complemented che sor[ of scientific representations of the Mexican people
that are associated with governmcntaliry. The representation o national
sentiment was produced not only by referente to a set of indicators culled
from censures and questionnaires, hui also by giving meaning and direc-
tion to the cacophany o popular social movements and insurrection.
My general claim is that although statistics were generated and popu-
lations were cared for and managed by Spanish administration since the
sixteenth century, the state and die church kept their information en the
population and deliberations on general policies private. Systematic infor-
mation en towns and provinces reas centralized in offices such as that o
the roya] cosmographer, or placed in che hands o high royal officials such
as visitadores or viceroys, but they were not scrutinized by a "public." In the
anclen rgirne, public sentiment reas a phenomenon associated with towns
or cities, and ttere was no consolidation of opinion at the leve) o the
realm, much less o the entire empire. Correspondingly, statistics, maps,
or reports could be controlled by specific communities or corporations,
but not in the narre o a broader polity
The notion o a public that transcended che hounds o the town or ciry
and extended iota the broader realm was consolidated slowly only during
the late eighteenth century. With this development, statistics became a
matter of general interest, because they measured che common good.
However, the tension between che nadan that statistics were privy to the
king and his representatives and the idea that they were che niirror in
which the public could measure its oren improvement extended to the end
of the colonial period. As late as 1791. the Inquisition barred ViceroyJuan
Ihe ^, ..wt.rlr oi tbe .Alalion
fn larp rrtinb
I9H =
Vicente Gemez Pacheco y Padilla from publishing che results o a Mexico
City census that he had comml,sioned, and freedom of the press was only
granted for a few brief montNs ni 1 812. As a resulta che hrst major publica-
tions presenting the Spanish colonies from the viewpoint of a governmen-
tal state thc works of Alexander von Humboldt, had a powerful effect on
American nabo nal ists.' Hun,bol dts portrayal o the Spanish-American
realms as functioning wholcs, complete with an aggregate population
(divided into races), maps ol rhe rcabns, and discussions of their com-
poundcd resources helped nationalists imagine their countries as autono-
mous units, and themselves as their would-he administrators. The dia-
logue between scientifcally aggregated knowledge of the population,
public discussion, and state administration thus had only a short, and rather
explosive, colonial history.
This fact is coupled with another, which is o equal significance. At in-
dependence, most Spanish-American countries were not well integrated
economicaily. The new national elites were usually landowners, and the
commercial and financial concerns that had tied the empire together were
most often controlled by Peninsular Spaniards.Independence therefore
inaugurated processes o territorial disarticulation and disaggregation, and
nacional consolidation would be won only after a protracted sequence o
pronunciamientos, caste wars, civil wars, and foreign interventions. As a re-
sult, peaceful administration was encumbered, census taking was irregular,
and the consolidation o a working scientific establishment was slow.
Mexican independence was won in 1821, but a securely functioning gov-
ernmental state did not exist until the 1880s.
There is thus an extended period in Mexican history when a com-
monly accepted scientific image of the population, o its desires and its
propensities, was not attainable. Intellectuals' reliance en the instruments
o governmental administration was thus necessarily mixed with the inter-
pretation o public sentiments on the basis o their attachment to revolts,
revolutions, and social movements, and these movements were commonly
endowed with authority to discredit "scientific" representations of public
opinion.
In che Mexican case, chis nineteenth-century phenomenon (which was
common to Spanish America and indeed to portions o Europe) was ex-
tended far loto the twentieth century thanks to che Mexican Revolution o
1910-20, and to che fact that che state that was spawned by the revolution
was a one-party regime that was led by an inordinately powerful president.
Thus, regardless o French or American influences, both o which have
provided critical instruments for che representation o national sentiment,
Inlerpretln9 tbe Senliments of lbe Nalion
199 =
 Mexican intellectuals have spoken for the people with some autonomy
vis--vis the classical instrtaments of governmentaGry. This is my argument
at its most general level.
Populations, States, asid Nationalities
Benedict Anderson argued that New World nationalisms were the first of
the modern era, that nationalisni moved from rhe periphery o empires to
their very coro. Although this contention is debatable, it is undoubtedly
true that American nationalisms sprang up relatively early on the world
scene. What is less clear is the nature o (le relationship between nation-
alism, sovereignty, and statecraft, hecause rhe domina that nationalism
spawned independence movements can just as easily be inverted, and one
could just as readily claim that it was th( prospect o severing ties with
Spain that shaped Spanish-American nationalisms_
It is tempting to resolve this question by pointing to a dialectic be-
tween nationalism, the push to independence, and then the further propa-
gation of nationalism as a result o the contest for independence itself,
However, it is worth considering this matter more closely, because the
specific contents o "nationalism" vary significantly according to its con-
nections to the various aspects of statecraft, and these variations in turn
afford a perspective on our theme, which is the specific spaces for intellec-
tual production that are characterisde of 1 atin American, and specifically
Mexican, modernity
In the last decades of the eighteenth century, New Spain underwent a
significant shift in the ways in which publicity and "the public" were dis-
cussed, with an emergent class of "reasonable people' (gente sensata) reject-
ing so-called baroque forros ol ceremony and championing enlightened
views o the common good. They were aided by enlightened monarchs
who shared their suspicion o the ' obscuiantist church" and o sectors o the viewer a glimpse o a higher order. This repon is an itero from a broad
the old nobility. This shift corresponds to a recomposition and expansion
o New Spains upper classes, with new individuals entering the Mexican
nobility and the expansion of urban classes of merchants and artisans as
the countrys economy grew.4
Late-eighteenth-century conceptions of "the public" can be culled
from the Gazeta de Mxico, Mexico Citys periodical, which reappeared in
1784 in a novel forro alter a lapso of two decades in which no regular
newspaper was published. The carlier Gazeta o Mexico City and the
Gazeta de Lima liad dealt almost exclusively with public ceremony and com-
mercial information, with covcrage of commemorations o royal births
Iuiee r, tin g ibe Seo 1IVeer; of tba Nnlon
200 =
and deaths, deaths o principal inhabitants o the cides, masses pleading
for the welfare o the Spanish fleet, and Te Deums o thanks for being spared
from plagues, but also with lists of the cargo and names o the ships that
entered Veracruz and other ports. In the second era o the Mexico City
Gazeta, this genre o reporting was complemented with discussion con-
cerning "the public" and its improvement.s
Perhaps the best way o capturing this novel concern with the progress
and welfare o "the public" is a genre o writing that I am tempted to call
"the scientifically marvelous." We know, today, o the curious genealogy o
discourses o the marvelous in the Americas, o their deployment as propa-
ganda and as a silencing mechanism in the sixteenth century, and o their
centrality in the perception o contemporary Latin America as the Bite o a
disjointed modernity, in the literary movement o the real maravilloso.
In the late eighteenth century, we have a specific subgenre o writing the
marvelous-which is, o course, found also outside of the Iberian world-
that exalts the wonders o nature and o science. The pages o the Gazeta, a
paper whose dedication te useful things was decreed by the king himself,
are replete with examples:
In the measles epidemic, whose remnants still sting this jurisdiction, a child
o age seven was sickened by it and by smallpox simultaneously, such that
the right side of his body was pocked by measles, while the left side was
hlled with smallpox, with nor one grain of smallpox mixed with one of
measles.(November 17, 1784, 186; my transiation)
In this case, the exact separation o the infant's body in halves is the
object o wonder. As in so many instances o what is judged to be mar-
velous, it is the combination between the infinite and the exact that is
awe-inspiring, the precision that denles randomness and thereby allows
genre in which natural phenomena are shown co be motivated by a divine
order, and inquiry into the natural world is thereby made compatible with
religion.
Another kind o example o rhe "scientifically marvelous" dwells en the
unsuspected potency ofthe ordinary:
Don ngel de Antrello y Bermdez, inhabitant o this city (o Guadalajara)
with a letter dated on the fifteenth of the past month (o October) notifies
the Supreme Government wirh the goal that Chis news he published, that
the plant called Ajenjo, which in Sonora is called Estafiate, ground and
mixed with water, together with the root o Palo Blanco, or, if chis root is
Inlerp re^ing ihe Sen( im en ts of tbe Nntion
201 =

laeking, cha[ ot Chamisa, or I:, ri lla. kn^,wn in Sunora whcic it grows in
abundo rato) as yatamote. is highls ci lican iuus, I drunk, co cure iabies-
'ilbid., 193; mv translation
In Che sane H*av that natural llana' m rcecaled hcavenly inrervention, so
too did Che unsuspected potential ot nature iu marvclous uses and the
promise ro heal and to bel p.
The gente of tire sLienGfically marvelouc as it is forme in Che Gazeta
combines ara interest in publie weltarc inri contirmation o the role o God
and of religion in Che transition ui nurtlcrnicp and toward Che progressive
improvement o living conditions hhc inrervention of God is manifest in
Che uncanny. Science, in Chis sense, has a double mission: discovering and
proclaiming God's hand in nature and seo ing a publie whose very adop-
rion o all that is true and useful is a ratification o a deep and mysterious
rationality. The people who subscrihed to the view that public acclaim
seas the measure and proof o having discovered a divine rationality were
known as gente sensata, or "reasonable people They opposed the pomp and
ceremony o the retrograde church with a modernized Catholicism in
which the progressive discovery of God's ways was tied to Che improve-
ment of the living conditions of the public In this respect, Miguel Hidalgo,
leader of the first armed revolt for Mexican independence in 1810, is para-
digmatic, a mystic o national independence, a priest, and a man impas-
sioned by Che useful sciences. Scientifically Inclined nationalists and na-
tionalistic scientists were commonplace at this time.
This particular form o validating truth is compatible with Michel
Foucault's ideas concerning governmentality. states define a population,
establish parameters to measure its progress, introduce new productive
techniques, and then legitimize their own existente on the basis o the
adoption o [hese improvements. In Chis sense, governmentality creates
characteristic spaces and roles for intellectuals, for the engineer and the
inventor, for Che economist, rhe hygicnist, and Che statistician, and, indeed,
[hese are some o Che main sorts o intellectuals who appear in debates
during Che late-eighteenth- and carly-nineteenth-century Gazetas
As if to illustrate the social competition of the lower echelons o Chis
intelligentsia, ara editorial response te) a teclinical debate that filled entire
issues o Che Gazeta invents a hypothetical readership in an imaginary
village:
In the town of Cozotln, abundant in sadness and scarce in amenities, there
resided a curare who combined a satistactory leve of coniprehension with
great diligente because o which he remained unsatisfied with mere elevo-
In lerp rrling Ibe 5ru,r ",,i,,
202=
[ion to his obligations and sought always co be instructed in Che useful
natural sciences, which were not incompatible with his onice .. - Our
curato gathered 'm his hotue a ver" modest salon trrlulia made up o che
vol and the barher thr only lwo champions sebo had any polish n a
country tilled with Choros and rorrghncss Decemher 2> 1784, 2; my
translation1
Thc eountrys intellectuals clearly had Che public welfarc in mirad This
was ro be attained through Che ipplication of sciences and arts that were
compatible with religion he pious tcchnician seas Che personification of
Che useful citizen.
Dialectics between the Tecbnician and tbe Spirit Medium
Certainly these ideas regarding Che public as the cite where truth about
nature is put to its ultimate test were related to the development o nation-
alism in Mexico, though one might note that they were also broadly com-
patible with Spanish absolutism and, indeed, with any forro o modero
statecraft. Independence, however, brought with it a dizzying political
instability-an instabiliry, moreover, that led to the dramatic increase in
the relative backwardness o the new Spanish-American countries, with
respect to Che United States and northern Europe.7 The relative decline o
Mexico carne along with unmitigated competition for control and appro-
priation o state institutions, and this contest made the simple adoption o
material improvements by "che publican insufficient basis for interpreting
national sentiments. The strategy o governmentality, though centrally
important throughout Che modern era, was insufficient once indepen-
dence destabilized government.
It is in this context that a second method for interpreting public sen-
timents became important. This method maintains that popular will is
visible during times of revolution and revolt, but is difficult to ascertain in
times o apparent peace because systems o coercion over individual opin-
ion are in place. In peaceful times, Che people were ruled by the existing
powers: political bosses, hacienda owners, mine owners, who each had a
ferrous hold on their workers and dependents The vote merely echoed
the wishes o chis political class
The establishment o a state hased on democratic representation was
always a distant goal, never an accomplished fact. Although numerous at-
tempts were made to establish a system of representation based on reliable
ways o counting the population and on the capacity to guarantee equality
lote rpreting Ibo Srr.limenic of lbe Nalion
203 =
 before the law to al] citizens, rhe successful establishment o credibility
was another matter-s It is arguably thc case for instante, that rhe 1994 and
1997 elections were the firsi fati- elections in Mexican history, Polis and
polling were not being used widely in Mexico before 1988.9
These difficulties stemmed principally from the force o various corpo-
rate structures in rhe society, ranging from haciendas, to the church, to
the army, to indigenous communities. Underlying their strength was the
weakness o the privare sphere o vast numbers o Mexicans. There have
always been many people who were dependents in Mexico, either because
they were servants, or sharecroppers, or peons living en their master's
property. Dependents have never nade ideal liberal citizens, for the de-
fense o individual rights is meant tu be hased on secure property and a
competitive labor niarket (servants were explicirly barred from citizenship
in early legal codes). In the twentleth century, rhe "urban informal sector,"
which is enormous, produces other forms o dependency. The state was
thus incapable of upholding the ideals o liberal citizenship for the poorer
sectors o society, and therefoie political representation depended, and
was perceived as depending, on thc muscle o regional and local elites.lo
An example that clarines the nanlre of rhe problem is rhe case o Texas
before its secession in 1836. The Mexican constrtution o 1824 abolished
slavery Nevertheless, as tensions hetween Anglo-American colonists in
Texas and the Mexican government mounted in the late 1820s, the
Mexican government repealed rhe prohihition o slavery in the case o
Texas as a way o appeasing rhe colonists. In short, the Mexican state did
not have rhe power tu guarantec citizenship to its population, but relied
instead on the power o various local elites who could mobilize or demo-
bilize popular classes to such an extent that in certain instantes they
might even be able to enslave them without effective state restrictions.'1
In a more general way, one might argue that rhe continued presente o
a vast peasantry and, especially in the twentierh century, o a populous
urban informal sector has meara that rhe state culture of governmentality,
hased on censuses and en other forms of state ethnography, as well as on
rhe construction o measures of progress, has never been intellectually
sufficient for founding credible political representation. These standard
mechanisms for measuring popular will are effective only to the extent
that the state has the means for regulating rhe lives o its people.
What is more, rhe growing concern with backwardness-a concern
that began to develop about ten years alter independence and that be-
carne acute alter rhe war with the United Stares in 1 847-meant that
some of the forms of state CLIture that one associates with governance in
1n trrp reting tbr n 1 i rn 1': 1, of 1be Nal on
204 =
more developed countries became an aspect o state theater in the more
backward ones.
Early national statistics in Mexico mobilized the study o variation
around a mean in order to demonstrate that the people o Mexico City
were as educated as those o London, that levels o prostitution in Mexico
were lower than those o Paris, and that levels o prosperity were compa-
rable to those o the same capitals. These statistics were not reliable or
useful for interna ) social engineering , the way that colonial statistics had
been. Instead, they were intended to create a mystique o modernity that
would help secure a place for Mexico in the concert o nations.
Any bid for being taken seriously in rhe international arena involved
such forms o state theater. During the porfirato (1876-1910), which was
rhe first time in which such a credible bid could be sustained, there was
much display o rhe visible signs o modernity. Daz created an elite police
corps, the rurales, whose uniforms and organization gave a semblante o
order to a country whose association with banditry was legendary. The
first national census was taken in 1895 and then regularly every ten years
beginning in 1900, and the capital city became the cite o government in-
terventions that were oriented to making the city finto a credible capital o
a modern nation. 1 shall dwell briefly on certain aspects o this strategy.12
The national state was only lightly inscribed in Mexico's landscape be-
fore the 1 880s. In many o the most important state capitals , institutes o
science and arts existed as an educational and intellectual counterpart to
the structure o state legislarures. These Institutos Cientficos y Literarios
tried to recruit students from each municipality every year, thereby creat-
ing a structure o education that would impact the whole o each state's
political life. This method o intellectual representation, which was paral-
lel to the ideal o democratic representation, has not yet received much
attention from historians, and we do not have a good comparative view o
its operation , but it is clear that it did not achieve a nationally integrated
public sphere.
This fragmentation o the public sphere, which corresponds to the lack
o a national dominant class (that can only be said to have emerged after
rhe construction o the railroads, beginning in the 1880s), is reflected in
the fragility o the state's inscription in rhe landscape. According to Carlos
Monsivis, there were only seven statues o heroes in the whole o Mexico's
public squares before 1876.13
With Daz, however, effective centralization o the state was achieved,
along with the consolidation o a national bourgeoisie. These achieve-
ments coincided neither with a florescence o democratic institutions nor
Tnterpreting t b e S e n t i m e n t s o f t b, N o t i o
= 205 =
with Che universal extensic>n ol civie r nrtue -except, of course, at the leve]
of state thcater The pcrfiri,ilo mac hav e ] ecn the heyday of bondad labor,
but in Mexico City. Daz presentad iii imap,c ol federal demoeraey by lin-
uig the new Paseo de la Retare,,, bnt,le ard with two busts ol notables
from each ot Che republie statcs The capital city thus became a site
where local leaders were tranvorlacd finto Che nic to nym ic si gris ol an imagi-
nary demoeraey
The strategy ot political representation that was drst consolidated
under Daz is still usad todav Durinc ethnogrophie work on Che staging of
public ralees during che presidenual campnign ul Carlos Salinas in 1988,
1 noticed that in each state tour. thc presidential candidate delivered
speeches that contained a simple formula: he would begin by acknowledg-
ing the greatness o Che state in which he mas, by naming prominent his-
torical figures of the state, who were usually political heroes or prominent
artists, intellectuals, and the like- Tiren he would value their contribution
in terms o what they mean[ for Che nation- For instance, Salinas said that
he was proud to be in Puebla, thc region o Aquiles Serdn and the birth-
place o the Mexican Revolurion, Chihuahua was the state that harbored
Benito Jurez during his campaign against Che French invaders, Veracruz
was Che land o poeta and popular artists who, like Agustn Lara, had
brought international recognition to Mexico. In each speech, the region
was recognized, but its value was only realized at che leve) o Che nation. 10
This is a legacy o Daz's regime, when Mexico City was effectively set up
as the Bite in which national value was realized.
However, although Che centralization of Che state under Daz allowed
for the development o a more reliable set of measurements with which to
count, poli, and represent 'Che peoplc,' capital accumulation in Che period
relied en labor repression, and Che stability of the central state itself de-
pended en robust authoritarian practices. As a result, che governmental in-
tellectual whose infancy we have tracked al the way back to the pages o
Che Canela de Mxico in Che 1 780s liad only limited credibility and was used
as much as an element o state thcater as the means for actual governmen-
tal administration. The tension between che representation o the people
by way o the state's governmental sciences and its representation through
direct and unmediated access to national sentiment thus became a struc-
tural feature of Mexican development
The figure o Francisco 1. Madero the revolutionary leader who top-
pled Daz in a vast popular movement, provides a curious instance o the
intimate and unsolvable concradiction between a governmental intellectu-
al and one who representa popular opinion through a more mystical tia.
f^!i^^pruin ) ^6e , i i,,, Eni' nt it,, Na,,on
200 =
Madero was famously upright, a guardian of impartnality and o the ra-
tionality o justice, as is evident in Chis fragment from one of his speeches
pronounced soon after toppling Daz:
lo Che suffedng and working peoplc. Chis is to soy that 1 expect everything
from your wisdom and prudcnce That you should consider me as your best
friend. that you make moderate and parriotic use o the liberty that you
have conquered and that you have faith in Che justice of your new gover-
nors - because from Che political point of view your situation has under-
gone radical chango, going from the miserable role o pariah and slave Lo
Che august heights o that ol the citizen- Do not expect that your economic
and social situation shall improve sharply, because this cannot be attained
through decrees or laws, but only by Che constant and laborious effort o al]
social elements . - Know that you shall find happiness in yourselves, in
dominating your passions and repressing your vices, and in developing
your willpower in order to act always according to the dictates of your con-
science and o your patriotism, and not according Lo the ways o your pas-
sions. Finally, 1 urge you to seek strengch in uniry and to make the law the
norm o al] o your acts.15
However, there were not yet any reliable mechanisms for feeling the
pulse o Chis new world o august citizens and impartial judges. Knowing
Che popular will was, in the end, a matter o faith, it required Che ability to
tap finto the secret reservoirs o national sentiment. In this respect, the
other, private face o Madero as a religious man and especially as a spiritu-
alist is not as contradictory as it has been made out to be-16 As a leader
who proved capable o mobilizing a broadly based nacional movement
in entirely undemocratic conditions, Francisco Madero Che progressive
democrat needed the guidance o his alter ego, Francisco Madero the spiri-
tualist and medium. The duality o Che governmental intellectual and o
the intellectual as spirit medium o the popular will is here conjoined in a
single, politically explosive figure.
In sum: Whereas an early form o interpreting national sentiments is
based en the public's adoption o useful and progressive measures, Mexico's
instability, its increasing backwardness, and the authoritarianism that was
its most readily available remedy al] conspired to produce a second
method o interpreting the sentiments o the nation- This method recog-
nizes that political representation in the public sphere is insufficiently de-
veloped, so that popular will is conceived o as a rumor that can be inter-
preted through exegesis o popular actions, with revolutions as ultimate
loci o authenticity.
In te rp re ting Ihr Sen i,m en ts of tbe Nation
= 207 =
 In times ot unrest, as during the perioel berween 1821 and 1876 orbe -
tween 1910 and 1940, or again since rhe revolt in Chiapas in 1994, appeal
ro social movements and to revolutions as the privileged sites o public
opinion is quite extended, while che capacity to build legitimacy on the
productive effects of a state culrure o governmentality declines, turning
the scientists and technicians of these periods into objects o ridicule
whose pretense of method is broken by a rcality that will not cede t posi-
tivist inspection. During momenrs of stahi1ity and progress, however, the
public acceptance o these technicians grows, hut even then their material
dependence on a state that relies on che mediation o a political class for
the management o a largo "dependent" population occasionally under-
mines their credibi1 ity
Interpassivity and Governmentality
The concept o "i nterpassiv i ty" is useful lar understandi ng the dialectic
berween the two forms o intellectual production and che two kinds o
spaces for intellectuals that 1 have oudined so far. n Interpassivity is a kind
o relationship in which the anticipated reaction o an interlocutor is acted
out by the emissary o the original message. Zizek gives canned laughter
en television asan example
In the Mexican case, both of che techniques for interpreting che sen-
timents of the nation that 1 have oudined ',and that 1 am tempted to cal]
"bureaucratic" and "charismatic") are built en the silente, or at the very
least en che incoherente, of popular expression. The will o the people is
read either by interpreting silente as complacent appeal o the govern-
mental state, or according to the interpretarions o intellectuals, whose
speech is meant tes be the symptom o the expected reaction o a public
that is unable co articulare views in the public sphere.
In this sense, che role of intellectuals in Mexico is not limited to that o
technicians o governmentality-which difterentiaces che country to some
degree from the United States. The role of somatizing national sentiments,
the interpassivity o national intellectuals, is based not so much en the
professional drive for specification, isolation, and classification as on de-
veloping narratives about the progress o popular will that conform to the
circumscances of social movements and state policies- We thus have as
national intellectuals both the technician and che medium, the bureaucra-
tized professional and the "interpassive" charismatic intellectual.
The state subsidy o intellectual mediums" or agents entrusted with
acting out expected popular sentiments is a historical fact that is worthy o
In lerpreling tbe Sr n,e n., of eNalion
208 =
note, since many modern states subsidize only che bureaucratic, "govern-
mental" intellectuals. In Mexico, governmental subsidies to che press are
substancial, and there are a number o institutions, ranging from state-
funded presses to universities, cultural institutes, museums, fellowships,
and scholarships that are routinely used to fund Chis kind o intellectual.ls
The significante o these "inrerpassive" intellectuals for the Mexican na-
tion is a function o the states capacity to creare a working relationship
between che countrys diverse corporate sectors.
In this sense, postrevolutionary government investment in interpas-
sive intellectuals can be clarified if we contrast Mexico's situation to
Ortega y Gasset's (1921) famous analysis o the breakdown and decom-
position o Spain. Ortega described a situation, which he named "par-
ticularism" and described as a breakdown of the consciousness o inter-
dependence between che nation's principal segments. This breakdown
was caused by the lack o an attractive and viable nacional project. In that
context, che various sectors o society-the army, the proletariat, che
bourgeoisie, the intelligentsia-turned inward and did little to seek inter-
sectorial alliances. This inward turn was led by parochial leaders, each o
whom imagined a perfect identity berween his own sectorial interests
and those o che general public. The famous military pronunciamientos o
the nineteenth century were, for Ortega, paradigmatic o the phenome-
non o particularism:
The pronunciados (military rcbels) never believed that it was necessary to
struggle to obtain victory They were sure that almost everyone secretly
held their same opinions, and so they had blind faith in the magical effect
o "pronouncing" a phrase. They rose, then, not to struggle, but rather to
take possession o public power.19
Mexico's situation in the postrevolutionary era had both similarities to
and differences with che Spanish case. On the one hand, it was, and to
some extent remains, a deeply segmented country. On the other hand, the
revolutionary state was able to put forth a more or less viable and attrac-
tive national project. National unity, however, still rested on a culturally
segmented and inwardly oriented set o sectors, most o which had weak
intellectual representation In Chis context, it is perhaps not so surprising
that the state took such an interest in fostering an intelligentsia that could
somatize these various sectorial interesas and place them into a single,
though highly restricted, discussion that in Mexico has been called "pub-
lic opinion."
Interpret:ng tbe Sentiments of ibe Nation
209 =
 hulent_ As a result, the instruments of governmentaliry have usually been
E ondusion
unevenly applied, owing lo che states insufficient resources and the nature
The analysis ot che spaces tor ntellecwals ti, one hackward country allows o capitalist development in the region. Moreover, given Mexicos posi-
us lo look ar the rclationship between pal tics and antipolitics in Latin tion in the international arena given its need to attract forcign capital and
i erent light In NI, xican polities ot che past century, a
A rnerica under a (f ro gain a measure of respect trom the great powers, govermnentality itself
dialectic between so-called tourm and iio6Lco+ has been widely noted became something that needed lo be convincingly exhibited. The sci-
Similarly, in countries such as Elide Argentina and Brazil, military gov- ences o state administration needed to be presented as developed and
ernments developed ela hora te an ti polit:cal discourses_ theirgovern- effective, a fact that in itsell has generated the suspicion that they are nei-
ments were cast as technical administra tions. not as properly polltical."' ther. This complex history of governmentality in Mexico thereby provid-
l his discoerse ot antipolitics is assudaied with a specilic kind of anti- ed a relatively secure space for nongovernmental intellectuals.
intellectualism Chilean universittes and culture spheres were dismantied
in all but their most technical wings during rhe military government, and
an appreciation o the hureaucratic, as against the charismatic, intellectual
has remained there lo this day.
Similarly, during the porfiriato in Mexico, the intellectual-cum-political
elite took on the pretentious narre ot cienlfcos Porfirio's policy would be
founded in a positive science, that is, on the hegemony o the governmen-
tal state. Even then, however, [hese pretensions were understood lo be at
least in par an aspect of state theater, and a distante between the pas real
and the pas legal, between the state's image of the country and the country
itself, seas at times grudgingly acknowledged As a result, charismatic in-
tellectuals, though dangerous lo the regime, were not entirely alien lo it.
The Mexican Revolution, however, provided a new fount and bedrock for
popular will, one that brought back the claims o all past revolutions, and
revolutionary governments took it upon themselves lo create spaces and
to provide resources for an intelligentsia whose role has been lo function
as an interpassive agent o popular opinion. These spaces include an
"autonomous," but state-funded, National University, and government-
hacked spaces for relatively free artistic expression and publication. This
contrast might provide a key for understanding why the Mexican state has
fostered a certain sor[ of intellectual and artistic production, whereas
other Spanish-American countries nave invested much fewer resources in
these activities. It also frames the question of the connection between en-
gaged public intellectuals and academics or cechnicians in relation to a set
o issues that transcend the question of which models-French, British,
German, Spanish, or American-were iniported. All were imponed, and
all were subordinated to the logic outlined liere.
Michel Foucault's idea of governmentaliry is of special pertinente for
understanding the strategies with which intellectuals have represented
national sentiments because Mexicos entry to modernity was highly tur-

In te rp rrtrng tlsr Sent,.,,is of tbr Nation

tutor pte i ir; 1', S, ..,r: rn1' af t1r Natfon
210 = 211 =
 massacre and been a champion of democracy since the s 9sos, be accused of writing offi-
cial historya In an interview with Milenio regarding Chis debate, historian Lorenzo
Meyer went furtber and argued that in Mexico there has never been an official historya

l o And yet, I would argue, it moves.

1 call the history that is written lo provide the pedigree, Co identify tbe imagnary sub-
ject, and lo provde che governmental horizon of che state "official history." In Micbel
Foucault"s tercos, this is a history from che present,"as opposed Co a "history of the pres-
ent." Its function is Co give the state its pro per cerfcation, and Co shape and drect a na-
tional community. Enrique Krauze's criticism of Mexican presidents and presidentialism
has tefe the revolutionary regime's nacional mythology intact in its most important points;
invigorated in its central dogmas, it is now readyfor its new tenants,
This chapter concerns Che practice and use of history in Mexicos great epochal trans-
An Intellectual's Stock in the tion. It is about the relationsbip between intellectuals, the state, and che market, and espe-
eially about che privatization of Mexicos cultural apparatus. As sucb, this essay and che
Factory of Mexico' s Ruins: debate tbat it provoked are one of che early episodes of what has become a battle over che
cultural policies of che Mexican state. I reproduce bere my original text with no modifica-
Enrique Krauze 's Mexico: Biography of Power tions, though I Nave added tipo neto footnotes Co call attention Co mistakes in my original
text that were pointed out by Mr Krauze in bis responses. Tbey are of little consequence.

At the end of every presidential term (sexenio), Mexican presidents become

This essay mas fru published in che American Journal of Sociology 103, no. 4
involved in a frenetic yace o inaugurations; their posterity depends on it.
(1998): 1052-65_ ft was subsequently translated asid published in Mexico in the news-
Hospitals, museums, universities, dams, highways, subways-all of the
niagazine Milenio (May i i, 1998), where it geneated a broadly publicized exchange
signs of modernization and progress that every president promises-must
ivith Enrique Krauze.1 Tbis debate became somethin,/ of a curiosityfor those tobo follow
be inaugurated, along with a large bronze plaque giving credit to the
Ihe affairs and daily practice of intellectuals_ Although it gravitated toward the ad
president, whether the building is finished or not. My brother, a scientist,
bominem remarle more [han lo proper inl ellectual a rq,nnen tation, the episode is itself a per-
once witnessed the inauguration of a research facility by outgoing presi-
formance of che central themes of tbis book ibe role of intellectuals in nation building, tbe
dent Lpez Portillo in 1981. The inauguration occurred in a building that
role of scient c disciplines (in Chis case, of history) in this process, and Ihe significance of
was made to look finished, complete with lawns, potted plants, and the
iones of contact as points of tension were all irarnatiaully enacted- Me Krauze countered
rest of it, As soon as the president left, a presidential team came in, rolled
Ihe elaims tbai 1 malee in Ibis essay by arguing, arnong other things, that bis book could
up che grass, picked up che potted plants and took them to the site of the
not be called a "ruin" because it had sold i n;illion copies, and that my review, which he
next inauguration.
cbose Co frame as an attack by "an acuden,ic o; "a public 6rtellectual,"was motivated by
This practice, which betrays so much about the economy and legiti-
a serse of personal frustration unt tbe Alexicun milieu 1 was portrayed as baving accept-
macy of Mexican presidentialism, is certainly one of the sources of what
ed a position in tbe American academy becas se 1 lacked viable alternatives in Mexicos
Brazilian literary critic Beatriz Jaguaribe has called "modernist ruins." The
university system and, finally, as Mter Lomnitz tbat is, as a foreigner or, u,bat is
rush to legitimize a presidency or a governorship is enmeshed with the
much worse, as a Mexican who had choca; tire Llnited States overMexico
economy of public expenditure, and both conspire to produce veritable
Tbis chapter is thus itse f an exaniple of Ihe telationsbip between contact tones and che
monuments to the grandiloquence and corruption of the governing elites
production of ihe nation lts publica ti on nlso generoted sorne debate around the category of
that are, at the same time, inhospitable and alienating for ehe intended user
'oficial history" Ir bis response lo [bis essay, AIr Krauze declared hirnsef to be amused
by my argumenta in ibis rojard, Hato eaula he, lado had denounced che
(the public"). The fascinating thing about these modernist ruins is that
196s student
they betray Che gestural quality of much of Mexico's state-led modernity.

An ln relleclual's Stock
212
= 213 =
1 he central tenet of archltectu ral modernism ti til1ts practicality) serves
as a sereen tor a second rationale-. w11( 11 u 1cilit ieal . the story of Mexicos
progressive state vede an enormous pork barrcl.
hhis aspcct cf Mexicos n)dcl 111 1\ t:as nat pUCtiC II ly captured by the
Seottish eecentrlc and surrealist AII I dwaH lames, wbo built ntajestic ce-
ment ruins lo die jungles ot thc Huasteca to swallow up When he was
asked why he pude Chis cosdy extraca;-ance. Edwards elaimed that it was
to confuse tic al-chaeclogists ..f thc )atare.
Like Mr lactess ruin,, Ncxicos nodernist mies llave very personal
signaturas, which are oteen tiose ol Clic prrsidcnt'vilo sponsored them-
So, whereas archaeologists of Che c-Columpian past use site names to
label historical epochs (e-g, Monte Albn 1. II, 111, or Tlatilco IV, V, and
VI), archaeologists of Mexicos modcrnist ruins would be wise to rely en
Che names of thc presidents who sponsored them, for example, Alemn 1
and II, or Lpez Portillo I, II, and III.
Although Che discussion of modernist ruins usually brings to mind
housing projects, hospitals, bridges, and basketball courts, Mexicos cul-
tural world is also littered with [hese ruin,. The central axis of cultural
modernity-which is a productive relationship between science, art, and
the constant improvement of che quality of lile ("progress")-was histori-
cally so feeble in Mexico that, beginning in the 1920s, the state took a
proactive role in strengthening it- This role has been as open to demagogy
and corruption as any other modernizing project.
Until the 1900s, the states hmction as patron of the sciences and the
arts had met with relanve success-the National Autonomous University
was built, as was the National Polytechnical Institute. The arts flourished
under state patronage, and Mexico began to make a credible bid for a
place among modere nations. The revolutionary prestige of government
and the accelerated modernization chas began around 1940 fostered a rela-
tively snug relationship between middle-class ideals of mobility and the
state's self-image as the prime engine of modernization.
Mexican sociologist Ricardo Pozas has shown how Chis relationship
first cracked in 1964, when medical students and young doctors rejected
the state's authoritarian forms of decision making and embarked on a series
o[ strikes that were violently suppressed.' 1 he seque) and culmination of
this conflict occurred in the student movement of 1968, which ended with
the massacre of hundreds of students at Tlatelolco square, in Mexico City.
The killings at Tlatelolco provoked a new spurt of construction of
modernist ruins. Under President Echeverra the whole of Mexico's uni-
versity system expanded was' beyond che countrys capacities, which
An 1n:r l 1 T, lile l's 1!ork
214 =
meant filling the universiry with a staff Chal was not always well qualified-
Although the results of Chis huge expansion ot the educational system in
the 1970s were mixed, criticisms of its perverse effects were particularly
harsh, because he formula ot state-driven expansion was no longer sus-
tainable alter Che states fiscal crisis in 1982.
The National University and other public institutions carne under se-
vere scrutiny, and their ruinous aspect was widely puhlicized as the de la
Madrid administration slashed its support of Mexican public institutions
of higher learning. This was Che dawn of a new era in Mexican cultural
life, an era marked by privatization and by growing differences between
an increasingly proletarianized mass of low-prestige teachers, a somewhat
fancier stratum of publishing academice, and a new cultural elite that fases
writing with business.
Changes in Mexicos cultural world have been so deep that the analysis
of their impact on the quality of cultural production has been suspended
to a surprising degree. There is so much that is new in the institutional
arrangement of Mexican cultural life since the 1980s: changes in training
programs and in the profile that is expected for entering a university
career, growth of privare and public universities, and Che emergente of
cultural groups with wide media access.
There are signs, however, that the time is ripe for a critical look at
today's cultural milieu , for the eras first monumental modernist ruins are
now becoming clearly visible. This year it seems that Mexico City's main
private art museum may Glose its doors.4 It is also clear that most Mexican
private universities are not funding research. However, in Che world of cul-
ture, Che most significant ruins are always the cultural works themselves.
The appearance of Enrique Krauze's Mexicos Biography of Power (Harper-
Collins, 1997) is a landmark in this respect, it is a "period piece" that al-
lows us to scrutinize the effects of power on intellectual production in a
sector of Mexico's intelligentsia.
1 propose to do just this. A discussion of Che organization of Krauze's
book, of Che connections between Krauze's intellectual project and pis po-
sition in Mexico's cultural milieu, andan appraisal of the value of this book
as a work of history opens a clear perspective en the use of history as a
gesture in the struggle over who gets to represent Mexico.
Organization
Mexico: Biography of Power is Enrique Krauze's most ambitious book. It com-
bines into a single work three hooks in Spanish (Biografas del poder, about
An In1r )lee tual "s Stock
215
 the leadership of the Mexican Revolution, Siglo de Caudillos, about the
American readers, and to some political groups in Mexico, it is notdefen-
Mexican presidency in the nineteenth century, and La presidencia imperial,
sible as the key to understanding that history .
which covers the Mexican presidency from 1940 to the present). In addi-
The books central premise shares the pleasingsimplicity o its teleology:
tion, Mexico: Biography of Power ofiers a brief synthesis o political power
and political culture in che colonial period. This is the only work available, This book threads the lives of the most important leaders during the last
in English or in Spanish, that covers such vast territory - rwo centuries finto a single biography o power, but 1 am in no way sub-
The complexity o the subject matter is made manageable by giving scribing to an outmoded (and unacceptable) great-man theory o history.
history a direction and a premise- Both o these are offered with disarming
Thus, while writers and academice the world over worry about the "death
simplicity, For Enrique Krauze, the history of Mexico is the history o the
o the subject," Krauze is busy anthropomorphizing national history and
struggle for democracy. So much so that, echoing Fukuyama, he ends this
providing it with a "biography."
book by asking Mexicans
What 1 hopo to convoy is that in Mexico the lives o these men do more
tu bury once and forever Cuauhtdmoc with Corts, Hidalgo and Iturbide,
than represent the complexities and contradiction o the country they
Morelos and Santa Arana, Jurez with Maxi ni filian, Porhrio with Madero,
carne to govern or in which they took center stage for a rime at rhe head o
Zapata and Carranza, Villa and Obregn, Calles with Crdenas, al[ o them
armies fighting For chango or for a return to the past (or for both). The
reconciled withm the same tom But Mexico would hace to be less pious
accidents o their individual lives aleo had an enormous effect on the direc-
roward as modero actors. There can Inc no re, onciliation with Tlarelolco.
tions taken by the nation as a whole- Personal characteristics and events
Krauze feels that the 1968 massacre at Tlatelolco should not be forgot- that in a moderately democratic country might be mere anecdotes-
ten because that conflict was largely about governmental democracy. interesting , amusing , or trivial-can in Mexico acquire unsuspected dimen-

However, the fact rhat the 1968 movemcnt did not involve or affect sions and significante. An early psychological frustration, a physical de-
Mexico' s peasants nor the majority of os poor does not seem to matter fect, a family drama, a confused prejudice, a tilt one way or the other in a

Mexico's peasants are asked ro "bury Zapata; who called for land for those man's religious feelings or his passions, even a local tradition automatically

who work it, but never to forget a middle-class movement that demanded accepted could literally alter rhe late o Mexico, for better or for worse7
democracy.
According to Krauze, then, presidential biographies in Mexico collec-
The organization of political history around the story o democracy
tively shape what he mystically calls the nations "biography o power."
is highly problematic in a country whose fundamental viability was in
However, he does not want this te be identified with a "great-man theory
question during most o the nineteenth ccntury. Moreover, although
o history" but wishes instead to provide the premise with a kind o cul-
democracy has been a significant political issue during most o Mexico's
tural specificity. This is because Mexico's historical roots combine "two
modero history, it has often not peen the principal political aim or site o
traditions o absolute power-one emanating from the gods and the other
contention.
from God [he means the Aztec and the Spanish tradition]-this political
For instante, the Mexican Revoltition (1910-20) begins as a demo-
mestizaje conferred a unique contection with the sacred on Mexico's suc-
cratic revolt under Madero, but it quickly turras finto a broadly based and
cession o rulers-" s What wer have, then, is a great-man theory o history
rather inchoate social revolution with vatregated demands, ranging from
with validity confined to Mexico.
agrarian reform, to labor laws, to national control over resources, tu radi-
As a result, Mr. Krauze continually asserts that Mexico is unique and
cal state secularism. On the whose it is fair to say that these demands, and
fundamentally different from the rest o the world. This exceptionalism is
the dynamics o the struggle for power itself, overshadowed democracy as
convenient because it allows him to ignore the parallels between Mexican
the main issue. This fact is confirmed in the political success o the official
history and other histories, parallels that would diminish the force o the
state party (PRI), a party that was decply undemocratic but that left con-
contention that presidential biographies have systematically "altered the
siderable room for social demands. In short, although the organization o
fate o Mexico-" On the other hand, since Krauze claims exception for
Mexieo's political history around the epic of democracy is pleasing for
Mexico on the basis o the peculiarities o the Aztec and Spanish mixture,

A n lu t, llrr i ^, n 1. Stock
A n I s t c 1 1 , , i a a l ' s Stock
216 =
= 217 =
this leads straight back to Mcxicus oflidal history, which this book dis-
1incdy reproduces: Martn Corts son ot Hernn Corts and La Malinche)
was "the hrst Mexican" (p 52, Hernn Corts was "che spiritual antithesis"
ot Moctezuma ip. 44Moctezuma and Cortes''created a new nationaliry
the instant they met" (p. 47 theiu veas no True ethnic hatred" in Mexico
from the colonial period forward p 491; slavery in Mexico was sweeter
iban in rhe United States (p 50 and so on In short, the fabricated saga
of rhe mestizo as national protagonist is swallowed whose, hook, line, and
sinker. ']-he au thori tative narntion ul Nlcxlco, ate and tortune rehearses
and reaffirms officia1 history, but with a twur. instead of culminating with
rhe progress wrought by rhe Mexican Revolution (which liad been the
End o History until recendy), it culminares with rhe democracy that
Krauze's 1968 generation is supposed to have engendered.
Krauze: Biography of Power
Krauze's history can be read in two keys: rhe first key is the the saga o
democracy into which he wants to shoehorn Mexican political history;
the second is rhe saga o his own intellectual genealogy. This second epic,
which is barely visible to an English-speaking audience, is nonetheless
critical, because Mr. Krauze is in rhe business o representing che nation to
rhe outside, trying hard to garner credentials with which to construct
himself as rhe kind of privileged interlocutor that other Mexican intellec-
tuals have been: Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo.
Enrique Krauze began his careen with a book on what he called "intel-
lectual caudillos" o rhe Mexican Revolution (the term caudillo originally
referred to military leaders whose charisma allowed them to vie for con-
trol over countries and regions; ir is a political form that was characteristic
o Spanish America's nineteenth cenmry). Krauze then hitched his wagon
to rhe star o Daniel Costo Villegas, a prominent liberal historian who di-
rected El Colegio de Mxico and who created a workshop that was known
as rhe "factory o Mexican history," where much o the history o rhe por-
firiato and the Mexican Revolution was written.9 Alter Cosfs death, Mr.
Krauze became the impresario and subdirector o Vuelta, Octavio Paz's cul-
tural magazine, from which he derived most o his intellectual cachet.
In an effort te create a voice for himself, and perhaps to emerge from
under rhe long shadow o his mentors, Krauze identifies as a member o
the 1968 generation, a generation that was marked by the student move-
ment and by its violent end at the hands o the Mexican state. Like a num-
ber o others, Krauze relies on this identity to acquire the semblante o
A: 11 te e, Tu,, l's Stock
= 218 =
purity He sets himself as a liberal and even as a "heretic,"10 an indepen-
dent intellectual who cr'i ticizes Mexican authoritaria nism from the sanc-
tity ot his private world-
In fact, however, Krauzes prestige and cultural poseer do not come from
1968, nor is he comparable on an intellectual plane ro Coso Villegas, let
alone to Octavio Paz. Krauze's prominente is, instead, an effect o a more
recent story. With the debt crisis in 1982: the Mexican government carne
down hard on al[ salary carnets real minimum wages plummeted to hall in
less than tive years (a fact that, like almost every economic consideration,
goes unnoted in Krauze's book) Among rhe wage-earning population,
one of the sectors that was hit hardest was rhe educational sector, and the
universities in particular.
When che debt crisis hit, the government was unwilling to maintain
universiry salaries at in their traditional middle-class levis, and so it creat-
ed a system o evaluation that sidestepped university regulations o pro-
motion and that rewarded only productive academice. 'Publish or perish"
carne to have a very literal meaning in the Mexican academy. However,
rhe process o internal stratification in the university system did nor come
without a substantial cost both for the prestige o academic work and
for rhe possibility o surviving as a beginning scholar. As a result, whole
,;enerations o potential scholars were either significantly slowed down or
destroyed.
At the same time that rhe Mexican state strangled its universities, it did
not abandon its patronage and contact with intellectuals. The de la
Madrid (1982-88) and Salinas (1988-94) governments coupled their tight
policies toward the university with generous contracts and subsidies to
specific intellectual groups. The principal groups gravitated around two
literary/political journals: Vuelta and Nexos. These two groups accumulated
vast cultural power in rhe 1980s and 1990s: Hctor Aguilar Camn, former
director o Nexos, member o the '68 generation and erstwhile leftist, was a
close friend to Carlos Salinas de Gortari. He created a publishing house,
Cal y Arena, whose books were widely distributed, publicized by Nexos-
controlled public TV Channel 22.
On his side, Enrique Krauze, rhe principal entrepreneur o the Vuelta
group, received support from President de la Madrid for his "biographies
o power" project (comprising rhe porflriato to Crdenas sections o Mexico:
Biography of Power), a project that was printed by the government-owned
publishing house Fondo de Cultura Econmica, a prestigious press that
sidestepped its traditional role o publishing scholarly work.
During that same period, Krauze and Vuelta began doing business with
A n ln tellee tu nls Stock
= 219 =
 Televisa, Mexicos television giant that had effectively been a communica-
Mallon, and Stephen Haber is not cited, nor-in most cases-are their
tions monopoly for decades, thanks to os special ties to government.
ideas assimilated in Che text, despite their indisputable relevante to the
Televisa had a largely negative role in Niexicos transition to democracy, a
subjects covered." Like the politicians who have always stressed Mexican
fact that has been widely recognized by independent political observers
exceptionalism, Krauze roo is interested in Mexico's insularity; by turning
of Mexico, including Che United Nations This did not stop self-styled
his own coterie o friends and mentors into the principal thinkers and ac-
democratic pero Enrique Krauze trom becoming one of the company's
tors in Mexican history, he can easily aspire to become Mexicos represen-
partners. Krauze is co-owner o Clio. a publishing house devoted to popu- tative in Che media.
lartzing his version of Mexican history and producer of historical soap
The use el the work o Mexican scholars is equally problematic. For
operas that have devoted some effort to rehabilitating Porfirio Daz
instante, in his treatment o the 1968 movement, a chapter that is meant
1876-19 10), the liberal dictator and formen archvillain o official history.
to be the high point of Che book, Krauze gives preeminence to two
In short, Krauze's power was amassed in a moment in which the gov-
intellectuals-Coso Villegas and Octavio Paz-both o whom were mar-
ernment turned its back on pub r, education and research and subsidized a
ginal to the movement and of an older generation, but were nonetheless
process of cultural privatization that had similar characteristics to other
central to Krauze's own development Coso Villegas gets no fewer than
privatizations_ enormous concentration of power in very few hands, and
thirty-three mentions in the text o this book; Mexican historian Edmundo
the formation o a new elite.
O'Gorman, who was arguably a more profound thinker, gets none."
Whereas Daniel Coso Vlllegass facton, of history" was built in a pub-
Perhaps the oversight is due to the fact that O'Gorman publicly disap-
he institution and whereas his lactory produced books that were signed
proved of Krauze's biographies o power. Citations of significant books
by the individuals who did the researeh, Krauzes lactory o history is pri-
written by members o a younger generation o Mexican scholars are an-
vate, and only he Cakes Che creca For big rollers in Mexico's cultural en- other notable absence-they are potential competition.
terprises, research is a menial task Thus, where most historians work
In addition to the political motives behind these oversights, there is
alune or with one or two assistants, Mr- Krauze lists sixteen in his ac-
another Iikely cause for Krauze's sloppy use o secondary sources: Che fac-
knowledgments, two o whom are as acconiplished as historians as Krauze
tory This hypothesis comes to mind because there are a number o in-
himself.'t His heavy reliance on dais privare lactory" is Che reason why
stances when a key historical work is indeed cited, but its conclusions are
Chis book is such a good mirror ole presiden ti al power. the resources that
not assimilated in the analysis. Or else a work is cited in one context (per-
Krauze musters have allowed him to write a monumentally ambitious
haps being worked on by one o his research assistants) but then fails to
work, but his rnethods make him unsurc at cvery toro. Mexico: Biography of
appear as a source in another part o the book where it could have done a
Power is a hollow monument. lot of good.
For example, French historian Frangois Xavier Guerra has developed
Krauze as Historian quite a complex view o Che modernization o Che Mexican state in the nine-
teenth century. Guerras view is that between independence (1821) and the
This books main empirical conrribution is a set o interviews that the
revolution (1910), Mexican political society changed from being made up
author or his assistants made with important political figures as well as
of corporations that were built around personal ties in villages, guilds, and
a much-publicized, but rather disappointing, diary o President Daz
haciendas, to a modero society in which these personal ties could no longer
Ordaz. Most of the book, however, is based on published documents, as
hold the country together. As a result, Che personal power of Porfirio Daz
well as on secondary sources. The use of [hese secondary sources provides
(1876-1910) is, for Guerra, both the culmination and the swan song o
another key for the archacologisi of tNicxicos modernist ruins.
what Krauze calls a "biography of power." Guerra is cited en a factual mat-
During Che past twenty years or so, US. and British historians have
ter, but his general argument is ignored Moreover, Guerra fails to appear in
written a sizahle proportion o the most relevant works en Mexican his-
Krauzes discussion of political theory in independence, where he would
tory, yet Che work of historians suela as Jolan Coatsworth, Alan Knight,
have been very helpful. In sum, the cavalier use of secondary sources is pos-
Eric Van Young, GilbertJoseph Anthony Pagden, John Tutino, Florencia
sibly the only true cense in which Krauze can be called liberal.

A u l o t e : : , , iu al'e Sioek
An Intellectuul's Stock
220 =
221
The Aulhorily of Opinion received 68 percent (p. 763) In this book , opinions are facts , and they
both change along with rhe intended readership.
Enrique Krauze has had two principal mentors. Daniel Cosa Villegas and
)ocavia Paz. Krauze took Cono Villupass tactorv o history , privatized tt,
and made It into his own political niachine Prora Paz Krauze has tried to Biography and Power
h
emulate grandeur, scope, and boldness -I he resale is not always bad-
Certainly, Krauze's factory has produced a readable book, with much in-
Alexico: Biog raphy of Poioer is c,itainly a teadable book However, Krauze's
formation in it, including sume new information and a wealth o atice-
attempts at Paz-like holdnes, al,o llave a , ery perverso effeer, which is
dotes. Although nono of this information makes a significant mark on rhe
ihat they liberare Chis book trom rhe usual strictures of historical evidenee.
historical interpretation of modero Mexico, it does add richness and legi-
Krauze has made a name loe him,cli in iM, xico by calling for a "democ-
bility to chis facile and ideologically loaded test In Mexico, Krauze's ver-
raey without adjectives," but he aeeni, ent,rely incapable o offering a his-
sion o history is being massively consumed in soap operas, which is an
tory without opinions 14 More of(en [han not, these opinions are stated as
appropriate-though perhaps not harmless-venue for it.
if they were facts. In Mexico, I3iogniphy of Power we are asked to believe, for
There is, in addition, another good selling point for Chis book, which is
instance, that there were only two "trac ethnic wars" in Mexican history
che idea that biography is a useful vantage point for political analysis. 1
(p. 780), and that Coso Vlllegas's criticisms o President Echeverra
have already argued that Chis interest in biography led Mr. Krauze to che
1 1970-76) were the bravest thing any Mexican had published in one hun-
great-man view of history that he allegedly rejects, but more attention to
dred years (p. 746); we also learn rhat' Jurez the Indian" "was all religion"
Krauze's biographies is warranted.
(p. 167) and that his invocations of God and Providente were carried out
"without hypocrisy" (p 166) In short, the dictatorship o what might use-
The first thing to note about [hese presidential biographies is that they
rarely provide che kind o psychological insight that the author was hop-
fully be labeled "the Krauzometer_"
The translator, Hank Heifctz, has done a commendablejob not only in
ing for. This unevenness is due not only to the space and detall devoted to
avoiding the annoying changes in register that characterize Krauze's
various presidents (Miguel Alemn gets seventy-five pages, Manuel vila
Spanish prose, but also in trying m tone down the Krauzometer as much
Camacho gets twenty-seven, Miguel de la Madrid gets eight pages), but
as possible So, for instance, in La presidencia imperial (the Spanish- language
also to the format of the chapters. For instante, whereas we get an attempt
book that comprises Parts IV and V o Mexico. Biography of Power, and
to portray che family history and youth of presidents and caudillos be-
which appeared simultaneously with it in the spring o 1997), Octavio
tween Porfirio Daz and Gustavo Daz Ordaz (1876-1970), there is no
Paz's Labyrinth of Solitude is "the most importanr book o the Mexican twen-
parallel information for che more contemporary presidents (beginning
tieth century" (100 en the Krauzometer, p. 152), but it is only "one o the
with Echeverra). Krauze thereby declines any attempt to provide a more
most important books of rhe ^tilexican tventieth century" in English profound portrait o the three presidents with whom he has had a personal
p. 364, and an 80 on the Krauzometer) Similarly, in Spanish, Krauze
relationship (de la Madrid, Salinas, and Zedillo).
asserts boldly (100 on the Krauzometer) [hat President Daz Ordaz The irregularity o rhe quality o biographical insights is also a product
(1964-70) did not lie in his memoirs (p_ 355), but in English he asserts o Krauze's rush to represent, which leads inevitably to an imprudent re-
that "[i]t is unlikely that they are al] les" (pp. 728-29, and only a 55 en the
liance on common sense. For instance, Krauze tells os that
Krauzometer). In Spanish, Miguel de la Madrid won his election because [r]evolutions have been organized around ideas or ideals, liberty, equality,
the people voted for him personally, and not for the PRI (p. 402, and 100 nationalism, socialism. The Mexican Revolution is an exception because,
on the Krauzometer-president de la Nladrid was a generous patron primordially, it was organized around personages . The local histories
ro Krauze); in English, the people voted not for de la Madrid personally, from which they [these personages] began, their family conflicts, their lives
but rather for bis platform o moral renovation (p. 763, and 80 en the before rising to power, their most intimate passions-all are factors that
Krauzometer). Moreover, in Spanish, de la Madrid won the election with might have been merely personal, though perhaps representative, if these
76 percent ot the vote (p_ 402 ), whereas in English he seems only to have were merely privare livcs But they could not be in Mexico, a country

An Ir,1,1;,,t,,i , Sieck An In tellectual ', Stock

- 222 223 =
 where the conccntration of pos+ el finto a single person (tlatoani, monarch,
different kinds o relationships between che leaders biography and the ex-
viceroy, emperor. President, caudillo, jefe, ^, Ledute) had been the historie ercise o power.
norm across the centuries.''
For instante, in European monarchies, the idea o "the king', two bod-
The trouble with this is that no disti ncti nos are made regarding the sig- ies" implied full identity between the king', well-being and the prosperity
nificance o biographies, say, for a tlatoani and for a president, or for a o the land. The king was like an embodiment o his kingdom. Indeed, in
caudillo and a monarch_ Instead of attentpting to specify these different the case o Spanish America, Philip 11 decreed the production o censuses
forms o power, and then seeing their connection to biography, they are and maps o the entire realm (the famous Relaciones geogrficas). The maps and
constantly collapsed rito a single cumposite, which is then-sometimes descriptions he received were concentrated in his palace at El Escorial and
anachronistically-turned rito che giirnresscnce o Mexicanness. in the office o the royal cosmographer, and the information in those cen-
Throughour the book terms such as monarch, tlatoani, tbeocratic, and suses and maps was privy to che king. At the same time as he received the
caudillo are used as metaphors for other forms ol power. The Mexican presi- maps, he sent out portraits o his person to che four corners o the realm:
dency is "like a monarchy." The president is "like a tlatoani-" Presidential
the king concentrated the full image o the realm in his palace; the realm
received, in its stead, the bodily image o the king.16
power is "almost theocratic Jose Vosconcclos and Daniel Coso Villegas
were intellectual "caudillos;' and communications magnate Emilio Azcrraga
The relationship between biography and che application o power in
was a "caudillo of ndustry this case is certainly distinct from that o Mexico's nineteenth-century
presidenta. The connection between presidencial power and personal
These comparrsons and metaphors mas be innocent enough in daily
benefit inverted che central dogma o monarchy_ Nineteenth-century
parlante, but I your thesis s that there is a special connection between
caudillos like Jos Mara Morelos and even Santa Anna wanted to be
che details of a leader's biography and the counrry's destiny (p. xv), then
thought o as servants, not as lords, o the nation. As a result, nineteenth-
the difference between an actual monarchy and something that has simi-
century presidenta ("caudillos") routinely modeled their public personae
larities to a monarchy, an actual caudillo and someone who is compared to
alter Cincinnatus-a renouncer (much as George Washington did in che
a caudillo, an actual tlatoani and a president, hecomes critical.
United States, and Rosas did in Argentina). However, Krauze wrongly re-
For example, the power of a revolutionary caudillo like Emiliano Zapata
duces Santa Annas constant show o retreating from che presidential chair
was, especrally in its origins, charismatic People followed him because
to a psychological quirk ("he detested the direct and daily exercise o
they shared his cause, were often n desperate straits, and because they be-
power"), when in fact it was a variation o a classical theme in the theater
lieved in him_ Zapatas biography s critically important because it is the
o presidential power in nineteenth-century Spanish America.17 Whereas
source o che social connections of his inner circle (whose biographies in
the monarch identified his personal welfare and prosperity with that o
turn affect outer circles), and because his persona gave credibility and di-
che realm, early presidents and revolutionary caudillos used personal sacri-
rection to che movement as a wholc. As a result, che epic o Zapata's life
fice as a legitimating device_ As the presidency became a stable political
takes a messianic turn, similar to what we lind in a number of revolution-
institution, the office began to require less dramatic personal sacrifices and
ary caudillos n Mexico, beginning with Miguel Hidalgo, whose political
the image o che "civil servant" became more prominent-this was the
usage o the passion play was perceptlvely analyzed by Victor Turner (also
image thatJurez adopted for himself, but it was not routinized in Mexico
not cited by the author).
until well finto the twentieth century.
Krauze argues that the biography of Zapata and of Hidalgo is critical
Krauze ignores all o this. For him, charismatic power is a constant in
for understandi ng their movement, destinies, but one might argue, con-
Mexican history, che product o a mythified fusion o Aztec and Spanish
versely, that the construction of their personas was shaped by che context
"theocracies" As a result, he reduces the differences in the persona o vari-
n which thcy acose as leaders_ It is certainly no biographical accident that
ous leaders to che details of their biographies. This error leads to the kind
led Zapata, Hidalgo, and even Madero to cake up a messianic, Christian
o Mexican exceptionalism that 1 objected to earlier (to the proposition
narrative and construct their persons around it. Specific forms o power
that there s something about Mexico that makes all o its leaders into
such as presidencies, monarchies, grassroots leadership, and so en imply
tlatoanis-or did, until the fateful events of 1968, which brought about a

A u I n r , , ,t,,1 l , elock
An In tellectual's Stock
224
225
new generation. led by Krauze, anurng others, who Nave finally hrought o che Mexican state, of some powerful-government-related-business-
demoeracv co Mexico, thc Fnd ot Histoiy ti aLo Ieads him to eurious at- men, and, by now, on as own private resources. The systcm also benefhts,
tempts to diflerentiate "authentie (ron inauthentic" leaders. howcver, from che fact that che readership in che United States-and to
Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna Ii,r Krauze is che epitome of che fake. some excenc in Europe-has preferred to have a small handful o author-
lis powei was theatrical, opcratic and worse, tt was divorced from che ized voices on Mexico rather than co cake che country seriously as a site o
nation's roots-never mind that che nation did not yet effectively exist cultural and intellectual production. It has been economical and conve-
Thus, commenting che rise of Benito Juaren (who, unlike Santa Anna, is nient for Americans and others to simply tuve Ti to Carlos Puentes,
portrayed hese as being 100 percent authentie--"a puye-blooded Indias '), Octavio Paz, or Enrique Krauze and to take whatever they say as repre-
Krauze saos that'Tclhe country would now he governed by a group of sentative of whatJos Mara Morelos called "che senciments of the nation
young mestizos who were closer tu Mexican soil, closer to indigenous However, che power co represent Mexico in Chis way, to embody it in a
roots" (p. 151). Which brings us back co che fundamental characteristic o single intellectual, is as dead as che autocracic power o the president.
Chis ruin: it is little more than a rcenactment of the nacional myth for the When he was at the height o his power, President Miguel Alemn
1990s. wanted the Nobel Peace Prize. President Luis Echeverra tried for the
In De Critique of ihe Pyramid, a post-1968 reflection en what Fiad gone secretary- general o the UN, and Carlos Salinas wanted to be president o
awry in Mexico, Octavio Paz wrote a trenchant criticism o Mexico's the World Trade Organization. These un-kingly desires reflect the nature
Nacional Museum o Anthropology. His main complaint was that the ar- o presidencial power and the limits o presidencial biographies: they are
chitecture o the building and as layout made the museum's Aztec hall not the main axis in the history o Mexico. 1 like to think that this book is
finto the culmination and synthesis of al] pre-Hispanic culture. This con- the intellectual counterpart o these desperate presidential moves: the
struction o the Aztec enipire as both the centerpiece o the pre-Hispanic concentration o cultural power in the hands o a few intellectuals has
world and che antecedent o the independent Mexican nation negated been linked to the authoritarian power o Mexican presidents, and the
cultural pluralism, idealized a scrong central state, and falsified the pre- current democratization asid debilitation o che presidential office prom-
Columbian past. ises to end this form o "intellectual caudillismo."
Krauze's book is very much like that museum. The fusion and confu-
sion o tlatoanis, caudillos, viceroys, and presidents, and the thesis that the
course o Mexican history was dictated by Daz Ordaz's ugliness, by Santa
Anna's theatricality, and by Jurez's religiosiry and puriry, makes this book
as much of a Mexico City-centered account o the history o power in
Mexico as che Museum o Anthropology ever was. In chis allegedly critical
review o the Mexican presidency, che presidents are fetishized, and the
social history o the country is collapsed finto nationalist myth.
The peculiarty o Krauze's generation of mythmakers is that they are
not builders o state institurions, but have instead used state patronage
to build private niches for themselves- Two Mexican intellectuals o the
1968 generation have been emblematic in Chis transicion, Hctor Aguilar
Camn (former editor o Nexos) and Enrique Krauze (former subdirector o
Vuelta) ,18 These intellectuals have been in che business o creating their
own "faetones o culture." They now speak from these niches and ventrilo-
quize "Civil Society," much as ',lava priests once interpreted the com-
mands o a Talking Cross.
So far Chis new mude o cultural production has counted on the support

A,, luir ! I e..u al e,ock An In trllec tu al 's Stock

226 = 227
 o theoretical virtue o a range o infirmities o practice,"' infirmities that
included the "tendency for places to become showcases for specific issues
over time."^ This tendency was weaker in peripheral anthropological tradi-

11 tions, because they developed not so much for the production o a general
account o "Man" or o "Culture," but rather to confront social problems in
the ethnographer's own society, a society that was always problematically
integrated to "the West." Thus, in the 1980s, peripheral anthropologies be-
carne part o a process o diversification and specification o anthropology,
a process that countered the grand holistic narratives o earlier generations
that used India asan excuse to reflect on hierarchy, Africa to reflect on lin-
eage structures, or the Mediterranean to think about honor and shame.
This movement against grand holistic narratives and toward the diversifi-
cation o the field is perhaps the principal symptom and effect o globaliza-
tion on "metropolitan" anthropological traditions.
Bordering on Anthropology: However, the effects o "globalization" on national anthropologies is
not so well understood. Globalization has involved a number of powerful
Dialectics of a National Tradition changes in these places, including transformations in the role o national
governments in development and educational projects, the demise o "na-
tional economies" as being even ideally viable, and changing publics for
anthropological works. These general tendencies seem to produce differ-
The current sense o crisis in U.S. and European anthropology has been
ing effects in distinct countries. These differences are influenced by fac-
widely debated Beginning with a series of criticisms o the connections
tors such as national language (former English colonies having some com-
between anthropology and imperialism in the 1970s, the critique o an-
parative advantages here), the role o local anthropologies in managing
thropology moved no deeper epistemological terrain by interrogating the
national development, and their impact on nationalist narratives. In this
riarrative strategies used by ethnographers to build up their scientific
chapter, 1 provide a historical interpretation o the gestation of the current
authority and their role in shaping colonial" discourses o self and other.
malaise in one national tradition, which is Mexican anthropology.s
The field o anthropology in the United States and Europe is still rever-
Peripheral nations with early dates o national independence, such as
berating from these discussions.'
most countries o Latin America, have had national traditions o anthro-
Less well known and less understood, perhaps, is the quieter sense o
pology that evolved in tandem with European and American anthropology
unease and transformation in anthropological traditions that one might
from its inception. The histories o these national anthropologies is still
cal] "national anthropologies." By "national anthropologies" 1 mean an-
not very well known, in part because o the disjunction between the ways
thropological traditions that have been fostered by educational and cul-
that anthropology is taught in the great metropolitan centers and in na-
tural institutions for the development o studies of their own nation.
tional anthropological traditions. Whereas in Britain, France, or the United
These traditions began to be the object o reflexive interest in the United
States, anthropological histories are traced back in time within their na-
States and Europe during the 1970s, alongside vocal criticisms o colonial-
tive traditions, "national anthropologies" often emphasize tiesto great for-
ism_ Their significante for reshaping anthropological theory was brought
eign scholars, thereby placing themselves within a civilizational horizon
to the fore in the 1980s.'
whose vanguard is abroad. Commenting on this phenomenon, Darcy
Noteworthy among these interventions were two short pieces by Arjun
Ribeiro once said that his fellow Brazilian anthropologists were cavalos de
Appadurai arguing againstholism in dominant metropolitan anthropologi-
santo (spirit mediums who spoke for their mentors in Europe or the United
cal traditions. Holism, for Appadurai, was "a g]aring example o the making
States). The works o anthropologists o the "national traditions" thus

Bordrring o n An t bro pology

228 =
229 =
appear co be discontinuous svith each other lh use a .Mexican illlustrati on,
che influence of Boas on Camk, and ol ( cure on che carlier Chavero
tends to mask che genealogica1 rclations between Camio and Chavero.
It is therctore no( surprising thai althnuuh che existente of chis class o
national anthrccpologies is wcll knosen it has not buen suffictently theo-
1
rized. How does a discipline that otees so much to imperial expansion and
globallzation--indeed, a discipline that has otten conccived of itself as
che study of racial or cultural othcrs" thrive when os objects of study
are the anthropologist's co-nation_tls- H,osv are chcories and mechocis
developed in American or European anthropologies deployed in [hese
national traditions; Is there a relati onship between the current transfor-
mations of national anthropologies and che crisis of anthropology" writ
large?
The study o Mexican anthropology is instructivo for the broader class
of national anthropologies. Mexico developed one o the earliest, most
successful, and internationally influential national anthropologies.6 The
institutional infrastructure of Mexican anthropology is one o the world's
largest and its political centrality within the country has been remarkable.
This is linked both to the critical role that Mexico's archaeological patri-
mony has played in Mexican nationalism and to anthropology's prominent
role in shaping national development. However, the success o Mexican
anthropology in that nation's project of national consolidation is today its
principal weakness.
The sense o crisis in contemporary Mexican anthropology moves be-
tween two related concerns: che high degree o incorporation o anthro-
pology and anthropologists into che workings and designs o the state,
and the isolation and lack o intellectual cohesiveness of the academy. The
conecto with the co-optation of Mexican anthropology in particular is a
recurrent theme. In addition, there appears to be the sor[ o disjunetion
between research, criticism, and useful and positive social action ("rele-
vanee') that has also been the subject of recen[ attention.
This chapter claims that ^Mexican anthropology has reached the point
where it must transcend the limitations imposed by its historical vocation
as a national anthropology. In order to lend credence to chis normative
claim, 1 explore the development of Mexican anthropology from the mid-
nineteenth century to the present by focusing on four dynamic processes:
the historical relationship between the observations o foreign scientific
travelers and the production of a national irnage (materials used for this
section range from che 1850s to che carly 1900s); che relatiionship between
evolutionary paradigms and the development of an anthropology applied
Ben enng on ,1nih'cpology
230 =
tu the management o a backward population and as incorporation finto
"nacional society" (materials from che 1880s to che 1920s); the consoli-
dation of a developmental orthodoxy (materials from the 1940s to thc
1960s); and che attempt to move from an anthropology dedicated co che
study of Indians" co an anthropology devoted to che study o social class
(materials from the 1970s to che 1990s). 1 begin by contextualizing the
current unease in Mexican anthropology, and move from there to the his-
torical discussion
19x8-95: "Criticism has been excbangedforan officiai post"'
The 1968 student movement produced a generacional rupture in Mexican
anthropology. Its manifesto carried che disdainful title of De eso que llaman
antropologa mexicana (O that which they call Mexican anthropology), a
book that was penned by a group o young professors o the Nacional
School o Anthropology who were playfully known in those days as 'The
Magnificent Seven." The magnficos had had the daring to criticize that jewel
on the crown of the Mexican Revolution that was indigenista anthropology.
By 1968 the identification o Mexican anthropology with official na-
tionalism was at its peak. The new Nacional Museum o Anthropology,
which was widely praised as che world's finest, had been inaugurated in
1964, and the Nacional School o Anthropology (ENAH) was housed on
its upper floor. The institucional infrastructure o Mexican anthropology
was firmly linked to che diverse practices o indigenismo, including bilingual
education, rural and indigenous development programs throughout the
country (concentrated in che Instituto Nacional Indigenista, INI), and a
vast research and conservation apparatus, housed mainly in the Instituto
Nacional de Antropologa e Historia (INAH). Mexican anthropology had
provided Mexico with che theoretical and empirical materials that were
used to shape a modernist aesthetics, embodied in the design o buildings
such as the National Museum of Anthropology or che new campus o the
National University. It was charged with the task o forging Mexican citi-
zenship both by "indigenizing" modernity and by modernizing the Indians,
thus uniting all Mexicans in one mestizo community. In Mexico, Chis is
what was called indigenismo.
According to che magnficos, Mexican anthropology had placed itself
squarely in the service o che state, and so had abdicated both its critical
vocation and its moral obligation to side with the popular classes. The
1968 generation complained that Mexican indigenismo had as its central
1 goal the incorporation o che Indian finto the dominant system, a system
Borderine on Anthropology
231 =
 that was called national" and "modern' by rhe indigenistas, but that was bet-
ter conceived as "capitalist' and dependen[." Mexican anthropology was
described as an orchid in the hothouse of e lexico's authoritarian state, co-
opted and entirely saturated by irs needs ami those o foreign capital.
Moreover, the legitmate actions of early indigenistas, their tres to the
Mexican Revolution, had been exhausted. In the words one o rhe magnficos,
Guillermo Bonfil.
Today we can contrast rhe reality of Mexican society with rhe ideals o the
revolution and establish che distante between the two . It would be diffi-
eult ro doubr that these days we can no longer do justice to the future by
m a intaining rhe same programs that were levolution ary sixty years ago.
Those programs have either run their nurse or else they have been shown
t be ineffective, useless, or, worse yet, thcy have produced historically
negative results.
Thus, the authors o De eso que llaman nrtropologa mexicana called for
Mexican anthropologists tu keep rheir distante from the state. They
should steer clear o a policy (indigenismo) that had the incorporation o the
Indian finto "national society" as as principal aim. "National society," noted
Arturo Warman, was always an undefined category that simply stood for
what Rodolfo Stavenhagen and Pablo Gonzlez Casanova had called "in-
ternal colonialism" as early as 1963. The aim o Mexican indigenismo had
been rhe incorporation of the Indian into the capitalist system o exploita-
tion, and in so doing it had abandoned the scientific and critical potential
o rhe discipline.
Not surprisingly, tensions grew strong in the National School o
Anthropology, and they culminated in rhe expulsion o Guillermo Bonfil
from the school by director Ignacio Bernal. The fact that a number o indi-
genistas remained loyal to rhe government during and alter the 1968 move-
ment was sean by rhe sesentayocheros as a final moment o abjection, and it
marked the end o that school's dominante in Mexican academic settings.
Twenty years later, however, Arturo Warman, who was rhe most famous
o the magnficos and author of a number of books that were critical o
Mexico's agrarian policies, accepted rhe post o director o the Instituto
Nacional Indigenista, and later that o Secrerary o Agrarian Reform under
President Salinas. From chis position Warman conducted rhe govern-
ment's agrarian policies, which were directed precisely to incorporating
Mexican peasants roto forma of production that are geared to the market.
Thus rhe co-optation o the anthropological establishment seemed to
repeat itself, complete with as own momeni of drama: in March 1995 the
Ro rdrrin4 oi Ani h^opology
Bo rderinq on
= 232 Antbropology
Mexico City papers reponed that Arturo Warman was charged with
pleading with former President Salinas on behalf o President Zedillo to
put an end to a one-day hunger strike.10
Principal Thesis
My contention is that the image of anthropology's history repeating itself
in a never-ending cycle o state incorporation is misleading. In this chap-
ter, 1 seek to elucidate the origins and historical evolution and current ex-
haustion o Mexican anthropology as a confined, national, tradition.
The concerns that characterized anthropology in Mexico even before
its institutional consolidation in the late nineteenth century related to the
historical origins o rhe nation and to rhe characteristics o its peoples.
The study o rhe origins and o the attributes o the nations "races" was es-
pecially important in Mexico, where independence preceded the forma-
tion o a bourgeois public sphere. Until very recently, at least, Mexico has
been a country in which public opinion is to a large degree subsidized and
dramatized by rhe state. Anthropological stories o national origins and o
racial and cultural difference were therefore useful to governments and
they were routinely projected both onto the nation's interna) frontiers and
abroad, Anthropology has helped to reconfigure the hierarchical relations
that develop between sectors of the population, and it contributed to the
formation and presentation o a convincing national teleology. However,
in Mexico, as elsewhere, the strategies and role o rhe state in shaping the
contours o society have been deeply transformed from the 1980s on. The
crisis in anthropology today is not as much about rhe discipline's absorp-
tion by the state as it is about as uncertain role in rhe marketplace. An en-
lightened vanguard may no longer realistically aspire to fashion and shape
public opinion for interna) purposes, and discourses regarding cultural ori-
gins and social hierarchies are no longer central to the allure o the coun-
try for foreign governments and capitalista- In this context, there is a real
needforinvention
Anthropology and the Fashioninq of a Modera National Image
Shaping an image o national
stability, o collective serenity, security, and
seriousness o purpose, has never heen an easy task in Mexico.
It was ab-
solutely impossible to accomplish in ehe decades following indepen-
dence (1821), when governments had to operare with unstable and insuffi-
cient revenue, a foreign deht that was impossible to pay, constant internal
233 =
 which recapitulates the advenmres and impressions that he and the collec-
tor HenryChristyhad on their trip to Mexico in 1856- To my knowledge,
this book has never been published in Spanish, and it is not widely known
or read in Mexico. This is odd at first glance, given .Mcxico's legitimate
daim to have been the muse that inspired the discipline that in Oxford
was at times referred to as "Tylors science."'t The lack o attention to
Tylor's Mexican connection seems even stranger given the peed that coun-
tries like Mexico have had to remirad the world that thev have not been
absent in the process of shaping the course of Western civilization.1i
Mexico's failure te) appropriate Tylor's Anabuac seems less perplexing
when we actually read the book. Tylor described a Mexico whose presi-
dency had changed hands once every eight months for the previous ten
years, a country whose fertile coastal regions were badly depopulated, and
whose well-inhabited highlands were bandit infested and difficult to trav-
el. Mexico was also a country that was sharply divided by race, where the
whites and half-castes were hated by the Indians whom they exploited.

Figure 11 .1 , The Horsea ni] thr Zapilott, in Evans (1 870), p. 506 The buzzard (here
Tylor's first vista o Mexico is the por[ o Sisal, in the Yucatn, and it
misspelled) became a regular motiv in travel writing on Mexico during the nine- gets the Mexican reader off to an uneasy start, suggesting the fragility o
teenth century. Buzzards figure in the first Mexican impressions o both Fanny
Mexico as a polity and its lack o cohesiveness as a nation:
Caldern de la Barca and E. B.Tvlor. Here, Colonel Albert Evans uses the image to Cine possible article o expon we examined as closely as opportunity
end his book on a suitably pessirnistic note: "As wc went down by rail from Paso would allow, namely, the Indian inhabitants. There they are, in every re-
del Macho to Veracruz, we lookcd from dhe window o what had been Maximilian's
spect the right article for trace: brown-skinned, incapable o defending
imperial car, upon a scene by the roadside which struck me nearer to the heart,
themselves, strong, healthy, and industrious; and the creeks and mangrove
and filled my soul with sadness . a poor old steed-who may have borne Santa
swamps o Cuba only three days' sail off. The plantations and mines that
Anna and his fortunes in his day, or hetter seved the world by drawing a dump
want one hundred thousand men to bring them into full work, and swallow
cart for a grading party-had been mrned out to die. The zapilotes [sic]-which are
aborigines, Chinese, and negroes indifferently-anything that has a dark
among the insnmtions of the country-watching from afar saw death 's signal in
skin, and can be made to work-would take [hese Yucatecos in any quan-
his glazing eye, and wheeling down froto their airy heights, came trooping from
tity, and pay well for them.14
all directions to the coming feast' (Evans 1873- 505-6),
Tylors first impression was a disturbing reminder o the fragility of the
links between Mexico's people and its territory. His observation revealed
revolutions, a highly deficient system o transportation, and frequent for-
what is still today something o a dirty secret, which is that Mayas were
eign invasions. The image o Mexico abroad, an image that had been so
indeed being sold as slaves in Cuba at the time. But if Tylor's first impres-
important to Mexican politicians and intellectuals even before Baron von
sions were unsettling, Mexican nationalists would find little solace in his
Humboldt published his positive accounts o New Spain, had turned very
conclusions:
contrary indeed. Naturalists and ethnographers who followed Humboldt's
steps took a decidedly negative view o Mexicos present and a pessimistic That [Mexico's] total absorption [finto the United States] must come, sooner
view o its future.11 or later, we can hardly doubt_ The chief diffieulty seems to be that the
A useful point o entry for understanding ehe labors o early Mexican American constitution will not exacdy suit the case- The Republic laid down
anthropologists is a discussion o Edward B Tylor's travel book on Mexico, the right o each citizen to his share in che government o the country as a

Bordcr,n.t o ,. Anfi;ro polo9y Bordertng o s A

= 234 = =235=
 universal law .. making, it is true, so me slight exceptions with regard to red
and black men. The Mexicans, or at least the white and half-caste Mexicans,
will be a difficulty. Their claims lo citizenship are unquestionable if Mexico
were made a State o the Union; and, as everybody knows, they are totally
incapable o governing themselves ... [Mjoreover, it is certain that
American citizens would never allow even the whitest o the Mexicans to be
placed on a footing of equality with themselves. Supposing these difficulties
got over by a Protectorate, an armed occupation, or some similar con-
trivance , Mexico will undergo a great change . There will be roads and even
rail-roads, some security for lile and property, liberty o opinion, a flourish-

ing commerce, a rapidly increasing population, and a variety o good things.

Every intelligent Mexican must wish for an event so greatly to the advan-
tage o his country ...1$ As for ourselves individually, we may be excused for
cherishing a lurking kindness for the quaint, picturesque manners and cus-
toms o Mexico, as yet un-Americanized; and for rejoicing that ir was our
fortune to travel there before che coming change, when its most curious
peculiarities and its very language must yield before foreign influence.16

Tylor's Mexicans were in most respects an unenlightened people.

Mexican schooling was dominated by an obscurantist and coirupt church
(Tylor mentions Che case o a priest who was a highwayman, and discusses
the laxity o priestly mores) 17 The legal system gave no protection to or-
dinary citizens, who were at a structural disadvantage with respect to sol-
diers and priests. The population avoided paying taxes because the gov-
ernment was ineffective. The country as a whole was in the hands o
gamblers and adventurers, and Mexican jails offered no prospect o re-
forming prisoners.
Ethnologists and historians o the period must have been struck by the
Mexican governments incapacity to control the connections between the
nation's past and its futuro, a fact that is demonstrated by Tylor and
Christy's activities as collectors o historical trophies, but even more po-
tently by Tylor's remarkable description o Mexico's national museum:

The lower story had been turned into a barrack by the Government, there
being a want of quarters for tire soldiers. As the ground-floor under the

1 2. Porter ami Bakerin MMexicu, in Edward B . Tylor, Anabuae ( 1861), p. 54. cloisters is used for the heavier pieces o sculpture, tire scene was somewhat
curious The soldiers had laid several o the smaller idols down en their
faces, and were sitting en the confortable seat un the small o their backs,
busy playing at cards. An encerprising soldier liad built up a hutch with
idols and sculptured stones against the statue o the great war-goddess
Teoyaomiqui herself, and kept rabbits there. The state which the whole

13ordering en Anihropology
= 237

Figure 11.3- 1-lon- Willian, fi- Srto,trd Tranoiiug io klrxico, in Eva lis (1870), p. 18.
A characterisu cal ly uncritical re preseuc^tlon ot American power in che period-
place was in when chas left te che tender mercies o a Mexican regiment
may he imagined by any one who knows ti liat a dirty and destructive ani-
mal a Mexican soldier is. '"
Mexican anthropology has liad multiple births, the writings o the
sixteenth-century friars, and especially of Bernardino de Sahagn, are fre-
quently cited, hut so are those ol Cicole patriots and antiquarians writing
in the seventeenth and eightecnth tentarles, or che foundation of the
International School o American Archaeology and Ethnology in 1911 by
Franz Boas, and the creation o che tirst department o anthropology by
his student, Manuel Gamio, in 1917.'" Anahuac represents an unacknowl-
edged, but not a less important, point of origin, for Tylor's first book was
the sort o travel narrative that anthropologists, including Tylor himself,
tried to trump with che scientihc discipline of anthropology, retaining the
sense o discovery and of daring of che gente while reaching for systemati-
zacion and eniotional distante -2o For Mexican intellectuals, however,
Anahuac nanied the unspeakahle but omnipresenc nightmare o racial dis-
memberment, nacional disintegracion, and tire shameful profanation of the
nacion's gnndeur by che state itsclf. Anahuac in other words, is a work that
hoth British and Mexican anthropologists would write against- As in a
Freudian dream, che primal scene has peen carefully hidden, but che devel-
[ l o r d o r ; n . ; o , A i, ropo logy
= 238
opment of anthropology in Mexico (and, indeed, in Britain) was to a signi-
ficant degree shaped by che negative imprint o chis book and others like it.
After the publication o Anahuac, things in Mexico took a different turn
than che one that Tylor had envisioned- Instead o being invaded by che
United States, Mexico was occupied by France, which made the best o
che American Civil War to regalo a foothold en che continent; and, al-
though Tylor was not entirely wrong in thinking that a number of Mexicans
would welcome che intervention of a great power, civil strife and resis-
tanee against the French proved stronger than he had anciicipated, and che
curo of world events frowncd upon Mexico's second empire. Alter its "sec-
ond independence," however, Mexico had yet to show that it was a politi-
cally viable country, a country that was capable of attracting foreign in-
vestors, a country that could embrace progress.
Cine important move in Chis direction is a book written by Vicente
Riva Palacio and Manuel Payno, boda of whom would later lead che manu-
facture of a new history of Mexico." El libro rojo (The red book) (1870) was
among che first of a series o lavishly printed and illustrated volumes of the
final third of che nineteenth century. It is a brief history of civil violente in
Mexico, told by way of an illustrated look at executions and assassina-
tions, much as if it were a book of saints. El libro rojo is remarkable for its
ecumenical reproach o civil violence. Illustrated pages are dedcated
equally to Cuauhtmoc and lo Xicotencatl ( Indian kings who fought on
Figure 11.4. Dolcefarniente, unsigned etching from Felix L. Oswald , Summerland
Sketches, or Rambles in the Backwoods of Mexico and Central America (Philadelphia, 1880),
p. 185. The image o a lazy and obscurantist church was a staple o anglophone
writing en Mexico from che time o Thomas Gage's work in che seventeenth cen-
tury to the writings o Edward B. Tylor and beyond. Here the priest' s siesta illus-
trates Oswald's observations on Mexico in che 1870s.
Bordering en Anthropo logy
= = 239
 opposite sides during the Conquest), to conquistador Pedro de Alvarado
and to Che Aztec emperor Moctezuma, to Jews who were burned by the
Inquisition and to priests who were massacred by Indians, to marooneel
African slaves and to a Spanish archbishop. Even more remarkably, the
pantheon of martyrs includes heroes on alternare sides o Mexico's civil
struggies o Che nineteenth century _ Father Hidalgo and Iturbide; the lib-
erals Comonfort and Melchor Ocampo, and the conservatives Meja and
Miramn. Even Maximilian o Hapsburg, who had been executed by the
still-reigning president, Benito Jurez, was given equal treatment.
El libro rojo sought te shape a unified Mexico by acknowledging a shared
history of suffering. Ideologically, this was Che course that was later taken
under General Daz (1884-1910)22 El libro rojo was primarily directed to
unifying elites, as is shown by the book's guiding interest in state execu-
tions, rather than in Che anonymous dead produced by civil strife or ex-
ploitation. The unification o elites involved taming the nation's war-toro
past and projecting Chis freshly rebuilt past finto the present in order to
shape a modernizing frontier. It is therefore not surprising that the pacifi-
cation and stabilization o Che country that followed slowly after Che
French intervention required the services o an enlightened elite, which
carne to be known as the cient(cos, in order to shape Mexicos image.
This is the subject o derailed work by Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo, in his
book Mexico at the Worlds Faus and clsewhere. 1 will Ilustrare the kind o
work that was accomplished by Chis intelligentsia by referring to a book
that was published in English and French by justo Sierra and a team o il-
lustrious cientficos in 1900, Mexico Its Social Evolution. This work is o special
interest not only because Sierra was such a prominent and influential fig-
ure in Mexican culture and education, but also because it was printed es-
pecially in foreign languages, and its lavishly produced illustrations seem
to answer point by point the negative comments and images o Mexico of-
fered by Tylor and other travclers.
The hrst, most fundamental strategy followed by Sierra's team was to
make Mexico's evolution compiehensible and parallel to that of France,
Britain, or Che Uniced Statcs (that is, to readers o French and English).
Thus, Che narres o the authors and historical personages were anglicized,
trom "Jane Agnes de la Cruz" ro "William Prieto," and parallels hetween
Figure 115. Statue of tbe.blexican Godlrss l War (o, oj Denth) Teoyaomiqui ( 1861), in
Mexico's evolution and that of Che civilized world were explicitly or implic-
Edward E. Fylor, Anabuac p- 221 Soldicrs used Chis stone to build a rabbit hutch.
itly established. Carlos ("Charles") de Sigenza y Gngora is placed along-
side Isaac Newton, Ro de la Loza is followed shortly by Auguste Comte,
and photographs o museums, hospitals, and courthouses built in Victorian
or Che latest Parisian styles were displayed on page alter page- This mimetic

Bardrrii^9 on An tbropala2y
241
strategy was common aniong tMcxic u's elite literary and scientific cireles
of the Belle hpuque, but it is takcn Lip in a punctual manner by Sierra, who
cndeavors to show that cach of cite hallmarks ol progress exists in Mexico.
Tylor complamed uf che state ol ahandon of ^Vlcxican education and its
suhordination tti a retrograde ehureti lusui Sierra piovided diseussions of
che development of Mexican positice scic ice Tvlor smiled ironically at
che lack ot actention citar reas given tu Mcxicu's history and patrimony
Sierra shows che Nacional Musevm ot ^nthropulogy and che ways in
which Nlexicos once contlici toro roces I-mec bcen neacly studied and or-
ganizad in it 1inally, Tylor notcd cite arhitrariness of Mexico's govern-
nient and che lack o justice and institu tions of social reform. Sierra shows
che rapid and impressive development ol courts of law, of councils, hospi-
tals, schools, museums, and prisons In short, while Tylor spoke o a coun-
try that had becn ravaged by revolution, Sierra'% book spoke o evolution.
In chis dialectic between Tylors and Sierras books one can catch a
glimpse o che central role that anthropology has had in Mexico's history.
In a rather simplified way, one could say ciar the international aspect o
anthropology has the capaciry tu destabilize nationalist images o Mexico.
Mexicds nacional anthropology has worked hard to curb these tendencies Figure 1 1.6. The Nacional Preparatory Scbool, from justo Sierra, ed., Mexico Its Social

by imaging che parallels between Mexico's development and that of the Evolution, tome 1, vol. 2, p. 480. Finely printed photographs of modero hospitals,
nations that produce anthropologists who tiavel. laboratorios, libraries, prisons, schools, courcrooms, town halls, and railroad
stations fill che pages o Sierra's book.

Shaping Narralives of Internal Hierarchy, Organizing Governmental

Intervention in tse Modernizing Process
In addition to shaping and defending the nacional image, Mexico's anthro-
pology had from the beginning a role to play in the criticism and organi-
zation o interna) hierarchies,
Even before che risa o any solid institucional framework for che devel-
opment of Mexican anthropology, diseussions and writings en roce and en
che historical origins o Mexico's Acoples were constantly deployed in
order to orient strategies o government. The Boletn de la Sociedad Mexicana
In the lame period (1845), the Constitutional Assembly o the Depart-
ment o Quertaro gives a more nuanced account o che racial question in
its state "The wise regulatory policy o our government has proscribed for-
ever che odious distinctions between whites, blacks, bronzed, and mixed
races. We no longer have anything but free Mexicans, with no differences
among them except those imposed by aptitude and merit in order to select
che various destinies o the republic."24 However, the authors go en:
We would abstain from making Chis sort of classification [i.e., racial classifi-

de Geografa y Estadstica, Mexico's oldest scientific periodical (founded in cation] were it nor trae that just as politics prefers to treat citizens as essen-

1839), has many examples of chis. Statistical and population reports that tial pars of che nation, so does economics prefer to consider their specific

viere drafted in che 1 850s and 1860s ofren carried sections on roce, for condition, nor in order to worsen it but, en the contrary, to seek ics im-

instante. Thus, luan Estrada in his repon on che Prefectura del Centro o provement. Without a practical knowledge o che peoples [los pueblos], we

che state o Guerrero, says that OJf che 25,166 souls in the prefecture, cannot improve their civilizacion, their morality, their wealth, nor che

20,000 are Indians. However, wliat is paintul is that che remaining 5,000 wants that affect them.25

are not educated, nor do they relcaio from uniting with che Indians in their
The congress then proceeds to discuss che qualities and deficiencies
designs to exterminare che HispanoNlexican rase.2s
not only o Quertaro's three main roces (Indians, mixed-bloods, and

R o n d e r i n g o n A n t h o p o l o g y B o r d e r f r g o n A n t b r o p o l o g y
12 = 243 =

figure 11 J National Museum, Salan of the Alonolitbs, from justo Sierra,
Mexico Its Social
Evolution, tome 1, vol. 2, p 488.
Creoles), but also importan[ distinctions within the Creole race according
to levels o education. Thus, while the highest class o Creoles is circum-
spect, controlled, and similar to the ancient Spartans, the classes beneath
them can be fractious.
Statistics supplied by the state of Yucatn for the year 1853 include de-
tailed discussions o the relationship between race and criminality, show-
ing that Indians are less likely to commit violent crimes than castas or
Creoles, because the Indian race is belittled (apoc(jda), either naturally or as
a result o degeneration- Correspondingly, Indians indulge in petty theft,
and they do so systematically, The Indian steals, More [han anyrhing he
is a thief, and Chis he is without exception, and in as many ways as he can
However, because of their petty nature, these thefts escape the action o
justice, and so are not recorded in tire annals o crime."26 Statistics from
the department of Soconusco in Chiapas in the lame period divided local
yaces into ladinos, Indians, blacks, and Lacandones.27
It is clear from [hese reports that rhere was not a fixed national sys-
tem of racial composition, but that the races, and even to some extent
the specifics o rheii character varied substantially by region. Even
1_dward B. Tylor's classification ol Mexican races reflects Chis, for although
he foregrounds the relationship between Indians, hall-castes, and Spanish-
Borde ring o', A n 1 b i o p o l o g y
Mexicans, he also mentions the black population in the Veracruz region,
and divides Mexican Indians into three types: brown Indians, red Indians,
and blue Indians. These "blue Indians," known in Mexico at the time as
pintas, were the troops o general Juan lvarez that had overrun Mexico
City shortly before Tylor's visit, and they were "blue" because many of
them had a skin disease that orases pigment in large patches.
One o the principal tasks o anthropology as it began to develop in
the 1 880s was to put order into these regional hierarchies o race and to
tic them into a vision o national evolution o the sort that was so success-
fully displayed in Sierra's Mexico: Its Social Evolution. A key strategy for chis
can be found in Alfredo Chavero's work on pre-Columbian history in
Mexico a travs de los siglos (1 888), a work that develops an evolutionary
scheme for pre-Columbian history that implicitly organizes hierarchical
relations between the yaces in the present.
Chavero describes Mexico's pre-Columbian past as if it had been wait-
ing underground for his patriotic generation to bring it back to life.
Throughout the ravages o colonial destruction and the revolutions o the
nineteenth century, the colossal Mexican past slept under a blanket o soil:
But our ancient history had been saved, and all that could have perished in
oblivion shall today rige to our hands. Even if [hese hands he guided more
by daring than by knowledge, they are also moved by love o country, a
love that embraces the desire tu preserve od memories and ancient deeds
just as the great hall o a walled castle keeps the portraits o each o its
lords, che sword of the conquistador and the luto o the noble lady 2a
After claiming the possession of the noble treasures o the past for his
country, Chavero proponed an evolutionary story for pre-Columbian
Mexico. This story had blacks as the initial inhabitants- However, these
blacks were weaker and less well suited to most o Mexicos environment
than the race that expelled them from al] but the torrid tropical zones: the
Otomis. For Chavero, ir is the Otomis who can be truly called Mexico's
first inhabitants. However, the Otomis were not much better than the
blacks: they were a population o troglodytes who spoke a monosyllabic
tongue, a people that was contemporaneous with humanity's infaney:29
Life in [hose days could be nothing but the struggle for sustenance. Fami-
lies were formed only by animal instinct. Intelligence was limited inside the
compressed crania o those savages ... And just as nothing linked them to
heaven orto an eternal god, so too did they lack any nos t the earth; there
was no fatherland [patria) for them.30
Bordering o n Ant bro p ology
245 =
 Despite there unpromising hegininga, che intcriority ol che Otomis did
flor deeply star che natian pri ele Instead 1t actually proved uselul to
uflderstan el ing eontem poiuiv ras ial hit iarchies 1 ortla' Otomis initia ted ara
svoluu oflan nx,vulile lit that culmi naced s, ah che magnilieent Nahoas, a
tate ahuse appearance seas auctnding tu C llavero, e untemporancous wirh
that ot the greate i yilizations ol Lgypt, India, and China Moreover, the
Oro mis otrer a valuable perspectirc iruni svhieh lo comprchcnd the condi-
clan of thc Indians CiLI11TI 11- C haveis s prescnt lar che Otoms acre che
India,i Indians _ thcy were che cunnuu cd peoples ol tliose sello wcre later
in therr turra , conquered Because ol this, thcy allow che Mexican to rela-
-tivzechSpansCoquetdrimnshweg acionlhstry

But did these first peoples acquire any culture ? We are not surprised to find
them degraded and almost brutish lin che historical penad . They were toro
apart by invasions without recciving new lile-blood [savia] from che con-
querors, and inferior peoples desecad and perisla when thcy come finto con-
raer wirh more advaneed people We sroulcl he wrong to judge che state o
rhe ancient kingdom of Mexico befare che Conquest on che basis of our
prescnt-day Indians'

[Ti one stroke Chavero has established both the grandeur o the Mexican
past and che kcy to comprehend lis lall, and so has put aside the painful
image that foreigners still projecred of Mexico in Chavero `s day. Mexico's
prehistory and its contemporary momear mapped onto each other, they
conipleted one another The images of the Negro , Otomi , and early Nahoa
races in figures 1 1.8a-c illustrate chis point. whereas Chavero used archaeo-
logical pieces to portray the early Negro and Nahoa races, he relied tan a
drawing o a contemporary " Indian rype " to portray the ancient Otomi.
The contemporary degenerare ' odian rype maps onto and indeed substi-
Figure 11.Sa. Cabeza gigantesca de Hueypan , in Mxico a travs de los siglos, vol. 1, p. 63.
tutes for rhe missing image of the early and unevolved Otomi, just as the
ancient grandeur o che Nahoa completes che image o Mexico 's future as
it is being shaped by che cientfico elite-
fathom ... If there were nothing else in the way, the character o the
Moreover, there is a striking similarity berween Chavero 's description
Mexican people would be objection enough . The people are not the nation
o the degraded Otomis and contemporaneous descriptions by foreigners
here as with us; che politicians are absolute . There is no middle class, but
o che Mexican Indian . For example , U.S historian Hubert Bancroft wrote
only the high and the low, and che low are very lose indeed, peor, ignorant,
a diary o his travels to Mexico at the tinte sehen Mxico a travs de los siglos
servile and debased , and wirh neither the heart or the hopo ever to attempt
seas in preparation , and he makes che following comment regarding the
to better their condition. 1 have traveled in Europe and elsewhere, but
pervasive fears os U.S annexation aniong Alexicans:
never have 1 before witnessed such squalid misery and so much o it. Sit at
But what che United Stares seants nt iMexico, sellar benefit would accrue the door o your hotel, and ven will see pass by as in some hellish panorama
from adding more terntory, whar clic nadan has lo gain from it 1 cannot che withered, the deformed, che lame and che blind, deep in che humility o

rdcris) ..,. .nibi , ^pologJ Bordering o t A

=lao= = 247
 Figure 1 1.8c. Cabecita de Teotihuarrn, in Mxico a travs de los siglos, vol. 1, p. 69.

debasement, half hidden in their dingy, dirty rainment as if the light o

heaven and the eyes of man were equally painful to them, hunchbacks and
dwarfs, little filthy mothers with lude filthy babes, grizzly gray headed
tren and women bent douhle and hobbling en canes and crutches.32

In the Pace of these devastating impressions, Chavero and his genera-

tion strived to make Mexico presentable to the patriot, to make it defen-
sible vis-a-vis the foreigner, and especially to attract foreign allies. The
success o this great concerted effort o the Porfirian intellectual elite has
been discussed by Tenorio-Trillo, who calls the team o Mexican intellec-
tuals and politicians who pulled it off "wizards." This is perhaps not much
o an exaggeration. Fernando Fscalante has reminded us that during most
of the nineteenth century, Veracruz, a town that was so plague-ridden that
it was known as "the city o death," was nevertheless the favorite city of
Figure 1 I,Sb- Tipo otont, in Mxico a envs de los siglos, vol. 1, p. 66
the Creoles, because going there was the best way te) get out o country.
The special role o Chavero and other early anthropologists was to
suggest a certain isomorphism between the past and the present. By creat-
ing a single racial narrative for the whole country, diese anthropologists

Bordering o n An thro pol oyy

249 =
eould shape the invernal tionuers idt mod erniza ti on whilc upholding a
telcology that nade progress and cvulution in integral aspect el Mexican
civilization Moreover, this strategy involved using hstory te moralize
ebout the present. which w;u are inuncnsely popular aetivity in Mexico
that had significant grassrouts appeal ',
The generation of Porhriati anthropologists would use this evolution-
ary theory as a frame for shaping iA'lexicos imago, but rcvolutionary an-
thropologists would use it to interv ene direcdy in native communities.
The key figure in Chis development is Manuel ( amio who was so suceess-
tul that he is generally considerad the "lather" of Mexican anthropology
Because Gamio's story is well known, 1 shall only briefly recapitulate
Manuel Gamio met Franz Boas when the latter founded the International
School of American Archaeology and Ethnology in Mexico City in 1910.
Boas, as Guillermo de la Pea has shown, felt that Gamio was the most
promising of the young Mexican scholars and invited him to do his doc-
toral work at Columbia." Gamio also reccived support from Carranza's
government even before its final triumph over Villa, and in 1917 he creat-
ed the Department of Anthropology of Mexicos agriculture and develop-
ment ministry, From this position, Canijo organized a monumental study
o the population of the Valley of Teotihuacn
In San Juan Teotihuacn, Camio found a perfect parable for the Mexi-
can nation. The valley of Teotihuacn was rich, but its people were
poor; the ancient city was the sise of astonishing civilizational grandeur,
but the current inhabitants had degenerated as a result of the Spanish
Conquest, exploitation, and the poor fit between Spanish culture and the
racial characteristics of the Indians- Just as important, perhaps, the set-
ting offered up the raw materials for the presentation of a national aes-
thetics, a strategy that had already been implemented by the authors of
Mxico a travs de los siglos and the architects of Mexico's exhibit at the Paris
World's Fair of 1889. This work is continued and deepened by Gamio,
who attempts not only to extend the use of an Indian iconography in
Mexican publishing and architecture, but also to adopt an indigenizing
aesthetic for enlightened classes, and to bring a serious engagement with
indigenous culture to bear on modern technologies in architecture and
cinema. 35
The elevation of traditional cultura for the consumption of elite classes
was a matter of some controversy and it was often disdained in the re-
stored Republic and during the por)iriato (it can still be controversia)
today). For example, when a critic ol 1871 described Guillermo Prietos
poetry as "versos chulsimos oliendo a guajolote" (beautiful verses that
Borderiuy ^n An1bro pology
= 25U =
smell of the indigenous terco lar turkey), Chis was taken as an insult.s'
Gamios involvement in the revalorizaron of indigenous culture seas part
of a long-terco civi lizational process for the Mexican elite.
Unlikc his Porffrian predecessors, however, Gamio telt that the role o
the anthropologist seas not only to present the past as a vision of a pos-
sible future , but also to intervene as the enlightened arco of government,
as the arco of science that was best equipped to deal with the management
of population , with forging social harmony and promoting civilization
Thus, lar Camio, the actions of the anthropologists were the actions of
the nation itself. In a prologue to a booklet that published the inter-
national reactions to La poblacin del valle de Teotihuacn , Gamio explains that
he puts this compendium of flattering comments into print not asan act of
self-promotion , but rather because La poblacin del valle de Teotihuacn "is a
collective work that has national dimensions." Moreover:
The opinions and critica) judgments not only praise the scientific methods
that preside over the research brought together in this work and the social
innovations and practica ) results that were obtained . There is also , in sev-
era) of the most distinguished foreign judgments, the suggestion that a
number of other nations follow Mexico's example in favor of the well-being
and progress of their own people , a judgment that will undoubtedly satisfy
the national consciente,"
On the other hand, the fact that Teotihuacn and the Department of
Anthropology of the Secretara de Agricultura y Fomento were both na-
tional symbols did not make them equal, for whereas Teotihuacn stood
for the nation because of the wealth of its territory, the grandeur of
its past, and its racial and cultural composition (which reflected a four-
hundred-year process of degeneration), the Department of Anthropology
was the head of the nation from which the promotion of civilization was
to come. This is most potently brought honre in the instructions that
Gamio gave to bis researchers before they began fieldwork in Teotihuacn:
We then suggested to out personnel that they shed the prejudices that can
arise in the minds o civilized and modere men when they come into con-
tact with the spirit, the habits and customs of the Teotihuacanos, whose
civilization has a lag of four hundred years. We advised that they should
follow strict scientific discipline in the course of their actions, but that they
should make every effort to temporarily abandon their modes o thought,
expression, and sentiments in order to descend in mind and body unti] they
molded to the backward life of the inhabitants 38
Bordering o n Anthro p ol ogy
251 =
 The pioneering works of Alexandra Stern have shown che connections Figure 1 19a. Tipo de hombre indgena del
that existed between the work o Canijo and other "mestizophilic" nation-
valle de Teotihuacn, froto Manuel Camio,
alises and the eugenics movements" ()ne of the aspects of chis relationship La poblacin del valle de Teotihuacn, vol. 2,
that is pertinent here is that the view of che current population as degener-
place 41. These samples froto a series
ate, as having been made to depart from che best developmental possibili-
of niug shots illustrare Manuel Canijos
Ues of in; yace, went along with quite a challenging and revolutionary set
concern with race and racial types.
of policies. Indeed, as a high government oficial leading an official proj-
Canijo celebrated indigenous culture
ect, Gamio had an interventionist role in local society that was entirely and mestizaje, but he shared che scientific
different froto that of foreign anthropologists. By his recommendation,
esrablishment's concerns with racial
the government raised che salary of che arcas tour hundred government
degeneration_
employees (mostly employed in che archaeulogical dig and in che various
development projects that Gamio promoced) in order to nudge up the
salaries that local hacendados paid their peons- Gamio had lands distrib-
uted to peasants. A new road, a railroad station, medical facilities, and
educational facilities were built.
The combined power of an integrative scientific method, embodied in
Figure 11 .9b_ Tipo de hombre
anthropology, and its practica) use by a revolutionary government was
mestizo del valle de Teotihuacn,
so dizzying that Gamio compared che mission of the Department of
from Manuel Gario,
Anthropology with che Spanish Conqucsr
La poblacin del valle de
We believe that uf che aciitude uf governmcnts continues to be of disdain Teotihuacn, vol, 2, plato 48
and pressurc against thc indigenous elcment, as ir has been in rhe past,
their failure will be absolute and i rrevocab Ir. -1owever, if rhe countries of
Central and South America begin, as Mexico has already begun, a new con-
quest of the indigenous yace, their failure shall turn inm a tiiumphal suecess.40

Thus, che disconrinuities between Gamio and Porfirian ethnohistorians

or eth noli nguists such as Chavero or Pimentel are as interesting as their
convergences: both believed in che degeneration of Mexican races alter
che Conquesq hoth believed in che grandcur of Mexican antiquities; and
both placed their knowledge in thc service of nacional development.
However, che Portirians did so mainly as par of an effort t present
Mexico in che international arena, as a contribution to efforts to bring
foreign migrants, foreign investments, and tourism to Mexico, whereas
Canijo took these theses and applied them not only to shaping the nacional
image, but also to the art of governing.41 By doing field research, by creat-
ing his own, "integral," censuses, and by intervening in a direct and force-
Iul manner in local reality, he could at once particpate in rhe Porfirian im-
Figure 1 1.9c. Tipo de mujer indgena del
aging process and hele fashion internal frunricrs.4r The similarities and
valle de Teotihuacn, from Manuel Gamio,
differences between rhe two anthropologicol styles parallel the similarities
La poblacin del valle de Teotihuacn, vol. 2,
and differences between che Porfirian and die revolutionary governments:
plato 50

EtorAerinq on .lni bro1, ology

252
borh were modernizing regimos that seished tu porrray the republie as
being led by enlightened and scicntitic vanguards. but whereas the Porfirian
regime placed its ht ts mosdy on din,vos posible convenience tu
torcign capital the revolutionarc ;o^ernments tried m balance their ef-
torts ro attract loreign investors ansi tupir i onnnrtment tu interna) social
and agrarian rclorm This latter formula seas leen ir the twentieth century
as the more atiractive and desirahle Ti Mexico
Cmtsolidation o^ ,l National Anthn'pomly
When the 1968 generation accusud tMexiean indigenistas of shaping a strict-
ly national anthropology, Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrn was probably right to
accuse them in turn of not having rcad the indigenistas closely.43 Aguirre
went ahead and named a number of cases of studies that had been done by
Mexican anthropologists abroad; he could also llave usted the active
interest that indigenistas from Gamo and Sainz on showed in exporting
Mexican anthropology lo other locations. Nevertheless, one can still argue
that the 1968 gencration was correo on this point, for the anthropology
that Mexican indigenistas exponed seas a national ant h ropology, geared lo
shaping connections betwecn rho ancient pass, contemporary ethnic or
race relations, and national modernizing projects- As the Mexican govern-
ments moved from the early proactive stages of the revolutionary period
to institutional consolidation in an era of much industrial growth, the
position o anthropology became at once atore institutionalized and less
capable of challenging the status quo
The period that runs roughly from 1940 into the late 1960s is a time
when a nationalist orthodoxy prevailed This is also the time when most
o the great state institutions that house Mexico's large professional estab-
lishment were buile the Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia
(1939), the Escuela Nacional de Antropologa e Historia (1939), the
Instituto Indigenista Interamericano ( 1940), tire Instituto Nacional Indi-
genista (1949), the National Universirys Seccin de Antropologa (1963),
and the new Musco Nacional de Antropologa (1964). The growing
strength o the Mexican state and the institutional consolidation o an-
thropology, alongside foreign (principally U.S.) anthropologists' interest
in alterity and the delicate position of American researchers in Mexico
during the Cold War, are al factors that conspired to take the sting off o
foreign anthropologists as harsh critics44 It is impossible lo imagine the
kind of candid commentary that we read in Tylors book regarding, Por in-
stanee, "what a destructive animal a Mexican soldier is" being published by
IIn rder , nl An i l , ro poiogy
?54
a prominent United States, British, or French anthropologist in chis period
(which has rather revealingly been labeled the "golden age" o Mexican
anthropology)s
Instead, foreign anthropologists sought mutually bencficial collabora-
tions, or else they were as unobtrusive as possible. They worried about
being able to pursue their research interests and about being able lo send
students to the fleld- Even so, the orthodoxy o Mexican official anthro-
pology still faced an external challenge, a challenge that is endemie to the
very proposition of a nationalized scientific discipline- In this period o in-
dustry and progress, the challenge of foreigners was threefold: they could
uncover the dark side of modernization, in the tradition o John Kenneth
Turner's Barbarous Mexico; they could adhere to the Indian and reject the
moderna or they might further the political interests of their nations at the
expense o the Mexican government. 1 will briefly exemplify how [hese
dangers were perceived in this period by examining two incidents.
In December 1946, President Miguel Alemn had just taken office.
University o Chicago anthropologist Robert Redfield and two high offi-
cials o the Mexican government (Mario Ramn Beteta and Alejandro
Carrillo) were invited to discuss the president's inaugural speech on
Mexican national radio, The event generally went off without a hitch, ex-
cept for a newspaper article attacking Redfield's position that appeared La
Prensa Grfica.
After reciting Redfield's impressive scientific credentials, Fernando
Jordn focused on a question that Redfield had raised, which was whether
the industrialization o Mexico would not carry with it a radical change in
the mores o the Mexican people. Would industrialization not involve the
standardization o indigenous cultures? Would it not diminish the beauty
o a people that had well-defined ethnic characteristics, a people who
gave great personality to Mexico? The radio host who was interviewing
Redfield responded quickly that "the traditional moral structure o the
Mexican people is so strong that not even three centuries o Spanish domi-
nation were able to change it in the least." However, Fernando Jordn re-
acted less defensively:
If Mr Smith, Mr. Adams, or any other tourist who had spent one month in
our country had raised the lame question, he would have reaffirmed the
conception that we have of many o them. We would have thought him
superficial and naive.
However, the question was raised by Dr. Redfield, a professional eth-
nologist, a renowned sociologist, and author o a number of books about
Bordering on Antro po logy
= 255
 Mexico and its aboriginal cultures . his thus impossi ble to believe that
Redfield's question was foolish or i dl,. But in that case what does it mean?
In our vi ese, it mearas severa) things at rhu same time.. that Mexico,
for che scholar, only has a proper o, ni when it is viewed through the
kaleidoscope o native eosttune, dance, and through the survivals of pre-
Hispanic cultures and the "folklor'ic' misery el indigenous people- But ir
chis is part of Mexico, it is not Mexico i tsell, and it is not what our nation
wishes t preserve-

Jordn is shocked that a 1amous sociologist could replicare the super-

ficial opinions o a tourisc, but hc offers an explanation o Redfield's true
motiven

From annther point o viese, and given che u-ajeete ry o American anthropolo-
gists, Redfield's question can be finte rprcted in a differen1 way. We feel that it
expresses the researchcr's fear of losing the living lahoratory that he has
enjoyed since the days o Frederick Starr [annther University of Chicago
anthropologist]. He fears that he will no longer be able tu vivisect the
Otomi, Tzotzil, Nahua, or Tarahuman cultures. He tremoles at the thought
of seeing the Tehuanae dress, or the 'curious'' i ags of the Huichol, being re-
placed by the overal[ that is necessary ora the shop (loor or the wide pants
needed in agri culture He is expressing his ideal o stoppi ng our natiods evo-
lution in orden ro preserve the colorful miscrv of our Indians, a misery diat
will provide material for a series o books-most of which are soporific-in
which the concept of culture will be represented by a set o isolated and
static "ethnie" attributes that Nave no 'elation to rhu Indiads dynamisni.

The foreign anthropologist is interested in exoticizing Indians, in

maintaining Mexico as a kind o laboratory or ecological preserve, and not
in solving the countrys pressing social and economie problems. As such,
his opinions and research ideals should be rejected in favor of a more
interventionist approach, an approach that is committed to modernization
and social improvement. Foreigo interest in traditional cultures is wel-
come insolar as it explores the roors and the pocential of the Mexican
people, or insofar as it adds its efforts to the practica] guidelines set by
governmental projects, but when foreigners begin to value the traditional
over che modero, what we have is a pernicious forro o colonialism.
We should note that Fernando Jordn's osen implicit program for the
Indians (and Chis was a journalist seno studied anthropology in the National
School and was favoring President Alemn's modernization program) de-
nies anthropology as Redfield understood it The "interna] colonialism" o
Figure 11.10. Untitled photograph of a Moya woman, by Frances Rhoads Morley, from
Robert Redfield, The Folk Culture of Yucaton, 104. This portrait o indigenous beauty
is the kind of romanticization that Fernando Jordn objected to. It was also a
source o friction between Robert Redfield and Oscar Lewis in their diverging
portrayals o Tepoztln and of poverty.
Mexican anthropology could not uphold diversity over progress, whereas
the postcolonial U.S. or European anthropologist could not intervene di-
rectly in Mexico, and thus had a vested interest in diversity. National an-
thropology and metropolitan anthropological traditions relied on each
other, but they also denied each other. Thus Gamio could not be a tate
cultural relativist Iike his mentor Franz Boas and still retain his brand o

li o r d e r i n y u n A n t h r e p ogy B o r d e n n y o ra An thro po1ogy

256 =
=257=
applred anthropology, flor troulcl h<ta, tulle approve of che bewildering
variety o applicd proiccts that (,armo likecl to iuggle As a result, che de-
grce o mutual ignorante that is t olera te d bc twcen these t ra di ti ons gener-
ally, and betwcen Mexican and LLS aiithropologies in particular, rests on
cpistemological conditions that run decper than mere patriotic rejection
or language barrters-
For exaniple, afrer the publication of thc Spanich-language edition of
Fi ve Pernil ics in 1961 Oscar 1 c wis rcnarkcti
Some oi thc A1cxica nj tevIew^ c<I 1 11, La m,i:, ,ecm cxcellent to mc and
others very negative But even in tire good unes 1 lee] there is some resent-
ment of che fact il was a North Amercan, a gringo, who has acquainted the
world, and even Mexicans, with a little cl che misery in which so many
families live.
1 regret it very much if I havc offended some Mexicans with my work. It
was never my intention to hurt Mexico or Mexicans because 1 have so
much affection for them .
Many times 1 huye suggested that it would be good if some Mexican an-
thropologists would he willing to Icave tlieir Indians for a while and come
to my country to study che ncighhorhoods ol New York, Chicago or of Che
South. 1 have even offered assistance in getting grano for them.e
Nevertheless, the project o Mexicans studying the United States has
not yet come to fruition_ The very idea of a national anthropology runs
against it: what would a book by a Mexican en the United States be used
for? Unless, o course, it were a book about Mexicans in the United States,
or about American interests in Mexico. There is no public in Mexico, no
institutional backing for this product, which would then be destined to be
either an erudite curiosity, or w(jrsc, a Mexican anthropologist doing the
Americans' job for them47 There was no possible symmetry of che sort
imagined by Lewis in bis welLmcaning but also slightly disingenuous
comment.
Thus, che threat of a scientific indicmient ot Mexican modernization
by foreign scientists remained, and .4exican reactions to che publication
o Oscar Lewis's Cldren of Sdecbez ( 1964) were even more severe than they
were to Five Families. In a letter to Vera Rubn. Lewis summarized che attack
that the Sociedad Mexicana de Geografa y Estadstica mounted against
bis book:
1 Thc book was obscene beyond all limits of human decency,
2 The Snchez family did not exist. 1 had nade it up;
I l o r d r r i u g o ,, A<n 1 b r o p o l o 4
= 258
3 Thc book was detaniatory of Mexican institutions and of the
,Mexican way of lile;
4 The book veras subvcrsive and anti - revol ut i otra ry and violated
Article 145 of che \Icxiean Consti tution and was , therefore, pun-
ishable with a twenty- vear jail sentence becausc it incited to social
dissolution;
5 The Fondo de Cultura Econmica, che author, and the book were
all cited for action bv che Geography and Statistics Society to the
Mexican Attorney Geneials Ofhce; and
6 Oscar Lewis was an FBI spy attempting to destroy Mexican
institutions^s
Much of che Mexican intelligentsia rallied to the cause o Oscar Lewis
at this point, including some anthropologists such as Ricardo Pozas, who
had heen highly critical of Five Families, because they saw in the Society's
attack che hand o the govermnent trying to keep all eyes off o the de-
structive effects of Mexican modernization, that is, off of urban poverty.
Nevertheless, Arnaldo Orfila, che great Argentine editor and then director
o the state-owned Fondo de Cultura Econmica, Mexico's most presti-
gious publisher, was Torced to resign from bis post, and Lewis published
the third edition of Tbe Cbildren of Snchez with a prvate publisher.
The implications o [hese two cases are clear. The whole set of views
that in Mexico carne to be called "officialist," and which more or less
served to demarcate che limits of mainstream Mexican anthropology, had
a tense relationship both with anthropologists who might romanticize
Indians to the degree o rejecting modernization, and with those who
studied the wrong end o che acculturation process, that is, the unhappily
modernized end. If che anthropologists doing the work were American,
then these tendencies were all che more menacing. Moreover, the rejec-
tion o [hese foreign works was also a way o reining in work done by
Mexicans, work that could he seen as unpatriotic or as bookish and irrele-
vant. This was, in fact, pretty much what the official attitude to the 1968
movement boiled down to: student unrest was creating a poor image o
Mexico abroad precisely at che time when the nation was on display, at
the time of the Olympic Games.
Conclusion: The Exhaustion of a National Anthropology?
1 began chis chapter by noting che sense of estrangement, of being con-
demned to eterna] repetition, that has surfaced on occasion in recent
y B o rdrriny o ti An ibrop o l o9y
= = 259

Figure 11 1 I The Snchez Family, in Oscar Lewis, Fina Families, p. 213. The Snchez
tamily opens a vista to the underside of modernization crowded living, unhygienic
conditions, promiscuity, and the disaggregation of communities.
years-the sense that anthropology in Mexico is destined te take its place
inside a government office, regulating the population, writing the gover-
nor's speeches, or presenting a dignihied face for the tourist; the sense that
Mexican academic anthropology will always be confined to its preexisting
public, to a national public that carel only about the solution to the "Great
National Problems"; the uneasy feeling that nags the student o Mexican
anthropology when she realizes that Francisco Pimentel was a high official
in Maximilian's court, that Alfredo Chavero was the president o the
Sociedad de Amigos de Porfirio Daz, that Gamio was the founder o the
Departamento de Asuntos Indgenas, undersecretary o education, and di-
rector o the Instituto Indigenista Interamericano, that Caso was founding
director o INAH and ENAH, that Aguirre 13eltrn was director o INAH,
that Arturo Warman is Minister of Agrarian Reform ..
This atavistic sensation is, nonetheless to some degree a false une.
There is a useful corollary of Marx's Eightcenth Brumaire that 1 think can be
usefully applied here, which could he something like "moins ca change,
moins c'est la mme chose" (the less things change, the less they remain
the same). The pattern o absorption o Mexican anthropology by the
state is in some respects quite diffcrent today from the times when anthro-
pology had a central role to play in national consolidation. The multipli-
cation o state-funded anthropological insritutions in the 1970s and 1980s
seemed to respond more to the growth o the educational apparatus and
13ordering
A 260 =
to state relations with certain middle-class sectors than to the need for an-
thropologists as technocrats. The existente o certain highly visible
anthropologists in government masks the relative decline o the political
significante o national anthropology for the Mexican state.
Moreover, in the stages that I have outlined, there is a distinct sense o
exhaustion o the possibilities o the national anthropology paradigm: it
began with the task o fashioning a credible national image that could do
the work o harnessing the transnational machinery o progress. From
there, national anthropology complemented this task with an active role
in the management o the indigenous population (which in the early
twentieth century could mean a concern with the vast majority o the na-
tion's rural population). This development o the anthropological function
gained much prestige from the revolutionary government's capacity te
distribute land and to mediate in labor and land disputes.
The year 1968 marked a watershed for Mexican national anthropology
because the student movement reflected a shift in the relative importance
o Mexico's urban population. Correspondingly, the magnficos and others
no longer called for absorbing Indians loto the nation, but argued for a
more theoretically inclined anthropology. In fact, each o the major mo-
ments o Mexican anthropology, from the cientficos to the revolutionaries,
to the anthropology that blossomed alter 1968, has involved a "theoretical
inclination." Each has looked to the international field for inspiration or
for authority, and intellectual leaders at least have had direct connections
with the most prominent leaders o the international field. The apparent
paradox, however, is that once theoretical inspiration is channeled into
the national anthropology model, dialogue with the international commu-
nity gets reduced to conversations with arca specialists at best. However,
as 1 have shown in detail, there are causes o substance that restrict the
relationship between national anthropology and its metropolitan counter-
parts, for the relationship between these two sorts o anthropologies has
more often been one o mutual conveniente than o true dialogue, because
anthropologies that are devoted to national development must consistently
choose modernization over cultural variation, and they must balance stud-
ies o local culture with a national narrative that shapes the institutional
framework o the fieid.
In 1968 there was momentary awareness o the conceptual and politi-
cal confinement that was embedded in "national anthropology." However,
De eso que llaman antropologa mexicana was still, unwittingly perhaps, a version
o a national anthropology: "Our anthropology has been indigenista in
its themes. Even today it is conceived as a specialization in particular
Border,ng on Antbropology
261
problcros. Lnligenun u is atumizin;; and it t, id, to intcrprct its materials in
an isolated lashion i tu s nsmos. In.iolo!ion, h,t, rejednl ibe compara tive ntetbod
t n t i lbe global w:alysu o l ti,, roud:n 1 r. .a mi oro particip rte.`'" By empha-
sizing che comparativa methoct 111050- crtOs s retained che sense o the na-
tional m-hsdc that was indispcmablc boite to nretropolitan traditions and
m,Mexican nationallst anthropology Thev retained, in otherwords, che
12
liolistic prentiscs that werc lato c riticized hy Appadurai and others. Not
surprisin Iv tlien che hnl phasc ol Rlcaican nacional anthropology
1'icOs -hOs s,as in exp ttsisc niumcnt 111,1t liad a number o things Ti
common with the hcad} days ol C atnio. lo che anthropology of those
years liad to rcinvent a nation that no longer liad an indigenous baseline
but was still centered on taking conunand ot projects o national develop-
ment. The cal] t develop a holistic and coniparative study o "che socie-
ties in which Indians participate" was thereforejust as prone to the vices of
bureaucratization, theoretical sterility, parochialism, and co-optation by Provincial Intellectuals and the Sociology
che state as indtjenisino liad been Today there is no longer a viable way o
isolating tire nation as che anthropologist's principal political and intellec-
tual object, and Mexican anthropology has to diversify its communitarian
of the So-Called Deep Mexico
horizons and rcinvent itself.

In an eloquent book that quickly became Mexico's best-selling anthropo-

logical work, Mxico profundo (1987), Guillermo Bonfil portrayed Mexican
reality as an overlay o two opposed civilizations: a subordinated civiliza-
tion that stems from the millenarian agrarian culture o Mesoamerica and
that has a variegated set o locations and permutations in contemporary
Mexican society, and another, Western and capitalist, civilization. Bonfil
explored the characteristics of che Mesoamerican tradition in the contem-
porary setting, usefully disturbing categories such as Indian and mestizo, and
then proceeded to show how that civilization has been shut out or mar-
ginalized from Mexico's dominant civilizational scheme. His book calls
for che reassertation o the Mexican tradition in the critical contemporary
moment, and thus his analysis feeds directly into today's political debates.
My argument with Bonfil's book is not merely academic. The image o
a deep versus an invented Mexico is a key trope in a specific kind o na-
tionalist language that stems from a justified rejection of the social and
cultural impact that multinational capital has had on Mexican society.
Despite the ample justification for a nationalist reaction to current trends
in Mexico, however, the "deep" versus "artificial" imagery stands on very
shaky sociological ground and therefore is an ineffective political alterna-
tive, despite its obvious ideological appeal.

Bo rletin^ o, An ti2to po lagq

=2i,2= =263 =
 i
There is a sense in which BonhI's civilizational approach is merely a re-
fashioned inversion of Che modero st trope of tradition versus modernity,
sharing premises with formulations such as the Chinese road to socialism"
or "the japanese way to progress." Ir can be read as a cal] for pragmatic
accommodations berween local forros of social organization and grand
strategies for progress and indust vial i zar ion, while it simultaneously claims
the moral preeminence o rhe local tradition over the grand narratives of
capitalism and socialism. From un analytic perspective, however, Bonfil
does not offer a detailed formulation o Che dialectics that have existed be-
tween so-called tradition and modernity since rhe inception of a modero
mentaliry in Che late eighteenth centupy or since the inception of capital-
ism in rhe sixteenth century -
One worrisome conseque rice ol Chis shortcoming is that the political
application o Che "deep versus invented imagery must ultimately rely on
a system uf reflned discrim ina tions wherein certain privileged subjects,
usually nationally recognized intellectuals or pohGcians, are placed in a
position of interpreti ng Che true national sentiment. Because it cannot ex-
tract Mexico from Che world capitalisi system, Che "deep Mexico" image
tends to re-creare or revitalize Che sort of authoritarian nationalism that
was characteristic o the period of growth ander import substitution, a na-
tionalism rhat had many positivo aspects, io be sure, but that is bankrupt
as a viable political formula roday
However, Che very case widi which 1 Nave formulated this criticism
may obscure Che intuitive appeal of rhe imagery of a deep versus an in-
vented Mexico, an appeal that undoubtedly stems from the ascertainable
fact that large sections of Mexico's population are and Nave historically
been shut out o the national puhlic sphere. They have been "muted," and
are correspondingly absent from Che dominant forums of political discus-
sion and public debate and Nave little access ro Che media of publicity.
These forms o exclusion have been denounced both as a rather subtle
form o racism and as infernal colonialism.
In sum, "deep" and "artificial are images that re-creare an obsolete and
unpromising forro of nationalism, while at rhe same time they are at least
successful in indicating and denouncing profound rifts in Mexican society.
The question is, how can we provide a wcll-grounded sociology o these
processes o political and communicative exclusion? Conceptually, the
challenge that we face involves understanding Che ways in which the na-
tional space is articulated, both politically and culturally. che various and
diverse forms of political representation and discussion that exist in differ-
Prooi r.ciel Inirll; ctuals
264 =
ent sorts o places and the major transformanons that regional and national
systems have undergone
1 propose to meet Chis challenge by focusing in Chis chapter on the ge-
ography o two interconnecred social categories: intellectuals and public
spheres Specifically, 1 wish to exemplify how a fine-grained analysis o the
dynamics o cultural distinction in a small region helps us to understand
the ways in which local publics are articulated to a national public.
Intellecruals and forms o puhlic discussion depend on and reflect the
geography o cultural distinction, and by studying their nature and con-
texts we can understand why some social groups have no voice in national
public opinion. It is only by specifying these mechanisms that we can at
once criticize tire current political and social systeni and avoid a simple
primordialist nationalism that offers little promise o efficacy and many
political dangers.
1 shall interrogare Che history o distinction and community represen-
tation in localities from the municipio o Tepoztln, Morelos, that, because
o their varying size, locarion, economy, and position in tire state's admin-
istrative hierarchy, represent different niches of Morelos's regional politi-
cal econorny.
By looking at Che historical development o ?hose communities' inter-
nal mechanisms of representation, 1 hopo to help develop Che rudiments o
a geography o intellectuals in Mexico's national space.' 1 have chosen a
rural and semiperipheral arca to initiate Chis geography, because insuch
regions one can discern Che contexts for Che emergente o persons who
can articulare local senriment to state discourses and vice versa. In small
towns it is also easy to specify some o Che difficulties that aspiring intel-
lectuals face in that process.
Definitions
I wish to begin by clarifying my usage o two terms : pubiicspbere and intellec-
tuals. For Che first term , 1 quote from an article by Geoff Eley who, follow-
ing Habermas, says:
By "Che public sphere " we mean first o al] a realm of our social life in which
something approaching public opinion can be formed - Access is guaran-
teed ro all cirizens. A portion of the public sphere comes finto being in
every conversation in which privare individuals assemble to form a public
body. They then behave neither like business or professional people trans-
acting privare affairs, not likc members of a constitucional order subject to
Provicrial lnie llrc taats
265 =
 the legal cutis train tc ol a s tate buteaut rae, t 1]tzcns behave asa publie
b, ,!v when thee ennfcr in an 11 n1(e)r111, 1 roshum-tira, n, with the guar-
a,,,, at freeelom nl ...... 'rv .ind ; sst r 1 nr,n and thc Ircedom to express
and puhlish lhcir opl nio hs -aP=,u1 'tuuc: ol ge ns-ntl inturest. In a large
pldslic liudo 11111 klnd ul 1111nmnti.1uon rc luu as spcu llc nteatu tur trans-
mitting tnlormauon and 1ntl uc lit, ng, thosc whu reeelve ,t Today news-
papcrs and maga-roes. radio a1.d 1 A are d e ntcd,a of the puhlic sphere.
As for the seconcl terco l have- trnmd May Wchers definition of intel-
lectuals to be the ntost usetul tor nto purposes here. for Weber once de-
fined intellectuals as "a group ol nten vvho by virtue o their peculiarity
have special access tu certain achicvements considered to be'culture val-
ues,' and who therefore usurp the Icadership of a culture community-'"
Thus we are concerned with two dimensions. the representation o com-
munities, and the cultural values chal can he suf licientiy difficult to acquire
and sufficien tly iniportant to authorizc one ndividual's representation
while di sauthori zi ng anothers^
Because intellectuals as we define them here are concerned with the
representation o communities hy virtue. o specific culture values, an
understanding o local-leve) intellectuals necessarily requires a look at
local systems o class and cultural disti ncti un. 1 will discuss localities that
correspond roughly tu two major types of places in the region o Morelos:
the village o Tepoztln, which was until recently a peripheral agricultura)
town and is a seat o municipal power (cabecern); and the hamlets o Santo
Domingo, Amatln, and San Andrs de la Cal (all o the municipio o
Tepoztln), which are small nucleated villages that surround the municipal
cabecera and that were, until recently, occupied almost exclusively by peas-
ants and farro laborers. 1 begin with a discussion of the hamlets, and will
proceed from diere to the municipal seat.
intellectuals and Ibe Representation of (onmtunity in Morelos The Hamlets
For most o their colonial and modern history, inhabitants o the hamlets
in the municipio o Tepoztln have peen par of a single class , o a single
culture. During the whole colonial period, diere were no economic elites
in the hamlets' Inhabitants were peasants, they were also involved in ani-
mal husbandry and in selling wood to nearby haciendas and ranches.
Villagers paid tribute to tire Marquesado del Valle, and for some years also
sent workers to tire mines at Taxco and Cuautla under the repartimiento sys-
tem o corve labor. Local latid bases were mcager, villagers were forced to
Pr0vln. rai ii1el
266 =
rent latid froni Spanish hacendados or ranehers, and 1 Nave found not one
Spaniard, or anyone using the tide of "Don" or Doa registered in the
birth, death, and marriage reatrds found in the local parish (starting in tic
carly seventeenth cenrury and continuing wtth come interruptions into
the mid- ntnetecnth ccntulo
There was some basis lor gami ng greater prosperity in those communi-
ties through politics. The post of alcalde carried with it exemption from
tribute payments, and there are documents that sugges t that ,hese alcaldes
ntay occasionally have pocketed son te inoney in their mediations with tire
cabecera and, particularly, in their organization o cooperative efforts for
the cabeceras church and church lestivities: some alcaldes paid villagers less
,han they in toro charged for candles and wax pi esented to the church, for
example. However, the most substantial cases o corruption in Tepoztln's
history all occur in the Villa of Tepoztln and not in its dependent hamlets
(sujetos).
In the hamlets, political bosses gained their positions because o their
centrality in a kinship network: they were elected from and by the local
elders.' They were thus centrally located and deeply identified with local
society, and interna) rifts probably reflected divisions between families
who aspired to those central positions, much as they do today.
This situation changed only in certain respects with independence.
Local inhabitants were no longer legally classified as "Indians" then.
Moreover, starting in 1856 with the creation o the civil registry, people
adopted Spanish last names en masse, and privately controlled plots o
communal land were registered for the first time in 1857, and then again
in 1909.8 On the other hand, the political equivalent o the old Indian
alcalde was now named by the municipal presidents to the post o ayudante
municipal and received no reniuneration.
Although we know little about the expansion o haciendas in early-
nineteenth-century Morelos since John Womack's view was first contest-
ad, in the case o Tepoztln there is evidente that haciendas encroached
on the municipio shortly after independence' In fact, the ejido latid that
was given back to Tepoztln after the revolution in 1927 was a restitution
for this postindependence land invasion. It is possible that hacendados o
that period either wanted to force more laborers to work for wages or,
quite simply, that they felt that che chaotic political situation at the na-
cional and regional leve) allowed them to get away with invading Indian
communities. Thus, inhabitants of those villages that bordered en hacienda
lands were possibly more latid-hungry in the nineteenth century than they
liad been earlier.
P rorillucrl 1atellectu
267 =
 On the other hand , internal community differentiation does not seem
to have grown during this period . The registration o lands would seem to
point to a tendency for a weakening of communal links in favor o the for-
mation a " prvate sphere " and its corresponding inhabitant : the "citizen."
This was , in any case , the liberal agenda behind policy changes . However,
it is difficult to ascertain whether or not those changes had a significant
impact either en community or on local society in the nineteenth century,
for thesc villages were al] highly endogarnous , and there seem to have
been communal policies not to se]] local lands to outsiders . 10 Moreover,
the registration o plowable l ands as private property in fact simply for-
malized the arrangement that existed in die colonial period , while land
that was not arable retained its communal status.
These policies were reinforced alter 1927 , with agrarian reform, when
inhabitants of some o the hamlets reccived lands in restitution for what
the haciendas had taken a century carlier. Communal tenure was also of-
ficially reinstated , and a new local official, the Representante de Bienes
Comunales, was charged with ovcrsccing in assembly that made all deci-
sions concerning local communal lands- Resistance against selling large
tracts o private lands to outsiders remains a factor even today , as land de-
velopers have discovered en more than one occasion . 11 In sum, the ham-
lets were socially quite homogeneous during the whole colonial period,
and finto the mid-twentieth century.
In the decades following the introduction of che first industries in
the region, beginning in the mid - 1950,, two new economic groups
have emerged. out-migrants who retain local ties (returning either en
weekends - if they live in Mexico City or Cuernavaca-or seasonally, if
they are working in the United States or Callada ), and political mediators
who acquired new significante in the processes o connecting the villages
to modero life ( in the construction of the villages road, in bringing
schools and electricity, etc.).
Major political divisions , which in the hamlets have always been
linked to competition between major families , now pitted "conservative'
factions-who sought to maintain communal land, forest , and water re-
sources intact-against progresistas ( or "modernizers "), who justified com-
promising some o these resources or even consuming them entirely, in
exchange for the advantages and comforts of progress and civilization.
These factions are common both ro the municipal cabecera at Tepoztln
and to all o the hamlets . However, the specific connection between con-
servative and progresista factions en the one hand , and the history o cul-
tural disti nction en the other , was somewhat different in the hamlets than
l ror',,, , ,al i li t, ^nals
268 =
in the municipal seat, and this was reflected in the issue of intellectuals and
the intellectual representation of communities.
There are no known local intellectuals from these villages for the
preindustrial period. Schoolteachers who worked on and off in these
places were hired irregularly by local families and stayed even more irregu-
larly. Starting in the 1950s, the villages began producing a few school-
teachers o their own. However, the ministry o education's placement
policy works against hiring nativos in local schools-at least in the early
stages o a teacher's career. None of the hamlets ever had a resident priest,
and the posts o ayudante and-after 1927-of communal lands represen-
tative were not particularly associated either with literacy or with intellec-
tual leadership (although reading was always an asset), but rather with
social centrality within the hamlet or with personal ties tu Tepoztln's mu-
nicipal president.
We can understand a little more about the social spaces that were avail-
able to aspiring intellectuals in these hamlets by looking at recently gen-
erated ethnographic information. In the early 1980s, Santo Domingo
was divided into two factions, one that had sided with a modernizing
Presidente de Bienes Comunales, who had opened the communal forests
to commercial exploitation in order to pay for the road that allowed
motor vehicles and electricity to come up to the town for the first time,
and the faction that opposed him.' Interestingly, these two factions were
identified in spatial terms with two sides o the village, and each side was
known by an animal narre: the tecolotes (owls) were en the eastern side, and
the xintetes (lizards) en the western side. The reasons why this factionalism
between conservatives and progresistas could be made to coincide with a
spatial division o the whole village can be found in the relations o kin-
ship and patronage around the political leader-whole core o support
was mainly near his own residente.
Now, up to this point, the category o "intellectual" would be very
problematically applied in Santo Domingo: local cultural values were not
susceptible to being controlled or monopolized. The people who had
gained the respect o the entire community had done so en a strictly con-
sensual basis, and they could not lord their knowledge over anyone with-
out losing their capacity to represent that person.
In my own ethnographic work in the municipio in the late 1970s and the
early 1 990s, 1 learned that there is a discourse on "respect" that is often
generated when one interviews a person; for, in interviewing someone,
there is implicit acknowledgment of the other's authority. Many people who
want to reaffirm their right to represent the community to the outsider,
Provincial ( ntellece als
269
arad especially to ara educated outsider hogin or end their parley by saying
somcthing like "In [his tosen es ev-one n.pens me That's heeause 1 re-
speet evers one I-veryone knosas mc inri greets inc. and 1 greet everyone
There is no one scho doesn i n.pee t me and so on However it some-
times happens that when somc^,'te csi dise uvcrs who vou Nave been talk-
ing to, he orshe proceeds tl) dise edit the individual in question and to
svarn you about taking hico seri,,ueis It ie Indo wonder that Oscar Lewis's
iniormanis told him that kedlields mani i nlormant had a head full of air
1 tu turra Nave been told that 1 Lwi , ;nionnants v,ti pulling his leg, and I
know that it has been said that 1 spoke tt,e, mueh with a mara who is not
even a "real Tepozteco." When authority is based on respeto, it is always
consensual, and if au intellectu al pases his or her authority exclusively on
respeto, he or she will only very oecasi o nally be successful in "usurping the
representation o a culture communit." An intellectual whose basis is
strictly consensual can never be prof essiona 1 ized.
In the hamlets, positions of l eadership and access to knowledge were
1imited to a certain circle of people. con]posed usually of married men,
and often o married men with ma ny grown brothers and sisters or chil-
dren. Within those circles, howevec the only roles that involved control-
ling cultural values that were not easily accessible to the whole age group
were those of healer (curandero) and witch (brujo). Since the 1950s, school-
ing has hecome another way of acquiring some scarce cultural values, but
schooling also tends to lead one out o the communiry and finto skilled
urban jobs or bureaucracies that Nave very few local institutional spaces.
Having good or evil powers over health and the body was traditionally
seen as being available to people by, one of two means: either one is born
with a calling (it is said in Santo Domingo that a child who is born with a
morral, or pouch, under her ami is destined tu hecome a person of knowl-
edge; twins too are believed to be born evith these powers), or one could
acquire power by revelation, either through possession by los aires, by
touching lightning, or by ingesting psychotropic substances near a cave-
where los aires dwell-and finding healing powers there. The knowledge
that healers and witches Nave is thought to he revealed in dreams or in
conversations with plants or spirits In other words, there is no socially
standardized route that leads to this posta on of knowledge.
Moreover, connections between the knowledge of curanderos and politi-
cal power can be quite problcmatic, curanderos often uy tu disengage them-
selves from local iufighting for feas that they may eventually be isolated as
witches. This is probably why it is so con]mon in the Mexican countryside
to fiad people claiming that they have curandera in their village, but witches
270
are almost exclusively found in the town next dooe On the other hand, in
Borne factionalized villages, like Santo Domingo during the 1970s and
early 1980s, curanderos tdentilied closely with local factions, and witchcraft
accusations tlowed between them_
In other words, either curandero power is closely associated with politi-
cal power and can be used as ara instrument o it, or else the curandero seeks
ro be disassociated from political identification and use bis or her knowl-
edge for the benefft of any taller If the curandero uses his art to gain world-
ly power, he will be called a witch by his political enemies and in chis way
his authority to represent the communiry gets subsumed under the power
o a political faction. It is only in the second case, when the curandero re-
nounces the active pursuit o political power for himself, that the curandero
can become a successful local intellectual.
Because o the fact that curing is seen as a gift that is magically revealed,
the whole organization o curanderismo as a system of knowledge is spatially
simple and not amenable te) building a bureaucratic or quasi-bureaucratic
hierarchy. localities have one or more curanderos, whose power and effec-
tiveness for both good and ovil purposes are contrasted with those from
nearby villages and hamlets. These curanderos are al] members of the peas-
ant communit and they are usually not devoted exclusively to their cur-
ing powers: the money or species that they get from healing complements
what they caen from farming, wages, or small-scale commerce.
There is a second leve) o healers who Nave regional, or sometimes
even national and international, reputations. These healers sometimes live
in larger towns, and they can charge very steep prices. A healer o this
kind who operated in Yautepec in the 1980s, and who was much sought
after by Tepoztecans, earned roughly the equivalent o three months o
minimum wages each working day.t'
These professionalized healers or witches have clients from the ham-
lets (people who were not cured by their local healer, or who mistrust the
local healer because o his or her connections to possible enemies) or from
other healers, as well as from their local cities and elsewhere. The greater
degree of commercialization o their practices also tends ro separate them
from local politics: they have a clientele they cater to in exchange for
money, and their sustained connections to local communiry factions are
often tenuous.
In sum, the small peasant hamlets o Morelos traditionally had only
two social roles that could successfully amass knowledge that was not
available to everyone. One was that of the local politician, whose mediat-
ing position in the power network made him privy to information and
Provincial ln tellec tua ls
271 =
 news that was not necessarily accessible to all, che other was che healer or
witch, whose powers are not believed to be reproducible at will, and who
is eonfronced with a tough choice: either to subsume his or per powers
under [hose of interna) factional and political divisions, orto withdraw
trom political and factional affairs as much as possible.
Consequently, in these hamlcts there has usually been a large extent of
democracy ti, che forro of town meecings and discussions-a firm basis for
che representation of che col lecrivity-coexisting with a very narrow plat-
form for the formation of profession al intellectuals. Moreover, the values
that need to be cultivated co gain respect within the community involve
a kind of humility that Gmits che capacity of a respected man to serve an
artieulatory function for any extended period of time. Any attempt at mo-
nopolizing such a representation by an average person is susceptible to
mockery and ridicule. Solemnity and respect ac che community leve) are
only achieved by representing group ieclmg in a low-key, unpretentious
manner, because representation gained through respeto can be taken away
at will.
Thus, che cultural homogeneity of che hamlcts produced a kind o para-
doxical effeco on one side, nce hamlcts had an inordinately open forum o
local discussion and debate-as other ethnographers who have worked in
these sorts of places have recognizcd, o ora che other side, there is no local
basis for any privileged intellectual representation o che community and,
what is much woose, che cultural values chal have been accessible to all in
che village have not been thc ores that allow access co che mediated na-
tional pub'lic sphere.
Because of chis, che hamlers were always vulnerable to representations
by individuals who had agendas that were not constructed in local public
discussion This fact, which can be glossed simply by saying that the ham-
lcts had no local intellectuals who could effeccively mediare between the
local community and state or prvate institucions, had two sorts o effects.
First, it made che inhabitancs of che hamlcts easily available to stereo-
typing by outsiders. Second in che ntost recen[ period, following the in-
dustrialization and urbanization of much of Morelos, it has meant that
newly educated individuals who reside locally can also indulge in chis sort
of approprration
For example, the hamlet of Amatln notr has an intellectual, a school-
teacher who married into [ce village and who has been the most active
Nahuad revivalist in [own. Don Felipe has promoted che idea that the pre-
Columbran prrest-god Quetzalcoatl was boro in Amatln. There is a happy
eoincrdence between Don Fclipes nativism, rhe regional promotion of
n
tourism, and a local ethnic reviva) that has been produced by intensified
economic dependence en cities and on wages, so his project has met with
success.
Recently, Amatln was officially declared by che state of Morelos
to have been the birthplace o Quetzalcoatl, renamed "Amatln de
Quetzalcoatl," and now dons a polychromed cement statue o che god
nextto the town's basketball court. Don Felipe also sold a plot o land to
an investor who built the village's first hotel and restaurant: "La Posada de
Quetzalcoatl," which offers tours to visir a famous local curandera, tradi-
cional temaxcal baths, and a naturalist diet.
Not content with these accomplishments, Don Felipe teaches school-
children the Mexican national anthem in Nahuatl, and invented a 'Tiesta
de Quetzalcoatl" celebrating Quetzalcoatl's birthday, held on the las[
Sunday o May. When a friend of mine asked a young man about his
partieipation in the fiesta, he undermined Don Felipe's legitimacy as a
representacive o local sociery by saying, "Oh, thats justa fiesta de Don
Felipe"' (Don Felipe's fiesta)
In chis example, we perceive che emergente o a system o interna] cul-
tural difference in Amatln-a difference between [hose who are keyed in
to local history as a way o refashioning the relationship o the locality to
che national state (and thereby to tourism and other forros o investment)
and those who are not. However, it is still che case that the local assembly
and public sphere are politically connected to che outside through the
ayudante, through schoolteachers, and through che conimunal lands repre-
sentative, bot they have no reliable quotidian mechanism for having their
voices heard in the nacional or regional public sphere.
Intellectuals and the Representation of
Community in the Cabecera
This situation was never che same in agrarian poluta) and market centers
such as the village o Tepoztln, which always had greater interna] cultural
distinctions [han its politically dependenthamlets and, consequently, more
o a platform for generating its own intellectuals. Because Tepoztln was
che seat o a pre-Columbran polity, it was made into an administrative cen-
ter in che colonial period. Tepoztln had an Indian governor, who presided
over che whose jurisdiction (including che hamlers), as well as a convent
that housed at least one prrest and, until che mid-eighteenth century, sever-
al monks. In addition to chis, che population density ol che village and the
availability o some land r
thejurisdiction attracted Spanish settlers, o
whom there appear to have been three or four families at any one time. 15
Provincial Intellectuals
273
 Thus, in the colonial period 7epoztlin liad two axcs around which
cultural distinctl ons were orgainzeii an echnie axis (fila 1111Y opposing
Spaniards and Indians, and in axis ot wealth and poseer 10 Indian gover-
nors in this arca, m e Isewhcrc in ccnttal ylcxico, tended ro come from a
single family, [Ti tisis case che Ruias lamils' sehie h cante co acquire a sub-
stantial antount o wealth in )and, cattlc plows, horses, and houses. This
family and a couple o others rook on many markers o cultural and ethnic
distinction. clic ncher mcnihcrs nt che Rojas family spoke and wrote
Spanish as cee11 as Nahuatl roda hol,cs. lived [Ti che center o town, mar-
ried Spaniards, and adopted a Spanisli las[ sume as well as che tales o Don
and Doa-
The question o las[ narres is Interest'mg Ion oca purposes here, because
che idea of lineage was crucial to Spanish nonons o nobility and honor:
being able to trace one's line hack to a knight who warred with che Moors,
who was a conquistador or carly scttler of New Spain, or who had on
sorne occasion served Chrlscendom was o ten critica) for claiming noble
status, and Spanish commoners who cante co the New World sometimes
transformed their place o origin inio a las[ name that became the inicial
point o such a Iinc.
In contrast to chis, Indians in Tdpoztln did not bear las[ narres at all,
hut rather were baptized with compouncl first narres, such as Jos Diego
or Mara Gertrudis, and these narres were not inherited. Thus, when a
censos taker or a local inhabitant wantcd lo specify which Jos Diego was
being referred to, the name of che plot en whieh his house was built was
uttered. Jos Diego Limontitla, for exaniple, o Jos Diego Tlalnepantla.
f-iowever these house-sitos could nos funccion strictly as a paternal last
name for the purposes o honor and lineage because-although the pre-
ferred form o residente alter marriage is and was patrilocal-there always
has been some neolocal as weil as uxorilocal residence alter marriage. In
other words, the house name could not function as a reliable marker o lin-
eage; indeed, the image o a line or lineage among most Indians was diffi-
cult to maintain.
Instead o chis, chere were large barrio families that were mainly but
not exclusively connected through che paternal line, and communal-
quasi-ami lial-identity at che leve) ot che barrio or village was thereby
enforced. Thus, if an Indian commoner leh his or her own village he or
she would have nothing but a given name-no family history, only com-
munal history. The ensuing lack of familial honor was sure to disauthorize
chal person's speech and had che effect o blending che individual into an
urban mas,- One could not speak publicly if une was a "nobody." The
Prc'p,n i, ,i In:riierluals
2?q
voice o [hese villagers was therefore anchored sturdily to their posinon
within che community; outside tire village they were merely indios-'-
This issue has been sugisiiicant roto che modern era. for when a peasant
is asked to speak auchoritatlvely by someone of a higher status, the
response will sometimos be something like "1 don'[ know anything, 1 Nave
no education, 1 am foolish" In chis light, Robert Redfield's division o che
Tepoztecans of 1926 roto two categories, tontos (fools) and correctos (proper
people), is more informative iban Oscar Lewis thought, for tonto in this
contexi is someone who is not authoiized to speak publicly someone who
is incapable of holding a cultivated conversation with an outsider, while
correcto means well-mannered, and referred to people who had a status
from which to converse with representatives o che state, foreigners, and
so oals In the colonial period, the possession o a last name often indexed
chis distinction.19
In contrast to che namelessness o the commoners, to their lack o posi-
tion outside o che local community, some Indian governors sought to cre-
ate a Iine, a mechanism o distinction that would allow them to reproduce
their privileges transgenerationally. They thereby took on a last name and
became ladinos, that is, they hecame deft at the ways o che Spaniards.
Thus, the language o distinction through blood, honor, and civilization
was also adopted within the indigenous sphere by che Indian governors,
whose representation o the indigenous community, ironically, was found-
ed on the Spanish notion o lineage.
The cultural values that [hese Indian governors controlled and used in
order to represent the community ay precisely in their bicultural adept-
ness: their constructed Spanishness vis--vis che Indians and local Spanish
society, and their constructed rootedness in che Indian community by way
o the Spanish notion o lineage. Arij Ouweneel (n.d.), who has studied
Indian governors in the Valley o Mexico, has found documents certifying
lineage and family Crees for [hese Indian governors.
Despite the paucity o our knowledge o che question o intellectual
representation in che eighteenth century, it seems likely that there were
no channeis available for an institutionalized production o local intellec-
tuals that mnght represent che community by virtue o their cultural values.
AII mediation was in che hands o che Indian governor, who was elected by
virtue o his lineage and wealth and was not che representative o a "cul-
ture community." The only local intellectuals that could access privileged
cultural values and use them to represent the community were either those
listed in out discussion o che hamlets (i.e., the "respected mas" and che cu-
randero, with al] o their intrinsic limitations) or che priest and the teacher-
PronlnC,al Intellectuals
275 =
 Howevet; in the colonial period , access to diese Iatter offices was denied
to Indians. Thus , che intellecrual represenmtion o the community toward
rhe outside was monopolized hy (acoles and Spaniards . The rest were
mostly tontos.
Given all of chis, ir is easy to understand how and why open contesta-
tren o che representation of che community could lead to violente.
In 1777, Manuel Gamboa ,
lpozdnc residenr priest , decided to give
limestone that liad been collecred by villagers in communal
faenas to the
priest o nearby Tlayacapan ter his church _
The women o che village,
who felt abused by the priest on many counrs , turned over the lime cart,
provoking tic priest roto a rage that he venced by beating one o the
women wirh his cave . This prompted Tepoztecan men roto action, and
was the spark ot a rebellion that led to che destruction o much property
and to severa) deaths , The lack of a communal voice that could authorita-
tively counter that o che priest madc way for a violent confrontation. On
the other hand , the presente of a priest (
and o schoolteachers in some pe-
riods) meant that there was an authoritative voice that could represent the
village, and Chis voice would be heard regardless o the assessment of
Indian governors and o the villagers themselves , as is obvious in che trials
thar followed che rebellion . In these trials ,
Gamboa used his authoritative
portrayal of rhe villagers as par ot his defense che Indians were idle
drunkards couples lived in sin for tmwo ycars before getting married, they
sold their children to pay thcir debts , and so en. Meanwhile
, villagers
were not asked or authorized to produce a cuunterrepresentation o them-
selves and their defense was limited m a series o accusations against the
priest?
In sum , Tepoztln had a firm system o nrcrnal cultural and class dis-
tinction that contrasred with that of che hamlets . Tepoztln also had in-
tellectuals from early on , most importantiv ,
its priests . However, in the
colonial period , riese intellectuals were outsiders
, and so we get the same
sorr o cleavage we had in che hamlets between the authority o village
public opinion and the authority of (external ) intellectuals representing
che village.
Independence broughr sorne changes ro chis situation . Most impor-
tant, che fusion that had been under way between che wealthy members o
che Indian nobility and che local Spaniards seems to have been accom-
plished rapidiy . Tepoztln was socially and culturally divided roto two
groups : che common people ( or "d c vulgar class
") and los notables This Iat-
ter term is interesting not only becausc it was che national term for promi-
nent citlzens , but also becausc ir eflectively
fused che political preemi-
Prooi
= 276
nence o che old Indian political elite (who used to be known as principales)
with che racial-cultural pretensions o che Spanish ethnic elite (that used
to characterize itself as a class o gente de razn), The term notable implies
both che political preeminence o a principal and cultural distinction o a de
razn. In che 1 860s, Tepoztln's notables were a group o about thirty tiren
and their households, al] o whom belonged to six or seven families that
descended both from che old Spanish and Indian elites.
These notables monopolized the function o political representation
(municipal officers and distinguished members o the militia o chis period),
as well as at least some o che intellecrual funetions: local schoolteachers
carne from chis group, as did che one or two Tepoztecan professionais who
were trained during che porfiriato. Furthermore, although priests continued
to come from outside rhe community, which was standard church policy,
the church's policing and representative functions were much diminished
by the Iatter half o che nineteenth century, and we find the priest acting in
consultation with che notables; he becomes one o them.
In other words, in che ninteenth century we get for rhe first time a
space for what could be legitimately called small-town intellectuals in
Tepoztln: the interna) dynamics o distinction produced cultural values
dar could be controlled and used to "usurp the representation o che com-
munity." These values were by and large che inherited marks o civilization
from che colonial era (literacy, urbanity), but rhey were now included in
an ideology o progress that opened che way for a dialectic between com-
muoity developmenr and nation building.
The maro intellectuals o nineteenth-century Tepoztln belonged to
che same Rojas family that had sired Indian governors since che seven-
teenrh century. Shortly alter independence, a Rojas was involved in help-
ing che village organize litigation against neighboring haciendas that had
misappropriated village lands. Literacy, che Spanish language, and mcm-
bership in che local poltica] class allowed him to represent che village tu
che outside in a move to protect its communal lands.
The second, and best-known, intellecrual o the family was Jos
Guadalupe Rojas, who was che village's main schoolteacher for about forty
years, and who was centrally involved in giving shape to al of rhe "pro-
gressive" social events and organizations o che new positivist age, includ-
ing educational church missions, cultural societies (usually named after
nacional or state political figures o che time), and the publication of sever-
a short-lived periodicals
Jos Guadalupes brother, Vicente Rojas, was also a schoolteacher in
che village's second school_ His nephew Mariano became a teacher o
Prooiaciol Inlellectuals
277
Naiuad in Moteo (itvs .Nau..nal !rlcncun. in che 1920s and autiored a
short Nahuatl wordbook tiat is snll in eirc til ati on Anuncer member o[ che
lamily, Simn Rojas was said te haC u beca pioseni at thc signing of Zapatas
flan de Avala
It is signilica nt tu note thot Clic role ul niany oj these uolal,lrs centered
on che defense ol dtc community aga,nst hacienda cncroachmcnt, as well
s the defense ot clic comnuinltys p,liti( al s:,ll and vote at the scate leve].
In chis regar therc is a collapsinp ot clic intcrests ol local intellectuals
and local politianns that conn's a. ith indupenelenee.
This is owing Lo Clic tacs that Clic local nol,ala i, were by no means
wealthy Irom a regional point uf viccr. being vasdy overshadowed by ha-
cienda owners and rich nierchants Moreover, retaining control of the
local political apparatus rema'med crucial for much of the local elite for,
like the Indian governors before them, perks ron control of the new
municipal offices, including che pussibiliry ot appropriating communal
resources, were a significant source of wealih and resources-as, indeed,
they still are today.
The case of che ceacher Jos Guadalupe Rojas helps to illustrate che dy-
namics of incellectual represencarlon in Chis era for, although his diaries
span a short pcriod (1865-72), an imporcant transformation occurs in his
outlook during chas period. In tic carly portion of che diaries, Rojas is
continually redeeming the people He sees the 'vulgar class" as being
composed basically of peace-loving people who wished co work in peace,
and whose limications (what we today would cal] their culture') could be
remedied through titanic efforts in education. This education was meant
to pul] the lower class out of its lethargy and ignorante: the habits o che
vulgar class (including their language, which at chis tinte was still Nahuatl)
were markers of ignorance
In 1869, a visiting priest who was on a cultural mission publicly asked
Rojas to make simultaneous translation into Nahuatl for him Rojas says that
he was ashaned te have been put in Chis pusitiun, but that he complied.
However, only one year lacer, Rojas decideci lo teach reading and writing in
Nahuatl in his school, and generally bogan co emphasize che grandeur of
che native culture and its noble position at thc root o Mexican nationality.
This is an imporcant moment in Clic history o( local intellectuals for,
until 1870, Rojas was still fu nda m en tal ly inspircd by che teachers and
priests of che colonial period: representing che community to the outside,
while trying to destroy its native culture. Stanine witli che movement for
Nahuatl literacy, Rojas-and most local intellectuals who have followed
him-hecame involved in a dialeetic that rooted che local community in
P r o i i , .. I n i , - . i , . i s . H , P
_= 27s
nationalist mythology while it invoked urban values shared in the nacional
public sphere) such as literacy and urbanity, hoth to redeem che community
el its ignorante and to construct the intellectual's own social importance
This strategy is exem plificd in a little event that Rojas recorded o]
January 29, 1865- The schools board had collected money to pay for
prizes that were to be distrihuted to the students and che teacher at the
end-of-the-year celebration. These collections were a financial burden for
che members of the board. most of whom were poor leven when notable):
the schoolteacher had pone severa] months wirhout pay The board met
to discuss whar prizes to huy, and, alter careful delibcracion (these delibera-
tions being, as they were, taken as signs o instruction, morality, etc.), sent
Juan Jos Gmez on a sixteen-hour hike to Mexico City to huy twenty-
nine bouquets o artificial flowers.
This event epitornizes che cultural relationship between the country
and the city, at least as it was seen from che intellectual's point o view.
The prizes are flowers, which are very much a local product (Tepoztln is
full of flowers, all year round), made permanent through specialized work.
Artificial flowers were, in Chis context, an urban commentary on flowers
(and, metonymically, en Tepoztln): they are worth re-creating, they are
worth enshrining, they are worth cultivating. They are valuable. And this,
more generally, is what local intellectuals set about trying to do to local
traditions and culture. By taking a local productor value and elaborating it
in che city, and by taking a local product that was so valued in the eity that
it was the subject o elaboration, Rojas was simultaneously building a link
between the local and che nacional culture and constructing bis own role
as representative and mediator.
Like the villagers who authorize their speech by insisting en how
much they are respected, Rojas too was preoccupied with being taken
seriously. To say that an event had been solemn was, to him, the highest
praise, and yet che fact that he persistently noted whenever solemnity had
been attained suggests that bis capacity to represent was fragile, and that
laughter could shatter all his efforts and expose him to public ridicule-a
fact that reflects the limications o the authority o small-town intellectuals
o chis period.
In Morelos, che revolutionary outbreak o 1910 in come ways produced
a temporary dissolution o local communities, but it also intensified region-
al intercommunication between what we might cal] che popular public
spheres. This was achieved through inedia such as the corrido ballads that
circulated throughout che region, through the publication o leaflets whose
contents were shared in che same meetings where corridos were sung, and in
r o i , n c i a 1 In tellec tuals
279 =
 the installation o a kind of peasant common law in Zapata's headquarters
Tepoztecan schoolteachers and-beginning in the 1960s-professionals
and camps that was then transmitted to the villages as common law2'
returned to the village and forged some links o communication with the
In the case of Tepoztln, particlpation in Chis regional peasant public
local peasantry, both because they belonged co that social group and by
sphere was consolidated in the immediate aftermath of che revolution
using the "artificial flowers" technique. Moreover, the decade of the 1930s
Agrarian reform laws enshrined communal )and tenure and led to the for-
was one in which peasant revolutionaries began to lose their grip en the
mation o regional peasant confederations iAMoreover, the political legiti-
Morelos state government, and increasing bureaucratization and profes-
macy that Zapacismo attained in the 1920s and the flight to Mexico City
sionalization set in. In this contexc, intellectual mediators were required to
of a significant portion o the old cacique class, also strengthened peasant
representation o their communities communicate between state bureaucratic agencies and local consticuencies.
Beginning in the 1950s, the literati became aspirants to municipal
However, ir was still certainly the case that the main tensions sur-
power, and they effectively edged out peasants from the main municipal
roonding the intellectual representation o the community were between a
offices. This process was accomplished, no doubt, because university-
l action o modernizers and che more humble "conservatives" who sought
trained Tepoztecans had a much better chance o knowing people in the
to retain communal independence from politics and from the outside
governor's inner circle than peasants did, but it was also the result o pres-
world. In this region, the main novelties ol the period were (1) that the
pos trevo luti o na ry progresistas were now niuch more persuaded o Rojas's sure exerted by people within government in favor of naming only officials
who were professionals, preparados. Peasants were believed to be incapable
nativism than they had been in che past, because the idea of totally ignor-
o managing the paperwork and the legalities o public administration.
ing and depreciating the nativo culture was politically much less sound
As long as the position o the educated Tepoztecans prospered, which
alter the revolution than it had been carlier and (2) that tire local peasant
was until about 1980, the split between correcto-like local intellectuals and
assemblies had more power than they had ever had in the past.
the peasant public sphere was largely maintained, although coexistente
1 first encountered the local conservative perspective during field re-
was usually peaceful, and alliances were often made to defend common
search in 1977. At that time, tire dominant view of politics among the
interesas. This vas largely because the power base of the local peasantry-
local peasantry was that there were three tepes o political actors: politi-
its control over communal lands and its privileged position in revolution-
cians (who were exploitative and lived off of other people's work and did
ary nationalism-was maintained to a significant degree.
not fully belong to che local commtmity), ci'npesinos (who lived in house-
The situation o the local intelligentsia has changed since that time for
holds, belonged co barrios and villages, and respected each other), and
pendejos, or idiots, who took what politicians said at face value, and there- several reasons. On the one hand, che peasantry has been in a trae state o
fore lent themselves to their abuses siege. Planting has become too expensive. Work options as wage laborers
In Chis view, the campesino was the only "clean" social persona avail- in Tepoztln (in the construction industry, in gardening, and in house-
keeping), or in Cuernavaca, Mexico City, the United States, and Canada,
able to a Tepozteco, for the campesino eats what he produces, minds his
have become increasingly important, even to educated Tepoztecans. Land
own business, and defends his communal rights_ On che other hand, the
prices have skyrocketed along with tourism and with the suburbaniza-
only honest politicians are necessarily risking eheir lives. Marryrdom is the
tion o Tepoztln, making selling very attractive and buying back almost
only ultmate proof of cleanliness in politics. Because o this, unless and
impossible, and the legal framework for local communal tenure is now
antil martyrs such as Zapata returned, tire bcst forro o political participa-
threatened.
non was believed to be collective icvolt and resistance around the defense
On the other hand, teachers salaries have plummeted and competition
of specific rights.2 Tepoztecans Nave revolted on many occasions against
between local professionals has intensified, so that pressure en the local
encroachrnent on communal )and. against tate management o commu-
nal water, and against severa) urban development projects.23
and state government from these sectors is increasingly unmet. As a result,
in the 1980s, Tepoztln got its first f ill-timejournalist, who began writing
Contrary to what occurred in most hamlets, the institutional basis for
a biweekly column en Tepoztln in a Cuernavaca paper, and who had a
local Tepoztecan intellectuals grew signilicanc]y as carly as the 1940s .
local weekly significantly called El Reto del Tepozteco (the challenge o El
Many peasants svere able te) educare thcir children, and a fair number o
Tepozteco). This name contrasts with the narres o various previous, very
1'raoi^ : ci,iIr ielir-tuels
p ...
.tia l L+tellectua ls
2HU
281 =
 priests, meant a prolongation of the rift between local public opinion,
short - liveef periodicals such as Cl (, ramo dr Al, 11,1 or El T,pozleco , because
which was in certain respects tormed quite democratically, arad the nation-
whereas carlier leafleis stresscd rinly that Tpoztln was a microcosm of
al or regional spheres ot diseussion, del iberatio n, and policy formation-
the nation ( likc a grain ol sand i and that it could stand for the nativo roots
Liberal policies tried tu chango Chis simation by doing away with commu-
<rt the nation El kem Jsi Tepozienr niakcs thesr native roots i. sym bol i zed by
nal lands, and the institutron ot surnames and the registration of private
Ll Tepozteco finto a political challenge 'rno
property signal some degrce of success in [hese policies. However, in the
Tepoztln has today become divided between two political parties.
municipio el Tepoztln, the erosion of the communities was not successfully
Conservar i ve pcasants , suela as the Curte al representative of eommunal
cotnpleted by the end ol the porfiriato, and the split described earlier was
lands , eomplain that che people hace bct omc divided , forsaking commu-
strongly reaffirmed with Zapatas revolution and its populist aftermath.
nity and peasant livelihood and dignity lar a iactionalism that reflects
In the village of Tepoztln, ora the other hand, the nineteenth century
national politics and national i nterests
spurred a new development of forms of cultural mediation. Whereas in the
colonial period the priest was the utmost intellectual authority, and
Analysis whereas in that era collective religious ritual was the main forum of media-

By looking at two different types of settlements in the municipio of Tepoztln tion, nineteenth -century schoolteachers used nationalism and progress as
the tools for building ties between the locality and state and private insti-
1 have argued that the existente of small-town intellectuals, their nature,
tutions. This explains why Jos Guadalupe Rojas, whose acts were initially
and their connections to both local politics and the national public sphere
comparable lo those of a Spanish schoolteacher or priest, decided to take
can be appreciated by inquiring finto the history of distinction in these lo- the nation's
calities, and by connecting the mechanisms of cultural distinetion lo the a nativistic turra and to identify the local popular culture with
historical roots. His move has a family resemblance lo the one that insists
policies of the state.
en seeing Mexico as divided finto a "deep" and a "moder' country: in both
The contrast between Tepoztln and its surrounding hamlets unfolds
cases, cultural and political marginaliry is equated to historical anteced-
in the following manner: Because of its position as the administrative
ence. Rojas, however, used his outlook as a modernizing device: position
center o an indigenous jurisdiction, colonial Tepoztln had a relatively
in the nation would strengthen Tepoztecan social lile; Tepoztln could
powerful odian nobility that was absent in the villages. Tepoztln also
claim such a position because of its pre-Hispanic roots, but the whose pur-
had a resident priest, severa) Spanish families, andan occasional school-
pose of the claim was lo modernize. This dialectic guaranteed a position
teacher, all of whom promoted a complex system of interna) cultural dif-
ference, which nonetheless could produce no local intellectuals. This was for local intellectuals , because they could stand between national opinion
and the local community, as indeed they still do.
because (1) community cultural values were easily accessible lo all adult
There has been still one important change since the md-1980s,
men, (2) some cultivated values could not ser-ve as a basis for community
though. The abundante of trained Tepoztecans combined with shrinking
representation because they were banned by the church, and (3) the
state resources and very significant transformations in the overall class
niches that could be occupied by intellectuals-that of priest and that of
composition of the locality led to factionalism within the professional
teacher-were off-limits to Indians.
classes. At that point, access to media became crucial, and Chis explains
The hamlets of the municipio had no such system of interna cultural and
the revitalization of the local press.
class difference, and, owing lo that very fact, they had no way of generat-
ing intellectuals who could effectively articulate local opinion lo influence
Spanish policy. In both cases, then, one found political mediation, which Conclusion: Intellectuals and Political Mediation in tbe National Space
relied en state power, serving also as the main form of cultural mediation.
The historical analysis of the spatial ragmentation of Mexicos public sphere
After independence, the situation changed. Tepoztln's cultural and
can be achieved by studying the ways in which culture communities have
politico-economic elite became unitied, and chis allowed for the emer-
created or failed to create spaces for local intellectuals who can speak in
gence of the first truly local intellectuals. In the hamlets, the lack of an
and lo the national public sphere and who are not themselves simply
internal economic or cultural elite, as well as of local schoolteachers or

Provi=a cial In telteciuats

Irovioeial l,i ieilrriuals
283 =
282 =
 power brokers This history is a cor,plex one, bur 1 suggest that there is a
lorm to it, and that Chis forro can bc discrvered if we look closely at the
formation o regional cultures and hack ofl from che homogenizing image
o one deep Mexican civilization
The postindependence project of creating a national public sphere,
that is, a "media-scape" whcre civic opinion could be expressed, involved
creating a unified cultural con, niunity ^.-hcre norte existed. This is why
Iturbide, who was Mexicos hrst national sovercign, complained that there
was no Mexican public opinion, out rathr-r a handful of diverse prvate
opinions that claimed che status o bcing a national opinion. It is also why
Iturbide felt that Mexican national sentiments were only truly expressed
during popular uprisings. In othcr words, the channels for communicating
hetween different local communities werc extremely limited and acces-
sible only to a few. f sople could only express their opinions effectively by
force. The image of a "deep" Mexico, o a Mexico that finds no expression
in either national political iorums or in che niass inedia, can thus be traced
backtuindependence.
In this chapter, 1 have developcd the nidimcnts of a historical sociology
of the silente that has characteri zed thc relationship o certain sectors o
che Mexican population and state institutions. The methodological prem-
ises ot my analysis can be summarized in three points.
1 A geography o mureness nceds to be developed to give well-
pondered content to the deep versos official" imagery. If such a
geography goes undeveloped the imagery neeessarily devolves
finto che nationalisr miasma that Iturbide and all of his successors
were inextricably caught in -
2 Such a geography can be developcd by analyzing the emergente o
intellectuals in various typcs of communities or localities. It in-
volves speelfying che systems ot iniernal cultural distinction that
exist in each localized community and then identifying the culture
values that can serve as the oasis for the forniation o an intelll-
gentsia that can aspire to represcnt che community.
3 The analysis also involvcs ascertaining whether the culture values
in question articulare smoothhy with [hose that prevail among intel-
lectuals in che centers of national power as wcll as with the state's
culturally constituied idioms of rcpresentation.
When appbed to che case of the n onicipal seat of Tepoztln and to the
hamlets o that wunicipio, [hese propositions yielded rich resu]ts 1 would
like to cunclude by summarizing a few ol them
1 For long periods, che hamlets could only produce intellectuals by a
kind o interna] consensos that was formulated around a language o
respect, whereas the municipal seat had a more sophisticated forro
o interna] differentiation that fostered an intelligentsia from the
very ear]y colonial period on.
2 During the colonial period, the institutionalized positions for intel-
lectuals in the village o Tepoztln were al] in the hands o Spaniards,
and off-limits to the local population. Because of chis, it is fair to say
that a truly local intelligentsia with an institutional base did not
emerge there unc] che national period.
3 Identification o local society with national culture became funda-
mental for the reproduction o local intellectuals during the nine-
teenth century, and it has remained critica) to this day. The formula
at which Tepoztecan schoolteachers arrived at was simple: local tra-
ditions are at the very root el Mexican nationality, but only the de-
veloped branches can instruct and extract the unpolished province
from its sleepy backwardness. Local intellectuals were the needed
mediators o chis re]ationship: they rendered the image o the "deep
Mexicu" back to the urbanites, national intellectuals, and state offi-
cials who so esteemed it, and in return became effective brokers.
The "deep" versus "artificial' imagery is therefore a favored trope o
intellectual mediators and it is a tool that has been used both to de-
fend local culture and to argue for "progress" and modernization.
4 Despite the persistente of this formula o mediation, it has always
had limited local appeal. Tepoztecans have at times disidentified
both with che modernizing impulses o some intellectuals and with
therr insistent nationalist nativism. Don ngel Ziga, a local intel-
lectual who is devoting some efforts to teaching Nahuatl, has found
more interest among middle-c]ass urbanites who have migrated to
Tepoztln than he has among native Tepoztecos. Similarly, Don
Felipe's ce]ebration o Quetzalcoatl has received a range o responses,
including a fair amount o apathy from many vil]agers. The fluctua-
tions in the acceptance and fervor with which che projects o these
intellectuals are embraced are a necessary object for future study.
5 The formula o the intellectual as thc respected man is undoubted]y
the one that has most interna] appeal in peasant communities.
However, it is Chis very democratic appeal, combined with the class
and cultural chasco that divides peasant communities from urban
centers, that guarantees an unstable, contested, and ultimately un-
routinizable intellectual leadership.
Y r o n i n ^ i a l 1,t s
285 =
 Signilieant portions ot thc pupiifition ul hoth Tepoztln and its ham-
Icts still have no voicc as citizem. Instead, thev are representcd by poliG-
cal mediators :+nd interllectuals huye nrgnuations with the government
occur in a dlfterent languape nu ,Ti, should hclieve what poIiticians say,
according lo peasant consetvniscs Instead set conversing wlth diem, local
constitueneies have litde choice hui to engage in very pragmatically cal-
allated t ra n sacio ns wheie^ Ches retase ce rtam resourees or co ncessions
in excbange for thcir voicc
The preceding discussion suggesl, 1 thlnk ruar che ternt silent Mexico
is more useful and precise rhan decp Hesito The silent Mexico has no
historical priority over the ram bu nc ticas pa rtici panty in the public sphere-
Nor is it a root o nationality - It siniply comprases che various populations
that lave beyond che fracturad fault lino of Mexico's nacional public sphere.
This situation does not imply that [hese populations are marginalized
from participation in state instUtutions: it nicans that they have no public
voice. The "silent Mexico" is organized around certain systemic principies
that can be perceived in che organization ot cultural distinction in the na-
tional space.
P r o n i ','r'' 11!'1'''z1 ,'1'
286
Notes
INTRODUCTION
1 Jos Limn , American Encounters : Grealer Mexico , tbe United States , and che Erolics of Culture,
52-57.
2 A standard philosophical reference for this general point is Oilles Deleuze and Flix
Guattari , A Tbousand Plateaus : Capitalism and Schizophrenia . A detailed anthropological
study that develops this criticism closely around a specific case is Lisa Malkki, Purity
and Exile Violente, Memory, and fltational Cosmology among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania.
3 Octavio Paz, El laberinto de la soledad, 13.
4 A nation-state is made up o a sovereign people , its trate, and as territory. However,
"a people" is not a stable entity, and neither are its connections to a state and terri-
tory. ldeally, che nation - state is a territory in which the inhabitants are communi-
cated in such a way that they can concert opinions that give direction to govern-
ment ( this is called "che public sphere "). Government , in turn, is organized in such a
way that it can rationally administer the entire population . Both o [hese imply spa-
tial hierarchies that should, in theory, be isomorphic . Thus, the public should be
smoothly integrated from local levels up tu che national leve, with no regard for
class differences , while the national state should have an organized system of ad-
ministration down to local levels requiring no additional mediation for che imple-
mentation o its authority . Finally, this unit as a whole needs to shape its representa-
tion in an international arena In such a way that foreigners and foreign interests
operating in the national territory can be managed , and that national interests that
reach beyond territorial frontiers are protected. The national space is the intersection be-
tureen che geography of che national public, the spatial organization of gooemment, and tbe nation-
states situation in Je international arena.
5 See Dipesh Chakrabarty, " Provincializing Europe . Postcoloniality and the Critique
o History," 337-57; and Harry Harootunian , Hismry s Disquiet Modernity, Cultural
Practice, and the Question of Everyday Lije.
= 287 =
 6 Javier C,arciadiegu summanzes rhe dnvin., arras of tire National University's
searching for differences in che social organization o communieation in various
foundci Justo Sierra, as lalloccr. "F^r dan Jtntu ihe arco of rhe new institution was
classes as a key to underscanding nationalism, he incorrectly assumes that some
thc integral education of ihe udents a1,11 nos only die advanre o ,trence, a fact
forms of community are "concrete" while others are "imaginary," Al[ communitarian
thai distanccd hico from rhe posilir i,,, ,A1,ruovcr ihe university should devote
relationshi ps are based en an idea of rhe social whole Chas is imaginary,- and "rhe
much attention in rhe social rcal,(e of clic country" (Rudo, contra tcnicos la
Unroersided Nacional durante la rrooh,nd nobility" o bis example was much more reliant en systemic "replications" than
masrnn.,. - 1 1 my translation) The dehnltion of
Anderson imagines. So, for example, all legitimare descendanrs o che conquista-
the "Great National Prohlems has varied solista ntial ly since the inauguratiou of chc
dora and early setders o tire Indios were officially considered nobles (hilos dalgo)
National Univcrsiry i n 1 9 1 0 hui chc universuvt nc,corica committnent to study-
(Las Leyes de Indias, book 4, riclc 6, law 6). Likewise, it was poliey to reeognize and
ing and to solving them is a enastan[. S'c Dzv.d Lorcy, The Unmersity System and rhe
maintain the status o chc Indian "nobility" (ibid., book 7, fide 7, law 1) In short,
Eeormmic f),,,Icernent nf h1 exiro erra e rn o
rhe nobility o che Spanish colonial era played as systemic a role as the bourgeoisie,
7 Lawrerice Lcvi rae, 76e Openirtg of ti, Aniei iron ,bliud Estimas, Cu
l tive and History, ehapter which mean[ that it burgeoned wherever it was needed to maintain a local hierar-
8 Arjun Appa dura i, "Thcory in An[h ropology Centcr and Periphcry," 356-61.
chy and state organization. The grandees of Spain were surely as ignorant o rhe
9 For a useful eatalog si U 5 st,reo,iypes si L aran America, see John Johnson, Lata
America i i (-ancature identities of the descendanes o first sertlers or o [odian nobles in Chile as the
menibers of che bourgeoisie of Barcelona were of che identity o their class counter-
1o For chc significa nce nf ,trence a, a sigo in a parallel context (India), sec Gyan
parts in rhe Ro de la Plata
Prakash. Anotber Reinan Serence,nid ibr fic,Jlnat,oti of,N(odern
Eedia, ehapter 1 4 Real Academia Espaola, Diccionario de la lengua castellana en que se explica el verdadero
11 Katherine Verdery. National IdeoleT y io,Jer Soaltsrrr
Identity and Cultural Politics in sentido de las voces . _ Madrid, 1726-39 (1737),
Ceauscscu4 kornania 167-68.
5 For an illuminating discussion of the relationship between anclen rgime and mod-
12 Paul Krugman"Mexims New Dea1 .",A4-mYorkTnnrs Op-E,1 July 5, 2000 Kmgman
ero, ideas regarding sovereignry in che Spanish and Spanish-American world, see
somewhat disingenuously argues tliat che true purpose of free trade was ro bring
Frangois-Xavier Guerra, "De la poltica antigua a la poltica moderna, la revolucin
democracy co Mexico. "now we knOW that. whaiever ihe slns of Mr Salinas, the re-
de la soberana," in Fran@ois-Xavier Guerra and Annick Lamperire, eds., Los espacios
formen tic hroughi ro power were sincero--and the reform was real"
pblicos en Iberoamrica ambiquedades y problemas, siglos XVI11-XIX, 109-39. Guerra has
1 3 On clic icor la rities between rhe threc t andldares, sec Jorge Castaedas arguments
shown that throughout tire nineteenth century, Spanish America combined ele-
in "Esta Ti, rs una eleccin de principios; es un referndum para el cambio
ments o an ancien rgime and o a modero polity. A similar point has been made
Proceso, 10- 13
by Fernando Escalante, Ciudadanos imaginarios. Contemporary Latn America is also
nos without examples of tensions between competing claims between ,rafe sover-
1 NATIONALISM AS A PRACTICAL SYSTEM
eignty and che traditional rights of corporations and communities
1 Anderson goes even htrther, and denlo, that racial Identity and racism are connect-
ed in any cesential way te nationalism ''1 t)hc lact oi che matter is that nationalism 6 See Annick Lamperire, "Repblica y publicidad a fines del antiguo rgimen,"
55-60.
rhinks in tercos o historical destinres whilc cism dreams o eternal contamina-
7 A good case in point is rhe use o the cagle eating rhe serpear as rhe symbol for
tiene The dreams of racism ncrunlly havc their origin in ideologies o class,
Mexico Ciry . Enrique Florescano (1996) has studied che evolution o chis symbol in
rather tiran Ti, [hose of nanon" ( 1904 149-10 `E. 1 hall argue that Chis assertion is
che colonial period, and he shows that rhe Aztec symbol was used preferentially
uncenable in clic Ihcrian world
oven rhe coas o arras that has been assigned to che city lince che early seventeenth
2 "Out of che Americao welter came (hese imogmed reaGties _
nation - states , republi
can instimGOns , eommon citizcnship , popular century. The use of chis indigenous symbol as rhe local symbol also buttressed
sovereignry, nacional flag , and an-
thems, creole identity This symbol was eventually written into che flag o Mexico in lieu
etc and rhe Ilquidanon oi [lis Er Conn'ptual opposites, dynastie empires,
o Hidalgos Virgen o Guadalupe, or o Morelos's "Viva la Virgen Mara."
monarchlcal institution, absrrluu-mi
-1111,dnods Inherited neshilitics , serfdoms, 8 Rey works en chis master include Brading 1991, Lafaye 1977, and Lavall 1993.
ghertoes , and so forth In effen h, chc second datada of the nineteenth century, 9
ladead, rhe Spanish constitucion that was prometed in Cdiz in 1812 defined
if role' T he' a'model ' of'the' independent natiunal tate was availahle for pira ting"
(Ibid, 81) Spanish citizenship in such as way as to include in equal tercos those borra in any
3 At times Anderson appears to heLeve that [heme par o rhe Spanish dominion (article 18; in Tena Ramrez 1957, 62). Aljovn (1997,
is such a thing as a "concrete" ver-
sus an " imaginal'y " contmuni sy The relatively 2-4) discusses rhe decline of Andean Curacas at rhe end of rhe eighteenth century
latan size of traditional aristucracies,
in che context o che Bourbon stare's goal o eliminating rhe power o all institu-
their hxed political bases , and rhe person al iza uon of polrtical relatioos implied by
tions that brokered che relationship between rhe date and its subjects.
sexual i ntercou tse and inherita lee . meant (
hae their cohesions as classes were as 10
much concrete as imaginad . An ill itenw nobiliro For example, in both che Constiturion of Cdiz (1812) and Mexicos Centralist
could still actas a nobility. But the
bourgeoisie ? 1 ere was a class whidt, hguratiyely Constitution (1836), servanes have nationaliry (Spanish and Mexican, respectively),
speaking, come unto being as a bus in neither case were servants cirizens.
class only in so mana' replications Ihid 7.. Althougli
Anderson is shrewd lo 11 For che saliente o individual communities as primary referents o identity in che

Notes t o C h a p t e r ,
288 =
= 289
 Amerlcans was a po1emaca1 suhrect in scienti11 crre1us fronc che time of nitral con-
wars nt mdcpcndenc.e set L0c Van 1ocng I 'iSO 11,1 thc ways in which communny Warld
tact to the carly twcntrcth c,ntury Sec Antoncllo (,,e(,,, Nano, in che 01,e,
or corpurate idcntitics orterlocked wich nauonalist chscourses. see Florencia Mallon. World:
From Christopher Columtus to (.ora:do Fenlndez de ()iriado, and Ti,, 1ispule of lb, New
Pemm^l and t,1 -n: Ti's \I ,in :l lrec md Prru chopters 5 and 7; alto
1sealantc ( I:dm!o: rr rtrr.v',': `'-- I I ' and 4n carly formulat:on of cite The Hintory of a Polem I o-rvnu
18 The literatura cxalrnt_ American lands at times alto refashions che connections be-
..
problum ras set t... 11, bv Ildn.... t) t ...romo uchu argucd that Benito lurcz's tra-
tween the American and ideo. 11... has beca scudied ,, detall for Mexico hv
uniph ovar che 1 rench in 186, mtst ur 11 I nuulcred a seeond independencc,'
Lafaye ( 1977, chapter 1I and hy David drading (1991, chapters 14 and 16). In che
e0t simply in lita rente that 91c.srr seas (real licor a torcign invades but, much
Andean world, Lavall ( 1993 1221 notes chal "Many Crtoles believed thac their
more fundamontally, botarse it represen tcd che tnumph of liberal republi anism
patria could be con,pared to tire Flysian 1 ields. wich che Brbles paradise. There was
ovar a classical re pubhcnnlan VA c orino ras then, that d Miguel Hidalgo is the
in chis for sume a mere lirerarv style - Fur othcrs. thcre could be no douht.
fuunder ol OUTJ natlonalrte Hl nio l maro e Es tito Inundar ni repubhean natronality.
to paradise it roes the earthly paradise ol che
whreh in nota as we knu w. rt ,ll Ihe srm duo 19('11 , 86:. Amcnca should not he ,, rnp,rred
Sc,,ptwcs(emphasis in che onglnal'..
i2 See, ter Florencia,Nlallon cls. ussiunnt' popular Lberalrsm ronineteenth -
19 Raphael Semmes, a soldier in ti re U e, army, described che reception thac was given
cenmry Mexleo and Peru (1995, 13w, and Gua dintis discussion o popular federal-
co US. troops by Mexico City's elites in che following tercos "The Calle de Plateros,
ism between independence and 1850 i 1996. 179-94)
through which we marched to the grand plaza, is che street in which all che principal
13 See Fleisher ( 1992) Clearly, early modero nat lona) tsm differed considerably in
shops are found, and although [hese were closed, che gay curtains chat fluttered froto
England, France, and tire Nethcrlands Stephen Pincus (1998) interprets the
che balconies aboye ... (almost every house had prepared and hung out a neutral
Glorious Revolution as che hrst nacionalist revolntion, rather [han as a religious war.
flag-English, French, Spanish, etc-as a means of protection), and che fashionably
Englands early separacion of natiunal asir' and rcligion reflects che fact chal it never
dressed women, who showed chemselves without the leas[ reserve at doorways and
hoped te achieve a universal monarchy. as Spain and che Otcomans did; thus, co a
windows gave one che idea rather o a grand nacional festival, [han o the entry o a
certain degree one could say that a religious nationalism is at che origins o che
conquering army finto an enemy capital" (cited in Luis Fernando Granados, "Suean
Spanish imperial state, whercas a revolutaonary, secular form nl nationalism elevel-
las piedras: alzamiento ocurrido en la ciudad de Mxico, 14, 15 y 16 de septiembre,
oped in England.
1847,") The "neutral flags" were meant co signal co LI.S. soldiers chal che families in
14 "It ought tu be well pondered hoy, wathont any doubt, God chose the valiant
question were alto foreign nacionals, usually by virtue o descent-
Corts as has instrumenc for opcning tito door and preparing che way le che
20 Charles V famously claimed thac whereas German was appropriate for speaking co
preachers o che gospel in tire New World, where che Catholic church might be re-
horses, and Italian was ideal for courting wornen, Spanish was for speaking co God-
scored and recompensed by che conversions ot many souls for che greac loss and
The term ladino alto provides a clue co che sacralization ti Spanish, because it
damages which che accursed Luther was lo cause at che same time within estab-
was used co refer co Jews, Moors, African slaves, or, laces, Indians, who spoke
lished Chritianiry . Thus it is not without mystery chal in che same year in which
(neo)Latin, that is, Spanish (Lavall 1993, 19). A discussion o che history o che
Luther was boro in Eisleben, in Saxonv, Hernando Corts saw che light o day in
citle'Rey Catlico" and o its significante for Spain in its competition wich France
Medelln, a village in Spain-the formar to upset thc world and bring beneath che
can be found in Pablo Fernndez Abadalejo, "Rey Catlico: gestacin y metamor-
banner of Sacan many o che fanhful who had buen for generations Catholies,
fosis de un ttulo." Jaime Contreras argues chal Spain's persecution o heresy under
che latter lo hring oto che bid o che church an infinita nember o people who had
che Reyes Catlicos can be understood as a poltica] appropriation o the church:
for ages been under che dominion uf Sacan in idolatry, vice, and sin" (Mendieta
"Concerns with'heresy,' which were initially o little consequence, became a funda-
1876, 3.174-75, my cranslatiun) .
mental butiress co roya' law' ("Los primeros aos de la inquisicin: guerra civil,
15 Laws distinguishing subjeca o tire Spanish crown Irom foreigners were equally
identification between Christianity
precise (e-g book 3, title 13, law 8)- monarqua , mesianismo y hereja," 703). On che
and Spanish civilization in che so-called spiritual conquest o Mexico, see Peggy K.
16 It should be noted, however that [hese pmcesses were by no means a simple con-
stan:, and that che politics o differentiacion between "Peninsulars" and "Creoles" re- Liss, Mexico tender Spain, 1521-1556 Society and the Origins of Nationality, chapter 5, es-

sponded to varying kinds o interesa irnclud1ng, for instante, interesas in prolong- pecially pp. 77-82.
21 Antonello Gerbi (1985 267-68) remarks chal Fernandez de Oviedo contrasted che
ing encomendero privilege aher che second generaron; interest in keeping Creoles out
grandeur o Spain wich thar of ancient Rome, noting thai Spanish Goths were
o certain religious orders or away l rom cerrarn political posts). These interesas
Christians and were martyred while resiscing Roman paganism. Thus, in che six-
waxed and waxed at various times and places, in such a way thac there were places
teenth century, Spains nacional identification with the Christianity was made co
and times when a "Creolc" was simply a Spaniard, oaher moments when "Crele'
was used pri nci pally as a discriminacury terco, and yet others when American-boro rank higher even [han Rome's
22 Anthony Pagden has shown chal talle of a universal nionarchy was never universally
Spaniards criad m affirm che equalhv, and oven tito superiora ty, o their land wich re-
accepted in Spain itself, and chal it war extinguished as an impracticable ideal by
spect to Spain, Rome, or odres Furopean locatimrs (see Lavall 1993).
che end o che seventeenth cenwry. However, he alto argues that Spain's ideological
17 The natura el American lands and ti therr intlucnce on che characcer o che

Notes t o C h a p t e r a
halesro Lhaprurr
291 =
290 =
 role as guardias o( universal Chnsrendom Formeci an importan[ part of rhe ideo
logical armacure of what has some Llanos in hong che hrst European nation state'
(Spanish Imperialism and the Political lmagnn,tion 5;
23 The Laos of be
Indios provide an i nteresong example of how Spain reconciled the si-
multaneous development between enipires though time with a Catholic universal -
ism Much of the legistature that was promoved by Philip IV (at a time o imperial
decay) shows punctilious conecto with public oration and repentence for public
sins, as mechanisms to reanimare ihe empire and, perhaps, also as potencial expla-
nations o its po1irical shortcomings For example, book 1, titie 1, law 23 (passed
originally in 1626) orders viceroys and church authoddes to celebrate o Novem-
ber 21 every year with a Mass to che Holy Sacrament, in which priests call on
everyone no reform rheir "vices and public si," in order ro thank God for his
clemeney in allowing Spanish ships to rcach che Indies unharmed.
24 More thorough and convincing iban Andersonc emphasis on che populari zation o
"emprytime through rhe newspaper and rhe novel is Moishe Posrones discussion of
the vise of "a bstract tose,' a hisrory, that is telated in par to the development of tech-
nology, in pare to the Newton ian sc ient itic revol cnon, and ul ti mately to the history
of contmodihcarion, and especially to rhe rice ot abstraer labor." At the most gener-
al leve], Postone suggests rhat che emergence ot rime as an "independent variable"
"was related co che commodity torna ni social relacion" (1996, 211). If we apply
these ideas to Spanish America, we eonclude ihat rhe consolidarnos of "abstraer
rime" has been a long process, thac has only beca unevenly achieved The process
began with devices such as administrativa relorms, was strengehened in various
waves o modernizing relorms with che rice of a bourgeois public sphere in the late
eighteenth century, and eventually w,th rhe conwltdacion of industrialtsm Spanish-
American independence oecurred somewhere ii. che middle of this process
25 Antonio Domnguez Ortiz i flumi naces chis siwatiom "The social thoughr o en-
1ightened Spaniards was flor radical It did not ]aim rhe total suppression of barri-
ers between the estafes, because riese wene cruntbling of rheir own accord bastead,
it seemed more urgen[ to struggle againsr economic differences chal condemned a
great portion o the population to misery This loes flor mean that pride in nobility
had disappeared but thcy no longer used nohiliry Cides as excuses ro refuse com-
mon charges, privileges could nnfy be justihed if rhey were employed for the good
of che naciun'' (Carlos 111 y la Espaa dr I llustraon, 120-21). Domnguez discusses
the significante o stace projects and knowledge producrion in chis period in chap-
ter 5 See alto Sranley Stein and Barhara Stein, "Concepts and Realities o Spanish
Economic Growth, 1759-1789."
26 The fact that a nazi onalism and a nar]ona1 prograna were
nor a conimon denomina-
tor even among Mexican insurgencs has been demonstrated by Edc Van Young,
who has shows rhe central,ry hoth of local indigenous revolts whose claims with
regar co state building were in fact the oppositc ol rhose of che crcole directorate
(1986 386, 412), and of an ti nidcological criminal ur brigand element whose par-
ticipacion was entircly opportunnoc 11989, 36-37) The role o opportunlstic
rogues and the criminal elenaent in indcpcodeoce is also pungently demonstrated
by Archer (1989). On rhe other hand Spanish American independenee was pro
dictable oven hefore indigenous social miwements gor srarred and hefore narionallsts
really heated up As early as 1786, Fhooas Jelfe noo's ,nain preoccupation regarding
No.,s Iv .ba
292 =
Spanish America was that it should nor fall out o Spanish hands too quickly. The
fact that Spain would eventually lose those territorios was, for Jeffersoo, a foregooe
conclusion The United States needed time to gain strength in order to annex as
many Spanish-American ten'irories as possible (cited in Fuentes Mares 1983,
34-35).
27 For a descripbon that Ilustrares sume similariries between [hese
ideas and those ex-
pressed in indigenous messianic revolts o chis period, seo Eric Van Young 1986,
402.
28 Silvia Arrom, "Popular Polis es in Mexico City The Parin Riot, 1828," is an illumi-
nating discussion of popular politics and anti - Spanish sentiment
in this period.
29 Masons appear to be present in Spanish America since the 1780s, though in the
Mexican case it appears that rhe deputies who were sent ro rhe Cortes o Cdiz in
1812 were critial in rho (onnation of Mexico's lodges of che Scottish rito
30 Joel Poinsett to Henry Clay, June 4, 1825- Dispatches from US. Miniscers to
Mexico National Archives, Washington, D.C.)-
31 The lodges had achieved such a status, that at che news of the death o the Duke of
York, Presiden[ Guadalupe Victoria, who was a yorquino, published an edict ordering
the presiden[, the vice presiden[, rhe members o rhe Supreme Court, state gover-
nors, district officers, and army ofhcials from the rank o colonel up to wear a black
hand of mourning (Primera secretara de Estado Departamento esterior Seccin 2,
May 19, 1827).
2. COMMUNITARIAN IDEOLOGIES AND NATIONALISM
This chapter has been translated from Spanish by Paul Liffman.
1 Max Weber, Economy and Society, vol. 1, 40, 41-43-
2 Annette Weiner, Inalienable Possessions; Marcel Mauss, The Gifiu Forros and Funrtions of
Exchange in Archaic Societies. -
3 Alfredo Lpez Austin (TI, Human Body and Ideology, Concepls
of rhe Ancient Nahuas, vol
1, 74, 79, and generally 68-83) summarizes the tensions between rhe communirari-
en ideology o the calpulli and che imperial ideology o rhe Aztecs.
4 Fray Bernardino de Sahagn, Coloquios y doctrina cristiana, 151
5 Lpez Austin, Tbe Human Rody arad Ideology,
vol. 1, 207 Lpez Austin also mentions
that "the han o prisoners taken in battle could also be kept as relics for che purpose
o giving Che captive's powers co Che captors" (221).
6 In chis connecrion, it is interesting to note the determination with which Spanish
missionaries combated polygamy. without polygamy, rhe possibility o construct-
ing supracommunitarian alliances in the indigenous
world was reduced. Perhaps it
was not accidental, chen, that che first play presented in New Spain was
an ejemplo
againsr che sin o higamy and any infringement o rhe seventh commandment. For a
discussion o the conrents of chis play, as well as o its production and impressive
Ceehnical effects, see Othn Arrniz. Teatro de la evangelizacin en Nueva Espaa, 23-30.
Ross Hassig (Aztec Warfare Imperial Expansion and Political Control) offers a number o
examples of the use o rearriage as a strategy o alliance among the Aztecs
Following Chis logic, Mocrezuma hiniself tried to marry one o his daughters to
Corts, but rhe latter declined che offer on account o the fact that "he was already
married" (244).
Notes t o C h a p t e r z
293 =
7 In Chis ,,ad thc Aztrc unpirc umtr-nts wM1h huth thc classic .hayan k,ngdoms,
sehere ssar seas can exiles v ac tisis el thc tmtouacy. and a-ith che luotihuaen
model se e alntmt thc s5) hule s.st i appeals u, bave hico meritoeratlc. Pora
coro Prehe nvcc trcatnAlt ol ssar in IP 1 lislsanic pceod. suc Ross Hassig.
,A lesos ni eu..w 11'vfar
6 However. O,nly nwdcm Spanish u s i roca ,ruin dillerute bus, curten[ notions.
Although za was related ti, heredite. che tiro- ,ti,,, had a negadvc slart, hecause
raza seas somcnmes understoud ne a s;vhle dilas t in physlcal appearanee that was a
mark Ilt spietual 111t enontr. Thus th terno siete 111 1 1 readily used co meter co leves,
Meo,, hlzcks u.Indians (1, TI o l nd C.Inn;i,rs sebo had ,.sla. On the other
hand had bluod cnuld he ir:,pci, d s,.mc s'ce by m favorable cnvironmcnt.
9 Sec. sor e,,antple. Edgar Lo ve on m.. lag,, hits: can blaeks and other Gastes Ti,
Mexico Coy: Marnage Patierne ol Pers<sns of (\rfican Descent in a Colonial
Mexico Ciry Parish," 79-91.
10 For examples of che latter, sea David .A Bradings discussion ol the ways in which
the Spanish merchanc bequcathed tl:er businesses tu theu daughters' [borran hus-
bands, while their creole sons besa,, can tdle aristocracy (Minera and Mercbants in
Bourbon Mexico , 1763 - 1 9 10) .
11 Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrn , La pobla,tm: negra de tVlxicu 1519-isnr, 157, 160-61; che
semi bozal is che same as che word lor hridle oc muzzle in Spanish and has the con-
notation of inexperience whcn app]ied to a horse or mole It also may be that che
term referred to the tact that Atrican speech sounded Itke gibbertsh (voz or hoz
referred to vosee, speech, shouting. ntouth, muzzle, etc.).
12 Ibtd., 157.
13 Ibtd_, 280-92. See also Coln Palmer, Slunes of tbe Wbita Gol. Blacks in Mexico, ts7o-a650-
14 Jaeques Lafaye Ouetzalceatl y Cuad,a6ipc la formacin de la conciencia nacional en Mxico,
and David A. Brading, Piral Amneric,s Ti, Spanish ,'sIonarcby, Creole Patdots and che Liberal
SIate, 1192-1867, chapter 16.
15 Jos Mara Luis Mora, Obras sueltas, vol. 1 152-53.
16 For a discussion o race issucs in Mexico, Almo Knight, " Racism , Revolution and
Indigenismo. Mexico, 1910-1940," in Tbe 11, of Race in Latn Amurica, 1870-1940, ed.
Richard Graham, 71-114.
17 Andrs Molina Enrquez, Los guindes problunas nacionales, 344
18 They were more Indican chao Spanish for several reasons, hrst, hecause che number
o Spaniards in colonial Mexico was ahvays smal lar [han che number of Indians; sec-
und, hecause che Spanish componen [ ot the mestizo roce was transmttced almost
exclusively by orales, whcreas che indigenous clamen[ was reproduced by both fe-
males and males ; and third, hecause 'mdigenous mees survived in large p erts o che
country that wh lte caces had heen inca pable ot t nhabi ring In th is latter argumenc,
Molina Enrquez formulares quite explicidy che idea that Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrn
developed ondee the ntle of "regions ot rchige bid i
19 "The mestizos will finally absorh the Indians and they wtll conrpletely tuse the
Creles and che loreigners residing hiere wirh thcir oven race_ As a consequence, che
mestzo race shall develop wirh liherty ( )nee this oso, nos only will ir: tesis[ che in-
evitable clash wirh the North American ras-e, hut tn chis elash, It wtll win" (ibid.,
352).
20 Ibid 343 my emphasis.
N o l e. 1'1
294 =
3. MODES OF MEXICAN CITIZENSHIP
1 Roberto DaMatta. Cnrio,ds. Rognes and Heroes, 137-97, and, lor a lato and more
elaborated version, A casa e u ruu Espi o, cidadania, rnulher e morse no Brasil.
2 The lame saytng exisrs to Me,,,,, aod has heen attributed to non, oth e2- [han
Benito Jurez Mexico's must tamous liberal Fernando Escalante (Ciudadanos imagi-
narios , 293) discusses what come ti) be known o Jurezs day as "La Ley del Caso.
shas is, che dtserettonaty application ol the law as che law
3 Thus che relationship hctween che government and die press is most often de-
scdhed as une ot "colluson." rathcr chao of simple represslon (though repression
has a)ways exisced,i A guod summary el che relationshmp hctween che press and che
government o provided m Raynumdo Rrva Palacio. "A Cultura of Collusion- The
Tics That Bind che Presa atol rhe PRI," 21-32
4 "Bando de Hidalgo, Decemher 10, 1810, in Leyes) undamnotales de Mxico, 1808-15)57,
ed. Felipe Tena Ramrez, 22-
5 These strictures are repeaced by Morelos in his Sentimientos de la nacin (18 1 3)
"Arride 9. AII [public) jobs shall only be obcained by Amedcans"
6 Rayn's constitution can be found in Tena Ramrez, Leyes fundamentales , 24-27.
7 Ibid, 127.
8 Fran4ois -Xavier Guerra, "The Spanish-American Tradition o Represencacion and
Its European Roots," 7.
9 Florencia Mallon, Peasant and Nation: The Making of Post-Colonial Mexico and Peru,
129-33.
10 Lorenzo de Zavala, 'Viaje a los Estados Unidos del Norte de Amrica, 1834," 156-
1 1 In Pantalen Tovar, Historia parlamentaria del cuarto congreso constitucional, vol. 1, 400-401.
12 Ibid., 306-8.
13 The discussion occurs on December 28, 1867 (ibid., 122 ). In a related discussion a
few days later, Depury Zarco justifies che war in Yucatn by explaining shas "From
che days o Maximilian, it is well known shas there were designs to creare - a viceroy-
alry in Yucatn, an asyluni for reactionaries . These traitors toil to separare that teni-
tory from the republic and to instare it as a principaliry so that they can sell the
Indians off as slaves" (bid., 137). Ironically, in order to comba[ [hese reactionaries
and che Maya rebels, Jurez and his liberals provisionally legalized corve labor
and/or slavery in che peninsula.
14 AII citations o discussions o the First Constimtional Congress are from che facsim-
ile edition cided Actas constitucionales mexicanas ( 1821-1824 ). Dates of discussions will
be cited rather [ han pagination , which is nos entirely sequential.
15 Lic. Jess Arellano, "Oracin cvica que en el aniversario del grito de independencia
se pronunci en el palacio de govierno de Durango el 16 de septiembre de 1841."
16 Ibid., 11. Curiously, che scorpion would later go tan co become emblematic o che
state o Durango.
17 Ibid., 6.
I8 Ibtd., 16.
19 Francisco Santoyo, "Opsculo patritico, que pronunci el ciudadano teniente
coronel graduado Francisco Santoyo, como miembro de la junta patritica de esta
ciudad [de Orizaba) el da 11 de septiembre de 1842."
20 Escalante, Ciudadanos imaginarios, 290
21 Andrs Resndez shows how, in che case of Texas and New Mexico, alnuistic appeals
Notes t o C h et p t e r 3
295
 to national identity and shared rcllgion seere die principal resouices used by
Mexico te, ti, to keep [hose terrhones in che lpublic ("Caught between Profi[s and
Ritual; Nacional Contestation in Texas and New Mexico, 1821-1848"
22 On February 7, 1868, Just a lea monchs arar che execurion o Maxlmillan vol,
Hapsbarg, che project for a lag tryi u, to ritially ensheine che 1357 constitution
was presented ro Congress Tire u tific,oon h,r this proposal is significan[ "it is un-
questionablc that Chis talisrnan i che consntution sil 18571 that Is so loved by the
.Mexican people, was the cause of che prodigi(ms valor that disti ngui shed us in che
bloody war that has just passed" in locar, H;;larva parlamentaria vol 1, 398).
23 Descriptions of Porfirian ;tate theater are plenniul. lar [he boulevards, see Barbara
Tcnen baum, ',treehvise History The I'aserc de la Reforma and the Porri an State
1876 1910," 127- 0 for che i ,r_, scc Paul 1 Vanderwood, Disorder and Progress
Rundir, Pole, and ilrxican Devalol
r,, lora general appreeianon o Porfirian state
rheatcr, see Mauricio Tennno-lrillo. Alexicc,d thr Worldb
Pairo Crafting a Modero
No dan.
24 Samuel Ramos, "El perfil del hombre y la culwia en Mxico," 131-35.
25 Sec, for example, Larissa Lomnlre. Netmork's m,d \larginalily:
Llfe in a Mexican Sbantytown,
Carlos Vlez-Ibez. Ritual, ol h1,, ryinn, ry. Potra s
Process, and Gdlure Change in Central
Urban Maxica, Ovan-4 1174; Antonio .Azuda, ed La urbanizacin
populary el orden jurdico
en Amrica La l inri.
26 For a fui description o [hese c-amira,gn nuca];, see Larissa Lomnitz, Claudio
Lommitz, and Ilya Acfler, "Punctions ol clic f-orm Power Play and Ritual in che 1988
Mexican Presidential Campaign, 357-402.
27 Teday ;his version is common w,,d,,m, but lar a succinct synthesis of chis per-
spective, see Lorenzo Mcyer, libero bsn,o entoril,iria. las carrtmdiccimres del sistema
poltico
mexicano
4. PASSION AND BANALITY IN MEXICAN HISTORY
1 Fran4ois-Xavier Guerra, Mxico del rmq,m rgimr..
n la revolucin
2 Jos Mara Luis Mora, Obras suelta, vol 2, 52-
3 Ibid, So -
4 Fernando Escalante, Ciudadanos imayir,arios . 97-109.
5 'Decreto de excomunin de los insurgentes dado por el obispo Abad y Queipo,
1810, in listoria documen tal de
Mexico, ed. Ernesto de la Torre Villar, Moiss Gonzlez
Navarro and S[anley Ross, vol 2 30 10
Ibid, 37
7 "Man hesm que cl seor
O. Nligucl Hidalgo y Costilla, Generalsimo de las armas
americanas , y electo por la mayor parte de los pueblos del reino para
defender sus
derechos y los de sus conde dada nos hace al pueblo (18l0)," in Torre Villar et al,
Historia doctimenlal de Mxico, vol. 2. 111- 1 3.
8 Ibid., 42.
9 Ibid 43, my cmphasis
10 Jos Mara .Morelos, 'Bando de Mordus suprimiendo las castas
y aboliendo la es-
clavitud, 17 de noviembre de 1817 162563.
11 Luis Cahrcra, "Los dos patdolism; x556.
12 See Angel Delgado Espaa y Alee a -l siglo
vol. 2 192, for che views of che
Spanish ambassador Angel Caldcrdn de la Barca ora [hese matcers- Ambassador
N^les i baplr, a
296 rs
Poinsett, che first US. diplomar in Mexico, arrived in che country saluting its in-
dependence and hailing che republic that was "founded on the sovereignty of che
people and en che inalienable righrs o man" (cited in ibid., vol. 1, 303), which it ar-
guably was not.
13 Francisco Bulnes, El verdadero Jurez la verdad sobre la intervencin
y elimperio, 8 19.
14 This occurred to Father Mariano Balleza, a kinsman o Hidalgo; see Alejandro
Villaseor y Villaseor, Biografas de los hroes y caudillos de la independencia, vol 1, 58-
15 Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna, The Eagle: An Autobiograpby of
Santa Anna, 68-69.
16 Villaseor y Villaseor, Biografas de los hroes, vol. 2, 267-68.
17 Friedrich Katz, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa, 789
18 Thus, aceording to Molina Enrquez (1978, 425), "che notion o patriotism will be
determined and reduced [o the following simple terms, al] will be like brothers in a
family, free [o carry out their own actions, but united by [he fraterni[y o a common
ideal, and obligated by virtue of that fraternity, on che one hand, co distribute their
common inheritance equally, and, on che other, to [olerate each othet's differences
19 Bulnes, El verdadero Jurez, 856-57.
20 Jurez's lndianness was not trumpeted by Jurez himsclf, who only wrote o chis
matter in a letter dedicated to his children; however, Jurez was identified by others
as [odian. 1 am grateful to Paul Ross for pointing this out to me.
21 Agustn Snchez Gonzlez, Los mejores chistes sobre presidentes, 64
22 Edmundo O'Gorman, Escalante notes that che pervasive belief in Jurez as a law-
abiding presiden[ can be traced back to che porfiriato, and forward to historiaras such
as Daniel Coso Villegas and Enrique Krauze. He then demonstrates that che repre-
sentation o Jurez and o che restored republic as an era governed by the law and
the ideals o liberal ci[izenship is a false representation (Ciudadanos
imaginarios, 233;
254259-86) .
23 O'Gorman, Mxico, el trauma de su historia, 33.
24 See Mayer-Celis 1995. For a superficial overview o che history o Mexican censures,
see Claudio Lomnitz, Modernidad indiana: nacin y
mediacin en Mxico, chapter 5.
5. FISSURES IN CONTEMPORARY MEXICAN NATIONALISM
1 Carlos Fuentes, Where tie Air ls Clear, 21
2 For an analysis of che work o Carlos Mara Bustamante, see David A. Brading, Los
orgenes del nacionalismo mexicano,
for a synthesis o che nature of postrevolutionary
state intervention in shaping a modero citizenry, see Alan Knight, "Popular Culture
and che Revolu[ionary State in Mexico," 395-444, and for the specific case o
Michoacn, see Christopher Boyer, "The Cultural Politics o Agrarismo:
Agrarian
Revolt, Village Revolu[ionaries, and State-Formation in Michoacn, Mexico."
3 Studies o che historical relationships between in[elleetuals, po[ical ritual, and che
public sphere in Mexico are the focus o chapters 7, 9, and 10.
4 Claudio Lomnitz, Exits from the Lahyrinth_ Culture
and Ideology in Mexican National Space,
chapter I.
5 During the 1980s, Mexieo's intelligen[sia experienced two contradictory tenden-
cies: growth in the number o institucional contexts for intellectual production, on
[he one hand ("decentralization"), and, en [he other, a concenrration o cultural
power in tuco allegedly stellar and mutually antagonistic "intellectual groups," rep-
resented by che journals Vuelta and Nexos During the Salinas years (1988-94), both
Nates to Chaptee s
297

grtxtps hall Glose relatiuns ss-nh -hc p,crrnnunt. hut Nusos's people received more
concess,ons Irom thc tate. reh,le reieieed more h,s lulevisa.
6 Interestingly tisis imago -cs,tnater ti) che uan,lurmatians that Roger Rouse de-
serihes for U.s . wcict, in tim 1u1111 ,,LVU ol r:i b; ,a no. w hereby the U S. alas,
structure s1 ' l1t111 aseae t -u m, a i' 1 1T 1 L,- 1 11 1 c anJ tuseard a dise ributlon that he
ikens to thc chape ol a rnck,t. The,mu lata, es ame not mere eomeidence, teleeting
Instead a tundamental shifr in che c. t,s stn uure ot both countries as well as
changas in thc wavs tate, i in ma1'e ul citizensh,p One signtfieantcon -
trasc ber reen che teso cases . hoyes cris thar in che United States the dominan[
ima.lr ul tire class and poseer stntsturc has 11(11 liceo that of cho pyram,d. The alas,
struccuru in che United States ,s ,,, dly poctrayed isumewhat appropriately) as
diamond -sIbap,d, with a hroad mmddle and narro,, points at che top and che bottom
Thus, whereas in che United States tiro cuncnt tos nslonnation of che iass structure
is decried in mainstream newspapers as rellecting both " corporate greed" and che
"formation of an underclass " (that ir. che tramlonnatnon of a diamond into a pyra-
miel), in Mexico che dorninant imagos are simply of pillage , of taking the jewels
from che temple on top of che pyramid and depositing them in Switzerland. See
Roger Rouse , "Thinking through Transnationalism . Notes en che Cultural Politics
of Class Relations in che Contemporary United States , 353-403.
7 1 have developed chis point in connection ter che varying implications o multi-
culturalism in Mexico versus che United States and Europe in " Decadente in Times
o Globalizatioo ," 257-67.
6. NATIONALISM ' S DIRTY LINEN
1 This interest in che international networks of national identiry production has pro-
duced an exciting corpus of works en che hlstory of mapping , of censuses , o stan-
dardization of sc,entific measurements , of world expositions , o nationalist srrate-
gies in a number of literary forms and gentes , en architecture , en urbanism, and on
che history of transnational scienrihc and artistic networks Perhaps che finest
methodological exemplar of [ his ine of rescarch is Daniel Rogers , Atlantic Crossings:
Social Politics in a Progressive Age, hu Chis tradition has also produced a number o
more general and theoredcally inclinad works , such as Arjun Appadurai , Modeniity
at Larga Cultural Dimensions of Globalation , Homi K . Bhabha , " DissemiNation: Time,
Narracive , and che Margins ol che Modero Nation ," 291-322 , Nstor Garca
Canclini, Hybrid Cultures= Sirategirs for Entering and Leaving Modernity, Gyan Prakash,
Another Reason, Science and tbe Imagrsacron of Modero India, Doris Sommers , Foundational
Fictions , Tbe Nacional Romances of Lain Anrerica , and Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism,
to name a few prominent examples
2 In che recen [ anglophone literatura Edward Said ' s Culture and Imperialism is a wide-
ranging exploration of che ways in whlch che colonial world was both critically im-
portant to che developmenr of "Western civilizatior ' and systematically diminished
or denied by it. The peor nations ' reaction te these practices is oudined by
Katherine Verdery ( 1991), who explores what sise calls "protochronism" among
Romanian nationalist intellectuals , whicii es a tendency co assert that key inventions
of civilization were i nvented ches r country r i both of [hese aspects o nationalism
have long been recognized hy waters and poliucians in che colonial and postcolonial
world- As early as che seventeenth ccnu,ry 1 ndigenous Intel leetuals such as Guaman
( -L,tL lar ,;
298 = i
Poma and Fernando de Alea Istlilxochitl argued for a kind of "protoehronist' with
regard to Christiani ry. ciar ti ng that che Ir ancestors recognized the trae God before
che arriva1 of che Spaniards Th,s tactic underlles much of Latin Americas Ind,genista
thinking unce at leas[ che nmctc-euth century, and was given playfully ironic treat-
ment in earIe 19005 by thc 13,asdian writem 1 sosa Barreo) through che cragieomie na-
tionalist hero Policarp,o k Jaresnta
3 Benedict Anderson, lmagrned Cmnmunrties, 5
4 For example, Roger Bartras most recent book (La sangre y lo Lista Ensayos sobre la condi-
cin postmexicanaj is a colleeIr00 ol essays en "che post-Mexican condition"
s Dipesh Chakrabarry ( 1992' has argued for che peed co "provi nci alize" Europe in che
realm el rheory and history h his rail to arras succeeds rimen perhaps the sor[ ot
"grounded theory" that 1 espouse herc will in somc respeecs he more universal and
social thought may go through a pisase risa[ is parallel te cho one that religion was
raid to have had in antiquity: "Thc various modes of worship, which prevailed in
che Roman world, were a11 considered by che people, as equally tete , by che phi-
losopher, as equally false ; and by che magistrate , as equally useful " (Edward Gibbon,
Tbe History o the Decline and Fall of che Roman Empine, 35)-
6 European travelers te Mexico usually collected pre -Columbian objects. Contem-
porary producs that attracted their attention were generally seco as curious exem-
plars o crafts that were distinctly European in origin , made quaint because of their
indigenous twist. Thus, in che 1 850s, a Mexican spur was sent to Britain by Henry
Christy and Edward B. Tylor where , because of in, extravagance and size, ir was ex-
hibited in the medieval section of che museum . See Edward B. Tylor, Anabuac, or
Meneo and tbe Mexicans , Ancient and Modern, 295-96.
7 In an earlier work ( 1992a ), 1 developed sume elements o [his cultural geography,
aboye al] [hose having to do with che construction o cultural regions within a na-
tional space . To that end, 1 proposed a series o concepts ncluding "intimare cul-
tures" ( cultural zones forged by social classes in specific interactive contexts) and
"culture o social relations" ( culture generated in the framework o interactions be-
tween different social clases and identiry groups within che national space). The
topography o zones of contact , which 1 did not develop in Exits from che Labyrinth, is
an important part of the task of producing a geography of national identiry . This is
because national space is ie itself an aspect o an international system, so trames o
contact with the foreign have to be understood as a feature o production o national
culture and identiry and not as an element external co nationaliry.
8 For che case o che censorship commissions , see Anne Rubenstein, Bad Language,
Naked Ladies, and Other Threats to che Nation: A Political History of Comic Baoka in Mexico,
chapter 4. For anti - Semitisen in che movements against itinerant salesmen during
the Great Depression , see Gary Gordon , Peddlers, Pesos and Power , The Political Economy
of Street Vending in Mexico City, 47, and Moiss Gonzlez Navarro, Los extranjeros en
Mxico y los mexicanos en el extrae aro, 1821-1970 , vol. 2, 133-34. For the case o che
Chinese, see Juan Puig , Entre el ro Perla y el Nazas, la China decimonnica y sus braceros emi-
grantes, la colonia china de Teorren y la matanza de sea 1, 173-228; for the sacking o che
Parin Market , see Romeo Flores Caballero, Counterrevolution: The Role of tbe Spaniards
in che Independence of Mexico, 1804-3E, 119-21.
9 For che case of dmgs in che 1 930s, see Luis Astorga, "Trahcanres de drogas , polticos
y policas en el siglo veinte mexicano" The Daz Ordaz regime 's hostility to the
Notes to Cbapter e
= 299 =
 disorder o Mexican pop tinture is succinctly addressed in Carlos Monsivis,
Mexican Post-Cardo, 23-27 For a more detailed and wide- ranging discussion , see Eric
Zulov, Refried Elvls: Tbe Rise o che Mexican Cmmterculture The discussion
of Beavis and
Buttbead appeared io the nacional press in 1993
10 This is also the argument that unos rhrougb inc
iHobsbawm and Terence Ranger,
eds., The lnvention of Tradition- Any Herderian view of nationality
involves a dialectic
between rradirion and moderniry .
11 Liberals honored Hidalgo and celebratcd indcpendence on Seprember 15; conser-
vatives honored Iturbide and celebiaccd indcpendence on Seprember 27. A detailed
catalog o ideas represenri ng both sities of ibis rift can be found in La
dominacin
espaola en Mxico.
12 This relar,onship between tradition and moderniry is not exclusively Mexican. In
nineteenth-century England, Matthew Arnold argued that the British national spirit
was composed o three elemento rhe Saxon, which lent it 'rs seriousness and tenaciry;
the Roman, which lent it as energy; and rhe Celric, which lent ir lis spirit and senti
mena, "[The English genios] is characierized, 1 Nave repearedly
said, byenergywitbbon-
esty Take away some of che energy which comes te us, 1 believe, in
pan from Celtic
and Roman sources, instead o energy soy rather steadiness. and you have the Gennanic
genius steadinrss witb bonesty . - che danger tor a national
spirit thus composed is the
hunidrum, the plain and ugly, che innoble in a word, das Gemeine, die gemeinbeit, that
curse of Germany, against which Goethe was all bis lile fighting" (Marrhew Arnold,
"On che Study of Celtic Ltterarurc," 341)- In this some essay, Arnoldargues for che full
assimilarion of rhe (_eltic peoples oto British society and for rhe
annihilation o
Celric as a living language . The assimilarion o (hese defeared
peoples roto the na-
tional genius is rhus an identical move co che orle made by
Mexican indigenistas.
13 Zolov, Refried Elvis, 145.
14 Examples o how government indigenistas sought to reconfigure Chis relationship can
be found in Alexander Dawson, Indigotismo and the Paradox of che Nation in Post-
Revolurionary Mexico."
15 "And it was quite singular that (hose Americans who so guarded the privilege o
their whire cante, when it carne to Mexico always symparhized with the Indians,
and never with rhe Spantards' (Jos Vasconcelos, Ulises criollo, 34).
16 Arjun Appadurat, "The Culture of rhe Srate," lecture notes, University o Chicago,
1997
17 Arturo Eseobads Encounteriug Developmunl Tbe Muking and Unmaking of che Third World, is
a critique o development as tt has breo organized since World War II. The role of
development discourse (not only at rhe genera I ideological leve], bur, more impor-
tandy, asa set o categories and tneasurements) is central ro Chis story
18 Erving Goffman, The Presenlation o Self in Everyduy Life, 106-34-
19 "We don't think iris necessary to unde,In e che disastrous impression that che arriv-
ng rourist wtll form upon seeing che spectacle of immoraltry thar the brothels, in
upen air and established in an importan[ city arrery an obligatory path, offer" (cired
in Kathcrinc Bliss, "Prostitu ion. Revolu(ion and Social Reform in Mexico Gry,
1918-1940"196)-
20 Alexandra Srern, "Eugenlcs beyond Bordees- Science and Medicalizarion in Mexico
and che U.S. West, 1900-1950," and'Buildings, Boundaries, and Blood. Medicaliza-
rion and Nation-Building on che U5 -Mexico Bordee, 1910-1930," 41-81-
Note S t o C 1, a p t e r 6
= 300 =
21 Pratt coros che term contad zona "to refer no the space of colonial encounters, the
space in which peoples geographically and historically separated come roto contact
with each other and establish ongoing relations, usually involving conditions o
coercion, radical inequality, and intractable conflict ...'contact zone' in my discus-
sion is often synonymous with 'colonial frontier- (Mary Louise Pratt, Imperial Eyes:
Travel Writing and Transculturation, 6). My own usage leaves the question o domina-
tion and o che nature o inequalities in transnacional contact zones open, because
the relationships o contact are o multiple sorts.
22 The case o architectural modernism's decrepitude in Brazil has been analyzed by
Beatriz Jaguaribe, "Modernist Ruin;." The challenges that Braslia's poor suburbs
pose for che nationalist utopia that the city was meant to embody are treated in
James Holston, "Alternativa Modernities: Statecraft and Religious Imagination in
che Val ley o che Dawn"
7. RITUAL, RUMOR, AND CORRUPTION IN THE FORMATION
OF MEXICAN POLITIES
1 The role o ritual in che consnuction of a national poliry is a venerable
line o in-
quiry, with Eric Wolf,'The Virgin o Guadalupe A Mexican National Symbol," and
Victor Turner, Dramas, Fields and Metaphars the most prominent founding ancestors.
The role o ritual in the consolidation of local communities has received much
more attention , notably in arguments over Wolf's typology of
peasant communi-
ties, as well as in debates ovar che "cargo system" (
for example , Frank Cancian,
Economics and Preshge in a Maya Community, Tbe Decline
of Community in Zinacanen; and
Waldemar Smith, The Fiesta System and Economic Change
and in studies on che connec-
tions berween ritual and local politics (for example, Guillermo de
la Pea, Herederos
de promesas , and Claudio Lomnitz, Evolucin de una sociedad
rural . Interest in political
ritual has also emerged in ethnographies o various dimensions o Mexican urban
lile (for example , Carlos Vlez-Ibafiez, Rituals of
Marginality Politics, Proceso, and
Cultural Change in Central Urban Mexico, 1969-1974; Larissa Lomnitz and
Marisol Prez
Lizaur, A Mexican Elite Family) and in che anthropology o social movements
(for ex-
ample , Jorge Alonso, Los movimientos sociales en el Valle de
Mxico, and Carlos Monsivis,
Entrada libre. Finally, there is also work en politics as spectacle and on che role o
myth and ritual in bureaucracy (Alberto Ruy Snchez, Mitalogia de un cine en crisis,
Larissa Lomnitz, Claudio Lomnitz, and ya Adler, "Functions of che Forro: Power
Play and Ritual in the 1988 Mexican Presidencial Campaign") In che past decade or
so, interest in these fields has also gatned prominente
among historians , who have
attended similar themes in various periodo and regions. See, for example, Juan
Pedro Viqueira Albn, Relajados o reprimidos Diversiones pblicas y vida social en la Ciudad
de Mxico durante el Siglo de las Luces; William Beezley
, Cheryl Martin, and William
French, eds., Rituals of Rule. Rituals of Resistance: Public Celebrations and Popular Cultura in
Mexico; Serge Gruzinski, La Guerre
des imanes De Chriseophe Colomb a ' Blade Runner', and
Gilbert Joseph and Daniel Nugent, eds., Everyday Fanos of
State Formation. These tules
are only a sample o che literature
2 Fran4ois-Xavier Guerra, Mxico del antiguo rgimen a la
revolucin, 2 vols
3 Viqueira Albn's, Relajados o reprimidos
is a description and discussion o che trans-
formations o collective participation in public ritual during the eighteenth century.
4 For example, che legislation promoted by Charles III devoted a chapter to che
Notes to Cha p ter 7
301 =
 with a pedantic exhibition o classical and scholast,c Icarning. Obscurity was a
reguladora ul sisee and IrerH bisele .rlr.;.hm Javier Malagn Barecl, C digo negro
virtue and a vacuous jumbling o1 allusions a merit With che copie ni no way dis-
cerolr '. chaptcr I0. 188-R`r
putable, exaggerated panegvrics and bombas[ were thc marks o esthetic excel-
5 Lunvrnz and Prez l iza; . ^^ 53..... 1 17-91 describe huso Imnily ritual
is a Inrum lur intraiamll.al c .mnnon c a euro _td dcus.un rr.ak.ing n che twen[ieth
lence' (Baroque Times m 1 3d Mexico 1371.
15 Gmzinski. La Guerrr des imagen. 169-71, 175
cuinu.rv
16 Sec Guerra, Mxico dei anl.guo regonen a la reooluan, vol 1 18201 loe Che forfnato
This is whv 1-anssa Lomm.u. sah.. h s su .1, el Alexicao ramilles ot various social
See also the significante ot lila service lo democracy in che PRI's 1988 presidencial
strata nvsts on ti,, significa nce ,.I .. rural" ocs .n that social organ,zational lona
campaign, in Lomnitz, Lomnitz, and Adler, "Functions o che Form." Fernando
"I-as re laceres horr-onmles r've n. c.'o cn li estn.ctnra social urbana de Mxico{
Escalante dcals squarely watn chis inste in Ciudadanos inmginarios.
7 The bes[ historical treann^ et u' thn quawon s Steve Sretn, Tire Seoel H;story oJ
iAIn:. ar 1 } , t, n...,, `ale o. Ruroncia Nlallon (Peasanl and 17 Most prom'mently in Friedrich, Pm;ces of Naranja, and in Fernando Escalante, El ponerpilo
Go.der Ll r
18 Mary Kay Vaughn, "The Construction o che Patriotic Festival in Teeamaehaleo.
Nmiorr 'Or n 1Al,.kn.g o( i'o 1 t -t , . 1 i'nrn -t %6; explores che polit.es ofgen-
Puebla. 1900-1946," 213-46.
der in relation tu citizrnsha and p..t.cal mohilizaiion in nineteenth-century
19 Vaughn mentions that [hese processes of negociaron between teachers and local
agravian conrmunities-
communities also led teachers lo avoid imposing che most anticlerical educational
8 Paul Friedrich malees the porot that women are able to publicly articulare opinions
themes of che "socialist educatiod' o che 1930s . At che nacional leve) "socialist cdu-
chas would gel their men killed (Primer of Namr.ja) This argument would seem to be
cation" was in no small par a crusade lo finish off che key role o the church as cul-
borne out by the historical work on rebellion in Mexico. In the most comprehen-
tural integrator; some aspects o chis initiative found local support and civic festi-
sive study o colonial rebellions no date, Williana Taylor notes that "[t]he place o
vals thrived along with a transformation in popular culture (che introduction o
women [in village rebellions) is especially striking" (Drinking, Homicide and Rebellion in
sports). However, chis same success also gave local constituencies che strength co
Colonial Mexican Villages, 1 16) Alrhough Taylor speculates rhat chis may be owing m
che absence o men from the villages during agricultura) seasens, Paul Friedrieh's ex- avoid the most draconian antireligious measures taken by che government.
20 llya Adler's discussion o che uses o che press in Mexicos bureaucracy is significant
planation would sccm to account lee thcir behavior more fully, because "[1]n at least
in chis respect. He describes how bureaucrats conscancly present information that
ore fourth of che cases examined, women lcd the attacks and were visibly more ag-
they have read from che newspapers either as their own personal interpretation
gressive, insulting and rebellions m thcir behavior toward outside authorines [[han
or as coming from a personal source. The backstage has greater claim lo truth than
men]" (bid )-
offfcial, public renderings in Mexico. See Ilya Adler, "Media Uses and Effects in a
9 Ricardo Pozas Horcas itas, La draotrasia en blancor el movimiento mdico en Mxico,
Largo Bureaucracy- A Case Study in Mexico"
9964-19(5.
21 Nuestro Pas is che first journal devoted te public opinion in Mexico, and polis only
lo Manuel Castells, The City aud tbe Gmre;oots.
began finding their way into newspapers since che 1988 presidencial campaign. For
1 I Stephen Greenblatt argues that che discoursc of che marvelous was used co avoid
accounts o che rase o poliing in Mexico, see Federico Reyes Heroles, Sondeara
transcultural communication in the contad period (Manrelous Possessions, 135-36).
Gruzinski (La Guerre des imagen, 169-71) argucs that attempcs te foster true dialogue Mxico, and Roder,c Ai Camp, ed., Polling for Democracy. Public Opinion and Political
between priescs and Indians were more ar less abandoned in Mexico around 1570. 1 Liberalization in Mexico.
have argued chal ambivalente toward conununication between urban elites and 22 A fui) study o chis phenomenon would have to focus on che press and its manage-
ment of public manifestations, a work that is yet to be done. However, examples
popular classes lies at che hcart ol thc hisrory o Mexican anthropology (Claudio
and illustrations are easily available lo any reader of che Mexican press. Crucial in-
Lomnitz, Modernidad indiana, ehapter 4)-
stances of [hese processes have occurred in che aftermath of che 1985 earchquake
12 Julie Greer Johnson, The fjoak in Ore Ame ricas. 15
13 See, for example, John Elliott , "Spain and Amcrica in che Sixceenth and Seventeenth (what was "che meaning " of the popular and che governmental reactions to che dis-
aster?), during che Consejo Estudiantil Universitario (CEU) student movement,
Centurles," 303. The tradition o pragmatic aceommodations that coexist with a dis-
cursive orthodoxy has been promi nene since thac early period, and its force could be during che 1988 eleccions, alter che imprisonment o oil workers' union leader "La
Quina," after che assassinations o Cardinal Posada, Luis Donaldo Colosio, and Jos
witncssed in the censorship that was meted out to Fray Bernardino de Sahagn's
Francisco Ruiz Massieu, during che Zapatista rebellion, and alter che devaluation of
ethnographic smdies of sixteenrh-century native society en the grounds that m
name that sociery was m preserve ir- Instead uf favoring dialogue, comprehension, che peso in 1995. Al] [hese events (and an infinite number o smaller unes ) are rhe

and conversion through racional convictions, Testeras attitude toward conversion,
which emphasized ritual compliance r ecr nuellectual conviction, triumphed.
14 So, in descr,l ing che contents ol a poetry contest during the era known as "the long
siesta o che ses,enteer th centuq',' Irving I.eonard states that '[c]he aun [o che con-
testi was adulation and glorificaron oI che subject matter and it was bes[ achieved
by ingenious conceits, by hold jugghng ot phrases and excessive artfice, together
foci of poiitical contention through che interpretation o their "true" nature and
meaning. An ethnographic description o che dynamics o political interpretation
during Mexican campaigns can be found in Claudio Lomnitz, "Usage potique de
Fambigit: Le cas mexicain"
23 Guillermo de la Pea, A Legary of Promises, Agricullure, Politics and Ritual in che Morelos
Highlands, 58,

NoIrsto Chapter7
N o I e+ 1 c ( b .. p i e

302 303 =
24 Caneran, The Decline of Cornrsun ty in Zinaratttn, 151-70.
wood-carrying peasant who appeared in che mountains and warned his countrymen
25 The Mixe of Oaxaca discriminare becwecn good and evil merchants, whose money
against a road , a fas[ train , a cable car , and a golf course,
is, respectively good and ovil depending on whether they organize a series o pre-
5 Joaqun Gallo, Tepoztln personajes, descripciones y sucedidos, 15r translation and adapta-
seribed esto al s and on whether or flor thcy are veto che needs of community
ron are mine.
members . Set James B Greenberg. Capital,
Ritual and Boundaries o che Closed
6 Silvio Zavala, ed., El servicio personal de los indios en la Nueva Espaa, vol. 1, 294-97.
Corporate Communiry."
7 Ross Hassig, Aztec Warfere. Imperial Expansion and Political Control, 249.
8 Gallo, Tepoztln, 163.
8 C E N T E R , PERJPHERY A N D THE CON N E C T ION5 BETW EEN
9 "The indgenas of Tepozdn present themselves before Maxirnilian and Carlota to
NATIONALISM AND LOCAL DISCOURSES OF DISTINCTION
offer personally their complete support , and simultaneously thank them for allow -
1 Lotus Dumont. Essays en Indrvrdualisrrc: Modem Idaoiogy in Asithropological Perspecesve,
279 rng'some poor indgenas' to be worthy o seeing their faces " ( in Peridico Oficial del
2 The main an thropological works un Tepozrhn are Robert Redheld, Tepoztln A
Imperio Mexicano , 28 de junio de 1864, reprinted in Teresa Rojas Rabiela, El indio en la
Mexican Village. Oscar Lewis L fe in a Licyean VilLigr and Pedro Martnez, and Claudio
prensa nacional del siglo diecinueve, vol. 1, 22).
Lomnrtz , Evolucin de una sociedad rural ,
but [hect a number of shorter pieces san che 10 La Jornada, October 1, 1995-
place, niel.mng Pedro Carrasco, 'The Family Strucmre of XVlth Century Tepozdn,"
11 Ismael Daz Cadena , trans ., Libro de tributos del Marquesado del Valle ( 1540). These con-
and Phillip K Boek, "Tepozdn Remn,idered Mara Rosas, Tepoztln, crnica de de-
sus materias have been analyzed by Pedro Carrasco in "The Family Structure o
sacatos y resistencia is a journalistie aeeount ot re, ene politieal eonflict in the village.
XVlth Century Tepozdn " and "Estratificacin social indgena en Morelos durante
3 Por discussro ns of che h istory of the re lar iomhip benveen lowlands and highlands
el siglo XVI"
in Morelos, see Arturo Warman, "We (bine ta Ubjecl" Tbe Peasano
of Morelos and the 12 Peter Gerhard discusses che chape o tire pre -Columbran kingdoms in present-day
Nacional Si,,, 33-41, and Guillermo de la Pea, 4 Legrey
of Promises.. Agricultura Politics Morelos in "A Method for Reeonstruccing Precolumbran Poltica) Boundaries
and Ritual in tbrLlorelos Htghlands, 20--37.
in Central Mxico." Lewis (Lfe in a Mexican Village, 21) shows the cites o pre-
4 It rs difficult co discern what che hutoncal bases of che Tepoztcatl myth may Nave
Columbian habitation in Tepoztln in contras [ with modern- day settlement pat-
heen Local and regional inrell ectua ls, such as Pedro'. Pho. ) Rojas, El Tepoztcatl legen-
rerns - Before che Conquesr, and in al probability
dario , and Juan Dubernard, Apuntes para at che time o chis census,
la bistona de 7poztln, unequivoeally identify
Tepoztecans lived in a number o scattered settlements at che feet o che Sierra de
El Tepozccad as che reigning tlatoani (i ndigenous ruler ) o che time o Spanish
Tepoztln and were not concentrated in a village . This is consonant with James
Conquesr and as che first Tepoztecan co take baptismal rices - Others , including
Loekhart's diseussion o che altepeel (The Nabuas alter che Conquesr,
Redficld and Lewis have assumed chal El Tepozccad was a mychical , and not a his- 15-20)-
13 See Fray Agustn Dvila Padilla, Historia de la fundacin y discurso
torical figure The interpretation is, in any case difficult. de la provincia de
Santiago de Mxico.
Several early sources refer to lepuzcdead Fray Juan de Torquemada names him
14 Serge Gruzinski provides an accnunt o che ways in which secularization was
as one ot che lords cha[ Moccezmna dispatched to che Golf Coast with gifcs for
understood and resisted in che Altos de Morelos in Man-Codo in the Mexican Highlands,
Corts (Monarqua indiana , vol 2, 59, Fray Diego Durn
(Historia de las Indias de Nueva India,, Pomer and Colonial Society, 1 520-f 800, 105-72 .
Espaa e islas de la Tierra Firrne , vol. 2 292)
mentiuns Tepuzread as one o the gods
15 See Robert Haskett, Indtgenous Rulers: An Ethnohistory of Town Government rn Colonial
rhar priests rmpersonated, along wi th Quetzalcoatl Huiczilopochdi, Tlaloc, and
Cuernavaca , 153-60 for che colonial history o chis family.
others These god-priescs were charged with the sacrifice o numerous victms. In
16 In fact, in Five Frenlies , Oscar Lewis contrasts che mediation
the instante named by Durn , saenfices were imnated by King Axayacatl o local eommuniry cuh
( reigned cure en Tepoztecan family life with the unmediated effects o capitalism on che
1468-81 ), who, after having had his lill of slaughceri ng, passed che knife over to
Mexico City poor. Lewis felt chat che "culture o poverty" was an urban phenome-
General Tlacaelel, who in turra was succeeded in chis honor by che various god-
priests . Fray Berardino de Sahagdn mentions Tepuztcad as one of che men in- non flor because material conditions in che city were worse [han in Tepoztln-
they were not-bui rather because che urban experience of poverty was not medi-
volved in che discovery o pulque alter the Mexica departed from Temoanchan in
aced by a tradicional collectivity-
their pilgrimage co Mxico -Tenoch cidn IFlorentine (e,ex, book 10, 193).
17 Fiar a more detailed diseussion o chis strategy and its deployment in modern
It is possible , cherefore , chal Tepuzrecatl
seas simultaneously che name oa god
Tepoztecan history, see Lomnitz, Evolucin de una sociedad rural, 292-307.
and che tide taken by che datoani - priest ot Tepozdn who was charged with che tare
18 Although 1 have not had the opportunity o verifying chis in Tepoztln , 1 believe
o che temple to che pulque god Ome Tochtli- It is also possible that a single tlatoani
appropriated chis narre , under the rnodel o che high priest Ce Acad Quetzalcoatl that these ideas regarding peasant production are easily transferred to some o the
other activities that Tepoztecans now engage in, particularly artisanal work (ma-
Finally, Tepoztcatl may have referred generically to nobles from Tepoztln- In any
case , Tepozccad appears in several historia mylhical sonry, self-employed mechanics, bakers, etc.) and petty commerce . Greenberg
periods, beginning with che (1994) provides an example o chis kind o transference
migration froni Azdn , to a god of che Azcec pantheon under King Axayacatl, to a in his discussion o dis-
tinctions berween "clean " and "dirty" money that are drawn
lord who met Corts , among Oaxacan Mixe
ro numerous modo rm day ap pan cions in che figure o an od, merchants . His material suggests che capacity
o chis peasant ideology co expand

NaIrs lo ('uaptrr e
Notes t o C h a p t e r e
304 =
305 =
 beyond agneulture and rolo utb,, h :., ot work II ssentially , a merchants money is
citan" :t he ur shc redist,dnues prohn Into shc local mntmunicy and ti prices and
loans to con: munity ntembcr, are lose.
19 for an expllc ation oi track nona ] ]ti( 1 un hc.dth 1:1 ibis regios, see John Ingham,
"On .Mrxuan Folk Medicine Mn t cl liusap s svell-knuwn tudy o capitalism In
Colombia : T. U'oiI end (: omn:odif y Frl n i Soutj. 1 rica, develops an analysis with
many parallels co thls Tepozteean idenlogy
20 Lewis Lifi Hexicrm Vi11 a9t 231
21 Lewis, Pedro AOarl(:ez, 119-20
22 Por more Inlnrmation un ibis penco,,. s^ o Lunv.nz Eoohuin de una sociedad rural.
157-74, and Lewa. I.i)e rl:.1 :31,x:..m i.h. 235 -40.
23 Lewis, L:fe:n a Mexinu: ViLLigr, 26. 1 19-23.
24 See , lar instante , post of the arneLes signed hy Alexis" in El Tepozteco during che
19205, in AHT Alexis was che pscudunym of tuther Pedro Rojas.
25 In a revcaling admonicion , the sane wrirer calls on municipal authorities to consult
with che litemte municipal secretary . " If our ignorante blocks the good intentions
chal inspire us, if our unfamil iarity with rulcs and such interferes with our aims, let us
approach our enlightened municipal secretarias , which, in al] goodness , will remove
che veil of ignorante thac overpowers and annihilates us' (El Tepozteco , February 1,
1921, 3)-
26 Redficld , Trpozllmn, 220; Lewis, Lifr in a Maxican Village 26.
27 Redfield, Tepozlln, 68
28 Claudio Lomnitz , Exiis from si,, LabyrmtG Gdturc and ldeology in Mexican Nacional Space,
130-32.
29 El Tepozteco , April 1, 1922, 4
30 Poet Carlos Pellicer donated his privare collection o pre-Columbian artifacts for a
new archaeological ntuseum in Tepozdn -che villags carlrer collection had been
destroyed during che revolution - Oscar Lewiss research project brought medical as-
sistance to che village in che 1940s , and help from prominent visitors was enlisted
for getting clectricrty and a junior hrgh school ( see Lomnitz , Evolucin de una sociedad
rural, chapter 2).
31 Bock, "Tepoztln Recansrdered
9. I NTERPRETI NG THE SENTI ME NTS OF THE NATION
1 A governmental state will "set up economy at che leve] o che entire state, which
means exercising towards lis iohabhants. and che wealth and behavror o al], a form
of surverllance and control as attentive as that of che head of che family over his
household and his good" (Michel Foucault, "Governmentalicy," in The Foucault Effect,
Studies o: Govrrmnentality, 92. The "populacion," which is measured through a variety
o scatistics and with the hele of a number o seiences, is thus the central concern o
administraGOn-
2 On che ways in which "public" and "republie' acere understood in che Spanish colo-
nial world, and on their tramformabon with independence, see Frangois-Xavier
Guerra and Annick Lamperlre, "I ntroduccinin Los espacios pblicos en Iberoamrica-
ambigedades y problemas, siglos XVIII-XIX, 5-26. For a sketch o che historv o
Mexican censures, see Claudio I ounitz, aiodern piad indiana: nacin y mediacin en
Mxico, chapier5-
N o l e n t u a p
306
3 Theorics of admmist ratios such as Gennan camcralisni . applied by che Baron von
Humboldt to New Spain in 1803. arc classical instruments of governntentality. be -
cause they arc oricuced tn treating cine whole of che poliry as it it were a business
See Albion W. Small TI, (:nn, nl li,IS, ibe Pionccrs of Gemmu'socral Polity-
4 Por a dch d3cussion of shc relationship hetween gente sci,sari and baroque ritual. see
Pamela Voekel, "Scent and Sc nsi kifity Pungency and Picry in che Making of che
Veracruz Gente Sensata." Hugo Nutini provides che only general overview of che his-
tory of Mexicos aristoeracv He argues chal che Mexican aristocracy underwent
three periods of expansion each ol which asas relaced to significanr economie
transtormatron s, une ot diese che mining boom ot che eighceenth eentury (Wages of
(2ogn,,t TheMex:c.lr A nstoo, ny in fine (.,rtexi of Western Arrsfocraciesl
5 For a statistical analysis ot che contents o che Gazeta de Lima see Tatuar Herzog, "La
gaceta de Lima (1756-1761 i, la restrucmracin de la realidad y sus funciones "
6 For che use o che discurse of che marvelous as a propagandistic device, see
Greenblatt 1992. For eonneecions between colonial discourses o che marvelous
and che literary movement devoted to the real maravilloso, see Giucci 1992.
7 For contrasting accounts of che origins o underdevelopment in the nineteenth
century, see John Coatsworth, "Ohstacles to Economic Growth in 19th Century
Mexico," and Jaime O. Rodrguez, Down from Colonialism.
8 In her thesis on scatistics in che early postindependent period, Laura Leticia Mayor
Celis (1995) shows that nacional independence generated a flurry o scatistics, as
well as an interest in comparative nacional statstics, buc that che scientific basis o
rhese scatistics lacked credibiliry even in their own time.
9 For an account o che emergente of polling written by an arden[ proponen[ o chis
method, see Federico Reyes Heroles, Sondeara Mxico -
10 This point is carefully argued in Fernando Escalante, Ciudadanos imaginamos, and in
Frangois Xavier Guerra, Mxico del antiguo rgimen a la revolucin
11 Maya Indians were also sold luto slavery in Cuba during the second half of che
nineteenth century.
12 For the image of the rurales , see Paul J. Vanderwood, Disorder and Progress : Bandits, Police,
and Mexican Development. On Porfirian urban intervention, see Barbara Tenenbaum,
"Screetwise History: The Paseo de la Reforma and che Porfirian State, 1876-1910"
The most comprehensive discussion o che strategies and politics o nacional pres-
entation in che internacional arena during Chis period is Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo,
Mexico at tbe World's Fairs, Crafting a Modem Nation.
13 Carlos Monsivis, Los rituales del caos, 141.
14 See Larissa Lomnitz, Claudio Lomnitz, and Ilya Adler, "Functions o che Form:
Power Play and Ritual in the 1988 Mexican Presidencial Campaign."
15 Francisco 1. Madero, "Manifiesto de Madero al Pueblo, a los capitalistas , a los gob-
ernantes , al ejrcito libertador, al ejrcito nacional y a la prensa, Mxico DF, 24 de
junio de 191 I," 237.
16 For a fascinating ficcional account o Madero as a spiritualisc leader, see Ignacio
Solares, Madero, el otro. Solareis description o Maderos spiritualist sessions is based
on Maderos diary. Other revolutonary leaders and presidents, such as Alvaro
Obregn and Plutarco Elas Calles, were also spiritualists- Also pertinent to this
question is che phrlosopher Antonio Caso's appeal to che powers o intuition via
Bergson against che Porfirian cientficos' faieh in positivism.
Notes t e C b a p t e r v
307 =
 17 For a useful discussion of this cono ept, sce Slavoj Zizek, "Cyberspace, or, How to
by contrast, gets discussed thirty-three times in the body o the text, and then is
Traverse rhe Fantasy in the Age of the Retreat of t h e B i g Othec"
frequently cited in the notes for factual information-
18 On che nature of government Involvcment nnd subsidy o the press, see Raymundo
14 See Enrique Krauze, Por una democracia sin adjetivos (1986). Not surprisingly, the
Riva Palacio, "A Culture o Collusion The Tics That Bind che Press and the PRI "
phrase "democracy without adjectives" does not belong to Krauze, but is instead
The best-paid collahorators 01 the Mexican press are political columnists and well-
Rafael Segovia's, "La decadencia de la democracia," Razones 24 (March-April 1980).
known ntellectuals who have regular columns.
15 Krauze, Mexico, Biography of Power, 243-44.
19 Jos Ortega y Gasset, Espaa invertehrada hosquew di algunos pensamientos
histricos, 86. 16 See Barbara Mundy, The Mapping of New Spain, Indigenous Cartograpby and tbe Maps of tbe
20 On the politice o antipolitics as a strategy and historical
phenomenon , see Ferguson Relaciones Geogrficas, chapter 1
1994, for the relatnonship between technocracy and democracy
in Mexico, see 17 See, for instance, my own book Exits from the Labyrintb Culture and Ideology in Mexican
Miguel Angel Centeno, Democracy wtth,n Reasom lrchnocratir Reoolution in
Mexico- Nacional Space, part 2, chapter 2. For Argentina, see Jorge Myers, Orden yoirtud: el dis-
curso republicano en el rgimen roslsta. Other Latin American illustrations can be found in
10. AN INTELLECTUAL'S STOCK IN THE FACTORY
John Lynch, Caudillos in Spanish America, 1800-1850.
OF MEXICO'S RUINS
18 ABer Octavio Paz's death (and the initial publication o this essay, which appeared
1 Enrique Krauze, "El mrtir de Chicago', Claudio Lomnitz, "Respuesta del Krauzifi-
in print three months prior), Enrique Krauze purchased the shares o Vuelta and
cado de Chicago ; Enrique Krauze, "Adis Mfster Lomnitz" An interesting anti- launched a new magazine, Letras libres, of which he is editor.
Semitic coda co the debate occurred in a letter to the editor o che Mexican daily
Excelsio,' Augusto Hugo Pea, Acerca de la fbrica de mentiras de Enrique Krauze,"
11. BORDERINO ON ANTHROPOLOGY
and my reply, "Respuesta al seor Augusto Hugo Pea"
1 Sherry Ortner reviews recent books on che crisis in anthropology in "Some Futures
2 Lorenzo Meyer, "En ,Mxico nunca se hizo una historia oficial," interview with o Anthropology"
Arturo Mendoza Moncio.
2 Notably, Ethnos devored a special issue to peripheral anthropological traditions in
3 Ricardo Pozas Horcasitas, La dn,,ocras nt en bLmco: el movimiento mdico
en Mxico, 1983.
1964-1965.
3 Arjun Appadurai, "Is Horno Hierarchicus2" 759.
4 The Centro Cultural Arte Contemporneo was in fact closed down in 1998.
4 Arjun Appadurai, 'Theory in Anthropology: Center and Periphery," 358. This cri-
5 Enrique Krauze,Mexico,BiographyofPomer,797
tique echoes Johannes Fabian's discussion o the practice o constructing anthropo-
6 Ibid., xv.
7 Ibid. logical sites as if they were "culture gardens" that were unconnected to the ethnog-
rapher's own society (Time and Ihe Otber: How Anthropology Makes Its Object). Similarly,
8 Ibid.,
Jonathan Friedman characterizes Geertzian cultural relativism in the following
9 In fact, che central thesis o Mexico: 13io ir,i,by of'Power (i e.,
the preponderance o the terms: "Each arbitrary anthropoplogical construction becomes a unique artifact to
president's Biography over Mexican history) n derived from an essay by Costo
be cherished by its discoverer, a work of art in a gallery o distinct human species"
Villegas that was written against Luis Echeverra--a president who had an especial-
("Out Time, Their Time, World Time. The Transformation o Temporal Modes,"
ly strong delusion of omnipoteneetitled El estilo personal de gobernar (1975). The
170).
theme o that essay, which was that in Mexico che president's personal whims had
5 The cense that Mexican anthropology is undergoing a difficult transition is re-
becorne a kind o raison d'tal, is niagmfied by Krauze finto che key to the whole of
flected in different ways in a number of works, for example, Luis Vzquez Len, "La
Mexican history.
historiografa antropolgica contempornea en Mxico," and Claudio Lomnitz,
10 See Enrique Krauze, Textos herticos ( 1992).
Modernidad indiana: nacin y mediacin en Mxico, chapter 4. Roger Bartra offers Mexicans
1 1 These are Margarita de Orellana and Aurelio de los Reyes
a choice between four "intellectual deaths," one o which can be summarized as
12 In Che debate that followed the publication of chis article, Krauze pointed out that
"death by academy" ( La sangre y la tinta- ensayos sobre la condicin postmexicana, 43-48).
he does in fact cite John Coatsworth once He cuuld not, however, dispute the fact
6 In 1973, Ralph Beals reviewed the field o Mexican anthropology and concluded
that neither Coatsworth nor any o the others' ideas had any impact en his work.
that although it had had a relatively minor impact en anthropological theory,
They did not. The Coatsworth citation in question is for factual information, and
Mexican anthropology had played a critica) role in the formation o a national con
makes no direct or indirecr rcference to cha audtor's ideas, many o which are in-
science, and that the country had the third-largest number o anthropology profes-
compatible wth Krauzes.
sionals, after Japan and the United States (cited in Vzquez Len, "La historiografa
13 Enrique Krauze misinterpreted chis lino to mean that tic had not cited O'Gorman in
antropolgica contempornea en Mxico," 139). In fact, however, a number o na-
his notes 1 purposely counred only discusslons in che body o the text, which is
tional anthropologies, especially in Latin America, but also elsewhere, have turned
where Mr. Krauze deals with ideas ti we turn to the notes o Mexico:
Biography of tu Mexico for inspiration during the past century. It should be noted, nevertheless,
Power, O'Gorman is cited rhree times On cac occadon, the citation is for narrowly
that Mexico has never been a "pure model" but, as in che case of Mexico itself,
factual evidence and not a discussion ol any of Ati O'Gormans ideas; Mr- Coso,
Mexican-inspired nacional anthropologies shaped networks o national institutions

Notes to Cbapte, to
Notesto Ch ap ter f 1
308
309 =
 that sucre thcn conoce ted especialle tu LI S. ui ue eas....... 1-.uropean , misione.
Corncll, Haivatd . C.hlcag, Bcrkelav Seintunl. LIIsl SC O and hienda cultural mis-
S,11:11 hace heen some al t1 e 11 ,11 t 1 p a :t... ul i hese national institunons- For
1 1,, i n l l u o , , e ul ysiesicar . . .1 1,> i, ,1 n 1h. ; nd.n,poluec oi the United Sta(,,
receives stlbtle treatmcnt In AIau11111 . Ienuti::-Tn110. 'Stereophonie Scienhc
Modernistas Social Sacnce heiwcot Mexico and thc United States, 1880,-1930s
Immial o l Ar r 1 n. ,L 1' 1-11 1 F, 1 11 11111111 r1
, Disto-y. nnd i n I :s c1 1111 reater:blexieo Ibe
Lirulcd] la t, , 1 I bx Erol2r )( llu rc, ltapiel2
7 The reterenee' i s ti) Arturo Warman 1 lux santa todos dilu,r,, "Critieism had
lacen rep1ac.ed 'he an ulfiCin 1, appoimm 1, 1 ul n.an emo' ,Ant hropology had
been rewarded widt lifelong benehts m che Instituto de Seguridad Social y Servicios
a los Trabajadores del Estado (34)
8 Guillermo Bonfi1, 'Del indigenismo de la revolucin ala antropologa critica,' in Dr
eso que llaman antropologa mexicana, 42.
9 Sciencihe research and critica] discourse were subsequcntly (and erroneously, 1
think) counterposed co che practico of iid,q,.,isnm "Che arate doeso t tare about the
development of anthropology as a sdcnce chas Is capable o analyzing reality and
modi fying ir deeply At most it is in teres red in it as a techo i que to train restorers of
ruins and raxidermists of languages and customs. However, it hnds that che schools
of anthropology . are centers whc-re snldents gather and smdy reality in order to
transform i[, chal thev hght for democrndc libertes, and that res, maintain a mili-
tani attitude on the sirle o1 the oppresscd" (Andrs Medina and Carlos Garca
Mora, ciad in Guadalupe Mndez Laeielle,'La quiebra poltica [1965-1976],'
362).
lo Proceso, March 13, 1995
11 Foreign negative images of New Spain were the catalyst for some of che most dis-
tinguished eighteenth-century historical and anthropological writings by Mexican
Creoles. For a diseussion, set Antoncllo Cerbi, The Dispute of che New World: The
History of a Polemic, 1 9sn-1 900.
12 The British Museum also calls che eolleccor Henry Chrlsty, who led Tylor to
Mexico, che godfather o anthropology (l lenry (biesty_ A Pioneer of Anthropolegy, 1).
13 Unveiling these connections is che painslaking subject of much of che scholarship
of recen[ decades, from Latin American "dependency theory" to Edward Said's
Culture and Impenalism, bus it has alto hecn a constant concern since che late nine-
teenth century-
14 Edward B- Tylor, Anahuac, or Mexico and lbr AMexicans, Ancient and Modem, 16-17.
15 It as worth noting that Tylor's vicwpoint here coincides with that of Marx and
Engels, boch of whom saw the incorpontion of iPexico roto che United States as a
desirahle thing Thus, during une lblexican-Aniencan War, Marx wrote, "We must
hope that [the Anaeocans] appropriate most ol Aiexims terrory and that they use
che country berrer than che Mexicans have" i 1847, in Domingo P de Toledo y J-,
Mxico en la obra de Marx y Engels, 28 i Engcls. in his turn, wrote on January 23, 1848:
"Ve have wltnessed che defeat of hlexrao by the United States with que satisfac-
cion . when a country is forcibly dragged ro historical progress, ice cannot bus
consider chis as a stop tnrward" (ibie1
16 Tylor, Anahuac 329-30.
3d o t r, l o ( I' ,,
31(7 =
17 The laxity of pnestly mores is a theme that was well knuwn tu English readers sincc
thc pubhcation ol Fhomas Cages travcls in seventecnth-century Mexieo
18 Tylor, Anahuac, 222- On che subject o ihe governm en fs tare for its a n ti qui tics,
Tylor tella how he and Hcnry Christy literally created markets fue antiquities. "At
che top of the pyramid ot (,holula' wc held a market. and got some curious things.
all ol small size however' li bid 275)- Hcnry Christys ethnographic collection be
carne che most important of its time, and more [han half of its registered pitees
were Mexican cace British Museum, Henry (-hrisly, 1 1 )
19 Por a standard reeapitulatlon of chis vision, seo Warman, "Todos santos, todos di-
funtos," and Lomnitz, Modernidad indiana, ehapter 4
20 Mary Louise Pratt has tracked che con nections becween travel writing and anthro-
pology in Imperial Eyes, Traoel Wri ting and Transeulturalion
21 Tenorio-Trilles Mermo et che World's Fairs- Crafting a Modem Nation as che pathbreaking
book en chis subject.
Mexican
22 Stacie G. Widdifield, The Embodiment of che Nacional in Late Nineteenth-Century
Painting, 61-64; Tenorio-Trillo, Mexico at che World"s Fairs, 30-
23 Juan Estrada, "Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero; Datos estadsticos de la prefec-
tura del Centro," Boletn de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografa y Estadstica (hereafter,
BSMCE), vol. 3, 74.
24 Asamblea del Departamento de Quertaro, "Notas estadsticas del Departamento
de Quertaro, formadas por la asamblea constitucional del mismo, y remitidas al
supremo gobierno .. ," 13SMGE, vol. 3, 232. In a footnote, che Congress o
Quertaro contrasts its enlightened view of race with che "horrible anomaly" o
slavery in the United States.
25 (bid.
26 Sociedad Mexicana de Geografa y Estadstica, "Estadstica de Yucatn, publicase
por acuerdo de la R. Sociedad de Geografa y Estadstica, de 27 de enero de 1853,"
BMSGE 294.
27 Emilio Pineda, "Descripcin geogrfica del departamento de Chiapas y Soconusco,"
BMSGE 341.
28 Alfredo Chavero, Mxico a travs de los siglos, vol, 1, iv,
29 "Language as of great value for explaining ethnographic relations. Otomi is a lan-
guage of an essentially primitive character. The Mexicans cal) it otomitl, but its trae
name is bi-hu. AII of che circumstances of chis language reflect che poverty of
expression of a people chat is concemporaneous co humanity's infancy" (ibid., 65).
In his views of indigenous linguistica, Chavero follows the work of Francisco
Pimentel, ("Discurso sobre la importancia de la lengstica .. . . 370), who argues
that monosyllabic languages, such as Chinese and Otomi, have no grammar and are
che most primitive. Pimentel was also looking for even carlier evolutionary forms
within Mexico, such as languages that combined mtmicry and speech ("Lengua
Pantommica de Oaxaca .. ," 473) In their disdain for Otomi and Chinese,
Pimentel and Chavero were following racist trends in European romantic linguis-
tics. See Martin Bernal, Black Atheno- The Afrocentric Roots of Classical Civilization, vol. 1,
237-38. For a diseussion of scientific stereotypes of Mexican Indians, see Robert
Buffington , Criminal and Cruzo, in Modem Mexico, 149-55-
30 Chavero, Mxico a travs de los siglos, 69.
3 1 Ibid., 67 -
Notes te C h a p t e r 1 1
= 311
 32 Huberc Bancroft, "Observacions ora .Mexicd' (manuscript), 18-19
33 Thus, Bancroft writes that " Braniff, or Toms Braniff ? ( Voices . No! No, We wouldn 't Cake any cient tos !)" ( in 50
1 am, really astonished at che great number of pamphlets
Discursos doctrinales en el congreso constituyente de la Revolucin Mexicana , 1916-1917, ed-
and books for the young relating co the history of this country, almanacs o history,
Raul Noriega , 255; my emphasis).
catechisms of history rreatises on history , ese Thcse together with the numerous
43 Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrn, Obra polmica, 104.
historical holydays and celebrara ons show as dcep and demonscrative a love o coun-
try as may be found , 1 venere co assert , anywhere 44 The impact of che Cold War ora Mexican anthropology has not yet been studied.
elle en che globe There is cer-
The recent revelation that a former director o the Nacional School o Anthropology,
tamly nothing lee it in the literaturc of che United States Today, rhe 27th, one
Gilberto Lpez y Rivas , spied for the Soviet Union in the United States suggests
hundred years alter che evenr , in chis com pararively isolated capital
[ San Luis
that this is a significant topie The effects o Plan Cameloc en che intellectual cli-
Potos] there are two iactions ora che plaza almost coming to hlows over an lmrbide
celebratlon , the priesrs insisting thar they wliI do honor to his memory, and mate in che region are better known ( see Irving Louis Horowitz , The Rise and Fati of
Project Camela). Paul Sullrvan's Urtnished Conversations. Mayas and Forelgners between Two
Che government party swearing thac rhey shall no [' ( bid., 40-41 ) In this instante,
Wats is a sensitive book ora the relacionship between anthropology and diplomacy
the date o che commemoracion of Mexicd independence becomes the focal point
in che first half o the twencieth century . On Lpez y Rivas, see David Wise,
for con frontati ons between liherals and con serva ti ves It is possible that Mexican
Cassidy's Run, The Seeret Spy War ooer Nerve Gas, ehapter 12; Oswaldo Zavala, "Los
obsessions with history had their esois in (he ovil wars , although there is certainly
pasos de Lpez y Rivas como ' espa sovitico' en Estados Unidos," Procesa, April 16,
much influence Irom Spanish ideas of lincage and Inheritance
2000; and Hornero Campa , "' Asumo mi responsabilidad y no me arrepiento' , dice el
34 Guillermo de la Pea. "Nationals and Furcigners in che History o Mexican Anthro-
ahora diputado ," Proceso , April 16, 2000
pology," 279 Imporrant sourc es on Camio indude ngeles Gonzlez Gamio,
45 See , for example , Javier Tllez Ortega, "La poca de oro (1940 - 1968)"
Manuel Gamio. una lucha sin fn,. Marrido Tenorio Trillo, "Scereophonic Scientific
46 Oscar Lewis to Arnaldo Orfila , October 26 , 1961, in Susan Rigdon, The Culture
Modernisms= Social Science between Mexicd and che United States, 1880s-1930s";
Facade: Art, Science, and Politics in tire Work of Oscar Lewis, 288-89
Alexandra Stern, "Eugenies beyond Rorders Sdence and Mediealization in Mexieo
47 Mexican smdies o Mexicans in che United States have a cradition , dating back to
and che U.S West, 1900- 1950Aur'elio de los Reyes, Manuel Garujo y el cine,
Gamio ( 1931). For a discussion of the ways in which [hese smdies were subordinat-
Bufkngron , Crirarnal ama Citizen ni Modent Mexicd,
and Jos Limn , American Encounters,
Greater Mexieo, tire United Sta res, and the Erolies of Cultive, ehapter 2 ed to Mexican nacional ieterests, often at che expense o che Mexican - American
perspeccive , see Limn, American Encounters, ehapter 2.
35 For example, for a wedding banquet in honor ol che Gamio marriage , che Departa-
48 Oscar Lewis to Vera Rubio . November 12, 1965 , in Rigdon, Tire Culture Facade, 289.
mento de Antropologa offered clic ir huno red mitosis di shes with cides such as
49 Warman , " Todos santos , todos difuntos," 37.
"arroz a la tolteca , mole de guajolote ccutr h unen no ," '
liebres de las pirm idcs," and
"frijoles a la indiana." Invi cation te) che banquet is reproduced in Gonzlez Gamio,
Manuel Gatno, otra lucha sin fn- 12. PROVINCIAL INTELLECTUALS AND THE SOCIOLOGY
OF THE SO-CALLED DEEP MEXICO
36 See the debate in Ignacio Manuel Altam i rano , Uierlos 108-45
1 In Chis respect , this ehapter is a prolongation o che Work that I initiated in Exitsfrom
37 Manuel Gamio, Opiniones yjuicios sobre la obra La p,'blann del valle
de Teotihuacn, 2 che Labyrintb, 221-41-
3a Ibid 51.
2 Geoff Eley , "Nations , Publies and Pohrical Cultures- Plaeing Habermas in che 19ch
39 Gamio was elecred vate presiden[ of rhe Seeond Ineernational Eugenies Congress in
Century," 289.
Washington , DC, in 1 920 ( uffi ngt un . (rrn,innl nnd Cnizen
inModern Mexieo, 154). For
3 Max Weber, From Max Weber, 176.
a full discussion o Mexican eugenics, see Alesandra Stern, 'Buildings, Boundaries,
4 Gramsei's definition of intelleceuals is more habitually used by anthropologists
and Blood, Mediealization and Nacion - Buildings on che US-
Mexieo Border, today ( lee Secano s from che Prison Notrbooks . 5). It is, in many ways , a useful definition,
1910-1930 ' and Eugenio, beyond Ronde,, chapters ' 1 and 5
espeeially because it forces analysts co search for conneetions between processes o
40 Gamio, Opinevi,s yjuicios sobre la obra La pohlaein del valle de Teolibuacn,
49; my emphasis elass formation and political discourse, 1 relied no Gramsd' s definition in my earlier
1 1 The losest antecedenc co Gamio's synth,,v may Nave hcen the short-lived
agrarian work on provincial intellectuals . However, Gramsci's fantous definition says little
experiment carried out by Maxi milian . See Jean Meyer, "
La junta protectora de las
about the nature o the work of intellectuals and, probably because o chis, his
clases menesterosas. indigenismo y agrarismo en e1 segundo imperio"
followers can all roo casily end up labeling anyone who makes an utterance that fo-
42 The differenee between [hese two approaches veas felc co be so sharp at che time
mento class awareness an "intellectual ," thereby diminishing the utility o the cate-
that, in che 1917 constitutional conven tino Porlirian eientfees were seco as dubious
Mexicans , as can be witnessed from ti,, tollom9ng speech by congressman Jos gory - For a more recent example of chis, see Stephen Feierman , Peasant Intellectuals,
Anthropology and History in Tanzania- 1 use Gramsci implicitly here as a useful supple-
Natividad Matas ov the proposed law oi narionolity. "Would any o you admit Mr.
ment co Weber.
Jos Yves Limanrour [Daz's finance lninister borra in Mexico o French descent] as
5 This description is based on a smdy o the documencation rhat is available en
a Mexican tatuen by birch- Answer h'ankly and with your hand o0 your heart
Tepoztln in the Archivo General de la Nacin (AGN), ramos de Tributos, Tierras,
(Voices, No! No!) Would you rake as a Mexican hv batch Oscar Braniff , Alterco
General de Parte , Hospital de Jess, Indios and Criminal, as well as on local parish

Nolrs loCbtp1e
Notes 1o Chapter i2
312
313 =
 record,, and on ethnogmphle rescards dono bv niysell in 1977-78 and 1992-93.
and hy othcrs. Horacio Crespo and I.nntlw Vega published time 1909 Public
Property Register o1 che whole ul Morelos ut Tierra y propiedad en el Jin del porfiriato,
vols. 2 and 3 from tima[ censos me can aseenain that in time hamlet of Santo
Domingo w hich svdl conecrr us 1, . cspei 1 .111 . che largest landowner owned a
mere eight hectares and 93 perccnl i , l che village, regisrered prvate agricultura
plots were smaller timan one heetnre 1 he villal;es largest holding was 5 9 hectares
There is no reason ti, suppose chal thc Iand-mnure sutuation of Santo Domingo was
any difterent in che colonial period.
6 AGN Criminal, vol. 302, cxp. 4. I 20rv-205
7 In 1775, th aieolde ol San ;Anchs etc la Cal ssas selected by twenty-one elector,.
See AGN, I'lospical de Jess, vol. y b 1728.
8 The vast majoriry ni time rnunieipio' lantls remained coinmunal even to che end o the
porfirato- During that time, conununal lantls were classitied finto three rypes- forests,
terral (lava helds), and agostadero (grazing lands) Al] arable land was registered as
private property. Texcal lands were used in a system o rorating, slash-and-burn
agriculture that has beca described in the detall by Oscar Lewis (Ltfe in a Mexican
Village, 148-54). Crespo and Vega (Tierra y propiedad en el fin del porfiriato, vol. 2, 212)
reproduce tire legal registration of [hese lantls in 1909- Tepoztln's retention of
communal lands makes the village unusual in che Morelos region-
9 Womack's view was that most of che appropriauon of pueblo lands by haciendas oc-
curred aher 1857 and, especially, during time early years of the sugar boom in che
1880s (Z(jpa[. and tire Mexican RevoluGmt). This position was hrst eonrested by
Horacio Crespo and Herbert Frey ("La diferenciacin social del campesinado como
problema en la teora de la historia"), who argoed that Morelos's haciendas had ex-
panded to thcur fui] extent as early as time seventeenth century. Crespo and Vega
(Tierra y propiedad en el fin del porfiriato) reproduce time raw data from che 1909 property
registrar that fostered these concluso.,- Unlortunately, volume 1 o [his work,
which was to provide a full interpretation o chis history, has not come to light.
Florencia Millon (Peasant and Nation Tbe Making of Post-Colonial Mexico and Peru,
137-41) shows that rhe ttulos primordiales o severa Morelos communities, including
both Tepoztln and Anenecuilco, were stolen during or immediately after che Wars
of Independence, and that haciendas profited from this by invading village lands
during che whole first hall o the nineteench century. A full synthesis o the relative
importante of these three waves of Iand concentraoon has yet to be written. In ad-
dition, se need to know more about che history o changes in other forms o access
co land, such as renting and sharecropping, although Womack's thesis regarding the
pernicious role timar capitalist intensification o sirgar production had for traditional
renting arrangeme nts is still helpful in chis regard
l0 Regarding endogamy, a few samples from the parochial archives are illustrative, o
the 133 marriages that were celebrated in time church o Tepoztln becween 1684
and 1686, ony one was hetween a Tepoztecan and someone from outside time
municipio. Between 1792 and 1807, there were 694 marriages in che parish. O these
ony 3.5 percent were becween a Tepoztecan andan outsider, usually someone from
a neighboring hacienda or village- Endogamy in che hamlets and che cabecera was
also high, although che smaller hamers cifren tended co marry villagers from another
hamlet widun the municipio Oscar Lewis carried out a census in 1943 in which he
Notes lo Cbapti e 12
314 =
conlirms time con tinueel valcnce of these trends, and Sara Verazaluce, a'Tepoxteca o
physical anthropologist working on [his subject. has orally conlirtned that there is
still a very high leve) o1 villagc and municipal endogamy today (personal eommuni-
cation, tMarch 1993).
1 I In 1992. a Cuernavaca real-esiaie urmpany manad to parchase a sizable amount ol
Iand hora peasants from San Andrs and Santa Catarina It ,cut ahout Chis in a se-
cretive way, hiring invders to parchase lands individual ly Irom farmers whom they
knew The ame tactie had beca taken earlier, in 1962, by che Montecastillo golf
club developnient company [Claudio Lomnitz, Evolucin de una sociedad rural, 201-4)-
When villagers woke up to [hese [odies, they rebelled and stopped the companys
effons In 1995. attempts to resuscitare che golf-eourse prolect led to intense am-
frontatiuna becween che villagc and rimes tate government, te factional strife within
the village, and even to assassination-
12 Ethnographic inlormation on canto Domingo derives to a large degree from Pedro
Antonio Velzquez Jurez, "Etnozoologa y cosmogona en los Altos de Morelos."
13 Ibid., 209.
14 See Roberto Vareta, Expansin de sistemas y relaciones de poder, 1 11-54. The debates on
Mexican democracy would do well to take such examples o local democracy into
account. Authoritarianism must be understood as a regional system, and not simply
as a mentaliry.
15 Records o Spaniards in che village extend back to tire mid-sixteenth century.
Martn Corts built himself a house there (Silvio Zavala, ed., El servicio personal de los
indios in Nueva Espaa, vol. 2, 377-78), and there are other documented cases o
Spaniards in che village even in Chis early period.
16 There were some periods in which there were mulattos in Tepoztln. However, che
parish records almost exclusively break the population down into Indian and
Spanish, with a few mestizos and castizos. The 1909 property records show that
whereas 93 percent o landholdings in Santo Domingo were plots of less [han one
hectare (and 78 percent were smaller than half a hectare), the corresponding figures
for che cabecera are 62 percent and 37 percent. Whereas the three largest landowners
in Santo Domingo owned between six and eight hectares, Tepoztln had a number
o proprietors who owned becween twenty and forty hectares,
17 This was che case even roto che porfiriato. One elderly Tepoztecan acquaintance who
had worked on a hacienda before che revolution described the bad working condi-
tions and culminated his story by saying, "And they called -as Tepoztecan Indiansl"
18 Lewis righdy criticized Redficld's reification o chis distinction, and bis identifica-
tion of [hese categories with social elass, but he was wrong in eschewing Redfield's
observation altogether
19 Translators for Spanish ofucials in the colonial period were also regularly from
[hese principales.
20 AGN, Criminal, vol. 203, exp. 4, f. 159-66.
21 For che use o corridos in regional communication, see Robert Redfield, Tepoztln. A
Mexican Village, 180-93, and Catherine Heau, "Trova popular e identidad cultural en
Morelos" For peasant common lavo in Zapata's camps, see Salvador Rueda, "La
dinmica interna del zapatismo consideracin para el estudio de la cotidianeidad
campesina en el rea zapatista'
22 Lomnitz, Evolucin de una sociedad rural. 299-307 James B. Greenberg, "Capital,
Notes ro Cbapter12
315 =
 Ritual , and BoundaAes of thc Closed ( orporale
Communlty," san inreresting dis-
cussion o the way contemporary Mixes huyo
developed mechanisms for distin-
gti ishing hetween " good " and 'evil " nicrchams on the oasis ol the sature of the,r
tics tu local communitarian uersrorks This parallcls good and evil politicians in
Topoztn_
23 See Loro"itz , Evolucin de una socicdnJ rural.
chapter 3, for an account of these
con fre'nratIOni

Referentes

Archives

AGN Archivo Central de la Nacin

AHC Archivo Histrico Condumex
AHT Archivo Histrico de Tepoztln
Claf Coleccin Lafragua, Biblioteca Nacional, Mexico City
Registro de la Propiedad del Estado de Morelos, 1909 (published by Crespo
and Vega)
NABA National Archives, Washington

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Rojas, Jos Guadalupe. n.d- (1870s) Personal diary. Valentn Lpez Gonzlez personal
collection.

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333 =
Index
Abad Y Quiepo, Manuel, 84-85
Acapulco, 148
Agravian reform, 268
Aguascalientes Convention, 98
Aguilar Camn, Hctor, xi; and Carlos
Salinas, 219; use o state patronage, 226
Aguirre Beltran , Gonzalo, 254, 260
Alcalde, 267
Alemn, Miguel, 104, 223, 227, 255, 256;
construction o National University's
modernist campus, 104, 133; develop-
ment o Acapulco, 104, 133
Alhndiga de Granaditas, 89
Altamirano, Ignacio Manuel, xi, 100
Altepetl, 41
Altos de Jalisco, 159
Alvarado, Pedro de, 241
Alzate, FatherJ. Antonio, 8
Amatln, 226, 272-73
American Civil War, 239
Ancien Rgime , 82, 164, 198, description
o, 82; persistente o, 82
Anderson, Benedict. amendment to theory,
12; analysis o "empty time;' 22; birth
o nationalism , 3, 5; critical appraisal of,
xi, 9; critique o nationalism, 7; cultural-
ist reading o nationalism , 30; "deep
= 335 =
horizontal comradery;' 11; definition
of community, 7, definition o nation,
11, definition o nationalism , 5-7, 9, 11,
33; definition of nationhood, 9; 'Eden;'
15, 21, 32; European expansion and
creation o nations, 4; fraternity and na-
tionalism, 12 ; Imagned Communities, 3; and
language, S i and Latin Americanists, 4;
modification o Anderson' s definition,
33, national identity exploration, 11;
nationalism as kinship , or religion, 11;
"nation ' as imaginary , 6-7; objection
to definitions , 11, and print capitalism,
5-6, prohlem with conceptualization,
32; rise o nationalism , 6; sacrifice, 7,
10, 12, secularization, 14-15, 18; theory
of nationalism , 3, 4, 200; view o Ameri-
can independence, 4
Anthropology, 254; connection with im-
perialism, 228 ; crisis o, 233 , critique
o, 228; formation of national teleology,
233; historical role of, xxiii ; history
of, xxii; national anthropologies, 228,
229; and national image, 233 , national
modernization project , 254;1968 gener-
ation, 254; peripheral anthropologies,
229; Porfirian, 250; role in shaping
 narionabsm, xxiii; reaction ro Benedict
Anderson, 4; revol uti o nary, 250 252
,hapi ng of colonial discourses, 228
rasks ol, 261
Anti-Spanish senriment, 29, 87 131, 133;
emergente of afrer independence, 87,
expulsion o Spaniards, 131; sacking of
Parin Murker, 131
Antrello y Bermdez ngel de, 201
Apatzingn Constitution, 64
Appadurai, Arjun, xvii, 136, 262; detini-
cion of ethnographic orate, 130, hobsm
228-29, self-images of che Wesr, xvil
Are of Trlunrph Ern-led in Honor of Por/lelo Utaz
108
Archa no, Jess. civic oration uf, 68-69;
critique of Mexican vices, 69-70
Arte, 103
Arielioro' eosn,opolitanism of, 103-9, i, ,a
defense against US. society, 103; deli-
nition of, 103; ma nl testations of, 103
Ario revuelto, ganancia de pescadores, 170
Aristotlc. definiGOn of natural lave, 172
Art under protecti onisc 'tate, 115
"Artificial flowers" technique, 281
Asociaciones de padres de Jamilia, 149
Asuncin, Fray Domingo de la, 173
Arenco, 173
Avila Camacho, Manuel, 223
Azcapotzalco, 37
Azcrraga, Emilio. 224
Aztecs, 21, 32; afhliation with Toltec I,ne-
agc, 37; Azcapotzalco, 37, battlctield,
39; calpulli, 37, 38, 39 40, 41; calpullin-
37, 38, 39, 40; cnpulteod, 37, 38; chico r4,
37, communitarlan ideology of, 36, 37,
expansion of empire, 39; ideology of
sacrifice, 38; ideology o sIavery, 38; ini.
portante ol kinship networks, 37, 39;
marriage between nobles, 39, mecha
nisms o assimilation, 39; and modero
nacional ist thought, 37, priesrs, 38,
sense of human life, 38, slaves, 37,
Tenochtitln, 37, Texcoco, 37
"Backsrage,' 136; border ci ties, 138.; den'
nition of, 157, maintenance ot public
336 =
137; as suhversive and feminized,
Backwardness, 203, 207, growing concern
ol '04
Bancruft, Hubert desedption of Mexico,
240-47249
Barba ,e, Alexico 255
Baroquc era, 154, 157 163; and ole f
rito,. 156
Barrio,, 166, 173, 174, 185, 186; and ani-
mal nick,lan,es, 188, barrio symbolism,
18'9, during colonial period, 41; fiestas,
188 pero istente of communi tarjan spirlt,
4b: i twal plano of, 40; sane as calpullin,
40
Ha roa. Roger, 110
Betdc of C_elaya, 104
13attle of Puebla, 1 55
Beavi, and Butthcad, 131-32
Benjamn, Walter, 22
Vernal Ignacio, 232
Besen Mario Ramn, 255
B,oymJus del poder- eompositions of,
215-16
Biogr,phy and political znalysis, 223
llieapov el definition of, 14
Block, 16, 42, 44, 46, 147, 246, commu-
mtirs of, 45; comparison with Indians,
45, maroon societies, 45; women, 17;
restrictions against associations, 45, in
Veracruz, 245
Pliso, Kathcrine, 137
Blood basic for Spanish idea of nation,
43, genealogical concept o the nation,
42 and honor, 43, 1deo1ogical role of, 42
Boas, 1ranz, 230, 257, 258; and
1 nterna tional School of American
Archeology and Ethnology, 238
Bock Philip, 188, 189
Boleliv .le la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografa y
Eslmi ls tica, 242, 258
Pon ti] Guillermo critique of, xxiii; defini-
tion of Mxico profundo, 263, expulsion
Cantina, 149 Chiapas: neo-Zapatistas, 158
from Nacional School o Anrhropology,
232 n000n of "deep Mexico," xxiii
Borda cities "border zone," 138; asa cul-
tural impurity, 138; prosperiny of, 138;
hvin cities, 138, and U.S economic m- Carnival, 188, 189, 190, 192
terests, 139 Carranza, Venustiano, 98
Bourbon reforms, 21, 23, 82; adminis- Carrasco, Pedro, 73
trative ideas, 21; and Alexander von Carrillo, Alejandro, 255
Humboldt, 8; decentralization, 25, as
Caso, Alfonso, founding director of INAH,
enlightened despotism, Si and indepen- 260, founding director of ENAH, 260
dence, 25, as modernizing, 82; as re- Casrells, Manuel, 152
fearmist movement, 25; asa response te Caste wars, 49, 199; Chan Santa Cruz,
backwardness, 25, threat to American 50; Chiapas Highlands, 50; Huasteca
Revolution, 25, threat to British Navy, 25
o San Luis, Potos, 50; Mixteca region,
Bozales, 44
50, as nacional movements, 49, Yaquis
Brading, David, 16
o Sonora, 50; o Yucatn, 50
Bribes, 61, 62
Casnlle, 8
Brujos, 270
Castizo, 50
Bullfighting, 66, 71, 147, 162; as cause o Carholicism, 23, 47, 63, 85, 86, 133
inciviliry, 66, as spectacle that dulls rea- Catrines, 180
son, 66-67 Caupolicn, xiii
Bulnes , Francisco, 95, 96; portrayal of Censos, 3; o 1895, 205; and Viceroy
Benito Jurez, 95
Juan Gemes Pacheco, 198-99; in
Bulstos, Hermenegildo, 101 Tepozrln, 172, 173
Bureaucratic procedure, as mechanism o Center-periphery, 177, change to che dia-
exclusion, 61 lectic , 185; eoexistence of, 165, con-
Bustamante , Carlos Mara, xi, 114 flation of scheme , 167; decline in the
dialectic, 190, discourses of, 165-66,
Caballero guila' sculpture of, 102
paradox of, 166; and political language,
Caballero Espaol: sculpture of, 102
165, problems with, 191-93; shifts in,
Cabecita de Teotihuacn, 249
186, and Tepozrln, 165; transformation
Cabeza gigantesca de Hueyapan, 247
of, 187-88
Cabrera, Luis, 53, critique o the cente-
Central power, 88, 105
nary of independence, 86, "Los dos pa-
Centralization, 165
triotismos ," 138; as pro-mestizo nation- CEPES (Centro de Estudios Polticos y Sociales),
alist, 53 76
Caldern de la Barca , Fanny, 233 Certificares o blood purity, 16, 42
Calles, Plutarco Ellas, 94, 104; building of Charles 111, 9, 24, 25; subject eategory
che state , 74; development o Cuernava-
of, 9
ca, 104; residente in Cuernavaca, 137 Charles V, 15
Calpulli, 38, 40, 51, 173, 174, calpulteotl, Chavero, Alfredo, 230, 252; creation o
37; communitarlan ideology of, 37; as racial narrative, 245-50; Mxico a travs
cornerstone o communiry, 37, and kin- de los siglos, 245; Otomis, 245, 246; por-
ship relations, 37, and lineage, 37; pri- trayal o Negro, Otomi, and Nahoa
mordial unir of, 39 rases, 246; similariry with foreign de-
Cancian, Frank, 161-62 scriptions, 246
Crdenas, Lzaro, 104, 105, 133, 137, 219; Chicago School o Eeonomics, 140
construction o Pan American Highway, Chinelas, 188, 190
104; formula for modernization, 114; Christiam. patriarchs, 68, Tepoztln cen-
nafionalization o oil industry, 74, 104 sus, 173
lndex
= 337 =
 muno ot, 36; In torntation of national C 0rreclos, 192 Curandero . 270, 273, 275, and politieal
Christianrty. 131
n!clopy. 35 h>mis, xvi-xx; identifica- Corrido. 279 power, 270-7 1, professional healers and
Christy. I lunry 5
cor. ut 35. i ndigenous , 40, mestizo, 40. Corruption, 120-22.145213.214 witches 271 ; Yautepec, 270
C^hurch, 15o, Ion, 172. 17 authnn nos.
147 153: and i urru ptum 101: and ,11,d mtdupartisanship, 119; relations, xv, appropnation ofstate machinery.
160 asa "cargo systen;.' 161: and cho DaMatta Roberto xx 58, 59, 61, 67, 80:
haeobo de lc rera. 153 loas o1 ritual psnlsh 40
church, 160-61, and liesra 162-63 application for Mexico, 59; "discourse
funaio m. 151, and preso nta uon it; C.omnntorl. Ignacio. 241
function of, 1 19, as a market mccho ot the honre," 58; "discourse ot the
and Tepoztln, 173 1, rt.l,lendozn. El, 113
....
o,anr 1) 161, 188, 189 nism, 60; and politieal control, 119, street," 58, usefulness of analysis, 78
(_irnlf, , 1-14, 21(1, 241, 246
and public opinion, xxir asid public Darwin, Charles. and Mexican education,
Citi zenship 11.27, 60. 61 62. G0. (.nnur Augusto, 230, 241
( npres 150,1553 ritual, 146, 155, 162, and redislnbu- 1,10
163, 204 censornhgt nl che pres.
(1 1rrolistadores. 21 t,on, 119;sas
,,Ti indivldualistic 1211. Deht crisis (1982`. 105, 116, 215, effect
debates durmg Indepeadencc. 62: dv-
Com. rvauves. 10 , 133, 268, 269, 280; in Tepoztln. 267; three leve;; 160 sin educational sv,tem, 219; elfeets on
cGning importante al, s8, dclinunon
pragmal e accord w,th 1iberals, 72 Corts, Hernn, 15, 153, 167 birthday national devclopment, 111, reise o1
of, 70-71, as degraded haseline 58-62.
Consf,tutional Assembly o the Depart- shared with Martn Luther, 15, Martn nongovernmental organizations , 77-78,
discourscs of, xx; dynamlcs of, 59; and
ment ol Quretaro, 243 Corts, 218; Moctezuma , 218, and reise o opposition parties, 77-78
carly constitutions, 63, carly legal code,,
Constitution of Cdiz, 27, 63, 64, 88; Tepoztln, 169 Deep Mexico, 122, 286, versus invented,
62, 70, historieal diseusslon of, 59, ideal
artiele 25, 64, definition o "Spaniards," Corts, Martn, 218 264, nationalism of, 264
o citizenship rights, 72; importante
27 Coso Villegas , Daniel , 218, 219, 221; De eso que llaman antropologa mexicana, 231,
o political discourse, 79; Indians under
Constitution o Mexico ( 1811), 62-63 criticism o Luis Echeverra , 222, "fac- 232, 261
Benito Jurez, 51; invoked after indc-
Constitution o Mexico ( 1824), 48, 62, tory o Mexican history , " 218, 220, as Democracy, xiv, 156, costs of, 78 ; history
pendence, 79,- and nationalism, I1, 48
63, 64; abolition o slavery , 204; article "intelleetual caudillo ," 224; mentor to of, xx; lack of, 156, representation of,
politics in modero Mexico, 79; rejection
9,63, and eitizenship, 62 Enrique Krauze, 222 203-4
o corporate forms, 78, social critics ol.
Constituir n o Mexico ( 1857), 48, 51, Cosmopolitanism , 103, and Enlighten- Department of Anthropology o the
80; social pact, 60; tied so weakness
66 70, 71, 98, 164, citizenship and ment thinkers, 23 Secretara de Agricultura y Fomento,
o the state, 74; transformatton of, xx
nationality, 71, and denationalization Counter- Reformation, 154 250, 251, 252; mission of, 252; as na-
under postrevolutionary governments,
of religion , 48, female suffrage, 71; Creole, 5, 6, 9, 17, 44, 275, discrimina- tional symbol , 251; promotion o civi-
80
Madero s use of , 96, 98, requirements tion of, 17 , 45, emergente o term, 9, lization, 251
Civilizing horizon, 139
for citizenship, 71 national identity of, 5, and nationalism, Department o Soconusco in Chiapas:
Civil society, 57
Constitution o Mexico (1917), 54, 71, 45, patriotism and philosophy , 28, 45, races of , 244, statistics, 244
Clio, 220
73, 89, 98; description of, 54; land 47; as propios , Si in Quretaro , 243-44, Desmadre, 110
Coatsworth, John, 220
rights , 74; protection against foreign from the word criar, 43 Daz, Por6rio , xii, 51, 223, 241 ; birthday
Cockfights, 71, 162
capitallsts , 74; workers rights, 74 Critique of tbe Pyramid, The, 226 en Mexican Independence Day, 104;
Cofradas, 147, 149, 150
Consumptiore fashion industry and CROM (Confederacin Regional de Obreros centralization o che state , 205-6, con-
Colegio de Mxico, FI, xii; and Daniel
"dumping ," 118; piracy, 118 Mexicanos), 151, 179, 180, and Zapa- cessions to foreign capital , 52; consolida-
Coso Villegas, 218; inspired by
Contact trames. concept of , 129, and sei- tistas, 179 tren o political representation , 206, cor-
Collge de France, 197
entitic study, 134, 139-40; and tourism, CTM (Confederacin de Trabajadores Mexi- respondence of, 146; creation o rurales,
Collective actors and cofradas, 147: defi-
134 canos ), 119, 151 205; embodiment o three presidencial
nition of, 147, discussion of agrarian.
Contact zones, 125, 132, 136, 143; Cuahtmoc , xiii, 239 personas , 104; interpretation o Frantiois
149, historical overview, 147-53, pro-
definition of , 130; emergente o na- Cuautla, 266 Xavier Guerra, 221; labor repression,
letarian , 151, in rural arcas, 147
tional identity , xxii , first type, 140; Cuernavaca , 167, 175, 178, 184 , 187, as a 206, legacy o regime, 206 , portrait of,
Colonia Tepozteca, 179, 181
fourth type, 141; history o anthro- tourist destination, 137 106; rehabilirarion of, 220; trains, 133
Colonization, xx, 14, 15, 184, 185, 186.
pology, 135; and nationalism, 1411 Cuerpo unido de nacin, 25 Daz Cadena, Ismael , 172-73
blamed for economic backwardness,
second type , 141, third rype, 141; Cult o the Virgin o Guadalupe, 47 Daz Ordaz, Gustavo, 104, 135, 138, 223,
114; Catholic fanatieism blamed for
and transnational process , 142, types Cultural modernity , 82; challenge to state attempt to censor hippies , 131; con-
lack of colonists, 69
of, 130 institutions , 82, and corruption, 214 struction o Mexico City subway, 104,
Communitarian ideologies, xx, 35, 36, 56,
Corporate forms of property . as obstarles Cultural production, 215; production of 133, diary of, 220; and foreign influ-
and Aztecs, 36-37; considerations for
to citizenship, 75 image, 136 ences, 138, maintenance o national
che future, 56; construction uf, 36 tacll,

In 3 ex 1r,dex

338 = 339 =
 image , 138; Olympics , 133, 135 138,
ugliness of, 226
Discourse of the homo , 58, 59 , 61, ac-
cording to DaMatta , 58; applied lo the
good pueblo , 67; familial idioms, 59
Discourse of the street , 58, according tu
DaMatta , 58, as discourse of liberal en;
zenship. 58
Dismodernity , 110 122
Dolcefar mente ( 1880), 239
Dumont , Louis, 166
Durazo, Arturo, 1 12
Earthquake of1985, xi
Echeverra, Luis, 104, 222, 227; and
Coso Villegas, 222; electr,hcat,on of
thc counrryside, 104; highways, 133
Education, 60, 205
Ejidos; failurc to create propertied citizen-
ry, 75
Election of July 2, 2000, xxi
Electiori, as souices of revenue 78
Eley, Geoff. definition o public sphere,
265-66
Elites, 143, 200, construction of public
opinion, 147 , corruption of, 213, Creolc
30, discourse o messianism , 70; forros
ot discussion, 148, lack o public torum,
148; Masonie lodge membership, 30,
portrayed as foreign , 144; and public
opinion , 147, Tepoztecan, 174; v;rtuous
and vieious, 70
El pueblo, 155
El que se enoja , pierde. 60, 78, meaning ,l,
60
ENAH (Naconal School o Anthro-
pology and History), 231, 254, expul-
sien o G. Bonhl, 232
Encomendar, 16
England, 15. 21
Enlightenment, 4, 154
Escalante, Fernando, 84, 249; arguments
on cidzensh,p, 71-72^ hctitious charco-
ter of che ci lizcn, 84; oppositiun lo
Daniel Cavo Villegas, 72
Espaol, 17 18, 33, 44, 50, 154; dominan[
Gaste , 21,-as "Old Christians," 18
1,, ,rx
340
Lsrrada, Agustn, 97
I-strasia luan, 242
Ethnographic state definition of, 136
Eugen,cs: and postrevolutionary govern-
ment, 139
Eurnpeans, 50
Evans, Colonel Albert, 234
Exansi&, al puente de Mrtlac, 105
Exposicin Iberoamericana de Sevilla, 102
Expropr,at,on: failurc lo create propertied
cinzcnry, 75
Ex-,rola giving thank, lo che Virgen of Guadalupe
Jora a,essful med,cal operador, 26
FamiLal idioms, 59
Felipe Don, 272, 273, 285, Fiesta de
Querzaleoatl, 273, and national
Mexican anthem, 273
Fernando VIL portrait of, 92
Fieras 150, 156, 161, 190, and campaign
cuero, 162, and conuption, 162; Fiesta
de Quetzaleoatl, 273, 285; and patriot-
isni, !Si, and use of sports, 155
Filipinas, 15
Film,. 118, 126, dismbution of, 1 18
Flore, Joachim de, 15
Five Fe rr,il;es. reviews of, 258
Flores Magn, Ricardo, 151
Fondo de Cultura Economica, 219, 259
Foucault, Michel, xxii, 202, 210; defini-
tion ol hiopower, 14; definition o gov-
ernmentaliry, 198, governmentality,
xxii, history from rhe presenta' 2 13
Foreigncrs, 16, 134, 140-41, attraction
to indigenous peoples, 135; business,
1 31 -32, 140, challenge to nationalists,
140-42, destabilization of, 135, Euro-
pean.134,- investments, 140, 252;
nadowlisr reactions to, 135; North
A mcrica n. 134
Francl,can,nissionaries, 15
Freemasonry, 29, 30, 31, 146, masons,
31; Masonic lodges as networks, 30,
Masonic organizations, 31; and Mexi-
can narionalism 31, Joel Poinsett, 31;
as pulitical parties, 31, rite o York, 30,
31, 32; role following independence,
30-31, as secret societies, 31-32;
Scottish rite, 30, 31
French intervention, 133, 241, increased
polarization, 72
Freud, Sigmund. and Mexican education,
140
Friedlander, Judith, 192-93
Front state: maintenance o public image,
137
Fuentes, Carlos, xi, 56, 218, 227, descrip-
tion o nacos counterpart, 1 11
Fueras, 8, 9
Gage , Thomas, 239
Gallo, Joaqun, 169, 171
Gamboa , Manuel, 276
Gamio , Manuel , 53, 253 , 254, 257, 258,
262; art o governing , 252, and Franz
Boas, 53 , 250, building o facilities, 252,
and Chavero, 252, construction o revo-
lutionary narionalism , 53; development
o indigenismo , 53; differences with Por-
firians, 252 , 254; director o INI, 260,
doctoral work at Columbia University,
250, and eugenics movement , 252, as
"father" o Mexican anthropology, 53,
250, founder o Departamento de Asun-
tos Indgenas , 260; Indigenismo , 53; in-
digenous aesthetic , 250; instructions to
researchers, 251-52, and ISAAE, 238,
land distribution lo peasants , 252; L.
poblacin del valle de Teotihuacn , 251, and
Pimentel , 252, as pro - mestizo national-
ist, 53 ; and pseudoscientific racism,
52-53, role in local society , 25; role o
anrhropology, 251, shaping uf national
image , 252; support from Venustiano
Carranza , 250; undersecre t ary o edu-
caron , 260, vision of anthropology,
251
Garca , General Alejandro, 94
GATT ( General Agreement en Tariffs and
Trade), xxi
Gazeta de Lima, 200
Gazeta de Mxico , La, 7, 8 , 23, 25, 148, 200,
206, discussion o "rhe public ," 201, and
the'scientifically marvelous ," 201-2
= 341
Globalization. effects on "metropolitari'
anthropology, 229, and nacional anthro-
pology, 229
Goffman, Erving, 136, 157
Gmez, Juan Jos, 279
Gonzlez Casanova, Pablo, 232
Governmental institutions, 197
Governmental intervention: dependence
on, 75
Governmentality, xxii, 198, 202, 203; im-
portance of idea, 210-11; instrumenta
of, 211; and nongovernmental intellec-
tuals, 211; state culture of, 204
Gran Espaa, 25, 27, 33
Grano de Arena, El, 282
Great Nacional Problems, xvi, xviii, xix,
and civilizational horizon, xviii, defini-
tion of, xviii, fetishism of, xvi, for public
interese, xix
Grounded theory, xix, definition of, 127
Gruzinski, Serge. attack on Indian learn-
ing, 154
Guamn Poma de Ayala, Felipe, 16
Guardino, Peter, 29
Gemes Pacheco y Padilla, Viceroy don
Juan Vicente, 91, 198-99
Guerra, Fran4ois Xavier, 64, 82, 221, ar-
gument o Porhrio Daz, 221; descrip-
tion o "collective actora," 147, descrip-
tion o postindependence Mexico, 146;
discussion o che Mexican Revolution, 82
Guerrero, Vicente, 29; murdered by frac-
tious Mexicans, 69
Haber, Stephen, 221
Habennas, Jrgen, 10; definition o repre-
sentativa publicity, 148
Hacendados, 146, 147, 155
Heifetz, Hank, 222
Hernndez, Deputy Chico, 68
Hidalgo, Miguel, 29, 47, 48, 62, 84,
241; accusations against Spaniards,
29, appropriation of the Virgen de
Guadalupe, 48, Catholic faith as national
sovereignty 85, counterexcommunica-
tion o European imperialists, 85-86;
counterexcommunication o Spanish
dex

clcrgy. 86; destruciiun ol towns. .84,
emancipador ul claves, 62; end u,
tribute, 62 ess,q' by VIUVr Ttll nar,
104 cxcommunaUOn endotscd h3
Archbishop ul A1cx,co. 8S. crcornmm1s
canon ol. Ievel dltfcrenres he
tween Gastes . 62, martyred bs
Spaniards, 69. tASexico: Biogrnhby ol Pmi,
224; response u, rxeommumeaaan n
as scicntihcalh ;ndincd. 202
ippie muvcnuu Ii4--75, CI. 16
H ispanicized, 171
1 storians Latir Amcrica visto, 4, reac-
tion to Bencdiet Anderson, 4
Holisen: definition nf, 228-29
]la,, - William Setvard Traveling in Adexlco, 238
1 forre and Ibe Zapilotes, Tbe, 234
huerta, Victoriano, 98
Huitzilopochdi, 39
Human rights , 56 57; recodification ot, 56
Iberians, 46
Identity producron, 128
TEPES (Instituto de Estudios Polticas y JocinlrsJ.
76
Illegal immigrants, 139
Imagen de Jura con retrato de Fernando VII,
92
Imagined Communities and Anderson, 3; cri-
tique of, 3. Ser also Benedict Anderson
IMF (Internacional Monetary Fund ), 129
immigratiom. as critica) perspectiva xni
INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropologa
Historia), 231, 254
Inca, 16,21
Independence, xiv, 5, 1 3 , 1 4 , 2 9 , 33, 86
149, 202; and American War of Inde-
pendence, 27; and Bourbon refonns. 25:
and Cathol,cism, 47, and citizenship.
62, Constitution ol Cdiz, 27, Creole
symbols, 47, cuerpo unido de nacin, 25;
European influences of, 4, 83-84, failure
to centralize, 87; and governmentality,
198, 203, and governmental state, 198,
199, hlsroriography of, 4, and indige-
nous communities, 48, lack of Creole
bourgeoi sic, 30, lack oi stability, 233-3-1
nd musu_o. 50 , monarch,sts, 87; na-
II,,,u' comauusncss, xiv: national,za-
56,n,t thu chuteh. 47 notions si caste,
+a p ar 1 1 nmcerns ol nationalism,
41, tv,u e.. ol. 62. and public sphcre.
1Su. endica! ,nsurge nts, 87, rehance on
Spanlsh legal thought, 87, role of eom-
numwcs, 10, role ot Frcemasonry, 30;
Spnln a4a,nsr French nvaders. 27;
tate parriot-
ism56 vicw ol Anderson 4
Indian 5 16 33,36.37,44,46.48,50,
52. 55, 63. 153, 191, 263, 267; and citi-
zenship,5l;collectiveidentity of, 42,
communities, 267, conversion of, 153;
descrihed as rencos, 11 I-112, 114; dis-
location of, 42; governors, 274-75;
ladinolzation, 45, 275; legal category
ol. 41; as les, likely m commit crimes,
244; and niarriage, 42, massacres of, 52,
mortalty o1, 40, population movements,
40; in Quertaro, 243; racial category
of, 41, republics, 8, rulers, 168; and
thcft. 244; tribute, 85; women, 17- See
also Aztees, Inca, Mazabuas, Otomt
Indianness, 112, 170, 172, 192
b;digeni;nm, 49, 51, 53, 103, 109, 231, 232,
anos of, 232; as atomizing, 262; a de-
fense against U.S society, 103; deserip-
tion uf, 231, distinct from liberalism,
51; against foreign aggression, 54; in-
corporation o the Indian, 232; mainte-
nance o indigenous communities, 49;
against neocolonial exploitation, 54;
and Tepoztn, 170, 179
7ndigerazta, 97, 134, art, 97, expon o na-
tional anthropology, 254; Rodrguez
Puebla, 48, 51
Indigenous communities, 40, 146, adop'
non uf saints, 41, Christian worship, 40;
as corporate structures, 204, dislocated
Indiano, 41-42; and Benito Jurez, 51;
links with lamily, 40, links with gods,
40, link, wirh land, 40, loso o legal
protection, 150; organization of labor
groups. 40; organized by race, 41;
342 =
political organizaton of, 40, purpose o
40, subordination ro Baste, 41, trbute,
40
Indio, 192; as"forcedidennty, 192-93
Individual rights, 146
tr Informal eeonomy ethnoglaphies ol,
75, negotiation with state institunons,
75
INI (Instituto Nacional 1r,,i vista', 231. 232,
254
Inquisition, 241, and census. 198 as svni-
bol o state vigilance, 115
Intellectuals, xii, 146, 158, 199, 206, 218,
272, 281, and autonomy, 199-200; as
beneficiarles o decentralization, 117,
curanderos, 275; debates in the Gazeta de
Mxico, 202, dependence en corporate
investors, 116; differences with U.S.,
197; and European model, 197, Ricardo
Flores Magn, 151, geography o mute-
ness, 284; and governmentality, 202;
government subsidies, 208-9, and inter-
passivity, 208-9; interpreters of national
sentiment, 114, Enrique Krauze, 215,
language o respect, 285, and Oscar
Lewis, 259, list o, xi; local level, 266,
275; and Mexican Americans, xii, and
national space, 266; as nation builders,
xxii; and patronage, 116; Porfirian intel-
lectuals, 249; Jos Guadalupe Posada,
151; postcolonial critics, 126; priests,
276; and public sphere, 283; representa-
tion o national sentiment, 197-98, 269,
sources o legitimation, 197; as spiritu-
alisto, 207; and state formation, 198; o
Tepoztln, 277, 280, 282, Max Webers
definition of, 266
Interna) colonialism, 128, 140, 191-92,
232, 264
International system, 128
Interpassivity, definition of, 208; and in-
tellectual production, 208
Intimate cultures: definition o, 116
Intruder, The: asan allegory, 168-71, story
o, 169-71
ISAAE (International School of American
Archeology and Ethnology), 250
1 n d rx
]SI (Impon Substitution Industrializacion 1,
103, 264; Arirlismo as an ideology, 103,
corn;pti on, 120; crisis of national ism,
1 14, cultural rcgions durtng, 1 17, ex-
baustion of, 105, and nationalism, 121,
period of urban growth, 115, teachings
of the revolution, 121
Isla Juana, 15
Imrbide Agustn, 29, 47, 68, 241, 284,
adoption of Aztec eagle, 47, creation o
Order ol Guadalupe, 47, murdered hy
fractious Mexicano, 69, Plan de Iguala,
29, 64
Jaguaribe, Beatriz, 213
Jalisco, secessionist movements in, 68
James, Edward, 214
Jefes Politices , 147, 155
Jordn, Fernando : Miguel Alemn, 256;
explanation o Robert Redfield, 255-56;
Nacional School o Anthropology,
256
Joseph, Gilbert, 220
Journalists : as middle daos, 59
Juan, Jorge, 7, 8
Jurez, Benito , 5 1, 52, 55, 56, 95, 129,
206, 241, biblical imagery, 96; Bulnes,
description o, 95, as civil servant, 225,
consolidation o national econoeny, 79;
construction o presidential persona, 95;
embodiment between nation and law,
95-96; with green eyes, 101, identifica-
tion with che )and , 96, image o the presi-
dency, 95, impact tan national history,
55, and Indian citizenship , 51, Indian-
ness o, 95; liberalism o, 51; mestizaje o,
101, Mexico: Biography of Power, 222; mili-
tary campaign against Hapsburg imperi-
alists, 67, mythology o Aztec past, 95;
portrait o, 99, 101, presidency as an in-
stitution o power, 95 , railroads, 72; re-
ligiosity and purity o , 226; suspension
o individual guarantees in Yucatn, 67;
triumph over Maximilian , 72, universal-
ist liberalism of, 55
Junta Instituyente : and citizenship, 62
Juntas de mejoras, 149
343 -
 Kahlo, Frida, 55
Kaiser, Wilhelm - compared with Porfina
Daz, 104
Knight, Alan, 220
Krauze , E nrique , xi, 215; career of 21 a
and cha risma tic power , 225; com panson
with Coso Villegas and Oetavio Paz
219, co - awnerul Cho , 220; critique
of, xxii , critique o p-esidenrialum 213;
"democracy without adjectives' 222.
exceptionallsn ; of Mexico , 217-I8,
"factory of h;stmy ' 220and Fran4ois
Xavier Guerra , 22 1, as a historian ot na-
tion building , xxii; and histoncal soap
operas , 220, 223 ; interpretarion ol
Mexican history , 216, 223 ; Jurez as
authenric , 226,- Krauzometcr , 222-23
and Miguel de la Madrid, 219; mcnrors
of, 222 , and national history , 217; as na-
tionalist i niel lectual , xxii; and 1968 5tu-
dent movement, 212-1 3, 218-19, and
presidencial biograph i es , 2 17, Antonio
Lpez de Santa Atina , 226; and lclevisa,
219-20 ; and Tlateloleo massacre 216,
and use o sources, 221 ; use of state pa-
tronage, 226 ; and Vuelta, 218
Krugman , Paul, xxi
Labor Day parado, 1 19
Ladino , 43, 44, 275; Jews, 44; Muslim,, 44,
as pardy civilized, 44; Spanishspeaking
Africans, 44
1afaye, Jacques, 16
La .Malinche, 218
Land- importante of for i dentiry, 43
Lpez Marcos, Adolfo, National Museum
La Paz , Bolivia, 113, 129
Lara, Agustn, 206
Lpez Portillo, Jos inauguration of re-
Latn America , xviii, amhiguiry off status,
127; and antipolitical discourse, 210,
1_pcz Rayn, Ignacio, 62, 63; constitu-
clama ru Europe , xvii, Latin American
left and imperialism , 129, as "non-
Luther Martn, 15
Western ," xvii; polities and an tipo B tics,
Lynch John, 90
210, portrayed as backward , 127 sover-
eignty and citizenship , 10, tradition ol
Mecebu.;les, 173, 174
anthropology, 229
Macfi iavellianism, 154
Lavall, Bernard, 17
Madero, Francisco 1., 96, 216, 224, as
1aw o 1608, 17
I tia
344
Laves oi Castille, 18
I.aves of che Indies encomendar, 16, justih-
caiion of Spanish expansion, 16
I-egal code of 1836 and citizenship, 64
Leonard, Irving, 154
Lerda de Tejada, Sebastin, 129
1e1 05e11 , 166, 175, 180, 257, 258,
260 270, 275; Cbildrea ofSnchez, 258,
259 260 critique of Sociedad Mexicana de
Groy,, fa y Estadstica, 258; descri ption of
barrios, 180, as FBI spy, 259, Five Families,
25s 259, letter tu Vera Rubn, 258-59;
and Mexican intelligentsia, 259; Ricardo
Pozas, 259
Liberal,sm, 4, 10, 49, 50, 133, 150, prag-
nRic accord w,th conservatives, 72,
and tacist ideas, 50
Libro kajo El- history o civil violente,
239, as shared history of suffering,
241
Limn Jos, xii
Lion's Club, 149
1.ockharr James, 4 1
Lpez, Jess. proposal to ban bullkghting,
66-u7
Lpez de Santa Arma, Antonio, 89, 93,
95, amputated leg, 90; illustration of,
93 iVlexieo Biograpby ofPawer, 226, in
Pastrv Wat, 90, as preserver of order,
90. pmblems with political parties, 90,
as scrvant of the nation, 225, signih-
canc( of eg, 90; Teatro Santa Atina, 90,
1 33: n Texas, 90, theatrieality of, 226,
uses of sacrl fiee, 89-90
of Anthropology, 133
search facility, 213
tion o l 181 1, 62
"aposde ol democracy," 98; and 1857
, x
_ j
constitution, 96-97, messianic image of, Mexican anthropology: challenges to
98; as a spiritualist, 207, toppling o foreigners, 255, eontemporary crisis
Daz, 206-7 o, 230; final phase of, 262; and Great
Madrid, Miguel de la , 55, 223, and educa-
National Problems, 260; historical de-
tional system , 215; election of, 222, velopment of, 230, 233, indigenismo, 231;
Mexico: Btograpby of Power, 222, national-
institucional infrastructure, 230; modern
ist reaction to, 55; refornis of , 55; subsi-
aesrhetics, 231, and nationalism, 231;
dies to inrellectual groups , 219; as well-
and 1968 student movement, 231, 261,
meaning democrat, xxi process uf, 230-31; romanticization o
Magnficos ("Magnificent Severa "), 231,
Indians, 259, Bernardino de Sahagn,
232, 261
238; stabilization of national image, 242,
Mallon, Florencia, 65 220-21
state absorption of, 232, 260, strategies
Maps, 3, 199
of government, 242
Maquiladoras, 139
Mexican democrats critique o corporate
Maroons, 45
state, 77, rise of democracy
Martyrdom, 89, 95, 109, degradation of Mexican history: and public sphere, 157;
insurgent priests, 89, images used by as- theories of, 81
piring presidents, 109, linked te ideal of Mexican nationalism, 53, 86, 87; Luis
sovereignty, 94, marryred national lead- Cabrera, 53, contemporary discourse of,
ers, 89, martyrs o independence, 89, 55, under current regime, 55, formula-
Alvaro Obregn, 94, and presidencial cien of, 53; foundational strain, 86;
persona, 94, proof o cleanliness, 280, Manuel Gamio, 53, and mestizo, 54, as
Guadalupe Victoria, 94, Pancho Villa, modernizing, 53-54; Andrs Molina
94
Enrquez, 53, principal ideologists, 53,
Marx, Karl: and Mexican education, as protectionist, 53-54; as revolutionary
140
nationalism, 53
Masses: as obstacles to progress, 65; in- Mexican nationality, and communitarian
sufficiently civilized, 65
ideologies, 35, historical product o
Ms vale cabeza de ratn que cola de len, 1 18
Mexican peoples, 35, importante of mes-
Maximilian, 87, 241, boulevards of, 133, tizaje, 51, after independence, 46; and
killing of, 87-88, and Tepoztln, 176 liberals, 51; and Mexican Revolution,
Mayas: sold as claves, 235
52, during pre-Hispanic period, 35
Mazabuas, 37
Mexicanness, 224
Media, 117, 152, 157, 158, 284, and so- Mexican proverbs, 60, 78, 118, 176
cial persona, 159
Mexican Revolution, xi, xxi, 52, 75, 86,
Medical doctora' movement, 151-52, 214
139,178,183,199,205,216,218;
Mendieta, Gernimo, 15
degradation o citizenship, 79, and
Merchants, 146, 147, 168, 200
democracy, 216, goals of, 216, ideo-
Mestizaje, 51
logues o, 86, indigenista anthropology,
Mestizo, 16, 50, 53, 263, feminine argu-
231, indigenistas, 231; and indigenous
ments for, 53-54, as fortified version o
world, 134, "intellectual caudillos," 218,,
che indigenous yace, 53, and indepen- Mexico: l3iograpby of Power, 223-24, and
dence, 51, masculine arguments for, peasant organizations, 151, popular
53-54; nationalization of, 54, as nation- public spheres, 279-80; projectforna-
al yace, 52, protagonist o national his-
tionality and modernity, 114, and prole-
tory, 53, revaluation of, 52
tarian organizations, 151, rapid mod-
Mexican Americana, x
ernization, 79; and role o intellectuals,
1
Index
= 345 =
 114 and role. intellcctuals, Morelos (atare), 167, 266. 267 271. 273 National culture as dismodernity, 1 14
210; teachings nl 121 and Tepuztld .o spherc
, 46, and 279, constmction, 18 industr,al,zavon National history 81. 139 failure to de-
178, watershed lor natinnal,ty . 52 14: seat ut viceroyalty
183, migration to the United Stales 183 liver, 81
:Alexicoo-. ambigwty ol smms , 127: um- frpu,: tln 167. 186
, 241, 243, 244, postrevoluti onary eco nom ic organiza- National identiry, xx, xxi, 14, 128, 132,
sciousness ol backward coodiuun. xc,i AI.x!:o It, b adal Evolut,"
tion 183; regional space 182 siate adoption of foreign techniques, 130;
desrc ol nanunahry , .XIS Imellectual 24
governor, 182, tourism, 183 changing aspecrs of, 1 I I, formation ol.
and artistic production . 210, labe1cd ;Vlfxim i'rofio;do. 263
Morenos, 45 141, formed in transnational networks,
"developing narco." xvl , narrat;ves ul Meycr Lorenzo, 213
t`lorrow, Dwight. 1 37 126- Trames of contact, 130, interna[
Mezican pcrople . xv;i; nationalism ol 4. ,Abur.... .,', 129
Mularros, 16 17 business 132, narratives o identity,
source of nat;o nalnv . xlv: serte paN- ALgants. 9,. 142, 143 , 188, 190, 192,
125; and neo),beral ism. 129, production
17 I fl. ,O ( anuda . 187, irom Guerrero,
75 usage of s mb Is
Nacin, 7, 9 13, and lienedict Anderson. of, 125, production o "Mexico," 126;
Mx co a Irave , .ir pos , 245 50 cuino. 1811, migiatory proeess , xii; nationalist
121; to Tepoztln, 8, distinguished from puma, 9; extension sociology o, 127, topography of, 130,
tionary scheme of, 245, interpretation hacklash against ,
186; to the United States, 187 of national identity , 8, and panimperial women and children, 10
of pre Columbian past , 245, Nahoa ,
identiry , 8, and sovereignty , 8; usage of, National image , 143, implementation of,
246, Otomis , 245-46 Milenio. 212, 213
146, 147 7, 8 126, management of, 141
Mexico at tbe World', Falo , 241 Mllitary leaders ,
146, 147, 149 Naco, 120, Art-Naqueau , 11 3; categorical Nationalism, xxiii , xv, 5, 10, 11, 13, 54, 55,
Mexico . Biograpby of Powee absence of cita- Minera ,
transformation of, 114, changing con- 120, 122, 191 , alternatives for Mezican,
tions, 221 ; Alemn , 223; vila Camacho , Moctezuma , 218, 241
notaGOns of, 111, closet nacos , 113; as 56, 83 ; and Benedict Anderson, xx, 3,
223; Emilio Azcrraga , 224; comparison ;\4odemidad indiana . Nacin y mediacin en
colonial imagery, 112; definition o 30, 200, bonds o dependence, 12; citi-
to National Museum o Anthropology , Mxico, xix, xx
214, 215, and nacos kitsch , 112, description of, 1 1f, zenship, 10 , 11; and communitarianism,
226; composition of, 215-16 ; Coso Modernist ruins, 213 ,
223, Tlatelolco massacre, 214 foreign-sounding names, 1 12-13; as xvi, xx, 3, 33, 34; connected to con-
Villegas , 221, 224 ; Porfirio Daz ,
, xv, xx, 57 , 82, 111, 122, lack o distinction , 113, lumpenpolitics sumption , 121, connected to work, 121;
Daz Ordaz , 222, 223 , election ol de Modernization
, 131; criti- of, 113; as mark o Indian , 114; and contradictory claims of, 126; Creole na-
la Madrid, 222- 23; Hidalgo , 224; and 163 , and corruption of morals
222, intellectual cal m national state, 136 ; indigenized, modernization , 113; Nac -Art, 113, tionalism, 6 , crisis of, xxi, 114; defini-
historical evidence ,
, 138, and naquismo, 112 , 113; as sigo o provincial tion of , 6-7, 33, development of, 27;
production , 215; Krauzometer , 222, xxi, and nationalist reactions
postrevolutionary government, 214; backwardness , 111, similar process in discourse of, 13i evolution of, 27, exclu-
Labyrinth of Solilude , 222; de la Madrid ,
Latin America , 112; threat to tradicional sion o Spaniards, 29; failure to refor-
223; metaphors for power, 224 , Mexi- principies o, 128; relationship with the
brote, 82, reproduction o social dasses, political forms , 113; as urban aesthetic, mulate, 122 ; formation of, 30; and fra-
can history as a ztruggle for democracy ,
118-19; threats tu nation states , 82, use 112 ternity, 12, freemasonry , 31, ideological
216-17, Mezican Revolubon , 223-24 ;
NAFTA ( North American Free Trade construction , 132, as invented nature,
asa mirror o presidencial power , 220, of nationality, 114
Andres, xvi, 53, 54, ac- Agreement), xxi, 108; backlash of, 4, 7, under ISI, 121, and language, 14,
nationalist myth , 226, O' Gorman , 221, Molina Enrquez ,
argument 121 229, and linguistic identification, 5; and
opinions stated as historical facts . 222, [ion ' and "resstante ;' 53-54 ,
53, mestizo ideology of, Nahoa, 246 Mezican anthropology, xxiii, mytholo-
223, Paz , 221, readings of, 218; sources for mestizos ,
53; as pro mestizo nationalist, 53 Nahuad, 37 , 172, 173, 192 , 272, 273, gy, 151, 279; myths of, xi, origins (an-
of, 220, Spanish versus English transla -
, Carlos , xi, 55, 205 274, 278 , 285, national anthem, 177; thropolog.cal stories), 233, polemical
nion, 222 ; treatment of 1968 student Monsivis
, 49, 83 , 84, cri- speakers, 174 nature o che national question, 47;
movement , 221, Jos Vasconcelos , 224, Mora , Jos Mara Luis, 48
223. Se, als,, tique o Rodrguez Puebla , 49, and indi- Nation, xiii; 48; appeals to nationhood, politics of, 122, power of , 12-13, and
Zapata , 224, Zedillo ,
Enrique Krauze ger;ismo, 49, interpretation o the consti- 11, as Christian utopia , 86, and citizen- racism, 14 ; and religion , 14; revolution-
ship, 48 , as community, 13, 35, 146, ary nationalism , 56, sacrifice , 7, 11; as a
Mexico Ciry , xii, 158, 171 , 175, 178 ; as tution, 83
85, 227; identification with homeland , 47; ini- sigo o modernity , 128; and sovereignty,
"baicony of the republic ,' xii; crowds , ,Morelos, Jos Mara , 29, 47 ,
184; abolshment o slavery , 85; accusations portance o blood, 43 ; importante of xiv; standardization of, 125; and subject-
60; drivers , 60; earthquake of 1985 ,
, 29, Apatzingn con- land, 43 , intellectuals and nation build- formation, 3; substitute for religious
freeway to Tepozdn , 184; growth of, against Spaniards
stitution , 64, edict o 1810, 85-86; mar- ing, 212 ; local proeess o state forma- community, 7; successor to religion, 3,
152; lack o services , 60; mediated move -
205, tyred by Spaniards , 69, national ideal cien, xv, myths of, xiii; nationalization thick description, 32, and transnational
ments , 59, and national sat'atics ,
uf, 8o; persistente o poltica) spirit, 86, o the church, 47; and race , 27, redefini- relations , 125; uniry and the intelli-
periodicals , 200, politeness of, 59-60 ,
senuments o the nation ;' 158, 227; [ion of, 46; and sacrifice , 1 1, symbols gentsia , 209; violente of, 30; o weak
during Che Porfiriato , 206, prosti ruti un , "
of, xiii, transformation o semantics, 7 nations, 126
137, and public opinion , xii; and pubis servant, of thc nation, 225

l r, :l e x 1 e d ex
= 346 = ea 347 =
 Narionalist ideology, 48, alternatives ol,
56, social hierarchies, 48
Narionalist movenients: adoption o an-
cient political forros, 36; caste wars, 49
Nationalists, 13, adoption o ancient po-
litical forros, 36; bardes of, l0, discoursc
of, 12, and nationalistic scienGsts, 202,
and ven Humboldt, 199
Narionality, xiv-xv, 286
National Museum o Anthropology 226.
231,242,254
National Polytechnlc Instituto, 214
National Preparalory School, The, 243
Nacional sentimenr, 197, 207, census
198; concentrated in Mexico City, xii
and Agustn Iturbide, 284; and opinions,
158; and ritual, 156, 158, and starislin,
198, techniques for interpreting,208;
use o quesrion naires, 198
National sovereignty, 83, 88, secular pro-
cess of, 83
National space, xv, xxi, 265, conceptual
challenge of, 264; cultural gcography
of, xxi, developmenr of, xv; histodcal
sociology of, xix
Neocolonial exploitation, 54
Neoliberalism, foreignization of, 129; int-
plementau,an of, 129
Nerherlands, 15, 21
New Lawsof 1542, 174
New Spain, 8; as cante society, 40, hierar-
chical relationships, 40, as a kingdoni ot
Spain, 8
Newspapers, 5, 6, 156; and "empry time,"
22-23, limits of public discussion, 148,
as pdvileged inedia, 159. Seealso Print
capitalisno
Neu, York Times, xxi
Nexos, 219, 226
Nolahles, Los 276, 277, 278, 279
Novo, Salvador, xi
Nuestra seora de Guadalupe, palro,w dr la
Nueva Espaa, 19
O, Genovevo de la, 179
Obregn, Alvaro, 94, 104, Barde ol
Celaya, 104-5; building o the state,
IuJr^
348 =
74; Ioss ol arm, 94; monument built co
honor lost arm, 94, martyrdom of, 94;
overlap ol presidential personas, 104-5,
and Zapatistas, 179
Ocampo, Melchor 214
O'Corman Edmundo, xviii, disapproval
of K;auze's biographies o power, 221,
dem ahout che invention o America,
xvui
Oil indusery, 104, nationalization under
Crdenas, 104
Olympie Carnes in 1968, 108, 259
Opposition parties. PRD, 117
Ortega Y Gasset, Jos, 209
Ortiz, Luis 2 I, 22
Oswald, Felix L, 239
Otnm,, 245, 246
Oteoman Empire, 15
Ouweneel, Arij, 275
Pagden, Anthony, 28, 172, 220
Parda 45
Parin Market, 131
Pars World's Fair o 1889, 250
Paseo de la Reforma, 206
Pastrv War, 90
Patience, 61
Patria, 5, 9, 43
Pa triotic deaths, 3
Parriotic sacrifice, 13
Porfirians: and internacional arena,
Payno, Manuel, 239
Paz, ( ctavio, xi, 53, 55, 218, 219, 221,
Porfiriato, xx, 180, 206, 218, 250; consoli-
222 227, critique of National Museum
of Authropology, 226; The Critique of tbe
Pyruruid, 226, mentor to Krauze, 222, en
xlesican nacional culture, xiv, Mexico:
Riogiphy of Pou,er, 222
Pcasant communiti es, 152; forums for dis-
cisson, 149, gendered forms for discus-
sion 149; and public sphere, 149
Peasants,52,151,191,232,266,281;
public opinion, 147; schools and festi- ized heir of che revolution, 98; and
claims of citizenship, 76, exchange o
vals, 155, 156; state theater, 205, and local villages, 119, monument for Alvaro
votes 76; parfieipation in national dis-
coune, 76
Posada, Jos Guadalupe, 151 litical campaigns, 222; as a refashioning
Pea Guillermo de la, xix, 161
Posrcolonial, 142; challenges ro nacional- of colonial system, 115, use o public
Poimseln res, 5, 8, 17, 45, 199
ism, 128, elements of postcolonial theo- rallies, 76, use of relevision stars, 114
Peoles Cuide to Mexico, 134
Indrx
Phelan, John Leddy, 15 Postmodernity, 110
Pietschmann, Horst, 21, 22, 23, 25 Pozas Horcasitas, Ricardo, 151; medical
Pimentel, Francisco, 53, 252; high official students strike, 214
in Maximilian's court, 260 Pratt, Mary Louise, 141
Plan de Ayala, 278
PRD (Partido de la Revolucin Democrtica) -
Plan de Iguala, 29, 64
use o celebrities, 117
poblacin del valle de Teotihuacn, La, 253, na-
Prefectura del Ceniro 242
tional dimensinns of, 251 Prensa Graffca, La, 255
Pocho, 139
Presidency, 84, 96, construction o na-
Poinsett, Joel, 31, 88, effort to build pro- cional image , 88, identification with
American parry, 31, establishment of modernization, 104; Jurez as strong
Masonie lodges, 88, organizarion of image , 95, messianic imagery, 89, dur-
Masonic lodges, 31
ing the nineteenth century, 104, presi-
Political elites, developmenr o distinct denttalism, 213; sacrifice as ideology,
forms, 118; parasitism, 120-22, por- 89, 225, statistics, 104
trayed as out o touch, 120; as preda- President, 83, 99; development o image,
tors, 120
xxi; figure of, 106, 108, 115; inaugura-
Political rallies, 177, as expression of pub- tions of, 213, Mexico.. Biography of Power,
lic sentiment, 160; theatrical element, 216; since 1982, 105; as servant, 225,
159
shaping of public persona, 83
Political ritual, 146, 159; appropriarion Presidential authority, 98: nationalization
of corruption, 146, and corruption 162, o the law, 98
substitution for discussion, 164
Presidential candidate: relationship with
Politics: connections with ritual, 145 che suit, 77, use of costumes, 77
Polis, 204
Presidential persona, 81, 96; importante
Poniatowska, Elena, xi, 55
o technological innovations, 104,
Population, o 1950, 54, of 1990, 54
shaped by 83, 98-99, uses o martyr-
Porfirian elite: and European immigration, dom, 94
140
Presidential power, 88; and poltica) par-
ties, 88
252
Presidential repertoires, 89
Press, 59, 146, 150; censorship of, 59,
dation o nacional economy, 79, elite,
during colonial period, 115; eritieism
140, 180, 210; evolution o citizenship, o the government , 78; and government
72, economic growth, 72, futuros for subsidies, 209, and narcotice trade, 131;
discussion, 149, government institutons, and self-clnsorship, 59
197; "order" and "progress" superseded PRI (Partido Revolucionario
Institucional), 82,
citizenship, 72, and Political ritual, 73, 111, asan Ancien Rgime, 82; and de
and positive seienee, 210,, progress as la Madrid, 222; and democracy ,
216 ;
fetish, 73; and public education, 73, and idiom o village uniry, 1 19; institutional-
Tepoztln, 170, 178 Obregn, 94, 1988 campaign, 76, po-
ry, 125, identity production 128 Pues,, 168, 241, as inrellectuals, 275-76
349 =

Prieto . Gmllern;u,. xi 25U-51
Prlmordiahst nacional lsm. 265
Primordial loy albas, 36. 49
Primordial tules. ti
Pr ; pales. 174
I'nnc capitalism 3.5.6, 14.22..43
Private sphere 268
Progrerisfw , 268. 169. 280
Progress, 54
Praletar;an ; zanun. 1
Pranundam ;m;tm 299
Protochronisnt xix; definition of nx
Puebla , Rodrguez, 48, 51
Puebla (state), 155
Pueblo , El, 78, 79, 80, bad pueblo as todder
for politicians , 71, discourse o good
and bad pueblo , 70; portrayals of, 65
positive and negative , 65; substiituted
by progress, 79
Public opinion , xxii, 146 , 156, 157, 159,
206, 208 , 210, 266; concentrated in
Mexico Ciry, x; and intel lectuals, 197;
lack of, 284, mechantsms of, xxii; and
social movements , 152, subsidized hy
Che state, 233
Public rallies as corporate organisin, 76;
divided by sectors , 76; increase in par-
ticipation , 78; 1988 PRI campaign, 76;
use o dress , 76, 77, use o television
stars, 117
Public sphere , xv, xxii , 10, 25, 82, 102,
145, 147 , 149, 153, 159, 233 ; and col-
lective actors , 150; definition of, 265;
development of, 149; geography of, 146,
and independence , 150; and local imel-
leetuals , 283; media of , 266, obstarles
for creation ol, 163, and popular will
156; preferente for gossip , 158; and pro-
letariat , 151; scgmented quality of, 83
Quetzalcoatl , 47, 272
Race , 27, 33, 48, 55; 'Old Christians 32
Racial identity ; manipulation of, 51
Racial ideolugies - during colonial pe; i ;d.
50, and Indians , 50, and procreauon
50; Spanish forros ol, 50
Riva Palacio, Vicente, 53, 239 Santo Domingo 15, 173, 174, 266, 270,
Ra;ln,ads . en;raliza tion of thc goverm
Rivera, Diego, 53. 55 change of carnival signs, 189, and intel-
roen; 72. under Jurez 72; and public
,pi,', 295 Rod, Enrique. Ariel. 103, ideology ol lectuals, 269, political factions, 260;
103 symbolism of names, 189-90, tecolotes,
Kan;o, Samuel . 53. 74 78; on ^tilexiean
Rojas, Jos Guadalupe, 277. 279 289, 269 ertunes, 269
pan==nal charactcr , 73; pelado as enemy
dlaries of, 278; and Nahuad, 278, and Secretary of Agravian Reform, 232
.n good Guy. 73; pelado as massihed
nationalist mythology, 278-79 Seed, Patricia, 42
,,trzen , 70; use of thc pelado, 73
Rojas, Mariano, 277-78 Schools, 155, 156. 177; festivals, 155; fol-
Ranchos 155
Rojas, Simn, 278 lowing che Mexican Revolution, 155;
14, 15, importance af blood.
Rojas, Vicente, 277 and i nstitution o discipline, 155, and
1 r;pi )e ni;;re , 16, nationalization
Rojas (family), 174. 274. 280 ritual, 155; schoolteachers, 155. 168
oi ;ha church, 42
Rumor, 157, 159, as chisme de viejas, 157, as Science, under protectionist state, 1 15
Rccyclmg. detinuion ol, I I8
cowardly, 157; as feminized, 157; and Scientifically marvclous, 201, 202; ex-
Rcdticld Robert 166, 175 , 182, 270; cor-
public opinion, xxii; and public sphcre, aniples of, 201-2, as propaganda, 201
recto,, 192 , 275; and orientalize, 166;
155, 158; and ritual, 155 Scientific socialism, 140
radio interview , 255-56; tontos, 275
Scott, James, 178
Regional cultures composed of, 116, cul-
Sacrifice , 5, 10, 1 I, 12, 42, association Scottish rite, 88. See also Freemasonry
ture of , 115; dependence en commodi-
with nationalism , 7; Aztec ideology of, Serdn, Aquiles, 206
ties, 117; and telephone , 117; and tele-
38, 39, coercive pressures of, 11, ideo- Seven Laws (1835); and Catholic reli-
1
logical appeals te, 1 I, and misconstrued, gion, 48
Religious fesrivittes : and collective actors,
13; and nationalism, 7, 12 Sierra, Justo, 243, 244, vision o national
147, 150 ; slave and black, 147
Sahagn, Bernardino de, 38, 238 evolution, 245
Represertlante de bienes communales, 268
Sahlins, Marshall, 166 Sigenza y Gngora, Carlos de, 16
Republica de indios, 44
Salinas , Carlos, 223 , 227; and Hctor Slavery, 38-45, 50, 63, 64, 85, 147, 218;
Respeta 270-71, when doing ethnographie
Aguilar Camn , 219, campaign of, 206; abolition of, 62, 85, African, 45, 241 ;
work , 270-71
subsidies to intellectual groups, 219; use Aztec ideology of, 38; captives o "just
Restorcd Republie, xx
o television stars during campaign, 117; wats," 45; constitution o 1824, 204;
Reto del Tepozteeo , El, 281, 282
and Anuro Warman, 232 , 233; as a well- indigenous, 52, as liberation o human
Revolutionary nationalism , 55-57; model
meaning democrat, xxi energy, 38; prohibition against odian
o, 55; reanimation of, 56
Salve Reina de la Amrica (atina, 28 nobles, 174; prohibition of, 204
Revolutionary state : and the church, 156;
San Andrs , 173, 266 Social Darwinism, 52, 53, Mexican view
creation o corporate groups , 74-75;
San Jos, 189 ; change o carnival signs, o Indians, 52
differences between Porfirian state, 74;
189; symbolism o names, 189-90 Social democracy, 56
forros of cltizenship, 80
San Juan Teotihuacn , 250; description Socialization: o children, 59-60; as
Revol utions , 207, 208
of, 250 mechanism o courtesy, 60; and per-
Reyes Los, 189
San juanico, 173 sonal relations, 61
Ritual. 151 , 153, 159 ; appropriation
San Martn, 9 Social movements, 27, 50, 80, 149, 171,
ot corruption , 146; and common cul-
San Miguel, 173 199, 208, challenge to nacional image,
ture , 155, connection with politics, 145;
San Salvador, 15 143, and conditions o reproduction,
constitution o polity, 159-60 ; and cor-
San Sebastin , 189; change o carni- 152, and fiscal crisis o 1982, 77; as ges-
ruption , 155; domination and subordi-
val signs, 189; symbolism o names, tures o revolt, 159, incorporation of
nation , 153; expansion o state institu-
189-90 the state, 77, and national media, 159;
tion. 157 ; importance during colonial
Santa Catalina, 173 and public opinion, 158-59; violente
period , 153; and political discourse,
Santa Cruz Teypaca ; change o carnival against, 143
154; production of, 146; and public
signs, 189 , symbolism o names , 189-90 Social sciences, xvi, xv; part o inter-
opinion , xxii, 160 ; and public sphere,
Santa Mara, 173 national horizon, xvi; tied to national
145. 160 ; and ruptor , 154-55; and
Santsima Trinidad , La, 173 development, xvi
,ehools , 155-56
In dex
351 =
 Sonora, 52
Sovereignry, xiv, 81, dynamic of cultural
produerion, 81; and fueros, 9, as paler
potestas. 9; as poini of referente, xv
Spain, 14, 1 5 , Bourbon reforms, 21, 23. 82
8 pan i ards, i ntellcctua l represen tati ,,n, 27[
Spanish cOncept ot, 17, legal category of,
16, legal notion of, 17
Spanish America, 5 administrativo colo-
nial practicas, 5 enlightened munarchs,
200; following independence, 199,- ,larle
,ensota, 200, 202 and nauonalism, xx
4, nacional symbols ol, xiii; presidencial
power, 225; revolutions, 27; upper cIas-
es, 200; and Alexander van Hwnholdt.
199
Spanish eonquesr, 250; as origin of na-
tional race 53, as a "war of imagos," s3
Spanish Cortes, 64
Spanish Enlightenmenc. and patrcotism.
23
Spanish invason of 1829, 70
Spanish language, 21, 32, 172, language
of, 18; as modero fono of Latn, 32 no-
tionalizabon of the church, 18
Spanish lasr names, 174, 274
Spanish nationalism, 18, 21; built un reli-
gious militancy, 21; developmeni of, 27
Spanishness, 9, 18; and civil izarion. 18
and connection with church, 18-19;
and language, 18, nacional consrruction
of, 18-and eelig;on, 18; and territory, 18
Spencei, Herbert, 50, 52
Sports; and fiestas, 156
State formatiom. and,ntellectuals 198,
and population information , 198,- ro[, in
crcating nacional ci tizcnry, 1 17
Sratistics, 136, 204; in Chiapas, 244, as
a mcasu,, of common good, 198, and
mystique of modernity 205, in Yucatn,
244
Slatue of Ibe ;blrxtsan Goddess of War or of
dealh] Teoyaomiqui, 240
Stavenhagen, Rodolfo, 232
Stern, Alexandra, 139.252
St ident movenient ( 1968), x1, 77, 214.
216, 221, 226, 259; and indlgcnistas, 232,
352 =
254 and Mexican anthropology, 231,
232
Supc;hnrrio, 158
Tacuhaya, 179
laxco, 266
Tatro S.tnla Anua, 90
lecoloto 269
l elephone, 116 117
Televisa and high culture, 1161 and
Enrique Krauze, 200, Iinks to intellectu-
al groups, 1 16, and ' transition to democ-
racv' 220
TclevIsion 116, 117 122 156, 219
Te ancho ti ln, 37
Tenorio= Trillo, Mauricio, 241, 249
Tcpoztccan mythology, 168;center-
pcripltery ntythology, 168-69, story
of El Fepoztectl, 168-69
Tepozrecd El, 168-69.181
Rpozteco. 6l, 181, 282; pseudonym o El
Tepo'ztect1, 181
lepoztln, xxii, 159, 161, 188, 189, 265,
266. 279, 285; antiprogressive dis-
conOC . 184, artificial flowers st,ategy,
170, 181, 192; brujos, 270 ; calpuflis of,
173 ampesinos, 280; carnival , 188-91;
and (th,he church, 169; and cidzem
286; Colonio Tepozteca, 179; and
colonization , 184, consdmtion of, 167;
cunsuuacd as peri pheral , xx; con-
struuion uf che center, 169, and corrup-
in,n 207; and cultural mediation, 283;
uva n,ieros , 270-71; education, 186,
elites. 174, 180; employment, 186, fies-
tas 148 -90;1540 censos ,173;foreign-
ers 185; as " I ndian ," 170; intellectuals,
169, 272, 277, 280, 282, The intruder,
169-71, lack ol cominunal voice, 276;
land ;,,cc, 184, 185; location of, 167,
mokanp o jurisd iction, 173, Mexican
Ihevaluriun, 178; migrants , 171-72,
1 85 186, 187, 190, 192-93; rnulti-
col rural 1511' 186; los notables , 276, 277;
Ccnovevo de la O, 179; Orne Tochdi,
173; and orientalizatfon, 166; peasants,
167, perlpheral status of, 167; politieal
groups, 269, 274, 282; principales, 277;
and progress , 184, pseudonym of El
Tepoztectl, 181; rebellion, 276-80;
Robert Redfield, 175; Relacin de Tepoztldn,
173; road to Cuernavaca, 184; Rojas
Family, 174, 277, El Tepozteco, 181, 282;
41
Tepoztizos, 185; tourism , 170-72, 281, -
tribute, 167; Unin de Campesinos Te-
poztecos (UCT) 179, 180, 182; Valley
of Arongo, 184; Villa de Tepoztln,
173, 267; Che vulgar class , 276, Zapa-
tismo, 280, Zapatistas, 178, 179
Tertulias, 146
Testera Jacobo, 153, conversion o
lndians , 153; use o icons, 153
Texcocans, 16
Texcoco, 37
Textile workers, 149
Tlahuica Nahua, 173
Tlabuieole, 97
Tlanepanda, 173
Tlatelolco massacre, 214; and Enrique
Krauze, 216
Tlaxcalans, 16
Tonalli, 38, 39
Tourism,142,183,184,185, 186,188,
252, 273, 281; excursionistas, 184; and
land prices, 186; patterns of urbaniza-
tion, 186
Trade unions, 152; and public sphcre,
151
Transition to democracy, xxi. 152, 164
Transnational capital impact of xxi
Tpac Amaru, ton
Tornee, John Kenneth, 255
Turner, Vctor, 11, 108, 224; essay en
Hidalgos revolt, 108
Tutino, John, 220
Tylor, E. B . , 234-35, 236, 239, 241,
242, 254; Juan Alvarez, 245, Anahuac,
orMexrco and tbe Mexicans, Ancient and
Modere, 235, classihcation of Mexican
races , 244-45, contrast w,th Justo Sierra,
242; description of Mexico, 235, 237-39,
description of Mexico' s national muse-
um, 237-38; description of Yucatn,
235, development o Mexican anthro-
nde x
353 =
pology, 238-39; and French occupation
o Mexico, 239; and Mexican intellectu-
als, 238; types o Mexican lndians, 245
UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de
Mxico), xviii, 210, 214, 215, 231; pre-
Columbian urban design, xviii; scientific
output, 115
Universal Catholic Monarchy, 15
United States of America, 87, 131, 138,
171; alliance with Jurez, 96, fetishism
with "Rationality," xvi; fetishism with
"Western tradition," xvi, immigration
control, 122, migration from Morelos,
183; opposition to Mexican monarchy,
87; Tepoztecan migrants, 190; and uni-
versal rationality, xvii; universities,
xvi-xvii, 198; and U.S-Mexico border,
122
University system, xvi, architecture
of, xvi, xviii; based on French models,
197-98 based en U.S . models , 197-98;
under Echeverra, 214-15; emulation o
English universities , xvi, expansion of,
214-15
Untitled photograpb of a Maya Woman, 257
Urbanity. equated with civilization, 172,
signs of, 172
Urban rabble, 74-75
U,S.-Mexican War: and backwardness,
204
Usos y costumbres, 150
Valley o Teotihuacn, 250
Van Young, Eric, 220
Vasconcelos, Jos; building o schools,
74; and contact zone, 135; as "intellec-
tual caudillo," 224
Vsquez, Genaro, 140
Vaughan, Mary K., 73, 155, 156
Velsquez, Fidel, 119
Velsquez de Len, Don Joaqun; debate
with FatherJ. Antonio Alzate, 8
Veracruz, 15, 147, 200, 206; 1915 renters'
strike, 152
Verdery, Kathleen, xix
Viceroys, 198
Victoria, Guadalupe, 31, 94, rem.nns \V'snrack, lohn 267
placed in Merco C nv. e4: violauon \Fndd Bank. 129
ot tomb hy Panrrican s:ddiers c,+
Vilar, Manuel. 97 Sc.... hubia. xl
Villa, Pancho 9.1 98 descc ratlon Xc 11ol1h'111ic ; n1Velrlents: ante-Chinese
tomb 94; as ol,cct ot scient,hc'utcr- n roa u m Sonora 131, anti-Spanish 4
es 94 nti n;ent 131 : Arabs 131; identifica-

Violente < ,f 1-13 flor, w ,t1, Ioreign businessmen, 131;

Virgen de C,undalule and Miguel Hidalgo us.. 131
47, 48, and los Mara Morelos -47 X eu te ncatl. 239

painting ot . 19. 20 217, 28 Xo:1[In. 26'i

Virgen de Guadalupe escudo dr sah;d em:nn

la epidemia de M,lllam6unti de vie-1735.
20
Virgin o the Nativiry, 168, 169
Von Humboldt, Alexander, 26, 30, 234;
and Bourbon rcforms, 26; portrayal of
Spanish America , 199, publications of,
26; roya) mmmission of, 26
Vuelta, 218 , 219, 226
Waire, C. B 105
Wallerstein, Immanuel, 191
Ward, George, 30
Warman, Arturo, 183; director o INI,
232; minister o Agravian Reforni, 232,
260; and Carlos Salinas, 232-33; and
Ernesto Zedillo, 233
Weber, Max, 35, 266
Weiner, Annette: discussion of exchange,
36; focus un inalienable goods, 36
Yautepec. 178,271
Yucatn, 52, 67, 244
Zapata, Emiliano, 98, 178, 280, 283,
Mrxieo: Biograpby of Pomo, 224; Zapa-
tismo, 180, 280
Zrate, Julio, description of conditions
o Indians, 66, prohibition of jails in
haciendas, 66
Zavaln, Lorenzo de- chronicle of voyage CLAUDIO LOMNITZ is professor o history and anthropology at the
to America, 65, comparisons between
University o Chicago. His arcas o interest include politics, culture, and
the United States and Mexico, 65-66
history. He is author o Exits from tbe Labyrintb, Culture and Ideology in the
Zedillo, Ernesto, 223; as well-meaning
democrat, xxi Mexican National Space, Evolucin de una sociedad rural, and Modernidad indiana:
Zineantn, 161 nueve ensayos sobre nacin y mediacin en Mxico.
Zizek. Slavoj, 208
Zolov, Frie, 134; description o the hippie
movement, 134
Ziga, ngel, 285

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354 =