MEXICO IN SEARCH OF ITSELF

Outline of CORE Lecture May 15-16

Juan Bruce-Novoa

1. In the 17^th century, Spain controlled the great majority of the territory of the Americas. During the 19^th century all of Spain's American colonies would win their independence.

2. MEXICO IN SEARCH OF ITSELF

Mexico faced many problems in its effort to forge a nation:

1810-21 Independence movements and wars.

1824-35 Political Chaos, i.e. 16 Presidents in eleven years.

1846-48 U.S. Invasion: Lose 50% of its territory to the U.S.A..

1856-63 War of Reform between Conservatives and Liberals.

1863-7 French Invasion to impose an Austrian prince as Emperor.

1876-1910 Under Don Porfirio Díaz Mexico had stability and peace that allowed it to develop—at the expense of the poorest classes.

LOCAL vs GLOBAL

3. MODELS OF MODERNITY?

One Method: Mexico imitated the foreign models in the arts, such as music, or painting.

4. Historiography as discourse of modernity: México a través de los siglos

3. World Fairism as an international stage for performing nationalism and modernity.

a. Mexico used different architectural styles to represent itself in 1884 and 1900.

b. The 1889 Paris fair focused on the Aztec foundation of Mexican culture.

4. The city as a local stage for performing modernity.

1. Urbanism and city planning can be seen as the expansion of the previously seen Jesuit theory of planned environment to encompass the entire city.

2. The belief that a

nation’s historical & moral qualities are expressed in their products, especially architecture.

3. Epitome of civilized character is expressed in the organization of social space: the city.

4. Urbanization: intervention to remedy inherited chaos by modernizing access, rerouting circulation, and harmonizing social interaction.

5. City planning: the coordination of new development to insure that it will extend the harmonious plan into the future.

5. City planning was a major concern in the 19^th century.

a. Utopian plans.

b. Leading countries developed models:

I.

6.

Washington D.C., 1792 . . .

II. Victorian Gothic Revival in England, 1750-1880

III. Paris, 1853-1870.

7. MEXICO CITY 1793-1909. Population expanded from 100,000 to 440,000, accompanied by growth in space and a boom in construction. The choice of architectural styles constitutes a history of national self-representation. Competition among major styles: Classic, Gothic, Paris Urban, U.S. Urban.

8. El Caballito Monument in one traffic circle as a "site of memory"—an artifact invested with cultural significance over time (1790s to 1910)

9. The people's choice of architectural style: Parisian modern as classic style goes into decline.

10. In 1904, the Government's official policy favored an eclectic program for the architecture of its buildings.

11. Yet, when preparing for the Centennial of Mexican Independence (1910), its new buildings used classical architecture in a variety of forms. At the same time, pre-Columbian elements were de-emphasized.

12. El Paseo de la Reforma was turned into a museum of Mexican history.

13. In art, the national image supported the official view of well-being, especially in the metaphor of the strong, healthy Mexican family. Everything looked positive, the nation progressing like a strong, loving family towards a bright future.

14. In 1910 the government celebrated in grand style the centennial of Mexican Independence, filling the new boulevards with festivities.

15. Yet, despite affluence and progress, the other Mexico of the poor and the indigenous people persisted, living in the older sections of the city and moving along other routes away from the new section.

16. And in provinces political unrest was already starting. Appropriately, the first literary work of note from the Mexican Revolution, The Underdogs (1915), starts with a crisis in the Mexican family and the destruction of its home.