Deep Mexico, silent Mexico: an anthropology of nationalism

189 Pages·2001·12.54 MB·English

by  Claudio Lomnitz-Adler

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Dilip Gaonkar and Benjamin Lee, Series Editors
C L A U D 1 O L,
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Claudio Lomnitz,
Deep Mexico, Silent Mexico: An Anthropology of Nationalism
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Greg Urban,
Metaadture.- How Culture Moves tbrough the World
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Patricia Seed, American Pentimento, Tbe Invention ofIndians and the Pursuit
ofRiches De ep Me xico
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Radhika Mohanram, Black Body: Women, Colonialism, and Space Si len t Mexi co
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May Joseph, Nomadic Identities Tbe PerformanceofCitizenship
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Mayfair Mei-hui Yang, Spacesof TheirOwn. WomensPublicSphere
in Transnational-China
An Anthropolog)r
VOLUME 3
of Nati onal isni
Naoki Sakai, Translationand Subjectivity On 'zapan"and CulturalNationalism
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Ackbar Abbas, HongKong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance
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-Copyright 2001 by the Regents oí 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 TheOdre Minor Gmnd Theorytbrou96 EleLens ofLatin America, edited by
.Miguel Angel Centeno and Fernando Lúpez-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 oí
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 andlbe Public in Latí, America:
Culturalldnttitirsand Polili¢d 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," PublleCulture 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 This book is dedicated
of Latirt AmericanAnthropology I, no. 1 (1995) 20--47, copyright 1995 American Anthropo-
logical Association, reprinted by permission of American Anthropological Association,
to the memory of
Arlington, Virginia. An cachee version oí chapter 10 appeared as"An Intellectual's Stock io
the Factory ol Mexican Ruins Enrique Kauzcs Blogiaphy oí Power, "American launtal of
Sociology 103, no- 4 (1998). 1052-65, copyright 1998 by the University oí Chicago, al] JorgeSimón Lomnitz (1954-93)
rights reserved.
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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-(Pubhcwor]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
320.972-dc21
2001002740
Prinred Iu the United Status ni Amcrlet un ac,d-free paper
The University ut Minnesota is an equa!-opportumpy educator and employer.
12 11 1 () 09 08 07 06 0 5 04 03 02 () 1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Partí 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 thePublic 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 oí 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
1 1 Bordering un Anthropology_ Dialectics oí a
National Tradition 228
12 Provincial Intellectuals and the Sociology oí the
So-Called Deep Mexico 263
Notes 287
References 317
Index 335
Acknowledgments
To me, this book is like a "cabinet oí curiosities," a showcase for a whole
extended family oí subjects that were first washed upon my shore by the
tide oí a previous book, Exitsfrom the Lahyrinth. The essays that 1 have in-
cluded here were written between 1993 and 2000, and they were crafted
in an environment oí 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 oí 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 oí my colleagues and students
in the departments oí History and Anthropology at the University oí
Chicago. As an anthropologist, 1 am drawn to the peripheral, te the cu-
riosities and details oí human sociability. Friedrich Katz has brought me
back to the great current oí world events, and in the process has also
taught me much oí what 1 know about Mexican history. He has been my
closest colleague these past years.
The friendship, conversation, and example oí Fernando Escalante,
Robin Derby, Roger Bartra, Beatriz Jaguaribe, Néstor García Canclini,
Andrew Apter, Eric Fassin, Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, Juan Pérez, Liz
Henschell, Marshall Sahlins, Ricardo Pozas, llan Semo, Arjun Appadurai,
Martin Riesebrodt, Tom Cummins, Francisco Valdés, Fred Myers, Annette
Weiner, and Guillermo de la Peña sustained and inspired me more than 1
can say. Some oí the particulars in one or another essay benefited from the
tx =
advicc 0f Jamar Herzo,. Ete 1'tti, as Carlos Funnent, and Cristóbal
Aliovín - 1 hc late Calo t lúnica 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 oí 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 oí intellectuals who have the delightful privilege oí con-
ence, a tide that rase and fell with the pull oí the dark moon of my brother
stantly keeping their readers company-writers who take down their im-
jorge's death, and oí the glowing clelight el my family, and especially oí
pressions oí the significant events oí a communiry and supply it with a
my children, Enrique and Elisa, and my wife, Elena Climent. Conversations
steady stream oí commentary - The role oí these intellectuals is something
with Elena have been formative in the deepest sense, and her work as an
like that oí a village priest, consecrating significant events, offering advice
artist is a source oí 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 María Bustamante,
Guillermo Prieto, and Ignacio Manuel Altamirano were figures oí this sort
in the nineteenth century, as was Salvador Novo in the decades following
the Mexican Revolution. Currently, writers such as Carlos Monsiváis,
Héctor Aguilar Camín, Enrique Krauze, and Elena Poniatowska fati finto
this category. Even intellectuals who have kept a greater distante from
the bustle oí 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 oí 1985, or the Zapatista revolt
oí 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 oí the
different, no doubt. 1 do not mean te use the hardship oí 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 México 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 oí
My current position in the American academy and my experience in
Mexican politics and its cultural aftairs, iv position is reminiscent oí that
Mexico afford, I believe, a vista oí its own, a vantage point that is mount-
oí an infirm ancle who keeps ro his quarcers, and who only makes an occa-
ed neither on the balcony oí 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, oí 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 oí that great city that is
Depth and Silence
Mexico City, the place that Porfirio Díaz recognized long ago as "the bal-
cony oí 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 oí Two Races, the Chosen People oí
capital. The values of the pmvinees and foreign values both were realized
God, the Children oí Revolution-these myths appeal to the historical
there, and they were made to radiate from there to the entire nation. My
"depth" oí nations, a depth that finds material expression in the land itself.
generation is the tirst in which a few mcmbers oí 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 oí 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 losé Limón has shown Mexican intellectuals have de-
Images oí 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) oí
have rarely done is acknowledgc thc Mexican-American vantage point as
Guatemala, the copihue and araucaria (plants) oí Chile, the Argentine
the sorrce of new critical perspectives.'
pampa, the Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl (mountains) oí Mexico, and so
In my years in the United States 1 have often thought of my experi-
en. Alongside the exaltation oí the land carne the idealization oí the
ences in relation to those oi Mexican migrant workers, to their ties to
remate indigenous past: oí unconquerable chieftains such as Caupolicán,
honre villages and to the ways in which rheir lives are lived andjustified in
Cuauhtémoc, and Túpac Amant, and indigenous achievements in astrono-
the United States. 1 do not mean to make too much oí 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 oí the opinions and immediate interests
do 1 seek a new group to represen[ now that 1 have "abandones Mexico-
oí large portions oí 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" oí the nation have been a staple in the packaging oí
perience can he used for setting pass situations right, and the ambivalent
modernizing projects, calling potential dissenters Yo order in the narre oí
realization that the dithculties ol the migratory process have changed os.
a shared trajectory. In national societies, "depth" and "silence" are mutually
The sature oí our investments, the sources ol our frustra tions on the home
implicated.
front, the spec ific qualities oí our tiansformations in the United States are
This relationship between depth and silente reveals a national secret,
1 1 t r o d u c 1 l o n
xiii
nections between che people and che poGty, when they discuss rights and
which is that denarrcctcy, popular soccn-i,,ntr and a racional governmen-
obligacions, or rey co justify oi r'elect modernization and social change-
tal admin:stration are leso lulh guaina blr . 1 hc nacional state is always
Nacional filiation is thcrelore used in order to hanuner out a consensual,
involved in the work of shapinr puhl:c opirtum with che aid of rigid sys-
oi hegemonic, a rra ngem ent, ir involves cajoling and purchasing, exhibits
teniso t discipline arad exdu,ion. l hn rs be, ause che eonneetio ns hetween
oí strength and eocrcion- Uepth and silente are che Siamese twins oi na-
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 tional tate formation_
processes of deculonizatiun In eiiIiei a,c. diverse people,, sometimes
unrelated te) ea, h uther are suhreeis nl thc ante st,ue Nacional Distinction Tbeory and History of National Sprices
The muvcmcnu involved in elalming popular and territorial sovereign-
The nacional ideal of popular sovercignty can rever be fully accom-
cy ti-tus requirc arrangem eras between peuples w^ho do not neeessarily
plished- Ir is instead like a receding horizon, a point of referente that is
i dentify with une anothcr, and ,vho may Nave only tenuous and indirect
used te) organize relationships between che people and che state in
links. In extreme ssmacions, chis can load tu civil war and territorial frag-
processes of modernization that can rever be contained by nacional bor-
mentation, but oven in milder cases the scgmenration of "the nation' has
ders. As a result, che nacional space is constantly changing. Isolated com-
profound political and cultural consequences, including che exacerbated
munities are integrated into che national public sphere, while newly pau-
use oí nationalism_ Moreover, che sha pe ot a territory is never perfectly at-
perized classes are marginalized from it; power brokers rise and falla
tuned to che tradicional habitat ot a people even in cases when such rela-
foreign interesas are successfully reigned in and subsequently escape gov-
tions between a people and a territory can credibly be made. Territories
ernmental control, In short, che development oí a national space is a his-
peed to be claimed, boundaries necd tu be enforced, and so they are
torical process. Abstract generalization, theorization with no historical
dependent not only un che national community, but also on its neighbors.
referent, is difficult given the currenc state oí our comparative knowledge,
In short, neither a people nor its corneenuns to a state and terrimry are
and yet theorization is required to make adequate descriptions oí that
stable facas. Instead, these relationships leed constantly co be shaped and
great abstraction that is "national space."4 A theoretically inclined history
reshaped.
In Chis, Mexico is not an exception, latir rather an extreme. Like all is thus useful at chis particular junction.
But we need historically sensitive theories just as much. Nations are at
other nations, Mexico carne into being as the result oí world-historical
once aspects oí an internacional order and the product oí local processes
conditions that were beyond che control of its inhabitants and, although
oí state formation. As a result, their position in the internacional order it-
the viahility of Mexico as a polity was common serse for locals and for-
self shapes che ways in which theories are written and understood.5 There
eigners alike at che time of independence, che size of che territory, its lack
is an inherent tendency for standards to emerge between nations. The cul-
oí economic integration, che diversity of its people, and che desirabiliry oí
ture oí che state, the forro and contencs oí its progranis and oí its organiza-
its resources to foreign powers al¡ conspirad co make nationality a desired
tion, are often the brainchild oí transnational comniunities of specialists.
achievement more than a well-established fact.
However, this does not relieve os from having to understand systems oí
In che era oí independence, nacional consciousness was uniform nei-
national distinction in their singularity; for social theories as they are de-
ther in its contencs nor in its extension. [-ven as late as 1950, Octavio Paz
veloped and deployed in practice are aspects oí chis system oí distinetion
prefaced his book un Mexican national cultura warning that his analysis
ton. There is thus a polyphony, a bizarre range oí harmonics, in any social
did not apply to al] inhahitants oí ,Mexico, but only to that segment oí che
explanation or body oí theory, because, for che most parí, these explana-
population that was conscious of heing Nlexican, which he saw as a mi-
tions resonate differently when they are sounded in che scientific or artis-
nority-' Today it may be diflicult co find a Mexican who is not aware oí
tic vanguards than when they are broughc finto national contexts as policy
being Mexican, but che contexts in which nationality is pertinent, and its
or as social criticism. History thus helps understand che range oí theories,
symbolic and practical referents, still vary substantnally. Nationaliry is nel-
as well as their polyphony, slippage, or movement
ther an accomplished fact nor in established essenee; itis, rather, the
Nationalism, which is a way oí framing communitarian relations, itself
moving horizon that acturs point to when they need to appeal co che con-
1 n i r o d u e t i on
xv =
develops in relation to other communitarian forms, including families, vil- oí itself as the westernmost portion oí "the West," a place that inherited all
lages, and religious communities. The ways in which nationalism relates that was reasonable and open-minded oí 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 oí "commoners."
territory is tied together, economically, politically, and culturally. More-
Today, in the United States, economics and much oí 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 oí American con-
and told, it has to be tied to sites oí local memory in effective ways.
sumers, oíAmerican voters, and oí foreign-policy makers are presented as
Finally, the very uses to which nationalism is put, the projects that it
paragons oí rationality. The collective habits oí the world's Great Power
shapes and prometes, the interna) distinctions that it facilitates, and its can be nothing short oí "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 oí the dis-
lar. No grand theories oí general applicability can come forth from their
claimer en the part oí students of "globalization" attests te this. This is be- stubbornly idiographic methods. They can never add up to anything,
cause the study oí the conditions in which nations are produced invohres a
though they may deserve to be modestly supported, since they can readily
historical sociology oí 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 oí knowledge, subordinated to the universalizing inter-
Mexican social sciences are as much a part of the international horizon as
ests oí "the West." Thus, the mores and intellectual traditions oí 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 oí foreign colleagues, and they participate actively in international
as much oí 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 oí
intriguing and vastly simplified characteristics that were useful for sharp-
Mexico's scientific establishment has been tied to national development,
ening the self-image oí the West: the Mediterranean stood for honor
to the formation oí a national consciente, and to addressing the kind oí
and shape, India for caste, China for filial piety and minute women's
issues that Andrés Molina Enríquez called Great National Problems."6 It
footwear . . .8 Latin America provided proud and superstítious men, beau-
is fair to capitalize this expression because ir narres the fetish oí Mexican
tiful señoritas, 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 oí
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 oí the non-Western is the category oí the particular; it is not a suit-
Mexican fetishism oí Great National Problems occupies a position
able place from which to think through either human universals or events
analogous to the fetishism oí the "Western tradition" and oí "Rationality"
oí world-historical significante.
in the United States. Historians oí curricular development in American
In Mexico, narratives that identify the habits oí the Mexican people as
universities have shown how and why schools in the United States decid-
paradigma oí rationality, and therefore as universally applicable, have had
ed to incorporate their own tradition within a narrative oí "the West."7
little success. The country has been hyperconscious oí its backward con-
Universities were designed as neoclassical palaces or else as imitations oí
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 oí 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 oí rationality
grandeur oí 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
che whole complex that Kasherine Verdery described among Romanian
poitraycd as tiaditi onalists, as latalitiis whu.c racional capabil iti es, though
no longer biologically deniahle v, ere no less blinded by superstition. intellectua ls as pro tochroni sm,' that is to say che doctrine that struggles
Todas' Mexico 1, routinely lobeled a [les cl^^ping nation' Because it is al- to rescue a series of nacional figures who had prcfigured well-known
Icgedly not vct devclupcd. ii is nr,: in a ituauun to speak for humanity at 'Western" devel opments from an imperial conspiracy that has confined
large Nut surprisingly, tico Mcsican Liuducs Nave conccnrrated on con- them to oblivion. 11
tributions to che resolution nl tic nations problcnts. These nced to be The conditions for procochronism are produced by asymmetries of
power between che scientilic establishments of Mexico and Europe or che
dealt with hrst: univcrsallty will ,unir lacre
As in che Anicrican case iNc vchucctuny ui Mexicós principal univer- United States_ However they are also che result of the way in which
sities relleces [hese aspira Go ns. Alodernisln scith its charaeteristic eom- Mexicós knowledge -stablishmcrit has been justified_ In order to engage
bination of state-ol-che-art technology, ahrc acted tiaditional rnotifs, and public interest in Mexico, in order to attract funds, and so on, one must en-
che subordination of the whole to modero usage, provided che ideal vehicle. gage the Great National Problems. This means that thinkers who recycle
The National Universiry is a paradigmatic instance: research and teaching works and ideas produced abroad and apply them to the nacional con-
facilities are laid out in a plan that is reminiscent of pre-Columbian urban science can enjoy an undeserved (though entirely local) reputation, and it
design, while che whole was developed with che most modero materials also means that thinkers who have had a contribution to make to the broad-
er civilizational horizon can go underacknowledged, especially when the
and techniques available.
The definition oí che Great Nacional Problems and oí their resolution country does not have the capaciry to absorb the work to its full potential.
1 have myself worked for many years under che strain oí [hese tensions,
thus involves incorporation ro a "civilizational horizon" that transcends
Mexieo's bordees: the language of scicnce and of che arts is recognized as a desiring to contribute to che discussion oí Mexico's particular problems,
while holding to the conviction that any real engagement with particular-
universal language, and so che process of devcloping a national consciente
ity requires a degree of critica) thought, a kind oí thought that knows no
or oí contributi ng to national devel opment involves building an infra-
national frontiers. My work has therefore tended to inhabit a margin: a bit
structure that is oriented to learning and disserninating works created on
toe theoretically inclined for most Mexican social scientists, a bit roo
che outside.1(1 Thus, Mexican modernism takes an inward turn, both be-
engaged with Mexican political quandaries for most oí my American col-
cause of che effort tú transiate and appropriate foreign innovations and
leagues. However, this situation, which is not so very singular, also af-
because of che obsession with making interna) conditions more favorable
fords, 1 think, a certain kind oí engaged critique, a kind of theoretical par-
for progress.
ticularism that is well suited to the study of the national form. It is a forra
Given Chis self-centeredness, and given che ethnocentrism involved in
oí "grounded theory" in both senses oí this term: grounded because it
imperial universalism, it is not surprlsing ciar diere are considerable diffi-
works through a vast and dense set oí facts, and grounded because it has
culties in getting whatever originaliry thcre has been in Mexican social
to confront, and hopefully to transgress, an order oí confinement.
and scientilic thought recognized as innovative outside oí Mexicós bor-
ders, because whereas the thinking ol American authors is usually in-
scribed in a universalizing language leven in cases when its significante is Road Map
parochial), in Mexico contributions that might be oí general utility are
subsumed into the language of the particular, oí the national. This is a book of essays. It carne to life as a volume when my friend and
This state ol affairs produces an interesting complex regarding the hid- colleague Guillermo de la Peña suggested that 1 publish a volume in Mexico
den contributions of Mexican culture to universal civilization. Thus, with a collection oí essays that had appeared only in English. 1 followed
Mexicans sometimes mutter that che inventor oí color television was Guillermos advice and put together a volume that appeared in 1999 under
Mexican; that Thomas Edison reas half Mexican; that \Valt Disney stole che title Modernidad indiana: nación y mediación en México. As 1 prepared that
characters from Mexican composer i, and that historian Edmundo work, however, 1 realized that my general project oí [hese last years,
O'Gorman's ideas concerning tic invention of America went unaeknowl- which has been to develop a historical sociology oí Mexican national
edged by che school devoted tu nventcd ti adi tions." In short, we have space, was not far froni completion and 1 spent an additional eighteen
11., ,, 1„, 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
Chapter 4 complements che discussion of che political consolidation of
of che time essays included in ,bindrn,:J.t.l im{unta (che earliesc was written in
che Mexican state by focusing on che development oí che image oí che na-
1993), and adds co them seven newer essays that mark che end of a long
cional president as a fetish ot sovereignty_ In particular, Chis essay explores
project (che las( was completed in clic hrsi months of 2000).
che relationship between religion, race, and images of sovereignty, and it
The hook is dividcd roto [bree parís Pare 1, "Making che Nation," is
shows the ways in which power was secularizad, and che law and economic
composed of live essays. Taken togcthci, [hese chapters provide a histori-
modernization were indigenized during che nineteenth century and into
cal and theo retical Ira1nework for u n deis tan ding Mexican nacional ism and
che Mexican Revolution (1910-20).
nacional identity as a process that hagan vvith colonization. The essays in
The final chapter of Part 1 is devoted to che contemporary crisis oí
Chis section generally cake a very historical broad sweep.
Mexican nationalism, and it can be read as an alternative introduction to
Chapter 1 is a critical appralsal ol Benedict Anderson's theory oí na-
chis hook (as a eomplement tu chis Introduction). In che last two decades,
tionalism, wriuen from che vantage point ol Spanish Ame rica. 1 show that
innovations in che organization oí transnacional capital have provoked
tire relationship lietween nacional ism, secularism, and social hierarchy di-
profound changes in Mexico, changes that include a reorientation of che
verges somewhat from Andersons proposition- This leads both to amend-
national economy, che dismemberment oí che revolutionary state, and in-
ments to Anderson's theory and co a discussion oí che political usage oí
creasing class polarization. As a result, títere is a chronic crisis concerning
nationalism in Mexico and Spanish America. Chapter 2 extends the dis-
the relationship between nationalism and modernization. This essay ex-
cussion oí communitarian ideologies i niiiated in che discussion oí Benedict
plores Chis changing relationship and discusses che strain en Mexican na-
Anderson by exploring competing versions of Mexican nationalism, and
tionalism in che contemporary moment. It thus spells out the context in
also other hiscorically powerful communitarian forms that are pertinent
which che essays oí chis hook were written, which is the long period
1or understandi ng che appeal and I'units of any nacional ist project in
known as Mexico's "transition to democracy."
Mexico. Both chapters are wide-ranging historical essays that explore che
Commentators such as Paul Krugman oí che New York Times have
lonyue duréc.
crowed that che historie Mexican election oí July 2, 2000, should be
Chapter 3, by contras[, focuses on the transformation ot Mexican
chalked up to che North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and
citi zenship during the nineteenth and early twcncieth centuries. Here 1
globalization, and that che neoliberal presidents who presíded over
seek to hiscoricize Roberto Da laua's idea regarding che cultural logic of
chis transition (de la Madrid, Salinas, and Zedillo) were in fact the well-
hierarchy and ci tizenship in I_atin .America_ As in che essay en Benedict
meaning democrats that they always claimed to be 12 However, it was
Anderson's theory, 1 eomplement a cultural reading (in chis case oí citizen-
Mexican authoritarianism, not Mexican democracy, that led Mexico into
ship) wich an emphasis on che political f ield in which che cultural con-
che General Agreemenc en Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and NAFTA in che
struction o( citizenship develops_ In che process, 1 argue against che view
first place. The full power oí Mexico's revolutionary state was needed to
that imagines the development of ci tizenship and democracy in Mexico as
preside over che sea change in che economy that finally buried revolution-
a process that liad an carly and very brief gulden age during che Restored
ary nationalism, which is why che transition to democracy was so pro-
Republic (1867-76), only to tal] during che porfiriato (especially after
tracted. Now that che change in economic models was an accomplished
1884), and ricen to hegin a heroic recoverv in che alcermath of 1968. 1
fact. Mexicans were allowed to choose their president freely from among
show that che prominente of discourses of dtizenship and oí civic virtue
three candidates who had strikingly similar platforms, and the economists
in che first two-thirds oí che nineteenth century is related to che political
who imposed their models on Mexico could claim to have given birth to
instahility oí che country, and that che exaltad language of citizenship chal
democracy.' 3
was popular in Chis period declinad not so much as a result oí dictatorial
Parí ti, "Geographies oí che Public Sphere," is dedicated to the cultural
repression as hecause of che alliancea among che political class that mod-
geography oí che nacional space, and it is composed of three chapters. The
ernizatioa and economic grnwth nade possihle. The history oí Mexican
first, Chapter 6, deals wich che contexts in which nacional identity and
democratization thus appears in a somewhat less heroic lighc chan in the
xenophobia emerge It introduces one oí che central monis oí Mexican na-
criumphal nartatives of eontentpurary democrats_
tionalism, which is that che nation cannot eontain capitalism and eeonomic
1 ,t r o duc