| «Assimilating the Primitive»: Parallel Dialogues on Racial Miscegenation in Revolutionary Mexico Contributor(s): Varona-Lacey, Gladys M. (Editor), Swarthout, Kelley R. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0820463221 ISBN-13: 9780820463223 Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publi OUR PRICE: $100.04 Product Type: Hardcover Published: February 2004 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - Native American Studies - History - Literary Criticism | European - Spanish & Portuguese |
| Dewey: 305.897 |
| LCCN: 2002034908 |
| Series: Latin America: Interdisciplinary Studies |
| Physical Information: 179 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This book examines the Mexican nationalist rhetoric that promoted race mixing as a cultural ideal, placing it within its broader contemporary polemic between vitalist and scientific thought. Part of its analysis compares the attitudes of anthropologist Manuel Gamio and educator Jos Vasconcelos with those of the European primitivist D. H. Lawrence, and concludes that although Gamio and Vasconcelos made lasting contributions to the construction of popular notions of mexicanidad, their paradigms were fatally flawed because they followed European prescriptions for the development of national identity. This ultimately reinforced the belief that indigenous cultural expression must be assimilated into the dominant mestizo culture in order for Mexico to progress. Consequently, these thinkers were unsuccessful in resolving the cultural dilemma Mexico suffered in the years immediately following the Revolution. |