Description
Mexico is more than a country; this is a concept that may be the product of a complex network of discourses as disparate as the rhetoric of Chicano nationalism, English-language literature about Mexico, and Mexican tourist propaganda. The idea of “Mexicanness,” says Daniel Cooper Alarcón, “has arisen through a process of erasure and superimposition as these discourses have produced contentious and on occasion contradictory descriptions of their subject.” By making an allowance for Mexicanness as a palimpsest of these competing yet interwoven narratives, Cooper offers a paradigm through which the construction and representation of cultural identity can also be studied.
He shows how the Chicano myth of Aztlan was once constructed upon earlier Mesoamerican myths, discusses representations of Mexico in texts by nineteenth- and twentieth-century writers, and analyzes the content of tourist literature, thereby revealing the economic, social, and political interests that drive the production of Mexicanness lately. This original linking of seemingly incongruous discourses corrects the misconception that Mexicanness is produced only by hegemonic groups. Cooper shows how Mexico has been defined and represented, by both Mexicans and non-Mexicans, as more than a political or geographic entity, and he particularly reveals how Mexicanness has been exploited by Mexicans themselves through the promotion of tourism as a form of neocolonialism.
Cooper’s work is valuable both for identifying attempts to revise and keep an eye on Mexican myth, history, and culture and for defining the intricate relationship between history, historiography, and cultural nationalism. The Aztec Palimpsest extends existing analyses of Mexicanness into new theoretical realms and provides a fresh viewpoint on the relationship between the US and Mexico at a time when these two nations are becoming more intimately linked.
He shows how the Chicano myth of Aztlan was once constructed upon earlier Mesoamerican myths, discusses representations of Mexico in texts by nineteenth- and twentieth-century writers, and analyzes the content of tourist literature, thereby revealing the economic, social, and political interests that drive the production of Mexicanness lately. This original linking of seemingly incongruous discourses corrects the misconception that Mexicanness is produced only by hegemonic groups. Cooper shows how Mexico has been defined and represented, by both Mexicans and non-Mexicans, as more than a political or geographic entity, and he particularly reveals how Mexicanness has been exploited by Mexicans themselves through the promotion of tourism as a form of neocolonialism.
Cooper’s work is valuable both for identifying attempts to revise and keep an eye on Mexican myth, history, and culture and for defining the intricate relationship between history, historiography, and cultural nationalism. The Aztec Palimpsest extends existing analyses of Mexicanness into new theoretical realms and provides a fresh viewpoint on the relationship between the US and Mexico at a time when these two nations are becoming more intimately linked.
, Burgundy&url=https://www.communityconnection.us/product/lorren-home-trends-57-piece-mabel-bone-china-dinnerware-set-service-for-8-people-burgundy/&media=https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41AimBATwpL._SS1024_.jpg){kind=link}
, Gold&url=https://www.communityconnection.us/product/lorren-home-trends-57-piece-chloe-bone-china-dinnerware-set-service-for-8-people-gold/&media=https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41vAh7TCsTL._SS1024_.jpg){kind=link}
, Amber&url=https://www.communityconnection.us/product/gibson-elite-ocean-paradise-square-dinnerware-set-service-for-4-16pcs-amber/&media=https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/416%2B-aF7XVL._SS1024_.jpg){kind=link}
&url=https://www.communityconnection.us/product/pfaltzgraff-french-lace-white-dinnerware-set-32-piece/&media=https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41Exlads5TL._SS1024_.jpg){kind=link}
