Browsing by Subject "Mexican Revolution"
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Item The child’s perspective of war and its aftermath in works of adult prose and film in Mexico and Spain(2011-05) Nickelson-Requejo, Sadie; Higginbotham, Virginia, 1935-; Robbins, Jill, 1962-; Fierro, Enrique; P?rez, Domino; Reed, Cory; Richmond-Garza, ElizabethThis dissertation investigates the literary and cinematic use of the child’s perspective to present the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Civil War and their aftermath in several Mexican, Spanish, and international (Mexican-Spanish collaborative) narratives of the 20th and early 21st Centuries written by adult authors and filmmakers, and targeted for adult audiences. The Mexican narratives are Cartucho and Las manos de mamá by Nellie Campobello, Balún Canán by Rosario Castellanos, and Bandidos, a film by Luis Estrada; selected Spanish works are El espíritu de la colmena by Víctor Erice, Cría cuervos by Carlos Saura, and El sur by Adelaida García Morales; and both international works are films by Guillermo del Toro, El espinazo del diablo and El laberinto del fauno. I attempt to determine the textual or cinematic function of the child as first person (homodiegetic) narrative viewer in these works, and I study the different ways in which this child’s point of view is constructed in order to depict the overwhelming tragedy of war. I note patterns and diversities in subject matter presented by the narrative voice, and observe the characteristics of the child narrative viewer’s world and priorities (as presented by the authors and filmmakers), paying careful attention to how each perceives and understands his or her country’s violent upheaval and its aftermath. The theoretical framework of this investigation draws mainly from trauma theory, Gothic studies, and the tradition of the fairy tale. I illustrate how within the war narrative in addition to the author’s/filmmaker’s desire to recreate the sentiment that a child would evoke in adult readers and viewers, the child narrative viewer is employed for three main reasons: to play upon or against preexisting notions of the child’s innocence; to represent (possibly subversively) the nation; and as therapeutic means of returning to a paradise lost or creating a paradise never experienced.Item La figura mítica de Pancho Villa como ícono de identidad nacional y masculinidad en México y en la frontera México-Estados Unidos através de la literatura y el cine(2013-12) Chávez, Cuitláhuac; Domínguez Ruvalcaba, Héctor, 1962-In my dissertation I show how the hegemonic power of the post-revolutionary state in Mexico utilized the figure of legendary Pancho Villa in literature and cinematography to create a national myth that represents a consensus in a mestizo patriarchal Christian society. I examine how the use and abuse of the image of Villa in post-revolutionary literary works and films caused this figure to acquire mythical characteristics and dimensions, and to become a key element in the construction of national identity and masculinity in Mexico. I argue that the figure of Villa is a confirmation of a traditional rather than a revolutionary proposal in gender terms. Equally important, I demonstrate how the literature and film of the Mexican revolution constitute instrumental devices for the formation of masculinity and the strengthening of a homo-social culture in the Mexico’s post-revolutionary stage, a process that would later determine the structure of the Mexican state. I also contend that in the construction of the mythical figure of Pancho Villa at least two sources of representation are participating: the Mexican state machinery on the one hand, and the American media on the other. By the same token, I show how the figure of Villa nurtures a national project and constitutes one of the most diffused perceptions of Mexican identity in the United States.Item Lynching on the border: the death of Antonio Rodriguez and the rise of anti-Americanism during the Mexican Revolution(2012-05-12) Taylor, Travis; Taylor, Travis; DeLeon, Arnoldo; Hindman, James; Eoff, Shirley; Hack, Teresa; Angelo State University. Department of History.This thesis examines the lynching of Antonio Rodríguez along with the incident’s aftermath. Analysis interjects the narrative at crucial points throughout, and especially in chapter conclusions. The use of a transnational historical framework attempts to explain the intricacies of both nations’ diplomatic efforts. Similarly, both Mexican and American newspapers are used to stress differences in the respective publics’ opinion of events. Historians have often described the lynching of Antonio Rodríguez as an isolated incident, and one relegated to the sidelines of history as the Mexican Revolution unfolded. This thesis aims to reassess the significance of Rodríguez’s death, suggesting that the incident became a symbol of the failure of President Porfirio Díaz to provide for his citizens (at home and abroad). Furthermore, Rodríguez’s murder was not subsumed into the greater event of the Mexican Revolution; rather, the death of Antonio Rodríguez altered the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.Item Perspectivas de la revolución mexicana en el exilio: el desencanto de los intelectuales en la narrativa mexicoamericana (1926-1935)(2013-05) González Esparza, Karla Elizabeth; González, John Morán; Arroyo-Martínez, JossiannaMy dissertation, Perspectives of the Mexican Revolution from the exile: the disillusionment of the intellectuals in Mexican-American narratives (1926-1935), studies the migration from Mexico to the United States during the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the literary production of the Mexican intellectuals in exile who build a transnational imaginary of national identity and interpretations of nationalism. I argue that the transnational experience of the Mexican Revolution influences the political discourse that questions the integration of the immigrant community in the reconstruction project of post-revolutionary Mexico, as reflected in the novels Las aventuras de don Chipote (1928) by Daniel Venegas, El sol de Texas (1926) by Conrado Espinoza and La patria perdida (1935) by Teodoro Torres. My work on these authors and their texts, all of them understudied and written in Spanish, focuses on the study of the parallels between the literary production during the Revolution in Mexico and also in the United States, pointing at a decisive moment where the transnational impact of the Revolution influences the incorporation of the immigrant and peasant community as citizens of Mexico or the United States. My dissertation consists of an introduction and four chapters. In the introduction, I present the theoretical framework that analyzes the literary production in both Mexico and the United States during this time period. Chapter 1 presents a historical context that explains the inevitable impact of the Mexican Revolution on the U.S.-Mexico border. Chapter 2 shows the perspective of Daniel Venegas in Las aventuras de don Chipote (1928) which presents a protest against the abuse of the immigrant communities and questions the success of the immigrant in the United States. Chapter 3 presents the perspective of Conrado Espinoza in El sol de Texas (1926) portraying the idea that the national imaginary can only be constructed in the nation and not in exile. Chapter 4 presents the perspective of Teodoro Torres in La patria perdida (1935) where the idea of the repatriation project is contested, and citizenship in the United States is favored. The dissertation intends to study two contrasting perspectives on the immigrant communities and their role in the reconstruction of post-revolutionary Mexico or in the booming U.S. economy.Item Pr?spero: A Study of Success from the Mexican Middle Class in San Antonio, Texas(2012-10-19) Bertinato, SaritaImmigration is a topic that has experienced an evolution of social importance across centuries. While the United States has welcomed individuals seeking lives of promise and opportunity, its neighboring border with Mexico has also encouraged significant migration into the United States Therefore, immigration into Texas was not a new and unusual development. However, the flood of Mexican citizens trying to escape the regime of Porfirio Diaz was noteworthy and left San Antonio residents struggling to accept their new neighbors. The purpose of this dissertation is to study a historically Mexican middle class neighborhood in San Antonio, in order to identify factors that made it possible for some residents to experience socioeconomic prosperity while others were less successful. I believe that positive socioeconomic success resulted from two important factors: high levels of human and social capital and the synergistic interactions of sociopolitical elements. I begin by presenting an overview of the shared turbulent history between Mexico and the United States, the rise and fall of President Porfirio Diaz, and the role that the Mexican Revolution played in San Antonio's 1910 immigration flux. Since this research focuses on the Mexican middle class, I explore the literature pertaining to racial/ethnic definitions, the middle class, and human/social capital, as well as the relevance of each concept within the context of my research question. This research utilizes comparative/historical, qualitative, and quantitative methodologies. I present a quantitative analysis of Prospect Hill's residents, particularly those of an anomalous nature. Of the cases identified, I discuss the case of Romulo Munguia, a native-born Mexican who presented as the third anomalous Mexican resident. Munguia moved to the U.S. in 1926 and established himself as a successful, middle class printer who became heavily involved with San Antonio's Mexican community. Ultimately, Munguia's success indicates a dependency on two specific factors. First, he possessed considerable human and social capital that afforded him social, economic, and political advantages. Secondly, he settled into a community that desperately needed his skills and expertise. Munguia's case supports the hypothesis that immigrant prosperity requires both human/social capital and specific synergistic interactions to achieve success.Item Provisional President Emilio Portes Gil discusses Mexican revolutionary politics, 1928-1930 : an oral history study.(2016-09-06) Morrison, Barbara Dianne; Baylor University.Emilio Portes Gil entered the service of the Mexican Revolution at an early age and served in a variety of governmental posts from 1914 until 19 28 when he was elected as Provisional President of Mexico. His administration covered a period of fourteen months. During this time he was confronted with important internal problems concerning agrarian reform, labor, Church-state relations, military insurrection, and university autonomy. The study includes a survey of the revolutionary background of the Portes Gil administration as well as a description of the measures employed in dealing with internal problems. It also includes a chapter composed of selected oral history text based on tape-recorded interviews with Portes Gil by James W. Wilkie and Edna Monzon de Wilkie. This oral history material has been translated from Spanish to English and annotation has been supplied for the purpose of making the text more easily understood by non-specialists with an interest in twentieth century political history. An introductory chapter describes the nature of oral history and discusses the methodology employed by the in their interviews with elites. The study represents a combination of political history, biography, and autobiography; also, it constitutes a case study of presidential politics in a developing country. Emphasis is placed on description rather than analysis, with the primary objective to make available for English-language readers or researchers a document that relates how a former Mexican President viewed his presidential service when questioned by an oral historian approximately thirty-five years after leaving office.Item A transcendental mission : Spiritism and the revolutionary politics of Francisco I. Madero, 1900 – 1911(2013-05) Amoruso, Michael Benjamin; Tweed, Thomas A.This study argues that Francisco I. Madero, a Spiritist and the thirty-third President of Mexico, understood his political action as the earthly component of spiritual struggle. In Madero's correspondence, "spirit writings," and pseudonymous Spiritist publications, we find a prescriptive Spiritist vision, in which democracy represents a triumph of human's "higher nature" over the "base, selfish passions" of Porfirio Díaz and his regime. This prescriptive vision is both characteristic of Kardecist Spiritism, the transnational metaphysical movement influential in the Americas since the mid-nineteenth century, and the outward expression of an inner struggle, in which self-discipline, charity, and hard work are thought to calm one's "animal passions," and in so doing attract "higher spirits" that aid in spiritual development. While reserved in the public presentation of his religiosity, the documentary evidence suggests that for Madero, the democratic struggle had "transcendental" significance. Analyzing his published work alongside his personal and political biography in the period between 1900-1911, this study briefly considers this prescriptive Spiritist vision and the ways it inflected Madero's political action and accommodated changing political circumstance.