Holiday in Mexico: Critical Reflections on Tourism and Tourist Encounters (review)

This rich volume is steeped in historical accounts and critical inquiries about the subjectivity surrounding the portrayal of Mexico over the past two centuries by tourists, government officials, and the media. Historians, a lawyer, an administrative director, and a journalist wrap their discussions around three themes: (1) how Mexicans promoted and imagined their country and culture, (2) the politics through which Mexicans and their guests interact with each other, and (3) the advantages and disadvantages of tourism. In brief, "the essays presented here offer a detailed and complex view of tourism –a critical topic which has largely been ignored by historians of Mexico" (2).

Three periods frame the volume. The first assesses tourists between 1846 and 1911, spanning the onset of the Mexican-American War to the Mexican Revolution. Andrea Boardman shows that soldiers-tourists had ample time to interact with people and landscapes while treaties were being drafted and governments were being staffed. Through their memoirs, drawings, various forms of 'mappings,' and the like, the American public (newspapers, family members and kin of the soldiers) became primed to explore their neighbors to the south. Although most of this soldier-tourist interpretations were filtered by gendered, ethnocentric, and religious (e.g., most soldiers were Protestants in a Catholic nation) perspectives, the seed was planted in thousands of readers to get to know Mexico. Railway completion and extensions in the 1880s made that possible for U.S. residents.

Christina Bueno's chapter on Teotihuacán next explores how the centennial celebrations of 1910 coincided with the excavation of Mexico's treasured pyramids. She claims that the dilapidated monuments allowed the Porfirian government to attract foreign investment, raise the debate about the role of 'Mexicanness,' disparage its Indian past of pre-Hispanic times, and cast the nation as 'modern' and forward looking.

Five chapters comprise the post-revolutionary developments between 1920-60. Andrew Grant Wood explores Carnival in Veracruz and shows how city leaders were able to recreate a modern image of the port, which was long perceived as unsafe and insalubrious. Jarocho bands, orchestras, tourist boosters, and savvy marketers spread the word about the festivity. Dina Berger then offers up a well-known theme about tourism, economic development, and diplomacy. It stemmed from FDR's Good Neighbor Policy and Panamericanism (á là Pan American Highway and related brick-and-mortar projects). Mutual understanding between the Colossus of the North and Mexico became a driving force behind U.S. tourists coming to Mexico: Gringos promoted the virtues of consumption, freedom and democracy while the host nation displayed a "new" face of progress, brotherhood, and democracy. Eric Schantz follows in his examination of the 'noir border' and how gaming, prostitution, and conventional tourism set up power relations between 1938-65 that hauntingly reflects some of the narcotic violence shaking the twin border cities today. Despite changes on gambling during the Abelardo L. Rodríguez (1932-34) and Lázaro Cárdenas administrations, political support and politician aggrandizement moderated vice while priming the pump for purchasing curiosidades, eating at Chinese or Mexican restaurants, and watching jai alia and bullfights.

This reviewer found Andrew Sackett's essay, "Fun in Acapulco? The Politics of Development on the Mexican Rivera," among the most engaging of chapters. Having been raised on Timex™ wrist watch TV commercials about the cliff divers (clavadistas) in Acapulco, I was fascinated by Sackett's version about how the "Pearl of the Pacific" was tied to the catering of Hollywood stars, the politicization of the ejiditarios, and the boosterism of developers and politicians. The similarities and differences between the promotion of Acapulco and Cancún are riveting, and Sackett will help tourism researchers to reconsider the life-cycle model of seaside resorts.

Lisa Pinley Covert's chapter explores the development of San Miguel de Allende and its rebirth as an artist colony that grew out of...