Mexico: 1810-1910-2010

MEXICO: 1810-1910-2010 Jürgen Buchenau University of North Carolina at Charlotte Gregory S. Crider Winthrop University In Mexico, centennial celebrations mark much more than just anniversaries . In September 1910, long-time dictator Porfirio Dı́az commemorated the centennial of Miguel Hidalgo’s independence movement with a lavish , month-long party that highlighted the corruption and decadence of his regime. The celebration also demonstrated considerable political contingency . As was custom, Dı́az issued Hidalgo’s famous “Grito de Dolores” to commemorate the birthday of independence. However, he did so on September 15, 1910, one day shy of the actual centennial of the grito on September 16. September 15 was the “dı́a de Porfirio,” his name day, and, as luck would have it, the day after the president’s birthday. For thirty-four years, don Porfirio had treated his inhabitants to a three-day fiesta that was more about him than about Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and the other independence heroes. Two months later, on November 20, 1910, the Mexican Revolution broke out under the leadership of Francisco I. Madero. Dı́az’s centennial fiesta became so identified with his regime that the government of Alvaro Obregón, which took office after a decade of fighting, staged a do-over. The Obregón administration celebrated a century of independence once more, one hundred years after the consummation of independence under Agustı́n Iturbide on September 27, 1821. The year 2010 marks both the bicentennial of independence and the centennial of the Revolution. Many observers have wondered what the year might hold in store for a nation rent apart repeatedly by destructive cycles of violence. Indeed, there are some ominous signs, including a crime wave, economic crisis, and an escalating war against powerful drug cartels. To the superstitious, the geological activity of Popocatépetl, a picturesque volcano southeast of Mexico City, forebodes trouble in the years ahead. This special issue of The Latin Americanist honors the double anniversary of independence and revolution by presenting ten scholarly articles that broadly address the Wars of Independence, the Mexican Revolution, and the legacy of both in Mexico 2010. In keeping with the interdisciplinary tradition of this journal, contributors include specialists in art history, C  2010 Southeastern Council on Latin American Studies and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1 The Latin Americanist, December 2010 economics, history, literature, and political science. We have organized the articles in rough chronological order. Entitled “El periodismo de la independencia: El papel de la prensa en los inicios de la esfera pública polı́tica de México,” the contribution of historian Celia del Palacio leads off this special issue. The article analyzes Mexican journalism in the independence era as a first step toward the emergence of a public discourse on political issues. The author argues that as early as the late colonial period, the press provided an outlet for propertied creoles to criticize the Spanish monarchy and its American representatives. During the Wars of Independence, the pro-independence press—printed often in small towns held by the insurgents—played a significant role in communicating its message to a small readership. “The Political Economy of Mexico’s Independence Heroes: Selling Public History in San Miguel de Allende” by historian Lisa Covert offers a unique view into the emergent field of Latin American public history. This field is only now beginning to attract the same attention that U.S. public history has enjoyed for more than a generation. The essay analyzes the planning of a new exhibit for the city of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, to commemorate the bicentennial of independence. As the exhibit suggests, Allende, and not Hidalgo, headed the conspiracy that, when uncovered prematurely, led to the “Grito de Dolores.” The article reveals the repeated attempts by the city government to reinterpret history in order to obtain funding for public works projects over the past century. In her article “‘Por fin, pasaron ya las fiestas del centenario:’ Centennial Celebrations of Mexican Independence in Rafael López’s ‘Commemoratory ’ Crónicas,” the literary scholar Amber Workman explores another way in which twentieth-century Mexicans used the independence-era past for the purposes of arguing about the present. Workman looks at...