Description
Book SynopsisIn African Mexicans and the Discourse on Modern Nation, author Marco Polo Hernández Cuevas explores how the Africaness of Mexican mestizaje was erased from the national memory and identity and how national African ethnic contributions were plagiarized by the criollo elite in modern Mexico. The book cites the concept of a Caucasian standard of beauty prevalent in narrative, film, and popular culture in the period between 1920 and 1968, which the author dubs as the cultural phase of the Mexican Revolution. The author also delves into how criollo elite disenfranchised non-white Mexicans as a whole by institutionalizing a Eurocentric myth whereby Mexicans learned to negate part of their ethnic makeup. During this time period, wherever African Mexicans, visibly black or not, are mentioned, they appear as mestizo, many of them oblivious of their African heritage, and others part of a willing movement toward becoming white. This analysis adopts as a critical foundation Richard Jackson''
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Preface Chapter 3 Acknowledgments Chapter 4 Introduction Chapter 5 The Revolution and Invisibility: African Mexicans and the Ideology of Mestizaje in La raza cósmica Chapter 6 The Erased Africaness of Mexican Icons Chapter 7 La vida inútil de Pito Pérez: Tracking the African Contribution to the Mexican Picaresque Sense of Humor Chapter 8 Angelitos negros, a Film from the "Golden Age" of Mexican Cinema: Coding Visibly Black Mestizos By and Through a Far-Reaching Medium Chapter 9 Modern National Discourse and La muerte de Artemio Cruz: The Illusory "Death" of African Mexican Lineage Chapter 10 Conclusion Chapter 11 Bibliography Chapter 12 Index
