This course investigates representations of Mexico and “Mexicanidad” (Mexcianness, or Mexican identity), with an emphasis on the history of images and visual culture. Although course materials will reach into the colonial past and imagine the 21st century future, the core of the seminar analyzes late nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth century artistic production in printmaking, painting and photography. Our goal is to appreciate but move beyond art history in order to understand the social, cultural and historical factors that construct and are preserved in visual images recording the emergence of modern Mexico, as well as our responses to them.
This is the basic orientation of the course. However, it has been designed to be as inclusive as possible and students are encouraged to pursue their own interests. The class will be conducted as a seminar, with primary emphasis on student discussion and research. Although it involves extensive reading and hard work, we will have some fun while we learn (including a visit to one of the instructor’s favorite Mexican restaurants in Philadelphia, where we can take a close look at questions of food, identity and consumption!). In addition to providing a comprehensive introduction to the seminar topic, this course will develop your abilities at research, writing and oral expression. Thus, you will learn or polish skills that will be essential in your future intellectual and professional development.
The following texts are available for purchase at the Haverford College bookstore, and have been placed on reserve at Magill Library. They are listed in the order they will be used in the class.
UNIT I: TERMS, CONCEPTS AND HISTORIES
Week 1 Introduction.
1/25 F Hand out syllabus, discuss course, view video “Art and Revolution
in Mexico.”
Week 2. Orientations: Current (and Classic) Theoretical Perspectives.
2/1 F Readings: Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction.” In Illuminations, edited by Hannah Arendt and translated
by Harry Zohn, 217-252. Schwartz, Vanessa R. “Walter Benjamin For Historians.”
The American Historical Review 106:5 (December, 2001): 1721-1743. Mirzoeff,
Nicholas. An Introduction to Visual Culture, 1-34. Delpar, Helen. “Mexican
Culture, 1920-1945.” In The Oxford History of Mexico, edited by Michael
C. Meyer and William Beezley, 543-571.Oxford and New York: Oxford University
Press, 2000.
Week 3. Mexican Images, #1: The Sociology of Knowledge.
2/8 F Reading: Keen, Benjamin. The Aztec Image in Western Thought. New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press, 1971.
Week 4 Mexican Images, #2: The History of Images.
2/15 F Reading: Gruzinski, Serge. Images at War: Mexico From Columbus to Blade
Runner (1492-2019). Translated by Heather Maclean. Duke University Press: Durham
and London, 2001.
Week 5 Comparative Colonial Images: The Andean Example.
2/22 F Reading: Poole, Deborah. Vision, Race and Modernity: A Visual Economy
of the Andean Image World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.
The First 8-10 pg. Paper is due by next Weds., Feb 27, at 4 p.m.!
UNIT II. ART, REVOLUTION AND THE NATION.
Week 6 Nineteenth-Century Foundations.
3/1 F Readings: Buffington, Robert M. and William E. French. “The Culture
of Modernity.” In The Oxford History of Mexico, 397-432. Widdiford, Stacie
G. The Embodiment of the National in Late Nineteenth-Century Mexican Painting,
14-31, 78-121. Tenenbaum , Barbara. “Streetwise History: The Paseo de la
Reforma and the Porfirian State, 1876-1910.” In Rituals of Rule, Rituals
of Resistance: Public Celebrations and Popular Culture in Mexico, 127-150. Wilmington,
Del. Scholarly Resources, 1994.
Week 7 Posada and Popular Culture.
3/8 F Reading: Frank. Given that spring break begins after class, we may be
able to arrange a Thursday night class, or a Friday class at the scheduled time
but in an interesting location.
Week 8 SPRING BREAK!!!
Week 9 The Revolution.
3/22 F Reading: Benjamin.
Week 10 The Muralists.
3/29 F Reading: Folgarait, Leonard. Mural Painting and Social Revolution in
Mexico, 190-1940: Art of the New Order. Cambridge, U.K. and New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1998. Video: “Diego Rivera: I Paint What I See.”
Week 11 Frida, in Her Time and Ours.
4/5 F Reading: Lindauer. We shall also view “Frida: Naturaleza vida,”
Clasa Films Mundiales, directed by Paul Leduc, 1984.
Week 12 Photography in Mexico.
4/12 F Reading: Debroise, Olivier. Mexican Suite: A History of Photography in
Mexico. Translated and Revised in Collaboration with the Author by Stella de
Sá Rego. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001.
Week 13: Student Presentations on Research Topics, #1
4/19 F Reading: None. Students will discuss the research topics they have chosen.
Research will involve analyzing the images produced by one major painter or
photographer working in Mexico from the late 19th century through 1940. Some
outside research will be required, but the papers will be based largely on the
readings already covered in the seminar.
Week 14: Research Seminar, #1: The Work of Paul Strand.
4/26 F. Reading: Selections from Maren Stange, ed. Paul Strand: Essays on his
Life and Work. New York: Aperture, 1990. Video: “Los redes,” (“The
Wave”) 1934.
Week 15: Student presentations on Research Topics, #2
5/3 F Reading: None. Students will be expected to give an oral presentation
on their research into the artist of their choice. An 8-10 pg. rough draft of
their final paper should also be submitted. Drafts will be returned with comments
by Monday, 5/6.
The Long (18-20 pg.) Final Paper is due by 5:00 P.M. Saturday, MAY 11(Seniors),
or 12:00 NOON, FRIDAY, MAY 17(Juniors, Sophomores).
The course requirements include class participation (including one pg. summaries of the assigned readings submitted electronically via “Blackboard” by 12 noon on Fridays, discussion and the timely professional completion of course assignments (25 pts. toward final grade); one intermediate length paper (8-10 pgs., with normal fonts and margins, 25 pts each towards final grade); and one long (18-20 pg.) final paper (50 pts. toward your final grade). Students are always encouraged to make two hard copies of their required written work.