Death and the idea of Mexico / Claudio Lomnitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lomnitz-Adler, Claudio.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Death--Social aspects--Mexico.

Death.

Death in popular culture--Mexico.

Death in popular culture.

Death in art.

Death in literature.

Death--Social aspects.

Mexico--History.

Mexico.

History.

Mexico--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Mexico--Social life and customs.

Manners and customs.

Physical Description:

581 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Brooklyn, N.Y. : Zone Books ; Cambridge, Mass. : Distributed by MIT Press, 2005.

Contents:

Preface: Toward a New History of Death 11

Mexico's National Totem 23

Death and the Postimperial Condition 27

Purgatorius 32

Intimacy with Death 35

Mexico's Third Totem 41

Genealogies of Mexican Death 52

The Organization of this Book 58

Part 1 Death and the Origin of the State

I Laying Down the Law 63

The Origin of the Modern State 65

Scale of the Dying 67

Division Along Ethnic Lines 73

Powers over Life 80

Powers over Death 84

II Purgatory and Ancestor Worship in the Early, Apocalyptic State 99

Purgatory on the Eve of the New World Conquests 101

Days of the Dead in the Early Postconquest Period 109

Ambivalence Toward Purgatory as an Instrument of Evangelization 122

III Suffrages for the Dead Among Spaniards and Indians 141

The Sins of Conquest 141

Spaniards of Subsequent Generations 144

Indigenization of the Days of the Dead 148

Attitudes Toward Death Among the Spaniards 153

Attitudes Toward Death Among the Indians 157

Body and Soul 159

The Meaning of Death 162

Burial Practices 168

IV Death, Counter-Reformation, and the Spirit of Colonial Capitalism 179

The Counter-Reformation and the Spirit of Capitalism 179

Death, Revivalism, and the Transition to a Colonial Order 183

Indian Revivalism 185

Idolatry, Sovereignty, and Orderly Spectacles of Physical Punishment 188

The Clericalization of the Indians' Dead 192

Death, Property, and Colonial Subjecthood 200

Individuation and the Promotion of Purgatory 205

Conclusion: Death and the Biography of the Nation 215

Part 2 Death and the Origin of Popular Culture

V The Domestication of Mortuary Ritual and the Origins of Popular Culture, 1595-1790 223

Purgatory, Miserables, and the Formation of an Ideal of Organic Solidarity 223

Death Ritual and Class Identity in the Baroque Era 230

Death Ritual, Food Offerings, and Familial Solidarity 232

Popular Confraternities and the Consolidation of the Corporate Structure 241

Mortuary Ritual and Intervillage Competition 246

Popular Culture and the Reciprocal Connections Between the Living and the Dead 253

VI Modern and Macabre: The Explosion of Death Imagery in the Public Sphere, 1790-1880 263

Death and the Mexican Enlightenment 265

Historicizing the "Popular Versus Elite" Distinction 271

Tensions in Baroque Representations of Death 277

Modernization and the Macabre 283

Market Forces 292

VII Elite Cohabitation with the Popular Fiesta in the Nineteenth Century 305

Why the Urban Fiesta Continued to Grow in the Nineteenth Century 305

Evolution of the Paseo de Todos los Santos 306

National Reconciliation and Progress: Zenith and Decline of the Paseo de las Animas 319

Conclusion: Death and the Origin of Popular Culture 336

Part 3 Death and the Biography of the Nation

VIII Body Politics and Popular Politics 343

Nationalization of the Dead 343

Death and Popular Opinion 346

Independence and the Body Politic 350

The Caudillo's Remains in the Transition from the Colonial to the National Period 353

Rise of Popular Politics 357

The Spectral Revolution 361

National Relics in the Classical Age of Caudillismo 364

Community Appropriations of the Dead 369

IX Death and the Mexican Revolution 375

The Resistance of the Souls During the Porfiriato 375

Revolutionary Violence 383

Death, Social Contract, and the Cultural Revolution 391

Death, Revolution, and Negative Reciprocity 399

Death and Revolutionary Hegemony, 1920-60 402

X The Political Travails of the Skeleton, 1923-85 413

Death and the Invention of Mexican Modern Art 413

The Decline of the Dead in the Public Sphere, 1920-60s 419

Repression, Democracy, and the Rebirth of the Days of the Dead in the Public Sphere, 1968-82 435

The Decline of "Posada Imagery" as Political Critique 439

The Depreciation of Life in Mexico's Transition into "the Crisis," 1982-86 445

XI Death in the Contemporary Ethnoscape 453

Dos de Noviembre No Se Olvida 453

Incorporation and Integration of Halloween 460

Mexican Death in Contemporary Ideascapes 463

Death and Healing in Contemporary Mexico 467

Natural Death, Massified Death 479

Conclusion: The Untamable One 483.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 531-552) and index.

ISBN:

1890951536

OCLC:

57185556