Commodifying Mexico: OnAmerican Dirtand the Cultural Politics of a Manufactured Bestseller

Abstract

AbstractFollowing the publication and controversy surrounding American Dirt (2020) by Jeanine Cummins, this essay discusses the process by which American Dirt'™s bestseller status was manufactured in correlation with Flatiron☳ aim to capitalize on a growing Latinx market and on the political visibility of the questions of immigration. It argues that the misrepresentation and commodification of Mexico in the book's form and construction is a central feature of its marketability and success and studies the ways in which the book☳ errors align themselves with representations in Hollywood cinema and television that forward a negative view of Mexico aligned with anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican politics. Finally, the essay discusses the coexistence of these two factors with a growing infrastructure of Hispanophone and translated Latin American literature that competes with, and seeks to challenge, the existence of books like American Dirt.