Concrete Utopias from the Central Valley to Southern California

Abstract

Almost one hundred years after his death, the image of peasant revolutionary Emiliano Zapata has come to signify the insurgent heart of a rebellion that changed the course of Mexican history. This is not only because of his commitment to the poor and indigenous peoples of southern Mexico but also because of the cultural representations and political activism that have kept his legacy alive. My analysis of Zapata’s image in Chicana/o murals draws on the work of José Esteban Muñoz, who uses the term “concrete utopias” to describe collective hopes for the future that are rooted in historical experiences. Throughout California, murals featuring Zapata’s image can be read as concrete utopias because they, too, are built from the collective aspirations of historical movements for change. This essay uses visual analysis to untether Zapata from the currents of patriarchy and hypermasculinity that many associate with him. I suggest that images of Zapata—painted by men in murals from the 1960s through the 1980s—reflect the concerns of Chicanas, LGBTQ people, indigenous women, and others whose contributions were often overlooked during the heyday of cultural nationalism. The legacy of Zapata within Chicana/o murals, I argue, is not always constrained by nationalist narratives of machismo. Sometimes representations of Zapata help viewers envision sustainable, reciprocal connections between people, tierra, y libertad.