The Human Tradition in Mexico (review)

Abstract

Arizona fournal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 267 The Human Tradition in Mexico Scholarly Resources, 2003 Edited by Jeffrey M. Pilcher Edited by Jeffrey Pilcher, this collection of articles is the sixth title in the Scholarly Resources series "The Human Tradition Around the World." These books are intended for use in the classroom and offer useful supplements to the standard undergraduate history textbooks. Pilcher's volume makes a welcome addition to this continuing series of texts that already spans diverse regions and time periods. This new text provides fifteen original articles written by respected scholars and addressing events in Mexican history since the middle of the eighteenth century. The quality of material in this collection is excellent overall and will provide college-level instructors with a valuable teaching resource. Neirher a textbook nor a documentary collection , the book flows roughly chronologically, but is organized around people rather than events. The articles contained in this text are, in effect, mini-biographies, each detailing the life of an individual while situating their actions and experiences within the broader historical context . The men and women whose lives are discussed range from the eighteenth-century actress Josefa Ordóñez, to the Revolutionary soldadera Rosa Torre González and rock musician Armando Nava. A few of the protagonists in these accounts gained widespread recognition and fame, such as AgustÃ-n Lara and MarÃ-a Félix, while the majority remained obscure. Pilcher has grouped their biographies in generational fashion, emphasizing the book's focus on individual lives in place of totalizing narrative. This approach yields a view of history not so much from the bottom up, as from the perspective of lived experience. Readers are challenged to see the world not in terms of broad generalizations , but of the specificities of the local and the particular. Students are encouraged to see that while everyday life is lived in the context of the major events, these great occurrences are also the sum total of individual actions and lives that usually pass unremembered. At the same time, these articles remind us that the trajectories of individual lives need nor be entirely coterminous with the larger-scale events of which they are a part. Students accustomed to the conventional textbook narrative may initially find diis approach disorienting. Each selection, however, offers an intriguing starting place for classroom discussions. This utility of the book for teaching purposes is furthered by the intricacy and rich contextual detail of each section. The articles are "multivalent " in that they introduce a range of themes that allow discussion to flow in different directions. Students are thereby challenged to make connections amongst the life histories, to identify emerging themes, and to draw their own conclusions from the material. The book suffers from two slight deficiencies . First, and perhaps inevitably, the life histories presenred in this volume are predominately those of upper-class individuals, or those who obtained prestige within the course of their lives. With certain exceptions, this tends to skew the articles' focus towards elite perceptions and experiences. It also moves analysis away from the features of everyday life and towards the unique or exceptional. Second, while die tide suggests a comprehensive volume on Mexican history, this is actually a collection dealing exclusively with the modern era. This means that the book would work very well with courses moving from independence to the present, but one might still wonder why the previous centuries of colonial rule receive no mention. These minor shortcomings do not seriously detract from what is otherwise a very well-constructed volume. The articles contained in this text should provide a valuable classroom resource and useful supplement to the available history textbooks. Glenn Avent The University of Arizona Convergencias Hispánicas: Selected Proceedings and Other Essays on Spanish and Latin American Literature, Film, and Linguistics Juan de la Cuesta, 2001 Edited by Elizabeth Scarlett and Edward B. Wescott ...