University Theatre and Cultural Politics in Contemporary Mexican Society

Abstract

Historically, and spectacle in Latin America have played an active role in the construction of nation-states and national identities-and in the resistance to consequent hegemonic domination. Recent moves toward democracy in Mexico, challenging the monopoly of the state-party system, coincide with a call for the democratization of Mexican culture and for an articulation of the cultural diversity that characterizes that society. As political, economic, and social crises impact cultural production, Mexico's National Autonomous University has devised a series of projects to revive its strong tradition and to offer more democratic access to resources for activity. Projects have been launched to stimulate creative experimentation, yet questions arise as to whether this theatre and a new generation of practitioners are challenging and subverting hegemonic cultural and political discourses or whether they are simply reinforcing them.