ANTH 286 - Mexico Today: An Exploration through Material, Expressive, and Culinary Cultures

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

This Intensive uses the mediums of food, and expressive and material cultures to explore the making of a modern Mexican nation and national identity, and the challenges posed by regionalism, out- and return-migration, globalization, and neoliberal policies. We consider the development of agricultural and culinary practices –including their symbolic import historically and contemporarily—and how these are challenged and used in the making of a modern nation; the impact of rural-urban and transnational migration on local agricultural and cultural practices; the relation between tourism, the development of national identity and recent cultural revivals of regional crafts, cuisines, dances, and musics and the political and social tensions that ensue; and the contemporary situation with respect to global commodity and labor markets, especially as concerns Mexico’s urban and rural poor. Intensive readings range from sixteenth-century Nahua accounts of Mexica cultural traditions, through studies of Mexican foodways and the centrality of the “corn/beans/chile” triad that undergirds each distinctive regional cuisine, to studies that highlight how aspects of traditional life, both sacred and mundane, have been commodified to stand as a particular representation of what is essentially “Mexican.” Among questions the intensive addresses are: What are the impacts of urbanization and migration upon food production and consumption? How has migration affected the division of labor around food, especially as it relates to women’s roles? What is the relation between regional cultural sovereignty and the Mexican state? How are governmental mandates regarding tourism and cultural production, for example, negotiated and resisted at the local level? During the Intensive students develop a research project, including an annotated bibliography, and a twenty minute formal presentation. The Intensive concludes with students joining a ten day January AAVC trip to three major cities/regions: Mexico City, Puebla, and Oaxaca. During the trip, students present their research presentations to the alums. Colleen Cohen.

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: INT