Mexico in Verse: A History of Music, Rhyme, and Power

. Ed(s): Neufeld, Stephen; Matthews, Michael

ISBN 10: 0816531323 / ISBN 13: 9780816531325

Published by University of Arizona Press, 2015

About this Item

Examines Mexican history through its poetry and music, the spoken and the written word. Focusing on modern Mexico, from 1840 to the 1980s, this volume examines the cultural venues in which people articulated their understanding of the social, political, and economic change they witnessed taking place during times of tremendous upheaval. Editor(s): Neufeld, Stephen; Matthews, Michael. Num Pages: 360 pages, 11 halftones. BIC Classification: AVGH. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 229 x 152 x 20. Weight in Grams: 494. . 2015. 2nd ed. paperback. . . . .

Seller Inventory # V9780816531325

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Mexico in Verse: A History of Music, Rhyme, and Power
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0816531323
• ISBN 13: 9780816531325
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

The history of Mexico is spoken in the voice of ordinary people. In rhymed verse and mariachi song, in letters of romance and whispered words in the cantina, the heart and soul of a nation is revealed in all its intimacy and authenticity. Mexico in Verse, edited by Stephen Neufeld and Michael Matthews, examines Mexican history through its poetry and music, the spoken and the written word.

Focusing on modern Mexico, from 1840 to the 1980s, this volume examines the cultural venues in which people articulated their understanding of the social, political, and economic change they witnessed taking place during times of tremendous upheaval, such as the Mexican-American War, the Porfiriato, and the Mexican Revolution. The words of diverse peoples—people of the street, of the field, of the cantinas—reveal the development of the modern nation. Neufeld and Matthews have chosen sources so far unexplored by Mexicanist scholars in order to investigate the ways that individuals interpreted—whether resisting or reinforcing—official narratives about formative historical moments.

The contributors offer new research that reveals how different social groups interpreted and understood the Mexican experience. The collected essays cover a wide range of topics: military life, railroad accidents, religious upheaval, children’s literature, alcohol consumption, and the 1985 earthquake. Each chapter provides a translated song or poem that encourages readers to participate in the interpretive practice of historical research and cultural scholarship. In this regard, Mexico in Verse serves both as a volume of collected essays and as a classroom-ready primary document reader.

About the Author

Stephen Neufeld is an assistant professor of history at California State University, Fullerton, where he researches gender and the history of masculinity in military contexts, and social-cultural history in nineteenth-century Mexico.

Michael Matthews is an associate professor of history at Elon University. He is the author of The Civilizing Machine: A Cultural History of Mexican Railroads, 1876–1910.