Mexico’s Nobodies: The Cultural Legacy of the Soldadera and Afro-Mexican Women

351 Pages·2018·14.98 MB·English

by  B Christine Arce

México’s Nobodies
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SUNY series, Genders in the Global South
————
Debra A. Castillo and Shelley Feldman, editors
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México’s Nobodies
The Cultural Legacy of the Soldadera
and Afro-Mexican Women
B. Christine Arce
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Cover Art: “Carmen Robles, soldadera,” México 1913. © #186387 CONACULTA.
INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2017 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic,
electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Diane Ganeles
Marketing, Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Arce, B. Christine, 1974– author.
Title: México’s nobodies : the cultural legacy of the soldadera and
Afro-Mexican women / B. Christine Arce.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2017. | Series:
SUNY series, Genders in the global South | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016021650 (print) | LCCN 2016053183 (ebook) | ISBN
9781438463575 (hardcover : alkaline paper) | ISBN 9781438463599 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Women—Mexico—History. | Women, Black—Mexico—History. |
Racially mixed women—Mexico—History. | Women soldiers—Mexico—History.
| Women revolutionaries—Mexico—History. | Sex role—Mexico—History. |
Mexico—Race relations. | Women in art. | Blacks in art. | Art and
society—Mexico—History.
Classification: LCC HQ1462.A63 2017 (print) | LCC HQ1462 (ebook) | DDC
305.40972—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016021650
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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I dedicate this book to the spirit and living memory of my father,
Simeón Arce González, who did not make it to the end, but
tried his best; to my grandmother Carmen González Razo, who
is now reunited with her son, and was as strong and resilient as
the soldaderas; and to my best friend, grandma Christine Dow
Retelsdorf.
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction: The Paradox of Invisibility 1
Part One: Entre Adelitas y Cucarachas:
The Soldadera as Trope in the Mexican Revolution
Chapter 1
Soldaderas and the Making of Revolutionary Spaces 37
Chapter 2
The Many Faces of the Soldadera and the Adelita Complex 79
Chapter 3
Beyond the “Custom of Her Sex and Country” 115
Part Two: The Blacks in the Closet
Chapter 4
Black Magic and the Inquisition: The Legend of La Mulata
de Córdoba and the Case of Antonia de Soto 147
Chapter 5
“Dios pinta como quiere”: Blackness and Redress in Mexican
Golden Age Film 185
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viii Contents
Chapter 6
The Music of the Afro-Mexican Universe and the
Dialectics of Son 225
Conclusion: To Be Expressed Otherwise 273
Notes 283
Bibliography 301
Index 317
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Illustrations
Fig. 1.1 “Soldaderas on the platform at the Buenavista train
station,” México City, D.F., April 1912; Gerónimo
Hernández. © #5670 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.
FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate. 38
Fig. 1.2 “Soldier and soldaderas on the roof of railcar,” México
City, D.F., 1914. © #474156, CONACULTA. INAH.
SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Silver
impression over gelatin. 42
Fig. 1.3 “Soldaderas prepare food on the roof of a railcar,”
México City, D.F., 1914. © #6388 CONACULTA. INAH.
SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Nitrate film
negative. 44
Fig. 1.4 “Federal soldiers and their families on the roof of
the railcars,” México City, D.F., 1914. © #5600
CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO,
Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate. 46
Fig. 1.5 “Soldier and soldaderas in a train car,” México, 1914.
© #474156 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.
MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Silver impression over
gelatin. 48
Fig. 1.6 “Federal soldiers, soldaderas and the railway
administrator on the platform of the train,” México
City, D.F., April 1913. © #6293 CONACULTA.
INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola.
Dry gelatin plate. 49
ix
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