Technology and Culture in Twentieth-Century Mexico offers a novel
approach to Mexican studies by considering the complex relationship
between technology, politics, society, and culture. While it is widely
accepted by scholars that substantial changes in technology occurred in
Mexico during the last century, very little has been written on these
issues, perhaps because of a propensity to associate Mexico with
tradition and folklore rather than technology, progress, and modernity.
This diverse collection of chapters--written by historians, literary
scholars, social scientists, and cultural critics--tells this
long-neglected story of technological change. Contributors examine
themes ranging from the introduction of new forms of travel
(automobiles, buses, trains, and subways) to innovations in media
(radio, film, and the Internet) to the relationships between technology,
literature, art, and architecture. Covering the twentieth century and
beyond, Technology and Culture in Twentieth-Century Mexico, edited by
Araceli Tinajero and J. Brian Freeman, illustrates the invention, use,
and adaptation of technology, as well as the diverse ways that
technology itself is both shaped by and shapes culture. This
interdisciplinary book points to new directions in the study of Mexico
and makes an important contribution to Latin American Studies and the
history of technology.
Contributors: Claudia Agostoni / Sandra Aguilar-Rodríguez / Edward
R. Burian /Antoni Castells-Talens / J. Brian Freeman / Celeste González
de Bustamante / Guillermo Guajardo / Joanne Hershfield / Anna
Indych-López /Lynda Klich / Viviane Mahieux / Carlos Monsiváis / John
Mraz /Ricardo Pérez Montfort / José Manuel Ramos Rodríguez /Paolo
Riguzzi / Erja Vettenranta / Juan Villoro / David M. J. Wood /Naief
Yehya /
