ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: IN BLACK AND BROWN: INTELLECTUALS, BLACKNESS, AND INTER-AMERICANISM IN MEXICO AFTER 1910 Theodore Cohen, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Dissertation directed by: Professor Mary Kay Vaughan Department of History “In Black and Brown” examines how blackness and Africanness became constituent elements of Mexican culture after the Revolution of 1910. In refuting the common claim that black cultures and identities were erased or ignored in the post-revolutionary era, it argues that anthropologists, historians, (ethno)musicologists, and local intellectuals integrated black and, after 1940, African-descended peoples and cultures into a democratic concept of national identity. Although multiple historical actors contributed to this nationalist project, three intellectuals—composer and ethnomusicologist Gerónimo Baqueiro Foster (1898-1967), anthropologist Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán (1908-1996), and city of Veracruz poet Francisco Rivera (1908-1994)—most coherently identified Africanness in Mexican history and culture. As these state and local intellectuals read ethnographic texts about African cultural retentions throughout the Western Hemisphere, they situated these cultural practices in specific Mexican communities and regional spaces. By tracing the inter-American networks that shaped these identities, “In Black and Brown” asserts that the classification of blackness and Africanness as Mexican was in conversation with the refashioning of blackness, Africanness, and indigeneity across the Americas and was part of the construction of the Western Hemisphere as a historical, cultural, and racial entity. More broadly, it questions the commonplace assumption that certain nations of the Americas are part of the African Diaspora while others are defined as indigenous. IN BLACK AND BROWN: INTELLECTUALS, BLACKNESS, AND INTER- AMERICANISM IN MEXICO AFTER 1910 By Theodore Cohen Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Advisory Committee: Professor Mary Kay Vaughan, Chair Professor Ira Berlin Professor Eyda Merediz Professor Karin Rosemblatt Professor Daryle Williams © Copyright by Theodore Cohen 2013 ii To Joanna iii Acknowledgements Since “In Black and Brown” takes so much space tracing intellectual genealogies, it seems only natural that I sketch my own. I have been lucky to work with countless brilliant scholars, welcoming archivists, generous friends, and understanding family members who have always given me more comments, intellectual encouragement, and emotional support than I ever could have imagined. There are not enough words to express the thanks that they deserve. In unique ways, each and every one of them has improved this dissertation. In Mexico and the United States, many people and institutions supported my research. Without the archivists who provided me with documents and helped me navigate through archival collections, I would not have this dissertation. At times, I think they incredulously wondered why I wanted to peruse such a wide and seemingly unrelated set of sources. Yet everyone at the the Archivo General de México, the Coordinación de Arqueología Técnica of the INAH, the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblo Indígenas, the Archivo Municipal de Veracruz, the Schomburg Library, the Northwestern University Archives, the Smithsonian Institute’s National Anthropology Archives, and the Columbus Memorial Library at the Organization of American States always went out of the way to assist me. Several archivists went beyond the call of duty. Herlinda Mendoza Castillo sat with me while I poured over the Gerónimo Baqueiro Foster archives at the CENIDIM. At the Special Collections of the Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City, Claudia Jasso and Tania Martin Becerril always graciously offered to help me find what I needed and even fulfilled the dream of every historian: they let me go into the archive storage room to see what it contained. iv Most of all, I must thank Maria del Rosario Ochoa Rivera of the Archivo Municipal de Veracruz. As she helped me navigate the archives of her grandfather Francisco Rivera, she has become a wonderful friend. Also thank you to the Editorial Miguel Angel Porrúa, the Association for the Study of African American Life & History, the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes/CENIDIM, the Missouri Historical Society, and the Municipal Archive of Veracruz for granting me permission to reproduce maps and images in “In Black and Brown.” Many scholars—including Adriana Naveda, Kevin Yelvington, Alejandro Madrid, Sagrario Cruz, Félix Báez-Jorge, and Alberto Hernández Sánchez—helped me navigate life in Mexico as well as specific archives in Mexico and the United States. Tore Olsson kindly found and copied Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán’s file at the Rockefeller Archive Center for me. Drew Wood helped orient me in the city of Veracruz and put me in contact with Rosario; those few email conversations shaped this project more than he ever could have thought. Much of this archival work was kindly funded by the Conference on Latin American History, the Gilder Lehrman Institute, the Latin American Studies Center at the University of Maryland, and especially the History Department at the University of Maryland. Finally, many people provided suggestions and asked probing questions when I presented various aspects of this project at the American Historical Association, the Middle-Atlantic Conference of Latin American Studies, the University of Maryland History Graduate Student Association, the Smithsonian Institute, the Washington Area Symposium in the History of Latin America, and the Tepoztlán Institute for the History of the Americas. v While I am unsure when I exactly decided to become a Mexican historian or a scholar of the African Diaspora, I know that the time I years at Yale University, the University of Virginia, and especially the University of Maryland were instrumental in making me the scholar I am today. At Yale, Gil Joseph and Seth Fein pushed me to think about Mexican history and transnational history in so many innovative ways. I find myself constantly referring back to the provocative ideas that they posed for me. My research on Mexico and its relationship to inter-Americanism certainly owes so much to both of them. Thank you to the Carter G. Woodson Institute of African-American and African Studies at the University of Virginia. Everyone affiliated with the Institute—but particularly Debbie Best and Cheryll Lewis—has given me the time, support, and space to think about my research and write my dissertation. The Woodson Institute provided me with the opportunity to converse with so many brilliant scholars of the African Diaspora. All of the Woodson Fellows from 2011 through 2013 were always willing to read and provide comments on unwieldy chapters. Elina Hartikainen and Rebecca Keegan Van Diver deserve special thanks; they read more poorly written chapters on Mexican history than they probably ever thought they would. Thank you also to Deborah McDowell, Lawrie Balfour, Roquinaldo Ferreira, Brian Owensby, Daniel Chávez, Herman Bennett, and Bryan McCann for taking time out of their busy schedules to participate in my chapter workshops. All of your insights into my work not only pushed me intellectuals but forced me to grapple with the boundaries of historical analysis and the strengths and weaknesses of interdisciplinarity. vi There are so many people at the University of Maryland’s History Department who have helped to improve “In Black and Brown.” Fellow graduate students—Sarah Walsh, Shane Dillingham, Reid Gustafson, Daniel Richter, and Will Burghart—have read, heard, and edited various iterations of this project and given so much precious feedback and support. Professors David Sartorius and Elsa Barkley-Brown helped me develop my own ideas about the African Diaspora. Finally, thank you to Barbara Weinstein for asking questions about race and nation in Latin America that have helped to shape some of the underlying issues in “In Black and Brown.” I must wholeheartedly thank my entire dissertation committee: Mary Kay Vaughan, Karin Rosemblatt, Daryle Williams, Ira Berlin, and Eyda Merediz. They have each brought their own perspectives to my project and helped me think about Cuban culture and history, slavery in the Americas, the African Diaspora, and Mexican history. From reading all sorts of drafts to discussing the intricacies of Mexican anthropology with me, Karin has been so instrumental in shaping my research. Her knowledge of Mexican indigenismo brought new discursive and cultural dimensions to this project— and her interest in the relationship between race and space have left an indelible imprint on this dissertation. I cannot thank Mary Kay, my advisor, enough. She encouraged me and did so much to help me craft this project. Without her knowledge of Mexico and her seemingly infinite connections abroad, I do not think I could have completed “In Black and Brown.” Her diligence, persistence, and enthusiasm were invaluable. The conversations that we have had over the years have not only animated this project but also my entire outlook on Mexican history, culture, and society. I would not be the historian I am today if it was not for her. vii My family has supported me through this entire process. They have listened to me talk about my project—and a daring few have even read a little of it. They have distracted me from my work when it became too much and encouraged me both when my research was going well and when it was not. As a child, I never thought I would be a historian. If it was not for the fact that my parents always encouraged me to do what made me happy, I probably would not be finishing a dissertation. Alas, I probably would not have started it. Finally, to Joanna: thank you. She has endured this project as much if not more than I have. I chose this path. She did not. Yet, with unwavering confidence in my abilities and the hope that this ordeal would briskly (or at least eventually) come to an end, she has unconditionally supported me.