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Changing Chapultepec: Construction, Consumption, and Cultural Politics in a Mexico City Forest, 1934-1944 A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Andrea Kristine Moerer IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Patrick J. McNamara, Sarah C. Chambers December 2013 © Andrea Kristine Moerer 2013 Acknowledgements As hopefully all are, this dissertation was a labor of love. And much like love, its creation has consisted of episodes of transcendence interspersed among years of hard work and self-doubt. I would not have conceived of or completed this project without the professional advisement of Patrick McNamara and Sarah Chambers. They, in addition to the rest of my committee members: Jeffrey Pilcher, Helga Leitner, and David Chang, were (and are) diligent, supportive, kind, and shockingly brilliant. The faculty at the University of Minnesota's department of history provided a strong foundation not only to this dissertation, but for wider professional goals, and the staff ensured that everything happened on time and with the proper paperwork. Fellow graduate students, particularly Latin Americanists, were wonderful colleagues, passing along Chapultepec citations, commiserating over exams, and providing much-needed moments of levity. As a student, I was fortunate to receive several awards which allowed me to further my thesis, including: GRPP, FLAS, Hannah C. Stocker Fellowship, and an American Society for Environmental History NSF graduate student travel grant. Recently, I've had the privilege of being a visiting instructor at Macalester College and at Hamline University where my colleagues have unquestionably improved not only my teaching but this dissertation. As a person who came to graduate school from public libraries, I knew of libraries' importance for an open and informed society but had no real understanding of the significance of their power to congregate data. It is not an understatement that my i work would not exist if it weren’t for the Wilson Library Interlibrary Loan staff. They are amazing. In addition to the University of Minnesota libraries, the collections, staff and notably microfilm readers at Macalester College DeWitt Wallace Library, University of California San Diego Geisel Library, and Georgina Cole Public Library in Carlsbad, California were dissertation savers. But this dissertation could not have been constructed from library sources alone and so archives are what made this project what it is. As a foreigner working in Mexican archives, I was overwhelmed at the thoughtfulness shown to me by administration and staff at the AGN, AHDF, INAH, MNH, MNA, MAM, SEP, Fototeca Nacional, Fundación ICA, and CONDUMEX. Particularly I'd like to thank Rosa Ana Trujillo and Salvador Rueda Smithers at MNH, Mariano Albero at INAH, Ana Luisa Madrigal Limón at MNA, and Manuel Ramos at CONDUMEX. Luz Emilia Aguilar Zinzer opened up her home along with her family's past. Javier Elguea Solís along with María del Socorro Barrera Hernández assisted out of pure reverence for the intellectual pursuit. Ariel Rodríguez Kuri provided friendly suggestions early on to an unknown graduate student. Emily Wakild has been a source of inspiration since 2007. There are many other individuals whose professional consideration has been of great assistance. Though many names will be unintentionally excluded, some of these include Angel Ancona, Felecia Bartow, Dina Berger, Katharine Bjork, Christopher Boyer, Erica Busse, Fernando Calderón, Luis Castañeda, Soraya Castro Mariño, Sterling Evans, Ana Garduño, Vinay Gidwani, Olga González, Víctor González-Macías, Jennifer Hoyt, ii Melanie Huska, Erika Lee, M.J. Maynes, Gabriel Otero, Guillermo Palacios y Olivares, Catha Paquette, Susan Schroeder, Marynel Ryan Van Zee, Karin Vélez, and Miguel Wong. Friends and acquaintances have been interested and sympathetic. I'm not even sure how to begin thanking my family, extended family, and in-laws for their unyielding patience and encouragement demonstrated daily and in numerous ways. It takes an awfully large village. I am overwhelmed by their support, and to them I dedicate this dissertation. iii Abstract "Changing Chapultepec: Construction, Consumption, and Cultural Politics in a Mexico City Forest, 1934-1944" asks to whom does the forest belong? A study about how Chapultepec Forest in Mexico City became an emblematic space filled with didactic institutions, it argues that actors involved in social stabilization and economic modernization institutionalized the concept of "nature" in the urban environment, propagating social divisions through metaphors of naturalness to shape subjects in an era of heightened concern with both Mexicanness and foreign investment. Thus it documents the shifting understandings of what constituted nature through four thematic chapters looking at a failed international exposition, two foundational museums, an exhibition-, print- and legislative-based crusade against the use of charcoal, and out-of-doors sporting and consumer activities. These chapters detail conflicts among symbolism and materiality, popular access and privatization, and national goals and an effort to appeal to foreigners. Criminals, presidents, elite and working women, foreign businessmen, schoolchildren, entertainers, scientists, and civil servants among others demonstrate that though Chapultepec is considered a public space, its meaning and usage have been highly constructed and restricted. iv Table of Contents List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..vi Chapter 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 AN OVERVIEW OF CHAPULTEPEC ................................................................................... 5 EARLY USES ................................................................................................................. 9 CASTILLO ................................................................................................................... 12 NATURAL AND PUBLIC SPACE ................................................................................... 14 APPROACH .................................................................................................................... 18 NATION ......................................................................................................................... 20 NATURE ......................................................................................................................... 23 PUBLIC SPACE AND PARKS ............................................................................................ 28 CONSUMPTION ............................................................................................................. 33 WHY CHAPULTEPEC ...................................................................................................... 36 SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS .............................................................................................. 45 Chapter 2 A Calzada Without Its Exposition: the Long-Term Impact of Planning for the Mexican International Exposition of 1940 ...................................................................... 48 DIFFICULT TIMING ......................................................................................................... 56 MIXED MESSAGES ......................................................................................................... 63 PUBLIC PROPOSALS ....................................................................................................... 74 Chapter 3 "House of the People": the Importance of Chapultepec as Seen Through Early Museums ................................................................................................................. 81 THE MUSEUM OF NATIONAL FLORA AND FAUNA ........................................................ 92 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HISTORY ................................................................................ 99 MUSEUMIFICATION .................................................................................................... 111 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 120 Chapter 4 "A Burning Matter": the Crusade Against Charcoal, 1938-1942 ................. 123 CHARCOAL ................................................................................................................... 126 PROGRAM OF CULTURAL DIDACTICISM ..................................................................... 129 PUBLICIZING THE CRUSADE ........................................................................................ 142 LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES ............................................................................................. 145 CRIMINALIZATION ....................................................................................................... 148 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 152 Chapter 5 Arbol de la Vida: Encouraging Citizen-Building in the Out-of-Doors .......... 155 CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT ............................................................................................... 162 PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT ............................................................................. 167 CIVIC GATHERINGS .....................................................................................................