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the London SchoolEconomics of LSE andPolitical Science A Post-Structuralist Approach to National Identity After the Cold War: the Case of Mexico Thesis Submitted by Armida de la Garza, BSc., MA. For the Degree of Ph.D. Department of International Relations Supervisor: Professor Chris Brown December 2004 UMI Number: U192786 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Disscrrlation Publishing UMI U192786 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 THESES P SS a / Libmry 0ltoSt»UDrw‘ -IWÜJC81 •WfitniWWr SfWOOt Abstract 2 Abstract Despite recognition of the centrality of nationalism for International Relations, there has been comparatively little research from the perspective of this discipline on the way national identities are transformed through time, and on the effect these changes can have in relations among states. Thus the focus of this work on the transformation of Mexican identity in the context of the relation between Mexico and the United States after the end of the Cold War and within the framework of economic integration through NAFTA. The main argument throughout this work is that the meaning of national identity is made through an interaction with the Other, interpreted by means of two sets of discourses: on the one hand, there are those discourses on ethnicity, religion and language that seek to construct a unity out of the people inhabiting a given territory, mainly by pointing out how they are different from those outside territorial boundaries. And on the other, there are the discourses on world politics, which reify the national state as the legitimate political unit of allegiance and construct ‘classificatory frameworks’ and narratives which shape their interactions. Given the historical link between cinema and national identity, contending representations of the national identity put forward in recent films, both from Hollywood and from Mexico, are analysed to trace the way this process has been forged discursively in the Mexican case, and to assess the degree to which alternative narratives have become successful or failed to hegemonise a new meaning for the national identity. A Post-Structuralist Approach to National Identity After the Cold War: the Case of Mexico Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 5 N a t io n a l Id en t it y a n d International R e l a t io n s ..............................................................................................5 M ethodological Fr a m ew o r k .........................................................................................................................................9 Em piric al C o r p u s.................................................................................................................................................................14 Organisation of the C h a p t e r s .................................................................................................................................... 19 I. The Mexican Identity Between the Revolution and the C o ld War 1. THE DISCOURSE OF THE REVOLUTION 27 T he Po r fir ia t o ...................................................................................................................................................................... 27 T he R evolutionary St r u g g l e..................................................................................................................................... 31 D efining th e Political F ie l d ........................................................................................................................................32 Haciendas vs. Ejidos ................................................................................................................................................ 33 Foreign vs. Domestic Investment .......................................................................................................................... 35 Bourgeoisie vs. Peasants and Working Class ....................................................................................................37 Dependence vs. Independence ...............................................................................................................................40 Patriarchal Family vs. Emancipation of Women..............................................................................................40 Legitimate vs. Illegitimate Government .............................................................................................................. 40 Individual vs. Community ........................................................................................................................................ 41 R e sultin g S ubject Po sit io n s.........................................................................................................................................42 The National Identity through Ethnicity............................................................................................................. 43 The National Identity through Religion.............................................................................................................. 47 Equivalences and Differentiations .............................................................................................................. 50 2. THE DISCOURSE ON WORLD POLITICS 56 Pr o d u c in g ‘the W e s t ’ d u r in g the C o ld W a r : F re ed o m , D em o c r a c y , Pr o s p e r it y.......................56 The International Context ....................................................................................................................................... 61 The Domestic Realm..................................................................................................................................................65 T he D isco u r se o n Film ...................................................................................................................................................... 69 Negotiating The National Identity on Film 1910-1989.......................................................................................77 The Revolution as Discursive Horizon........................................................................................................................71 Class, Ethnic and Gender Diversity Become a Unified ‘We’................................................................................74 ‘W e’ versus ‘They’..........................................................................................................................................................76 Mexico Between the East and the W est..................................................................................................................... 78 II. The Post-Cold War Challenge 3. CHALLENGES FROM ‘OUTSIDE’ 89 T he C hallenge to th e E a st AVest D iv id e ...............................................................................................................89 Producing the West After the Cold War: Development, Industrialisation, Secularism ........................ 89 C h allen ge to the Po sition in R elatio n to the U .S ........................................................................................ 100 The Logic o f the Supplement................................................................................................................................ lOI Drug Trafficking Control............................................................................................................................................. 103 Illegal Migration............................................................................................................................................................ 107 The Economy: the External Debt and NAFTA........................................................................................................I l l 4. CHALLENGES FROM INSIDE’ 120 E thno-linguistic C h allen ges to the Id e n t it y ................................................................................................ 121 The Indigenous Challenge .....................................................................................................................................121 The Chicano Challenge......................................................................................................................................... 131 Table of Contents 4 The Linguistic Challenge...................................................................................................................................... 138 T he R eligio us Id en t it y C h a l l e n g e ......................................................................................................................... 141 Contending Interpretations .................................................................................................................................. 143 A Discursive Interpretation .................................................................................................................................