British culture in Porfirian : the clown Ricardo Bell and the Circo Orrin

JOHN GRAY British actors had a lasting socioeconomic impact on Mexico throughout the period of the Porfiriato (1876–1911). Understanding this influence demands a interdisciplinary sensibility that moves towards what Robert D. Aguirre calls ‘an expanded account of British informal imperialism in Mexico and Central America, one focused not merely on trade and politics but on the transatlantic networks of culture that accompanied and enabled them.’ This article focuses on two examples of British cultural influence in Porfirian Mexico: the practice of the British clown Ricardo Bell, and the Circo Orrin, a circus established by three Anglo-American brothers- It is suggested that, by importing British cultural forms, Bell and the Orrins also implanted British cultural norms in the Figure 1. Unknown author – Ricardo Bell (c.1900). Private collection heart of Mexican society, thereby contributing to the broader transformation that was the overarching goal of the Porfirian project . JOHN GRAY / VIDES 1957), 471-479, p.479. Claims Commission,1884-1895’, ‘TheAnglo-Mexican 5 SouthAmericanJournal inAlfredP.Tischendorf, , XXIII(Aug.14,1884),p.13; quoted (ed.), 4 ‘RethinkingBritishInformal EmpireinLatinAmerica(EspeciallyArgentina)’, p.41,inMathewBrown can HistoricalReview(Jun.1993)Vol.98,No.3, 786-818. 3 See,forexample,JonathanC.Brown,‘Foreignand Native-Born WorkersinPorfirianMexico’, ‘británico’. (Mexico City 2 LorenzoMeyer,SuMajestadBritánicacontralaRevoluciónMexicana,1900-1950: ElFindeunImperioInformal Mariategui (:BibliotecaAmauta,1950),p.60.Author’stranslation, asareallthatfollow. 1 Firstpublishedin Anglo- age in 1911) –as‘agolden (1876– Díaz Porfirio Cruz of La De dictatorship José – the Porfiriato the Meyer Lorenzo has characterised an explanationofChaplin’.] of ‘Outline society.’ capitalist refined a line withthetasteandneedsof in bohemian, the of buffoonery nomadic signifies the domestication of the wild, art The as theHouseclown’s ofLords. asrespectable much as aninstitution, constitute atype so does not clown the Empire…machine of TheBritish magnificent the of movement a and a wheel in Britishlife; classical note of theare clown an essential,a [‘The laughter and the gestures una explicación deChaplin’(1928). Mariátegui Carlos José – ‘Esquema de refinada sociedadcapitalista.’ y lasnecesidadesel gustodeuna bufonería la salvaje y nómadedelbohemio,según de domesticamiento el significa clown del arte El Lores. respetable la Cámara como de los más bienuna institución, tan sino constituye un tipo, no […] Elclown Imperio del máquina magnífica la de británica; unarueda y unmovimiento vida esencial, clásica,dela una nota son ‘La risay el gestodelclown Informal EmpireinLatinAmerica: Culture, Commerce andCapital,(Oxford : ElColegiodeMéxico,1991),p.57.NotethatMexican Spanishoftenuses‘inglés’inplaceof Variedades, Lima,October1928;inJoseCarlosMariategui, The HispanicAmericanHistorical Review(Nov.1957),Vol.37,No.4 (Nov., 1

73 formulation. representative doubt but no provocative Knight’s Alan Mexico’, in mestizosof Indians andmongrel the feckless disciplining means of British sawtheautocratas‘thesole other Spanish-American states’, and developmentof the progress for much so capital, whichhavedone and enterprise British of influx the to be gates ofMexico willopened wide Journal proclaimedin1884that‘the Mexican relations’. was initially applied to Latin America Latin applied to was initially economic senseinwhichthelatter the narrowly empire’ –in ‘informal concepts of‘culturalimperialism’or Furthermore, traditional . with Braziland relationships significant economically more the by eclipsed or American context, Latin the broader subsumed into being typically British historiography, somewhat under-studied within is over theperiod.However, the subject impactMexico socioeconomic on indeed have a lasting did British actors investment, actively courted large-scale British Díaz Porfirio industrialisation, track 3 while for theirpartthe whilefor 4 ThustheSouthAmerican : Blackwell,2008),pp.23-48. Colección ObrasdeJoseCarlos 2 Aiming for fast- for Aiming The Ameri- 5 and best efforts of Porfirio Díaz, Porfirio of efforts best Despite the this. for partly accounts government involvementinMexico the two countries.Limited formal subtleties oftherelationshipbetween accompanied and enabledthem.’ transatlantic networksofculture that the but on trade andpolitics merely on and CentralAmerica, one focusednot imperialismMexico British informal in (2005) Central AmericainVictorianCulture – inhisInformalEmpire:Mexicoand what RobertD.Aguirre and towards cultural history, and diplomatic, social that movesbetweeneconomic, sensibility interdisciplinary an demands Understanding this influence therefore to discernanoverarching narrative. companies, actors or making itharder at exercised one remove, through independent mostly was influence cultural turn’. already relatedthe closely tothoseof commercialof andmilitary might are ‘the questions that historical recognition from benefits America Latin in that the debate around informalempire LouiseGuenther similar note, observes by H.S. Ferns by H.S. detailed inJulio Revolledo’scanonical 10 Widely retold inthisform, thisisinfacta somewhat compressed version ofthe actual exchange, which is 228. Empire’, (ed.), p.228, inBrown Informal Seductions of 9 ‘TheArtful 2005), p.xxix. 8 dos Unidossetopóconunaactitudbastantecautade laForeignOffice…’ 7 See Meyer, of thecontributionstowhichexpandtermfarbeyond apurelyeconomicfocus. (ed.), InformalEmpireinLatinAmericaconstitutes Brown 2001). a relatively recent landmark in the field, many Louis (ed.),TheOxfordHistoryoftheBritishEmpire,Vol.V: Historiography(Oxford sketch ofhowthenotionsubsequentlyevolved,see RoryMiller,‘InformalempireinLatinAmerica’,R. 6 ‘Britain’sInformalEmpireinArgentina,1806-1914’, twoexamples This articlefocuseson of Informal Empire:Mexicoand CentralAmericainVictorianCulture (Minneapolis:University of MinnesotaPress,

– calls ‘an expanded accountof – calls Su MajestadBritánica,p.63ff: ‘El proyecto porfirista de valerse de Europa para neutralizar a Esta- 6 – can fail to capture the to – canfail 9 El Siglodeoro delCircoenMéxico,(Mexico City:ColecciónJavier Sáinz 7 British 8 Ona 74 Past &PresentNo.4(Nov.,1953),pp.60-75.Fora revealing anecdote givesasense ofthe would vote for RicardoBell. vote for would they because answered: Díaz Porfirio participatedemocratic elections, to in he the would notallow Mexican people by anAmericanAsked diplomat why The ClownRicardoBell country. British commercial involvement in the Porfirian project, as well as facilitating was the overarchingof the goal that the broadertransformation to Mexican society, thereby contributing British culturalnormsintheheart of implanted Bell andthe Orrins also British culturalforms, by importing be built in1891.Itwillsuggestedthat, Orrin, the Circo the façade of adorned that the century, and themotto of the turn regalia around in hisfull Bell of namely apublicity photograph emblematic artefacts, two through will be approached two institutions these The impactof the starperformer. which Bellwas of American brothers, a circus establishedbythree Anglo- Orrin, RicardoBell, andtheCirco clown Mexico: thepracticethe British of Porfirian in influence cultural British Informal Empirein Latin America, pp.208- : OxfordUniversityPress,

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This BRITISH CULTURE IN PORFIRIAN MEXICO PORFIRIAN IN CULTURE BRITISH JOHN GRAY / VIDES Richard Bell was born in Deptford, Richard Bell wasborn he waswhen notonthe stage. sober, elegant Victoriangentleman his professionalcapacity,butasthe himself –not,itshouldbenoted, in also a hunting partner ofthe President was He Mexico. Porfirian in figures influential most the together the organisationwhichbrought member ofthe Jockey ClubdeMéxico, Mexican elite. He wasaMason anda success gained himaccess tothe great satirist,ourgreat comicpoet’]. poeta cómico’[‘Ourgreat actor,our gran nuestro satírico, gran nuestro could callhim‘nuestro granartista, other thanManuel Gutiérrez Nájera Mexican performer, suchthatnone that he came toseem afundamentally Mexican tastes –somuchso,indeed, his humourwascarefully tailored to but invention, British definitively a we willsee, Bell’sstage personawas of the esteem inwhichhe washeld. A vast popularitythatBell enjoyed, and on YouTube. 14 Onthis,see Eduardo Patino Diaz’sdocumentary de Aguilar(MexicoCity:privateprinting,1984). a more extensive El Siglodeorocontains account, drawingon see L.F. Bustamente’s Dandy’, ‘Ricardo Bell: ElClown legacy, 13 Foraconciseandlargelyaccurate revealing hislasting of biographical sketch ofBell,whichisalso México, InstitutodeInvestigacionesEstéticas,1985), p.364. 12 LuisReyes de laMaza, pánica Moderna,año5,no.2(Apr.1939),pp.139-146,p.142. 11 InE.K.Mapes,‘ManuelGutiérrezNájera:Obrasinéditas recogidasdeperiódicosMéxico’,RevistaHis- Moreno, 2010),p.226. history ofthe Mexican stage. the five most important figures in the amongBell ranks instance, for Maza, with thisevaluation:LuisReyes de la Historians have largely concurred Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Autónoma Circo, maromayteatro(1810-1910),(Mexico City: UniversidadNacional 12 Bell’s s 11 Ricardo Bell:Elpoetadelarisa (TV UNAM, 2008),available

75 , Vol. 11, No. 535 (1949). Magazine dePolicia,Vol.11,No. Revolledo’s Crystal Palace). pantomimes atthe producer of known circus artistes (hisfather was a well- in 1858,intoa family of London, In 1906, EdwardOrrinclosedthe In Bell themostbelovedentertainer. circus in thecountryattime, and popular was themost it accounts, all this development: of by the forefront in Mexico, mass entertainment important formof most the became circus the Porfiriato, annual basis. Over the course of the continued touringthe Republic on an they in MexicoCity in1891,although permanentestablishment their own as a peripatetic troupe, before building 1881 they set up on their own, initially Chiarini themselves.In join theCirco New York,beforecomingtoMexico to had beeninBritainandraised in born founders, star. TheOrrinbrothers,its Orrin, of whichhe quickly became the some years laterandjoinedtheCirco country the in settled definitively Bell circus in the European styleinMexico. an Italian empresario, this was the first recently Chiarini; establishedby Circo he arrived with hisfamily to jointhe when ateleven, to Mexico came first three and performance attheageof a biography by Bell’s daughter, Bell, a biography byBell’s Sylvia Bell 14 and the Circo Orrin wasat andtheCirco 13 He gave his debut 15 failings as a failings businessman, Bell’s success, however,largelydueto his thirteena children.Itwasnot was a troupe comprising himselfand which Bell, themainattractionof the GranCirco establish city to the of the centre in land duly gavehimsome Díaz Porfirio own. his open to decided other businessconcerns,andBell his concentrate circus on in orderto yia fgr o te lw was an clown Grimaldi, one Joseph of innovation the of figure typical what would todaybe consideredthe the eighteenthcentury, of half second PhilipAstleyinthe by Londoner specifically phenomenon ofthe circus was pioneered a as themodern Just British tradition. embodies costume that Bell’s note to important is It fabricated byhiswife. which were of many costumes,most his in oneof postcard depictingBell a promotional shows Figure one Bell’s practiceandinfluence transporting troops. train carriages commandeered for circus’s and his sacked byinsurgents, his Mexicohad been Citymansion at theage of53,havingheard that afterwards died inNewYork shortly the outbreak of the Revolution, and after 1911 in Mexico fled he case, any may have foreigners played apart.In towards hostility levels of mounting Grimaldi’, pp.7-9, Journal forEarlyModern Cultural Studies,Vol.12,No. 4 (Fall2012),pp.3-25. Stott, ‘ClownsontheVerge ofaNervousBreakdown:Dickens,Coulrophobia, and theMemoirsofJoseph 16 Forarecent,comprehensive summaryofGrimaldi’sinnovationandinfluence, seeAndrewMcConnell matógrafo (MexicoCity:JuanPablos/Voyeur,2009), p.166. JuanFelipeLeal&Eduardo Barraza, 15 although Anales delCineenMéxico,1895-1911,vol.3. 1900: El 76 telling that the word ‘clown’ is used, is that theword ‘clown’ telling is also contemporary Bell. It images of Even the stanceisreminiscent of derived in turnfrom Grimaldi’s. stage persona, Bell’s elements of patches are amongthesignature trousers andthebrightly-coloured make-up, hat, thebaggy the conical or his followers: the quiff, the ruff, the him a clearevocationof is illustration name Bell, this it doesnot Although (fig.2). Mexicano’ ‘Clown archetypal Guadalupe by José Posada, depicting the Bell’s influence in Mexico is a woodcut Bell’s.Indicative act on of the extent of whobased their generation ofclowns and spawneda impactfully novel, in Mexico it was familiar inEngland, have been persona would While Bell’s legacy. Grimaldi’s on was likewisebuilding renowned clown, most generation’s the sameperiod,Harry in Payne, his England as thisphotographdepicts.In own personamoreorlessunaltered, elements his that Bell incorporatedinto several thick redlips,whichareamong ruffs, and the whiteface make-up with costume overloaded with tasselsand pioneered thegarish Grimaldi who phenomenon, ‘theclown’. rise toauniquely cultural national from antecedents, its continental giving ‘Clown’ of figure the divorced essentially performers. Grimaldi of Regency mostfamous England’s circo yelcine-

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It was It BRITISH CULTURE IN PORFIRIAN MEXICO PORFIRIAN IN CULTURE BRITISH BRITISH CULTURE IN PORFIRIAN MEXICO

- - 23 - 20 the 21 : Oxford University In Mexico, Porfirio Díaz was Díaz Porfirio Mexico, In 22 carnivalesque, with its bawdy, anarchic its bawdy, with carnivalesque, roots, rural overtones and this and in in the casualties many it was ‘one of industrial an urban, towards movement society’. Moreover, a central goaldictator of the a Moreover, was to in values implant European into which project a society, Mexican Bell also fit. In this regard, we might great observation of the to the return philosopherMariátegui, Peruvian at the start of this article. excerpted Writing after Bell’s some years heyday, his text nonetheless gives a sense of how the British clown was perceived linked as integrally in Latin America cog in ‘the a – to British imperialism magnificent machinery of the Empire’ – as well as embodying core British The bourgeoisie ‘disowned’ The bourgeoisie aiming to effect just such a movement, movement, a such just effect to aiming of and his embracing Bell can be read of as an aspect this broader project. argue, late-nineteenth-century late-nineteenth-century argue, rejection a ‘middle-class saw Europe of indigenous the tradition’. carnival 7878 Satiric TV in the Americas: Critical Metatainment as Negotiated (tent With his With 17 18 Historia Mexicana, Jan. - Mar., 2003, Vol. 52, No. 3, Ruggiero Romano, in (Fermo Memoriam : Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. 76-96.

El Siglo De Oro, p.145. 19 (New York, Cornell University Press, 1986), p.172. The Politics and Poetics of Transgression Can Bell’s practice as a clown be thought of as a somehow integral and unitary artefact? Simon J. Evnine’s artefact? somehow integral and unitary thought of as a clownas a be Can Bell’s practice Turning briefly to Bell’s performance style, according to leading the in circus, Mexican the historian of the 1880s ‘the Bell standard became clown’. educated new, for a 17 Organisms (Oxford Making Objects and Events: A Hylomorphic Theory of Artifacts, Actions, and giving tute an artefact, the examples, among many others, of the telling a circus performer’s act (p.236), of a joke (p.240), and singing and dancing (p.250). 18 Revolledo, and Aztec traditions of the public 19 Paul Alonso resumes how the carpas combined ‘the medieval Spanish for social criticism and dissident humor’; Alonso ‘a space creating theatre’, the also are notes that the carpas Roberto Gómez Bolaños’ El Cha root of a Mexican tradition of subversive clowns, among them Cantinflas, bear characteristics that are clearly vo del Ocho, and Victor Trujillo’s Brozo, although these characters also Alonso,by Bell. See from the tradition inaugurated derived ‘Brozo’s Televisa’s Grotesque Clown El Mananero: as Transgressive Journalism in Mexico’, in his Dissent (Oxford 20 21 Ibid., p.178. 22 Ibid., p.177. Gal- Gómez Aurora see drive, industrialisation Porfirian the of historiography the of overview good a For 23 nue la Revolución: la a porfiriato del industriales, trabajadores y empresas ‘Industrialización, Freer, varriato historiografía’, va 1923-París 2001) (Jan. - Mar. 2003), pp. 773-804. Press, 2016) is interesting in this regard. Evnine outlines how certain actions could be considered to consti As Peter Stallybrass and Allon As Peter White family-friendly capers and invariably and capers family-friendly a clean jokes, Bell represented wholesome, cosmopolitan alternative theatre, street Mexican raucous to the in the ‘carpas’ as embodied that moved around working- theatres class neighbourhoods) and ‘jacalones’ (shacks that provided short comedies at affordable prices). Thisof culture rural a embodied theatre form of innuendo and subversion, one which Indigenous mestizo and even preserved elements. rather than the Spanish ‘payaso’. This This the Spanish ‘payaso’. than rather of suggestive title is how macaronic Bell an English tradition adapted himself to sensibility, giving a Mexican to rise artefact. a truly transcultural 77 1910), The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection Figure 2. Jose Guadalupe Posada - ‘El Clown Mexicano: Cuaderno No. 6’ (ca. 1880– Figure 2. Jose Guadalupe Posada - ‘El Clown Mexicano: JOHN GRAY / VIDES 27 (Vol. III,No.11),p.2. 1892 review the DailyAngloAmerican, January12, Circus-Theatre’, unsigned in example, ‘Orrin’s 26 See,for Mexico (NewYork:Rogers&SmithCompany, 1898),p.63. 25 (London 24 SeeJeffreyHerlihy-Mera, metropolitan authorities. metropolitan the b) deliberatethe partof agency on a) previousmilitary occupation,and imperialism’, whichtypicallypresume ‘cultural traditional conceptsof of terms in elucidation society thatresists Mexican on influence cultural British Here, example we haveof an then, innocuous means. Mexican society viaarelatively into values capitalist’ ‘refined integrate to the dictator sawinhimanopportunity was because it Díaz, Porfirio by was patronised Bell Mexico.If in role to Bell’s and White, and corresponds anticipates Stallybrass the argument of bohemian’ the of buffoonery nomadic the wild, of ‘domestication clown’s Meanwhile, the British Lords. House of as emblematic as the an institution Mariátegui, is values: for the clown order to conceptualise Bell’s position conceptualise Bell’s order to a vector Britishvalues? in of In short, home – and hence only inadvertently have accessed life hecouldnot of at be successful–andenjoyastyle could artist whosettledinaplace where he capital? Or washesimplyanemigrant British of influx an for way the pave to imperialism? Was hisultimategoal British behalf of secret agenton of sort himself asa of Did Bellthink situation. empire’ entirely capture cannot the ‘informal of notions traditional Numerous references underlining the Orrin brothers’ prominence in Mexican high society are to be found society are to Mexican high prominence in the Orrinbrothers’ Numerous references underlining Mexican National Railroad Company (Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México),TropicalCompany (Ferrocarriles Nacionales Railroad Mexican National Tours toToltec Towns in : Routledge,2018),p.24. After AmericanStudies:RethinkingtheLegaciesofTransnational Exceptionalism 24 Likewise, 79 elite and sometimes by Díaz himself. Díaz by sometimes and elite that were attended by the political functions and fundraising dinners charity upper-class society, organising were and pillars ofAnglo-American actors. Spanish and Italian dancers, and featuring Frenchsingers,Viennese showcase ofEuropean talent,variously as Americanculture, thecircuswasa of amusementof inMexico.’ class vaudeville. OnlyAmerican place andhigh- Orrin inthisway: ‘Circus enterprise) characterises the Circo Company (atthetime an American by the Mexican Railroad National 1898 brochure publishedin tourist A much ofhiscareer. the circuswhere performed for Bell to turn we will ideals, socioeconomic British of applicationexplicit and a moreconcrete abstract. For Mexican are establishment somewhat the culture bythe British of championing of ramifications ideological the We have seen that, inthe case of Bell, El CircoOrrin diffuse culturalfactors. but also ofmore political conditions, in termseconomicand him notsolely of in Mexicanconsider society,we needto 26 TheOrrinbrothersthemselves 25 As well As 27

to the DailyAngloAmerican, to business ventures, while, according separate addresses dedicated various to 1893-1894 notesthathe owned three Directorio GeneraldelaCiudadMexico, well-established entrepreneur – the this, Edward Orrinwasa Alongside city. a dairyfarmoutsidethe co-owner of 32 InformalEmpire , p.60. 1720-1800 (Philadelphia 31 See,forexample,MarkLaird’s engaging tacora Arquitectura, no.20(2010),pp.18-23. 30 See Ivan San Martin & Roberta Vassallo, ‘El acrob atico renacer del Nuevo Circo Teatro Renacimiento’, ‘Fragments’, May10,1891, p.2(Vol.II,no.38). see also 176), p.2; No. II, October 19,1891(Vol. of the edition editorial from unsigned Pleasant Outing’, 29 ‘A ra salapermanentedecineenlaCiudadMéxico(MexicoCity 28 QuotedinJuanFelipe Leal &EduardoBarraza prime La - - Anales 1905: del Cine en México,1895-1911,vol.11. its monthlypublication, to the philanthropy, hethe Sociedad FilantrópicaMexicana, was oneoffourbiggestcontributors according to from the edition ofOctober 172), p.4.Totake 14, 1891 (Vol. II,No. a representative example of Edward Orrin’s in theDailyAngloAmericannewspaper;see,e.g.,‘TheAmusementPrincesofMexico’, unsignededitorial bars, abakery and acandy shop. rooms, complemented by smoking The maintheatre was region. the in materials the predominantbuilding – were –avolcanicstone and tezontle adobe at atimewhen glass and steel building, constructedprimarily of modern Orrin wasastrikingly Circo architect named Del Pierra, the Teatro by aFrench alternatives. Designed autochthonous ‘nomadic’, it fromits was builtin1891,furtherdistinguishing The permanentOrrin seatoftheCirco microcosm of order andelegance; microcosm of serve asa to clearly intended and as itwascharacterised atthetime, garden the English the principlesof a mannerevocative landscaped inof square small a inglés’, was a‘jardín the complexthere the space of in front 29 : UniversityofPennsylvania Press,1999). , April 1, 1896 (Año VII, No.24),p.3. El BienSocial,April1,1896(Año 28 hewas The FloweringoftheLandscape Garden:EnglishPleasure Grounds, 30 In 31

80 Spanish havinglabouredtoconquer, in theNewSpain (the mining regions important the most , of one the cityof of made itthemotto of Mexico,Phillip II of in1588King the case In such settings. verb in loaded a particularly is partly because ‘vincit’ nodoubt contexts, colonial different various was recycled in It history. long Georgics phrase Virgil’s from Meaning this ‘Work conquers all’, Labor omniavincit. the façadetheir establishment: of we could which adorned themotto on home in project, Porfirian broader circus dovetailed with the brothers’ the Orrin about how think a wayto As Labor omniavincit European architecturalprinciples. of flagship a was building theatre the and exploitation fromafar.’ and exploitation control availabilitysuggested its for landscape of aesthetics conventions European Mexico into of enfolding Mexico, that ‘the visual depictionsof regarding observation Aguirre’s of itinlight consider also we could : JuanPablos/Voyeur,2017),p.124. 32 In short, In has a

Bi- BRITISH CULTURE IN PORFIRIAN MEXICO PORFIRIAN IN CULTURE BRITISH JOHN GRAY / VIDES Yaqui people from the Sonora region. the Sonora Yaqui peoplefrom be eitherto Mayan forcibly displaced or them likely the majority of procession, workforce isarrayeda religious for the photograph,hacienda’s it. In on inscribed our phraseprominently with ‘hacienda’ (plantation) in the Yucatán, the Sacapuc the principalbuildingof it depicts thefaçade 1925, of 1885 and timebetween Taken some de Yucatán. the UniversidadAutónoma Guerra of Pedro Fototeca the a photographin labour issuggestedby Indigenous of associated withtheexploitation labour). Thatthephrase remained to theconqueredhad it wasnow who University of ChicagoPress,1997),p.172ff. 35 MatthewH.Edney, p.16. 34 on p.77. reproduced is photograph this Alabama Press, 2003); the HistoryofModernYucatá n, (Tuscaloosa:University of de Yucatán. Universidad SeeGilbertM.Joseph, Autónoma Pedro Guerra, Fototeca 1885-1925’, años Patrón Espadasentrelos enda Sacapuc Dr. Alonso que pertenecióal 33 and ofSt. pedagogy. in relationto humanist imagination’, particularly was also early-modernEurope,In the phrase 1794 asthe‘Revenue Survey School’; founded bythe East Company in in Chennai,India,whichwasinitially Guindy, Engineering, of the College of use asthemotto examples includeits British colonialism. of the context in applied it find often we that sense in 1841. Subsequently,thephrase in of first founded the Victorianpublicschools, the College, Cheltenham of the motto It isalso established in1774. ‘Hacendados, trabajadores y sacerdote frente alacasa principal. Setrata de laFiesta Religiosa delaHaci Andrew Wallace, ‘Virgilian Georgic and Renaissance Pedagogy’, (PhD thesis, University of Toronto, 2003), Toronto, University of Renaissance (PhD thesis, Pedagogy’,Georgic and Wallace, ‘Virgilian Andrew ‘a verbal fixture in the educated

Jago High School in Jamaica, Jago High School Mapping anEmpire:TheGeographical ConstructionofBritishIndia,1765-1843(Chicago : 34 It is inthis It Early 35 33

81 and land […] and transform him and land[…]transform separate the worker from hisvillage productivity. Therefore, they had to hours anddays of work, andincrease train permanent extendtheir workers, force, ‘desired stabilizethework to estate andcommerce; theirowners real and railwaysto mining life, from the country’s economic and industrial operating invirtually every aspect of Circo Orrin,suchcompanies were in the Bell wasperformingarms. As open with investors companies and American and British welcomed Díaz Porfirio society. in place Orrin’s Circo the of dimension broader ideological phrase makesexplicitthe this of leisure, a place the choice of for motto strike oneasasomewhatincongruous might while it Thus, ethic. work the Protestant of and thevalorisation peoples, colonised of out a workforce imperial of domination, the formation them among associations, different of potent phrase together a range folded this use suggest, its these examples of As Orrin. the Circo of before theconstruction a fewyears 1886 –only established in Labor, seminal American Federation of the including movements intheUS, came to be associated with labour Rediscovering thePastatMexico’sPeriphery:Essayson - entirely on wages.’ into anindustrialworkerdependent pseudo-Parisian boulevards. and grand mansions comprising the colonial-eracity,principally west of the to Roma’, aneighbourhood colonia mover of ‘la behind the construction City. EdwardWalterOrrinwasaprime made in thebuiltlandscapeMexico of that theOrrinbrothers interventionlast it happens, the their theatre As was not the mindsofworkers. omnia vincit’ well served‘Labor of by the philosophy and bothendsare transformation, capitalist of elite’s overarchinggoal Porfirian the to closely corresponds of Mexico. of regions and cities different of names the streetsbear the of this, all to Further resonances ofthisdesignation. the imperial to builders were oblivious would be disingenuous tothinkthatits namely ‘la Romita’.Nevertheless, it which thenewdevelopmentwasbuilt, hamlet around the the name of to a reference is Mexico,while ‘Roma’ in denote ‘neighbourhood’ term usedto is simplytheadministrative ‘colonia’ pire: VolumeIII: TheNineteenthCentury (Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press,1999),pp.122-144. 39 p.31. geográfico’ [‘an overdue wave of compensatory geographical nationalism’]. In Tavares López, affirmation that the street names in la Roma are the product of ‘una tardía ola de compensador nacionalismo the present author has yet to find confirmation for it in a primary text. Tavares López cites Salvador Novo’s after theplacetheyhadvisited. However,TavaresLópezpointedlyrefrainsfrom repeatingthisclaim,and 38 Roma. OnOrrin’sinvolvementinitsbuilding,seeCh.1. 37 EdgarTavaresLópez’ColoniaRoma(MexicoCity 36 of the centralising tendency of of naming device as a spatial articulation Itisoftensaidthat,everytimetheOrrins’troupereturned fromatour,newly-builtstreetwasnamed Alan Knight, ‘Britain and Latin America’, p.125, in AndrewPorter(ed.), ‘Britain andLatinAmerica’, p.125, AlanKnight, Brown,‘ForeignandNative-BornWorkers’,p.798. 38 It is possible to read Itispossible this becoming ingrained in becoming 36 Thisdesire 37 Now, : Clío,1998)remainsthebeststudyofhistory la 82 la magníficamáquinadelImperio’. Bell as‘unarueda y unmovimiento de and Ricardo theOrrinbrothers of both certainly be justified in seeing the work return to Mariátegui, we would ideas, and culturalpractices.’ British attitudes, dissemination […]of and cultural proselytization[and]the Latin America […] involvedideological summation, ‘TheBritishpresence in Knight’s Alan economic level.In or be leveraged a political could on cultural values which implanting imperialism, underwrote informal Orrin bankers, then,theCirco andinvestment much as gunboats As lead tolaRoma. at this time: busily installing all roads Americanengineers were British and facilitated by therailway network that was which atendency rule, Porfirian The OxfordHistoryoftheBritish Em- Colonia Roma, 39

To BRITISH CULTURE IN PORFIRIAN MEXICO PORFIRIAN IN CULTURE BRITISH