FORGING THE MASCULINE AND MODERN NATION: RACE, IDENTITY, AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE IN CUBA AND MEXICO, 1890s-1930s By David C. LaFevor Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in History May, 2011 Nashville, Tennessee Approved Marshall C. Eakin Jane Landers Edward Wright-Rios Gary Gerstle William Luis For Tara, Chris, and Bill ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Stepping back from the process of research and writing this dissertation and attempting to remember the enormous personal and professional debts I have incurred along the way is both a difficult and nostalgic experience. None of this long endeavor would have been possible without the financial, intellectual and emotional support of my family, friends, and colleagues. I conducted funded research in four countries and most everywhere was met with patience, genuine curiosity, and challenges to my intentions and assumptions that, while often frustrating my expectations, have caused me to grow as a person and writer over the past seven years. For anyone I inadvertently leave out of these acknowledgments, I apologize; there have been so many institutions and individuals who have made this work possible. My time at Rhodes College and, in particular, my friendship with my undergraduate mentor, Michael LaRosa gave me the foundation for further engagement of Latin America. Mike LaRosa‘s humanistic approach to scholarship and teaching along with the personal interest he took in me as a student oriented me toward the study of history. He has been instrumental in obtaining funding from a number of sources and has been with me through this process as friend, critic, and source of constant encouragement. I would like to thank the Thomas J. Watson Foundation for the freedom and financial support to travel the world for a year upon completing my undergraduate degree. Over the course of that year when I tried to explain what I was doing I was often met with disbelief that such grants existed. At Vanderbilt, I have benefitted from the example of absolute intellectual integrity of my advisor, Marshall C. Eakin. He has given generously his time, patience, criticism and understanding. I know of no other individual who is a better combination of teacher and scholar. iii Jane Landers has also been of central importance throughout these years of research and writing. Her gentle yet unyielding criticism has guided me through many tough spots. Her caring and encouraging work with graduate students is, without exaggeration, legendary among those of us fortunate to work with her. Edward Wright-Rios, Celso Castillo, and Frank Robinson have been sources of intellectual guidance. They have read drafts and provided essential input into the crafting of this dissertation. At Vanderbilt and beyond, a range of scholars has lent me their time and intelligence. Among them are Michael Bess, Leon Helguera, Ronald Spores, Mike LaRosa, Matt Childs, Sherry Johnson, Louis Pérez, Jr., Jerry Davila, Helmut Smith, Katy Crawford, Richard Blackett, Enrique Encinosa, Bill Caferro, and Jim Lang. In particular, I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, Marshall Eakin, Jane Landers, Edward Wright- Rios, Gary Gerstle, and William Luis for their time, engagement, and insight. Jane Anderson, Heidi Welch and Brenda Hummel in the history department have helped to make this process as smooth as possible. Key financial support came from the Vanderbilt University History Department, the Fulbright Garcia-Robles Commission, the Leon Helguera Fellowship, the Center for Latin American and Iberian Studies, the Bishop Johnson Black Cultural Center, the Center for the Americas, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. I am also indebted to the staff of the Vanderbilt Interlibrary Loan Program, the Archivo Nacional de México, the Library of Congress, the Hemeroteca Nacional de México, the Biblioteca José Martí, the Archivo Nacional de Cuba, the Neetie Lee Benson Library, and the Instituto de Historia de Cuba. Pablo Gómez deserves much credit. His friendship and intellectual support have guided me in many difficult situations and his encouragement and criticism have been key to this dissertation. I count him as a brother. His family has also been exemplar of the kindness and iv acceptance that overwhelm me in the study of Latin America. Pablo has included me in several grants that have deepened my understanding of the region. His enormous intelligence paired with his humanistic orientation make him the best young scholar of Latin America I know. Another former graduate student, David Wheat, has had a similar impact on my work and his example has given me a benchmark of great writing and rigorous scholarship. My friends in Nashville and beyond who helped me in many ways through the course of this dissertation and to whom I give warm thanks are Timothy Maddux, Kendall Gregory, Timmie Sampson, Miriam Martin, Ty West, Courtney Campbell, Rick Moore, Avi Korine, Katrin Seidl Gómez, Lola LaFevor and Roscoe LaFevor. My extended family, Kathy Weisberg in particular, along with Anita Ewings, Shannon Stearns, Ryan Dzurko, and Tom, Sally, Tommy, and Gillian Carroll have given me their understanding and support in this long journey. Lagan Sebert and Sandra Sampayo allowed me to invade their home on research trips to Washington D.C.. Muchas gracias a todos. These individuals have made life as a graduate student more glamorous than it already is. They have helped make Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Mexico City, Austin, Texas, and Havana, Cuba into temporary homes. My family made this dissertation possible and I owe all the best moments in this process to them. Virginia and Bill Robertson and Louise and Clifford Cole, my grandparents, put in the hard work that has helped enable me to choose this profession. My brothers and fellow scholars, Matt and Adam, have given me constant friendship and understanding. Matt LaFevor offered valuable criticism and logistical support for my many research trips to Austin, Texas and Mexico City. My parents, Chris and Bill, and my wife, Tara, have provided me ceaseless support and emotional sustenance through this entire process. My father and mother first introduced me to Latin America as a child and I have learned through their experiences and the opportunities they v have given me throughout my life. If I can only approach their honesty, compassion, intelligence and their dedication to family in my own life, I will count myself successful. Tara has truly made me a more balanced person and without her this work would not have the personal meaning and importance that have carried it to conclusion. This dissertation is for Tara, Chris, and Bill. Nashville February, 2011. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………………….ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………..………………………………………iii CHAPTER I. IMPORTING BARBARISM/STUDIED BARBARITY: NATIONAL IDENTITY AND PHYSICAL CULTURE FROM THE RIO GRANDE TO THE PORT OF HAVANA……………………………………………………………..…………………..1 Havana CulturaBorderland…………………………………..……..……… ...…..7 Why Cuba and Mexico; why sport, why boxing?..................................................21 A Note on Sources….……………………………………………………….……28 How the HistoriaUnfolds…………………………………………………….......31 II. EL DEPORTE VIRIL AND THE PORFIRIAN MAN: MODERNITY, IDENTITY AND PUGILISM IN MEXICO………………………………………………………………..35 Unearthing the Informal: Molding Tastes and Aficíon between the Private and Public Spheres…………………………………………………………….…45 Cameos in the Culture: The Roots of Mexican Engagement with Cultura Física and El Box in the Nineteenth Century ……………………………….…59 “The Strongest man in Mexico is now a Mexican,‖ Ugartechea, Esperón, De la Tijera, Aguilar, Colín and the Mexicanization of the Masculine Body…………81 The Club Atlético Internacional: Baldomero Romero, José Juan Tablada and the Logic Behind Virile Action…………………………………………………..88 The Eve of Revolution, Boxing at an Impasse on the Margins: Conclusion …...95 III. ―WHO WILL SAY SE ARE NOT PROGESSING?‖ CUBA, ―BLACK REALITY,‖ THE ―WHITE HOPE,‖ PORNOGRAPHY AND THE CHALLENGE OF CUBANIZING BARBARISM1910-1921……………....….97 vii Obscure Beginnings, Contentious Voices: The Background of ―The Fistic Art‖ in Cuba………….…………………………………………………………110 From Reno to La Habana: The Heavyweight Championship and the Controversy of Celebrity……….…………………………………………………………….117 The ―Bad Nigger‖ in Havana: The Transnational Spectacle of Race and Boxing………………………………………………………………………….145 Havana as an Unlikely Stage: Improvisation, Betrayal, and Race War………..154 IV. FROM THE EVERYDAY EXOTIC TO THE EVERYDAY: ―THE REVOLUTION PASSED OUT BOXING GLOVES TO EVERYBODY‖…………………………..…………………………………….173 Civil Society versus Government: Boxing and Popular Culture…………….…185 ―Firpo Carries the Hopes of the Race in his Hands:‖How a boxing match in New York was used to gauge Mexican identity……………………………….…….192 José Juan Tablada: A Decades Long Engagement with the Virile Sport………204 Finding ―Heroes‖ in the Slums: Making Memories of Urban Mexico in the 1930s and 1940s……………………………………………………………..…219 Fight Films: The Dramatization of Mexicanness Through Boxing in Golden Age Cinema………………………………………………………………….…236 V. ―MARCHING AT THE HEAD OF CIVILIZATION‖: CUBAN BODIES, TRANSNATIONAL LENSES, AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE……………………………..……………………………………….…241 El Arte de los Puños and the Search for the New Cuban Man………………....258 The ―Virile and Energetic Reality of our Race‖: How Luis Ángel Firpo Embodied the Transnational ―Manly Ideal‖