The cultural production of Mexico

I recently reviewed Jennifer Jolly's (2018) Creating Pátzcuaro, Creating Mexico: Art, Tourism, and Nation Building under Lázaro Cárdenas for Monthly Review. Overall, I found the book very interesting, and learned much about the study and interpretation of art, as well as how Pátzcuaro was turned into a historical monument to a particular notion of Mexican culture, and the important role of internal tourism in reproducing this national identity. Some of the minor details were a inconsistent with my own study of Mexican history, and the neglect of politico-economic factors sometimes resulted in incomplete explanations, but overall it is a compelling and worthwhile book.

The full review is available at Monthly Review: https://monthlyreview.org/2020/01/01/interrogating-the-cultural-production-of-mexico/