Abstract

GUTIERREZ CHONG, Natividad. Women and the common origin of the nation in Mexico. Cultura representaciones soc [online]. 2019, vol.13, n.26, pp.40-61. ISSN 2007-8110.  https://doi.org/10.28965/2019-26-03.

This article explores the powerful influence of sexuality and gender roles in controlling national identity and nationalism. Thus, the purpose is to review the common origin of the Mexican nation and how women, throughout history, have contributed to it. The article is organized into three sections. The first identifies the main types of nationalism in Mexico and their interrelationship with the gender roles and nationalisms as raised by Floya Anthias and Nira Yuval-Davis in 1989. The second highlights how both nationalism and gender roles contribute to the construction of masculinity and femininity. The third explores gender roles and their different levels of subordination in contemporary nationalist mythology, particularly the myth of mestizaje (miscegenation) as the founding couple of the modern nation. To exemplify the argument, some unconventional sources were used, such as the popular calendars of the first decades of the twentieth century, and a narrative on the myth of mestizaje written by a Spanish writer who lived in Mexico in 1884.

Keywords : nation; ethnic origin; women; sexuality; gender roles; national identity.

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