México's Nobodies , livre ebook

México’s Nobodies
SUNY series, Genders in the Global South

Debra A. Castillo and Shelley Feldman, editors
México’s Nobodies
The Cultural Legacy of the Soldadera and Afro-Mexican Women
B. Christine Arce
Cover Art: “Carmen Robles, soldadera,” México 1913. © #186387 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2017 State University of New York
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Marketing, Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Arce, B. Christine, 1974– author.
Title: México’s nobodies : the cultural legacy of the soldadera and Afro-Mexican women / B. Christine Arce.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2017. | Series: SUNY series, Genders in the global South | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016021650 (print) | LCCN 2016053183 (ebook) | ISBN 9781438463575 (hardcover : alkaline paper) | ISBN 9781438463599 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Women—Mexico—History. | Women, Black—Mexico—History. | Racially mixed women—Mexico—History. | Women soldiers—Mexico—History. | Women revolutionaries—Mexico—History. | Sex role—Mexico—History. | Mexico—Race relations. | Women in art. | Blacks in art. | Art and society—Mexico—History.
Classification: LCC HQ1462.A63 2017 (print) | LCC HQ1462 (ebook) | DDC 305.40972—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016021650
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I dedicate this book to the spirit and living memory of my father, Simeón Arce González, who did not make it to the end, but tried his best; to my grandmother Carmen González Razo, who is now reunited with her son, and was as strong and resilient as the soldaderas; and to my best friend, grandma Christine Dow Retelsdorf.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Paradox of Invisibility
Part One: Entre Adelitas y Cucarachas : The Soldadera as Trope in the Mexican Revolution
Chapter 1
Soldaderas and the Making of Revolutionary Spaces
Chapter 2
The Many Faces of the Soldadera and the Adelita Complex
Chapter 3
Beyond the “Custom of Her Sex and Country”
Part Two: The Blacks in the Closet
Chapter 4
Black Magic and the Inquisition: The Legend of La Mulata de Córdoba and the Case of Antonia de Soto
Chapter 5
“Dios pinta como quiere”: Blackness and Redress in Mexican Golden Age Film
Chapter 6
The Music of the Afro-Mexican Universe and the Dialectics of Son
Conclusion: To Be Expressed Otherwise
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
Fig. 1.1 “Soldaderas on the platform at the Buenavista train station,” México City, D.F., April 1912; Gerónimo Hernández. © #5670 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate.
Fig. 1.2 “Soldier and soldaderas on the roof of railcar,” México City, D.F., 1914. © #474156, CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Silver impression over gelatin.
Fig. 1.3 “Soldaderas prepare food on the roof of a railcar,” México City, D.F., 1914. © #6388 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Nitrate film negative.
Fig. 1.4 “Federal soldiers and their families on the roof of the railcars,” México City, D.F., 1914. © #5600 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate.
Fig. 1.5 “Soldier and soldaderas in a train car,” México, 1914. © #474156 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Silver impression over gelatin.
Fig. 1.6 “Federal soldiers, soldaderas and the railway administrator on the platform of the train,” México City, D.F., April 1913. © #6293 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate.
Fig. 1.7 “Madero’s troops in the patios of Buenavista train station,” México City, D.F., 1910. © #5774 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate.
Fig. 1.8 “Troops and their families watching an opera presented to the Army troops,” México City, D.F., October 10, 1921. © #6399 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Nitrate film negative.
Fig. 1.9 “Soldaderas at a military camp,” México City, D.F., 1914. © #5886 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Nitrate film negative.
Fig. 1.10 “Soldaderas departing from the ‘Piedad’ Barracks of the 180th Batallion with carts and artillery,” México City, D.F., 1914. © #6234 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate.
Fig. 1.11 “Portrait of a revolutionary girl holding a rifle,” México City, D.F., 1913. © #33348 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Negative of security film.
Fig. 1.12 “Zapatista soldaderas in Xochimilco,” August 1914, México City, D.F. © #451107 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Silver impression over gelatin.
Fig. 1.13 “Soldaderas in firing position against the men of José Inés Chávez García,” Michoacán, México, 1917. © #63945 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Negative of security film. In Photographing the Mexican Revolution , John Mraz identifies original image as follows: “Soldaderas learning how to defend themselves,” Ario, Michocán, February 1914; J. Guerrero, La Ilustración Semanal , March 3, 1914.
Fig. 1.14 “Portrait of the revolutionary Coronela Amelio Robles, smoking in a room,” México City, D.F., 1914. © #33492 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Gelatin over nitrate film.
Fig. 1.15 “Soldadera kisses a soldier,” México City, D.F., 1913. © #6212 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate. Agustín and Gustavo Casasola caption this image as “Soldadera congratulates her ‘Juan’ for returning unscathed after the Battle of Rellano” in Historia Gráfica de la Revolución (447).
Fig. 1.16 “Soldadera with flag and sword in a train station,” México 1914. © #287639 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Security film.
Fig. 1.17 “Soldaderas on the platform at the Buenavista train station,” México City, D.F., April 1912; Gerónimo Hernández. © #5670 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate.
Fig. 1.18 “Revolutionaries and soldaderas,” México, 1915. © #186449 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Series: Emiliano Zapata. Security film.
Fig. 2.1 “A soldier says goodbye to his wife at the Buenavista train station,” México City, D.F., 1913. © #6094 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate.
Fig. 2.2 “Valentina Ramírez, soldadera,” Sinaloa, México, 1911. © #68115 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Nitrate film negative.
Fig. 2.3 “Federal soldier says goodbye to a woman,” México City, D.F., 1914. © #6342 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate.
Fig. 3.1 “Federal Soldier and his family,” México City, D.F., 1915. © #5015 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate.
Fig. 3.2 “Carmen Robles, soldadera,” México 1913. © #186387 CONACULTA. INAH.SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Dry gelatin plate. While the Fototeca has identified this image as Carmen Robles, the name of this woman is still under debate. For example, the Casasola brothers and the Chicago Museum of Mexican Art identify this image as, “Portrait of a Female Soldier from Michoacán, 1910” (242).
Fig. 5.1 “Revolutionaries and soldadera in front of a home,” México, 1914. © #33833 CONACULTA. INAH. SINAFO.FN.MÉXICO, Archivo Casasola. Nitrate film negative. In Photographing the Mexican Revolution John Mraz identifies this image as “Zapatista colonel Carmen Robles, Guerrero, ca. 1913.” Likewise, Agustín and Gustavo Casasola identify her as revolutionary leader Carmen Robles with her chief officers after the battle of Iguala, Guerrero (750).
Fig. 6.1 “Toña la Negra in publicity poster for her first tour of Cuba at the beginning of the 1940s.” Courtesy of the Fototeca of Veracruz/IVEC, n.d.
Fig. 6.2 “Toña la Negra next to the carnival court of the ‘ugly’ King.” Courtesy of the Fototeca of Veracruz/IVEC, n.d.
Fig. 6.3 “Toña la Negra and Celia Cruz.” Courtesy of the Fototeca of Veracruz/IVEC and Rafael Figueroa, n.d.
Fig. 6.4 “Toña la Negra in publicity photo from her early period.” Courtesy of the Fototeca of Veracruz/IVEC, n.d.
Fig. 6.5 “Toña la Negra and Agustín Lara enjoying the applause after a performance in Veracruz.” Courtesy of the Fototeca of Veracruz/IVEC, n.d.
Fig. 6.6 “Toña la Negra playing Marta la mulata alongside Antonieta Pons, one of the famous Cuban rumberas in the film Konga Roja ,” 1943. Court