Understanding Mexican Identity & Culture

• Understanding Mexico's diversity is necessary before proposing changes because understanding the problem is necessary.
• Mexican diversity includes how people are, and all the other aspects of what they are becoming
• What is considered "Mexican" relates to everything associated with “Mexico"

Components of the Imaginary

• Relato: A history of how something concrete happened.
• Narrativa: A collection of stories pointing to the same conclusions.
• Discurso: Composition of repeated narratives by a social actor with a specific purpose.
• Arte: Is a human expression that transmits an idea, emotion, or vision of the world
• Artesanía: Crafts produce multiple works for practical use, while art creates unique pieces

Culture concepts

• Folklore: The body of expression of a specific culture.
• Cultura: A set of beliefs and knowledge of a society, including stories, narratives, and imaginaries.
• Endoculturación: When the older generation transmits culture to the younger generation.
• Aculturación: When a more powerful culture (militarily) is imposed on another culture.
• Transculturación: The process by which a culture forcibly or influenced adapts from another culture.
• Identidad: The sense of belonging of a person to a Nation-State, perceiving a nation as a whole represented in a culture, it is a collective process.
• Ideología: A set of values that prescribes specific social and political behavior, where stories, narratives, imaginaries, culture, and identity are sources of ideology

History of Mexico

• History could begin with irrigation

Indigenous Peoples:

• Olmecs: Known for the towns where they made big heads of gods
• Zapotecas: The first metropolis of Mesoamerica, suffered from population growth and insufficient food, Teotihuacan was a main commercial partner.
• Teotihuacán: Commerce was protected by military force, its fall was due to the Chichimeca invasion and being burned for raising taxes, without economic competition.
• Mayas: Known for the calendar and astronomy, invented the number 0, and they disappeared due to deforestation which drove away the rain, a rise in tributes and taxes, which brought famine.
• Méxicas (Aztecas): Moctezuma's headdress.
• Hernan Cortes united with the Mixtecs to overthrow the Aztec people due to a lack of alliances with the Aztecs.
• Spanish Conquest (Ideología): The Dominicans taught them to read so they could read their history, also, there was an excess of abuses by spaniards to the natives
• Chichimecas aka Huachichiles: Nomads, Hunters, launched the Chichimeca war against Teotihuacan culture.

Political Concepts:

• Que es lo politico?: Means what is public
• Que es la política?: Means the management of what is public.
• Que es la Soberanía?: Is when an actor is independent to act.
• Mexico is not a sovereign country because it wants to avoid bothering other countries

Sovereignty concepts

• Hobbes: The sovereign is the leviathan that is above all, and its will is the law.
• Rousseau: In this context, the sovereign is the people who decree the general will in the law.
• Sovereignty is independence, a limited, absolute, and arbitrary character.
• Doctrina Estrada: It refers to the principle of non-intervention.

Constitution basics

• Dogmatica: It is the study of people's rights
• Orgánico: Studies how a dogma is organized.
• Everyone in Mexico is equal, but that is only written on paper.
• Education - Art 3: The state is responsible for the right of children to education

Obligations and rights

• The Constitution sustains the legal framework outlining the obligations of Mexicans
• (Art 31) Parents/guardians are responsible for ensuring their children attend school to receive education, which is obligatory.
• Citizens must attend civic and military instruction provided by the local government.

Legal Obligations

• Citizens are obligated to enlist and serve in reserve corps according to the law to ensure and defend independence, and contribute to public expenses at the federal, state, and municipal levels.

Political Rights

• (Art 35) Citizens have the right to freely and individually participate peacefully in the country's political affairs.

Legal Guarantees

• (Art 4) Men and women are equal before the law and the protection of family organization and development, every person has the right to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children.
• The Río Nueces used to form the border between the United States and Mexico before the Río Bravo.

Exploring the complexities of Mexican identity and culture. Key components include relato, narrativa, discurso, and arte. Examination of culture through folklore, cultura, and endoculturación.