Title: The Aztec palimpsest
First published: 1997
Description: Mexico is more than a country; it is a concept that is the product of a complex network of discourses as disparate as the rhetoric of Chicano nationalism, English-language literature about Mexico, and Mexican tourist propaganda. The idea of "Mexicanness," says Daniel Cooper Alarcon, has arisen through a process of erasure and superimposition as these discourses have produced contentious and sometimes contradictory descriptions of their subject.

By considering Mexicanness as a palimpsest of these competing yet interwoven narratives, Cooper offers a paradigm through which the construction and representation of cultural identity can be studied.

He shows how the Chicano myth of Aztlan was constructed upon earlier Mesoamerican myths, discusses representations of Mexico in texts by nineteenth- and twentieth-century writers, and analyzes the content of tourist literature, thereby revealing the economic, social, and political interests that drive the production of Mexicanness today.
Subjects: Ethnic identity, Foreign public opinion, Government policy, Description and travel, Mexican American authors, Intellectual life, Mexican Americans in literature, American literature, History and criticism, Mexican Americans, Publicity, In literature, Tourism, Opinion publique etrangere, Mexicaanse Amerikanen, Descriptions et voyages, Travel, Literatur, Mexican National characteristics, Literature, Politique touristique, Beeldvorming, Dans la litterature, Americains d'origine mexicaine, Identite collective, Histoire et critique, Litterature americaine, Public opinion, Tourismus, Auteurs d'origine mexicaine, Kulturelle Identitat, Littérature américaine, Dans la littérature, Identité collective, Opinion publique étrangère, Américains d'origine mexicaine, Kulturelle Identität, Mexico, description and travel, American literature, history and criticism, American literature, mexican american authors, Mexico, in literature
Places: Mexico
LC classification: F1216.5 .C69 1997