Essay on the permanent search for a Mexican identity

Abstract

In 1810, the process of independence from Spain began in Mexico, which had existed as a Virreinato de Nueva España since the "Toma de Tenochtitlan". The objective of this work is to make a brief reflection on how, from that moment on, the construction of the Mexican identity developed through the controversies that still arise regarding the origins of present-day Mexico. With some vice regal antecedents, it was after independence that the search for the identity of the new nation began, focusing on pre-Hispanic cultures. In the 20th century, the view was broadened, recognizing the contribution of other periods and of the different human groups of Mexico, including, along with the indigenous people, the Creoles and the mestizos. The invention of neocolonial art as an identity symbol at the beginning of that century is studied, as well as its adoption by the power of post-revolutionary Mexico as official art, both in architecture and in urban image and interiors, coexisting with the plastic arts of the Mexican School dedicated to muralism and neoindigenist graphics.

Finally, it is analyzed how in recent times the search for a Mexican identity has revived the debate in society about the conquest, its meaning and its relationship with what is now claimed to be strictly Mexican.