POWER AND NATIONAL CULTURE: A History of the Seminar on Mexican Culture, 1940-1980

The Seminar of Mexican Culture is a forgotten institution in the history of our country. Its long existence of eighty years puts it on a par in age and prestige with other institutions such as the Colegio de México, the Colegio Nacional, the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia or the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. Throughout this period, the institution has been presided over by dozens of prominent figures in the world of culture; it has published hundreds of specialized and disseminated texts on various artistic, humanistic and scientific subjects, and it has achieved a significant territorial presence in dozens of Mexican and foreign cities, through the activities of its correspondents. Despite all this, the contribution of the Seminar of Mexican Culture to our artistic, educational and scientific development is still not recognized.

The book that the reader now has in his hands seeks to fill this gap: to tell a fragment of the history of this institution. But it is not a story that simply seeks to recognize the Seminar in its work. More precisely, this work addresses the conditions under which an artistic institution (such as the Seminar of Mexican Culture) was linked to the hegemonic interests and practices of the political system that was consolidated from 1940 onwards. This is a study resulting from an exhaustive review of historical material on this institution and on the history of art and education in Mexico in the 20th century.

The book is divided into four chapters. The first deals with the historical-political context in which the Seminar of Mexican Culture was founded. The second chapter describes the impact and work of several figures who occupied the most important positions in the seminar at a national level or who stood out for their contribution to the consolidation of the institution during the period from 1950 to 1980. The third chapter explores the “provincial imaginary” that several figures in the seminar conceived as a reivindicative and nationalist element. In the fourth chapter, the scale of analysis descends to the political and artistic sphere of the city of Aguascalientes to concentrate on the history of groups and social networks, describing the development of cultural and artistic diffusion in Aguascalientes in the period from 1920 to 1940, in which the emergence and organization of cultural groups with different artistic proposals is emphasized. Thus, it begins with the story of the founding of the seminary and the formation of its national council, to then focus on Aguascalientes and explain the geographic-regional elements, social structures and emotional circumstances that allowed this city to become one of the most important of this institution. With this, it is intended to form a historical framework that allows to expose the entrails of the cultural nationalism developed in a specific city.

This work can be useful for those interested in the development of art and its relationship with political power and nationalism in Mexico, specifically in the territory of Aguascalientes and the surrounding states (such as Jalisco and Zacatecas). It is hoped that your treatment will be sufficiently truthful and convincing for each reader to whom you present a story that, by including a dialogue between social theory, empirical data and history, seeks to encourage him or her to continue with research and questions.