Synopses & Reviews
By the end of the twentieth century, Mexican multimedia conglomerate Televisa stood as one of the most powerful media companies in the world. Most scholars have concluded that the companyand#8217;s success was owed in large part to its executives who walked in lockstep with the government and the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), which ruled for seventy-one years. At the same time, government decisions regulating communications infrastructure aided the development of the television industry. In one of the first books to be published in English on Mexican television, Celeste Gonzand#225;lez de Bustamante argues that despite the cozy relationship between media moguls and the PRI, these connections should not be viewed as static and without friction.
Through an examination of early television news programs, this book reveals the tensions that existed between what the PRI and government officials wanted to be reported and what was actually reported and how. Further, despite the increasing influence of television on society, viewers did not always accept or agree with what they saw on the air. Television news programming played an integral role in creating a sense of lo mexicano (that which is Mexican) at a time of tremendous political, social, and cultural change. At its core the book grapples with questions about the limits of cultural hegemony at the height of the PRI and the cold war.
Review
"An engaging story of women who struggled to shape the revolutionary project. . . . Smith's engaging writing style and clear analysis makes this an excellent choice for classroom use."
-H-Net Reviews
Review
"Smith has rewritten the revolutionary history of the Yucatn. We will never be able to go back to romanticizing the socialist governors or imagining an egalitarian society that never existed in the first place."
Patrick McNamara, author of Sons of the Sierra: Jurez, Daz, and the People of Ixtln, Oaxaca, 1855-1920
Review
"An important contribution to the emergent field of Mexican feminist theory. . . . Scholars of Mexican history, women and gender, and legal studies will learn much from this very readable book."
-The Americas
Review
"Studies in English on the Mexican Revolution must strike a difficult balance that is common in area studies. . . . Smith . . . does an admirable job of satisfying on all counts. . . . A lucid, accessible text. . . . Highly recommended."
-Choice
Review
"Thoughtful. . . . Smith has revealed and sensitively analyzed a world awash in complexity and complication, a revolutionary world in which Yucatan women fought to be treated properly. These women, as Smith reminds us, crafted legacies to which future women could turn."
-American Historical Review "An engaging story of women who struggled to shape the revolutionary project. . . . Smith's engaging writing style and clear analysis makes this an excellent choice for classroom use."
-H-Net Reviews "A highly readable and at times poignant social history rich with political implications."
-Hispanic American Historical Review "An important contribution to the emergent field of Mexican feminist theory. . . . Scholars of Mexican history, women and gender, and legal studies will learn much from this very readable book."
-The Americas "An example of groundbreaking research in gender studies. . . . Smith's research shows that women were far more active and influential than is usually admitted. . . . A welcomed contribution to the field of gender studies and will definitely force us to see the Mexican Revolution in a new light."
-The Latin Americanist "Studies in English on the Mexican Revolution must strike a difficult balance that is common in area studies. . . . Smith . . . does an admirable job of satisfying on all counts. . . . A lucid, accessible text. . . . Highly recommended."
-Choice "Smith has rewritten the revolutionary history of the Yucatan. We will never be able to go back to romanticizing the socialist governors or imagining an egalitarian society that never existed in the first place."
- Patrick McNamara, author of Sons of the Sierra: Juarez, Diaz, and the People of Ixtlan, Oaxaca, 1855-1920 "With a multiple focus on laws, court proceedings, and women's mobilizations, Gender and the Mexican Revolution demonstrates how gender identities, old and new, pervaded political and legal processes in a moment of extraordinary instability and turbulence. It makes a significant contribution to the thriving field of twentieth-century women and gender history in Latin America."
- Mary Kay Vaughan, coeditor of Sex in Revolution: Gender, Politics,and Power in Modern Mexico
Review
"Smith's work contributes significantly to our understanding of how the Mexican Revolution affected gender in the Yucatán...Impressive original research."
-Mexican Studies
Review
"A highly readable and at times poignant social history rich with political implications."
-Hispanic American Historical Review
Review
"An example of groundbreaking research in gender studies. . . . Smith's research shows that women were far more active and influential than is usually admitted. . . . A welcomed contribution to the field of gender studies and will definitely force us to see the Mexican Revolution in a new light."
-The Latin Americanist
Review
"Provides a fresh analysis of the impact of the revolution on Yucatecan society . . . . a welcome addition to the historiography of patriarchy in Mexico."
-Bulletin of Latin American Research
Review
"Carefully researched and well-written. . . . [Smith] provides us with a unique and nuanced view of the values, concerns and daily struggles of these Yucatecan women."
-Journal of Latin American Studies
Review
"Smith demonstrates the significance of human agency. . . [and] persuasively argues that women took advantage of the new political spaces that the revolution had opened for them."
-Latin American Research Review
Review
andldquo;For most of its eighty-plus years, the media behemoth known today as Televisa, long the de facto propaganda arm of the Mexican state, has been all but hermetically sealed against inspection by researchers. Few have interviewed its executives, let alone probed its archives. That Celeste Gonzandaacute;lez de Bustamante has accessed two decadesandrsquo; worth of broadcast news scripts is a feat of scholarly gumption and tenacity. Her resulting book offers a fascinating and unprecedentedly detailed account of news dissemination between 1950 and 1970 by the most influential television company in the Spanish- speaking world.andrdquo;andmdash;Andrew Paxman, Hispanic American Historical Review
Review
andldquo;As the party that governed Mexico for seventy years returns to power amid protests over collusion between the media and politicians, Celeste Gonzandaacute;lez de Bustamante has published a timely examination of just how much influence television has. Based on five case studies and rare access to the archives of Latin Americaandrsquo;s most influential television empire, Televisa, the study offers far more than its title promises. . . . The study also adds important insights to the rich literature on national identity formation. Muy Buenas Noches is a significant contribution that will add to the scholarly discussion in a variety of disciplines and fields.andrdquo;andmdash;Juanita Darling, American Journalism
Review
andldquo;Each chapterandrsquo;s consistent grounding in the larger arc of Mexican and international history makes Muy Buenas Noches an easily digestible book, even for those with little previous knowledge of the country. Undoubtedly, Muy Buenas Noches will stand as a central text for future researchers intrigued by the questions Gonzandaacute;lez de Bustamante raises, as well as those searching for the historical roots of the countryandrsquo;s current media climate.andrdquo;andmdash;Taylor Jardno, NACLA Report on the Americasand#160;and#160;
Review
andldquo;One of the strengths of Gonzandaacute;lezandrsquo;s book lays in her ability to paint a vivid picture of the behind-the-scenes machinations that defined the relationship between Telesistema Mexicano and the Mexican government. . . . and#160;Celeste Gonzandaacute;lez de Bustamante has produced an outstanding account of the first two decades of Mexican television news. Her illumination of the tensions that infused the connections between Telesistema Mexicano, the PRI, Mexican viewers, and the United States during the Cold War succeeds in underscoring the limits of cultural hegemony. In the process, this well written and solidly researched monograph will be of interest to both scholars and students of modern Mexico, media studies, and the Cold War.andrdquo;andmdash;Michael A. Krysko, A Contra corriente
Synopsis
The state of Yucatan is commonly considered to have been a hotbed of radical feminism during the Mexican Revolution. Challenging this romanticized view, Stephanie Smith examines the revolutionary reforms designed to break women's ties to tradition and religion, as well as the ways in which women shaped these developments.
Smith analyzes the various regulations introduced by Yucatan's two revolution-era governors, Salvador Alvarado and Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Like many revolutionary leaders throughout Mexico, the Yucatan policy makers professed allegiance to women's rights and socialist principles. Yet they, too, passed laws and condoned legal practices that excluded women from equal participation and reinforced their inferior status.
Using court cases brought by ordinary women, including those of Mayan descent, Smith demonstrates the importance of women's agency during the Mexican Revolution. But, she says, despite the intervention of women at many levels of Yucatecan society, the rigid definition of women's social roles as strictly that of wives and mothers within the Mexican nation guaranteed that long-term, substantial gains remained out of reach for most women for years to come.
About the Author
Celeste Gonzand#225;lez de Bustamante is an assistant professor of journalism and affiliated faculty at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona, and a former reporter and news anchor.