Rebel Mexico: Student Unrest and Authoritarian Political Culture During the Long Sixties

by Jaime M. Pensado

Winner of the 2014 Mexican Book Prize In the middle of the twentieth century, a growing tide of student activism in Mexico reached a level that could not be ignored, culminating with the 1968 movement. This book traces the rise, growth, and consequences of Mexico's "student problem" during the long sixties (1956-1971). Historian Jaime M. Pensado closely analyzes student politics and youth culture during this period, as well as reactions to them on the part of competing actors. Examining student unrest and youthful militancy in the forms of sponsored student thuggery ( porrismo ), provocation, clientelism ( charrismo estudiantil ), and fun ( relajo ), Pensado offers insight into larger issues of state formation and resistance. He draws particular attention to the shifting notions of youth in Cold War Mexico and details the impact of the Cuban Revolution in Mexico's universities. In doing so, Pensado demonstrates the ways in which deviating authorities―inside and outside the government―responded differently to student unrest, and provides a compelling explanation for the longevity of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional.

358 pages, Paperback

First published July 17, 2013

Reviews

[Asher Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly didn't give this as close a reading as it probably deserved.

[Mario Olgin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jaime Pensado does an excellent job of chronicling the political, social, and economic environment in postwar Mexico and how they contributed to the massacre of 1968 in Tlatelolco.