Death and the Idea of Mexico

by Claudio Lomnitz

Death and the Idea of Mexico is the first social, cultural, and political history of death in a nation that has made death its tutelary sign. Examining the history of death and of the death sign from the sixteenth-century holocaust to contemporary Mexican American identity politics, anthropologist Claudio Lomnitz’s innovative study marks a turning point in understanding Mexico’s rich and unique use of death imagery. Unlike contemporary Europeans and Americans, whose denial of death permeates their cultures, the Mexican people display and cultivate a jovial familiarity with death. This intimacy with death has become the cornerstone of Mexico’s national identity.

It is tempting to view this rich elaboration of death imagery as yet another example of an “invented tradition,” that is, a cult shaped by the modern state’s cultural policies or by the narrow interests of contemporary identity politics. Lomnitz takes a different approach. Rather than flattening out the tradition by insisting only on the ways it is willfully manipulated, this book focuses on the dialectical relationship between dying, killing, and the administration of death, and the very formation of the colonial state, of a rich and variegated popular culture, and of the Mexican nation itself. The elevation of Mexican intimacy with death to the center of national identity is but a moment within that history ― within a history in which the key institutions of society are built around the claims of the fallen.

Based on a wide range of sources ― from missionary testimonies to newspaper cartoons, from masterpieces of artistic vanguards to accounts of public executions and political assassinations ― Death and the Idea of Mexico moves beyond the limited methodology of traditional historiographies of death to probe the depths of a people and a country whose fearless acquaintance with death shapes the very terms of their social compact. This work effects a novel turn in the classical historiography of death ― a turn that can be characterized by a move from social and cultural history to political history. The move toward the politics of death gives readers a unique insight into the peculiar story of death in the Americas.

Genres: Nonfiction, Death, History, Anthropology, Latin American History, Social Science, Latinx

584 pages, Paperback

Published January 4, 2008

Reviews

[Sean Mccarrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well over all it was a good book. But I have to get one thing off my chest before I continue. The last part of the book talked a lot about Santa Muerte. Now, to give Lomnitz some credit, this book was written when Santa Muerte was hardly known, but I do have to say that almost everything he wrote about Santa Muerte is flat out wrong. The idea that Santa Muerte comes out of Ray Pascal is just bizarre. Not only does it ignore gender and placement in theological realms but it really just zooms past the giant Virgin de Guadelupe devotion that has contributed so much imagery to Santa Muerte (In fact, the entire book Lomnitz did not address devotionals or the Virgin). Then Lomnitz ignores Santa Muerte's role as a broker of romance and claims that She has been celebrated mostly by drug lords. I feel as though this is shoddy workmanship no matter when he wrote this. There is a strong and visible history of the Red devotional candle being used for these sorts of issues and to harp on the drug aspect of Santa Muerte is basically to give into media hype. The worst offender in this part of Lomnitz's book however was the part in which he claimed that Santa Muerte was a monotheistic practice, in which Santa Muerte would not allow any other devotion but to her. If you've ever seen a Santa Muerte shrine, you'll most likely notice a number of other deities around Santa Muerte. That is because She is fine with praying to whoever works, that's why She's so beloved, because She pragmatic. Rather than being a jealous saint, most people tend to view her as the ultimate form of intercession on your behalf to God. In this way, Santa Muerte aids other saints, but does not get upset. Fortunately, Santa Muerte was not the whole book, but it did make me question it. Over all though, I thought the history of Day of the Dead and the Mexican views on death were fascinating. I think this book could have easily have been several times longer, and still not run out of fascinating stuff to say.

[Dave-O · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intimidating as the subject matter might be (at least to Americans-- who tend to shy away from death, if not deny it altogether), this book is never inscrutable and Lomnitz carefully lays out how death and Mexico coexist as concepts and reality. He begins by disregarding assumptions as to why death imagery is so unique to Mexico. Mexican deathways are not only connected to pre-Columbian death rituals, but also the trauma of the Spanish Conquest, post-Conquest emphasis on the idea of purgatory, the violence of the wars for independence and the 1910 Mexican Revolution, and the economic crisis of 1982 and the anti-neoliberalist/globalization sentiments that followed. The book concludes with a short analysis on the appeal of the curious cult of Santa Muerte.

Lomnitz' dense research and masterful writing ensure that scholars and other readers will refer to its ideas on the subject for years to come.

[Alexia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bored. you made nothing out of something.

[David Groves · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tome plows a route straight through Mexico's history, using the pretext of talking about their ideas about death. It is interesting how much one can learn about a people by examining their ideas towards death. Lomnitz examines ideas about Purgatory, evolving burial practices, the fight between Aztec and Spanish funerary traditions, the rise of Day of the Dead, the merging of All Souls' Day and All Saints' Day into something that became Day of the Dead, the historical details of this holiday, the treatment of saints' relics, and much more.

I beg to differ with another reviewer, who said that this book is never inscrutable. Lomnitz evinces a dense academic style that at times refuses to become clear after five or six readings, and I lament that any writer must make the choice of obfuscation over clarity. I also look askance on the obligation that academics have to slice a subject so thinly that it sometimes becomes a roast beef sandwich of insignificance. Sometimes, reading this book is like taking baby steps in a hurricane.

However, if you're passionate about the subject, as I am, these poor choices won't dampen your passion for the vividness that lies at the heart of this book. Almost nowhere else could you find such details, and they elucidate not just Mexicans' ideas towards death, but towards life, religion, and sacredness, as well. This seems not like the work of an inexperienced twentysomething with some half-baked ideas formed as a 9-year-old, but instead, the life's work of an academic who has examined the subject for decades and gives us the benefit of his well-earned authority.

[Jacob Basque · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Mexican living in Mexico, I had never really understood what Dia de los Muertos was all about. Of course, my mother had explained to me how in this day we were supposed to honor our dead uncles, aunts, grandparents and great-grandparents, because according to the Catholic idea of afterlife, if we assume that someone had not been a saint during his or her life would mean that their soul would remain in the purgatory for at least a couple of years, mourning for their own temporary misery. It was the day were we needed to hep bring our ancestors to the glory of God through praying.
But I didn't fully understand the history of this tradition, how infamous it used to be considered and how the importance of death came to be by no lack of reason, the emblem of our nation.

[Gustavo HdzMry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una historia fascinante y autorativa acerca del día de muertos en México y cómo la muerte ha forjado la idea del mexicano. Recomendado para comprender el origen de la tradición, los cambios que ha sufrido en los siglos y recientes décadas, su relación con el Estado y la intencionalidad y fuerzas que le dan forma.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just very, very dull and dry. Didn’t finish, just read the required chapters for my class.

[José Báez G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leí este libro luego de leer Pedro Páramo de Juan Rulfo y El Laberinto de la Soledad y por tal razón fue muy productivo. Creo que la introducción del libro es un gran resumen de los argumentos que presenta. Hay citas que son difíciles de leer porque respeta la grafía antigua del español. Lo mejor, el análisis historiográfico sobre el día de muertos, o la idea de la muerte en México, y los argumentos de Monsiváis sobre la peligrosa idea de considerar a la muerte como el símbolo nacional de México, como lo hizo Octavio Paz en su ensayo.

Acá hice un video de análisis donde pueden entender un poco más: https://bit.ly/2WrdRlz

[Xavier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Limnitz, an anthropologist, examines the history of death and death imagery in Mexico. The jury is still out on what it thinks of it.

[Kathryn]

killme.

[Kristina]

I like how it's on everyone's to read list.

[Maria Facebook · Rating 2 out of 5]

abbssee