| Zones of Disturbance: Specters of Indigenous Mexico in Modernity interrogates representations of the Indigenous in Mexican history and art, specifically those which took the form of messianic and prophetic narrativizations of imagined pasts and futures. This doctoral dissertation is an attempt to assemble, explore and give an account of the genealogy that comprises the multifarious messianic traditions underpinning Mexican history. It offers an interpretation of a number of interrelated and overlapping historical moments, texts, art objects, architectural and monumental projects, as well as a critical reading of the philosophical theories, religious speculations and political doctrines that materialize from, or carry within, the structure of this mythopoesis. Each chapter is concerned with a single author or sets of texts and art objects on a particular moment of the articulation of the messianic progression. When read consecutively they constitute an enquiry into the dialectical movement of this phenomenon: from divine history to secular history, from religious speculation to political doctrine, from transcendence to immanence. Many of the examples discussed focus on the varied ways in which Europeans imagine and interpret the native culture. Conceptual metaphors such as "the Indian Revolution" (Artaud), "the General Economy" (Bataille), "Primitive Communism" (Bandelier) and "the Indian Republic" (Rousseau) are deconstructed and contextualized from within the Mexican genealogy and archive. |
