Comunicacion y poder en las cronicas urbanas del Mexico de fin de siglo: Elena Poniatowska y Carlos Monsivais (Spanish text)

This Dissertation analyzes the primary tensions between civil society and government in Mexico by the end of the XX Century, in the urban chronicles of Elena Poniatowska and Carlos Monsivais, two well-recognized contemporary Mexican intellectuals.; At this point, the NAFTA Treaty with the USA and Canada, which has gone into effect, implies Mexico's formal entry in the global economy. Meanwhile, the Mayans from the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) have taken up arms in Chiapas, southeastern Mexico, and civil society (primarily in Mexico City) counts on important organizational experiences that have to do with the practice of democratic power since such events as the 1985 earthquake, the gas explosion of San Juanico in 1984 and the search for the disappeared political activists from the 1960's and 1970's.; NAFTA, as a manifestation of advanced capitalism or economic globalization, implies the cybernetic circulation of capital and symbols beyond national boundaries. As part of this process, Mexicans are immersed within the cultural logic of capitalism which is part of Postmodernity. organized citizens have publically exposed the unfulfillment of the democratic premise that should be part of the project of the modern state. Paradoxically, the different ways in which civil society constructs rational sense out of their organizational experiences present postmodern traits. This work analyzes the tension between modern objectives and postmodern discursive practices. I borrow Jurgen Habermas' concept of "communicative action" to analyze the modern objectives posed by civil society. I also use the characterization of the Postmodern offered by Fredric Jameson and Homi Bhabha to approach the discursive strategies that accompany these civil demands. I include perspectives about the Modernism-Postmodernism debate in Latin America outlined by Jose Joaquin Brunner, Nestor Garcia-Canclini, Julio Ramos.; My work does not pretend to offer a "final" conclusion regarding the Modernity-Postmodernity tension that I identify in present-day Mexican civil society. Rather, I propose a reflective reading on the limitations of the traditional linear logic in order to fully understand the multiple manifestations of civilian reappropriation of the cultural meanings generated by the globalization process in Latin America.