Exploring Mexican Images of the United States

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . NAFTA, neoliberalism and even neoindigenismo in Chiapas have all challenged past perceptions of self and other in Mexico. Rooted in the postmodernist importance of the other in shaping identity, this essay explores themes in contemporary Mexican images of the United States-Mexico's predominant otheras found in written editorials and illustrations from the Mexican press during recent moments in Mexican-U.S. affairs. The discussion first maps out the theoretical setting, raising questions about the importance of Mexican perceptions of its northern neighbor and recent changes in those perceptions. These concerns are briefly incorporated into the modernist/postmodernist approaches. The essay then explores and interprets the major themes portrayed by the Mexican press during the period under review. Despite recent indications that Mexico has nurtured a new, more modern view of the United States, perceptions of the United States as power-hungry, hypocritical, and anti-Mexican still inform the public discourse.El TLC, el neoliberalismo y tambien el neoindigenismo en Chiapas han retado a las recientes percepciones sobre el yo y el otro en Mexico. A raiz de la importancia posmodernista del otro en la creacion de la identidad nacional, el trabajo actual examina algunos aspectos de la imagen contemporanea que Mexico sostiene de los Estados Unidos. Este ensayo se basa en un analisis de editoriales escritos e ilustraciones de la prensa mexicana durante un periodo reciente en la relacion entre los dos paises. Dividida en dos partes, la discusi6n empieza al ofrecer un marco teorico que subraya varias cuestiones sobre la importancia de las percepciones mexicanas de vecino del norte y los posibles cambios de estas en los ultimos afnos. Se incorporan entonces estos puntos, en forma breve, a los enfoques modernistas/posmodernistas. La segunda secci6n explora e interpreta los temas mas sobresalientes de la prensa mexicana durante el periodo en cuestion. El trabajo muestra que a pesar de las recientes indicaciones que Mexico ha desarrollado una imagen nueva, y mas moderna de los EU, la percepci6n dominante caracteriza a Estados Unidos como un pais con una insaliable hambre de poder, hip6crita y antimexicano.* I wish to thank my colleague Richmond Brown, University of South Alabama, and the anonymous reviewers of Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this essay, and Celina Diaz de Morris for sharing her readings and interpretations of the political cartoons. The United States has a staggering presence in Mexico. It reaches from the consumer goods lining grocery shelves, the factories and franchises turning Mexico into America's new industrial belt and its ...