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Best regards, Andrew Stewart Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Date: October 11, 2018 at 10:54:50 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Subject: H-Net Review [H-LatAm]: Perelló on Ford, 'Childhood and Modernity > in Cold War Mexico City' > Reply-To: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > > Eileen Ford. Childhood and Modernity in Cold War Mexico City. > London Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. 240 pp. $114.00 (cloth), ISBN > 978-1-350-04002-1. > > Reviewed by Carolina Perelló (Universidad de Buenos Aires) > Published on H-LatAm (October, 2018) > Commissioned by Casey M. Lurtz > > Eileen Ford's thought-provoking book explores children's experiences > and adult conceptions of childhood in Mexico City after the Mexican > Revolution and during the Cold War. The volume proposes an > interesting approach as she uses age as a category of analysis by > focusing on the children who grew up in that period, a perspective > that has not been explored despite the recent development of the > field of childhood and infancy history. The book is a work of social > and cultural history focused on the conditions faced by children in > Mexico City, but also on the representations and ideas about > childhood developed during this period. The author proposes to > investigate "the intersection of discourse and lived reality" (p. > 14). In other words, Ford compares the expectations and > preconceptions about childhood with the everyday lives of children, > using varied sources, including newspapers, magazines, census > materials, and official documentation, combined with less traditional > material, like film and radio programs, comic-book-style > publications, and oral history_._ > > Mexico's population of children grew very quickly after 1930, to the > point where children aged fourteen or younger became the largest > segment of the population, transforming the capital of Mexico into a > "city of children" (p. 28). Ford states that this growth turned > children into a target for political and religious reformers, but > also for producers of popular culture and consumer goods. The state > and the Catholic Church converged on ideas and strategies regarding > children, like using the developing mass media to influence them to > reproduce social and gender norms "with a modern, cosmopolitan face" > (p. 3). At the same time, children were considered potential > consumers, and thus new media devices, such as radio and television, > were used to attract them into buying material objects as well as > ideas about modernity, class, gender, and social status. In this > context, Ford's book studies the development of an ideal image of > childhood that presented it as a time for leisure and protection > while also revealing that "the rights and privileges of a protected > childhood were lost on countless children who slipped through the > cracks" (p. 177). > > The purpose of Ford's investigation is to study the cultural markers > for the construction of a modern idea of childhood in Mexico City, > leading to her selection of two specific years to delimit the > analysis. Her research starts in the year 1934, when the > "mass-produced, mass-consumed children's radio entertainment in > Mexico first debuted" with the presentation of a program that > featured a popular character called Cri-Crí, and ends with the > Tlatelolco massacre of 1968, when government forces attacked a > student protest movement and killed hundreds of protestors and > bystanders, including a twelve-year-old boy, in an episode that Ford > defines as "a metaphorical end of innocence" (p. 4). The book > constitutes a study of the influential forces that were involved "in > the social and political formation of the children raised during > these critical decades leading up to the 1968 student movement" (p. > 23). > > The book is organized in five chapters that analyze different factors > that influenced the idea of modern childhood in Mexico. The first > chapter focuses on the capital city and proposes that it helped shape > the political and social views of the children who frequently > traveled across the city. During these decades the city started an > outward expansion that transformed Mexico City into an > industrializing city with new symbols of modernity, but this > expansion increased social inequality and political and economic > protests that were witnessed by youngsters and that "informed the > social and political consciousness of a generation of children" (p. > 43). Chapter 2 studies the education policies imposed by the state > with the objective of transforming young citizens into productive > workers for the modern nation they aspired to build. These policies > included the _jardines de niños _(kindergarten) movement and the > construction of schools, initiatives developed to influence children > from a young age with an emphasis on economic productivity and > rationality, but also on social and cultural norms that they would > teach their parents and neighbors. From Ford's perspective, this > meant that children "represented a means for the state to reach into > the private lives of parents" (p. 53)_._ > > Chapter 3 reconstructs the development of a new child-centered form > of popular culture that was directed at children and that used > children as its subject matter. Ford examines shows and films for and > about children that gave them "a sense of belonging to society as > Mexicans but also as children" through the encouragement of national > identity and cultural traditions (p. 89). Despite the intention of > using media to mold children, Ford concludes, "ironically, the > state's promotion of popular culture in the postrevolutionary and > Cold War decades encouraged the evolution of a youth culture with its > own distinct identity" as revealed during the student movement of > 1968, where students used media to communicate their ideas and > demands (p. 84). > > In chapter 4, the author reviews such projects as the publication of > children's magazines organized by the Catholic Church to compete with > secular forms of entertainment. These magazines, intended to > strengthen traditions considered threatened by foreign influences, > were tied to broader anticommunist ideas. Ford demonstrates how these > publications instilled ideas about "hierarchies and social-class > distinctions that characterized Cold War Catholic ideology across the > globe" (p. 19). Lastly, chapter 5 analyzes magazines and newspapers > to observe their idealized images of childhood and their > contradictions. For example, they criticized the problem of children > living in poverty and being exploited and "photographed [them] en > masse as proof of the failures of the industrial capitalism, and by > implication, the revolutionary government" (p. 161), but at the same > time promoted a consumerism typical of the middle class that deepened > those inequalities. > > One of the most interesting aspects of _Childhood and Modernity in > Cold War Mexico City_ is that it considers the agency of the children > studied. Despite focusing on ideas, values, and practices imposed on > the children, Ford also examines how children gave them their own > significance. She emphasizes that regardless of the influence of > secular and religious educational programs as well as mass > consumerism, children made interpretations and adaptations to the > messages they received and "their choices framed within the > limitations configured by socioeconomic status nevertheless gave them > some semblance of power" (p. 15). > > The book is suited for an academic audience due to the author's > thorough and detailed research, but Ford's clear narrative and > persuasive arguments can also reach a broader public. The vast > research she conducted is one of the strong points of this volume, > which will be of value to a wide range of readers interested not only > in the history of childhood but also in Mexican history and the > impact of the Cold War in Latin America. However, at the same time, > the author's interest in covering and connecting several different > topics may sometimes confuse the reader as some ideas lose impact > among too many details. > > Above all, the main strength of Ford's work is her effort to > contemplate all sides of the researched subject and their > contradictions. This asset can be summed up with a photograph on the > cover of the book, which portrays a group of children from the urban > environment who seem to be smiling and happy; this photograph > contradicts the image depicted by the media of Mexico as a place > inundated with abandoned children. Ford concludes that "capitalism > produced social stratification and children were often the most > vulnerable.... Those atrocities existed, but so did other happier > childhoods, and not only for those children with significant material > advantages" (p. 177). This contrast is not seen by Ford as a > contradiction or a mistake but as a manifestation of a complex > reality, so she "invites the reader to consider both these vantage > points as valid and representative of realities--among a range of > realities--of modern childhood in the capital city" (p. 21). > > Citation: Carolina Perelló. Review of Ford, Eileen, _Childhood and > Modernity in Cold War Mexico City_. H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews. October, > 2018. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=52660 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -- _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
