Mexican Literature and Culture

"No me saltó el corazón, ni me asusté, ni me dio curiosidad; por eso corrí. Los encontré uno al lado del otro. ... Tenían los ojos abiertos, muy azules, empañados, parecía como si hubieran llorado. No les pude preguntar nada, les conté los balazos, volteé la cabeza de Zequiel, le limpié la tierra del lado derecho de su cara, me conmoví un poquito y me dije dentro de mi corazón tres y muchas veces: “Pobrecitos, pobrecitos”. La sangre se había helado, la junté y se la metí en la bolsa de su saco azul de borlón."

Nellie Campobello, Cartucho

Cartucho is one of the most intriguing texts about the Mexican Revolution, no me canso de leerlo una y otra vez, because you can always find another layer of meaning in the few poetically measured words used to describe the trauma, dignity, and brutality of the Mexican Revolution. My research interests in Mexican literature and culture encompass popular culture to state narratives, corridos, photography, and novels and they stretch from Mexico City and Morelos to the North and the South. As a scholar of war, my research has focused primarily on the Mexican Revolution, the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, and the drug war, as well as representations of outlaws, from pirates and bandits to peasant insurgents. Two of my favorite Villista corridos are the humorous "La persecución de Villa" and the tragic "El tordillo."

My research on Mexican literature and culture has been award-winning. My first book, Modernity at Gunpoint, won the 2019 Award for the Best Book in the Humanities of the LASA Mexico section and my article on drug war narratives, animals and trauma, "Hippopotamus Dead or Alive," won a honorable mention for best article in 2022 by the LASA Mexico section.