September 18, 1998
CULTURE Y CULTURA
Consequences of the U.S. - Mexican War, 1846-1848
Contributors: Iris H. W. Engstrand, Richard Griswold del Castillo, Elena Poniatowska
Publisher: Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Los Angeles, Ca. 1998.
Pp. 199, $30.00 hardcover. Printed in Spanish and English.
ISBN 1-88882880-05-6
By Daniel L. Muñoz
The annual celebration of "Hispanic Heritage" began with a four hour KPBS Program covering the period 1846-1848, The war between Mexico and the United States. At approximately the same time, the Autry Museum of Western Heritage published "CULTURE Y CULTURA" covering the same time period... Perhaps it was fortuitous. Usually Hispanic Heritage week coverage has had little to say about that period of time. Perhaps there was no desire to recall an unpleasant event by those who are fourth or fifth generation Mexican or Latino Americans.
Contributing to the Autry effort were Iris Engstrand, Professor of History at the University of San Diego, Richard Griswold, Professor of Mexican American studies at San Diego State University, and Elena Poniatowska, Journalist from Mexico City. These three contributed the main discussions of that period.
It is unfortunate that the publishers decided to repeat every statement in Spanish and English that the three contributors made. The amount of information that could have been included was greatly limited by that fact. The intent was probably to appease the monolingual readers. In the process, the book comes out short on substances and impact. The Mexican-American war deserved an extensive analysis of primary sources to be able to arrive at a modicum of truth. As a result, the reader is left to read brief rehashes of the war as seen through white eyes. The same old myths are repeated and little of the war as seen through `brown' eyes comes out in this brief narrative.
Richard Griswold del Castillo, who is well known as a professor and as a writer, limited himself to writing on the `consequences of the war and impact on contemporary Mexican American society. He had little to contribute to the actual facts of the invasion of Mexico by the United State Forces that were bent on imperialistic conquest of the vast American continent.
Elena Poniatowska, the journalist from Mexico City, avoided the issue, in her little essay, and kept away from bringing forth the words of the Mexican citizens, generals, soldiers, and political leaders of the time. Their words and observations are the only primary sources that we have on the war of 1846 from the Mexican point of view. Poniatowska, in a neat trick of hyperbole, instead turned to a discussion of the `internal frontiers' that we, the chosen ones, have to live with. It is escapist rhetoric to avoid confronting the real issues of the Mexican-American war.
The front cover by Daniel DeSiga titled "Campesino", (1976) may alone be worth the price of the book. In that one painting he captures the whole essences of the struggle that has been going on since white America condemned Mexico to live in poverty for the rest of its existence. In stark clarity, it shows the meaning of `white imperialism' and its end results. That front cover along with the poem "A NEW FLAG" by Benjamin Alire Saenz, Professor of Creative Writing at the University of El Paso Texas were eloquent set pieces to `CULTURE Y CULTURA', Consequences of the U.S. -Mexican War, 1846-1848.
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