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Death and revolutionary violence are dominant leitmotifs in modern Mexican literature. Both themes can be linked to a cult of death, the roots of which are buried deep in the ancient past and serve as a vital key to understanding the Mexican psyche.For modem Mexicans, as for their predecessors, the creation of a new world—or new world order—is steeped in death. However, the new world of the 21st century, though born of death and deprivation, may no longer be doomed to catastrophe. Fatalism, as an aspect of the Mexican cult of death, was a necessary tool of the ancient priest-politicians, one that was clearly reflected in lyric poetry and other literary forms. Since then, much has changed in Mexico. Passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, the influence of Western—particularly U.S.—popular culture, entrance into the Information Age, and the urbanization of the Mexican population have contributed to a changed worldview for many Mexicans. Many had expected that this change might obscure or eliminate the Mexican cult of death as a dominant expression of "mexicanidad", particularly among the intelligencia. It appears that they were mistaken.The modern Chiapan literary corpus attests to a new political consciousness and to the continuity of concepts rooted in the distant past. That the cult of death remains a salient feature of the traditional Mexican worldview is evidenced in the writings of EZLN Subcomandante Marcos and other Zapatista writers; and it seems certain that the phenomenon, so dominant a theme in Ancient Mexican myth and literature, will endure as long as the indigenous soul remains alive in Mexico. The form the phenomenon will take within the emerging context of peace and prosperity remains to be seen.

Stream: Anthropology, Archaeology, Cultural Studies, Humanities

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Dr. Barbara Brodman is Professor of Latin American & Caribbean Studies at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. and has published a variety of scholarly works that deal with Latin American culture and affairs. Her 1997 journey through South America, retracing Che Guevara’s 1952 motorcyle journey, was widely covered by the media, while thousands followed her adventures online or read her book about the adventure. Dr. Brodman is founder and President of the Global Awareness Institute, an environmental public charity, and she sits on the board of the Inter-American Center for Human Rights. Scholar, humanitarian, and adventurer, Dr. Brodman’s knowledge of global and Latin American affairs, and her hands-on approach to acquiring it, enthrall and inspire the many students and non-students to whom she lectures regularly.