Indigenismo in Mexico during the 1920s
Indigenismo in Mexico for the duration of the 1920s used to be referred to as an instrument to achieve large transformations in the Mexican society, foster a unified national identification and promote socioeconomic modernization. As a state-sponsored, assimilation, development integration endeavor, indigenismo via visual arts supported the thinking of Mestizaje to give the image of one unified nation (Tarica, Estelle.8).
Manuel Gamio's Role
One of the humans who played a vast role in merchandising indigenismo in Mexico is Manuel Gamio. The anthropologist also described as the father of current Mexican anthropology created an image of Mexico as a mestizo country in which he figured the nation as a statue with a pedestal symbolizing the Indians and the body made up of all the other races (Tarica, Estelle.9). Gamio achieved his goal and fulfilled the objectives of the state to achieve national unity by recognizing the importance of Indian-ness in the Mexican revolution and thus placed the Indians as the base of the statue.
Gamio also contributed to the development of indigenismo by developing an integrated regional approach to anthropology which served perfectly in the enhancement of state services to the Mexican nation as one (Tarica, Estelle.9). Furthermore, Gamio insisted on the revival of the Mexican handicrafts and revaluation of native-art forms and in so doing, he championed for the existence of an indigenista national aesthetic (Tarica, Estelle.10). Apart from that, Gamio used his position in the government to support the establishment of indigenista institutions that worked towards the development of indigenous people. On arts, the indigenista impact led to the promotion of vernacular arts such as music, handicrafts, and dance that gave rise to the aesthetic vocabulary which prized original elements the "mexicanidad."
Works Cited
Tarica, Estella. Indigenismo. 1st ed., Oregone, Oxford University Press USA, 2016.
