NEWS AND EVENTS ARCHIVE (2009-2014)
Archive
Research Seminar: The Representation of the 1968 Student Movement in Mexican Literature
Date: 11 February 2009 Time: 5.00 pm
Claire Brewster (Newcastle University) will give a talk entitled 'The Representation of the 1968 Student Movement in Mexican Literature'.
Bowland North Seminar Room 13.
1968 was a pivotal year for Mexico. The Olympic Games were to begin in October, and Mexico was both the first Latin American country and the first developing nation to host the event. The government intended to use the occasion as a showcase for Mexican stability and progress. At the same time, thousands of young protesters were taking to the streets of Mexico City to voice their opposition to the political system.
The Mexican student movement abruptly was ended on 2 October with the Massacre of Tlatelolco, when government forces killed up to 500 people at a demonstration - just 10 days before the Olympic opening ceremony. The use of force against Mexico's youth and the scale of brutality used by the police and army proved to be a watershed in the relationship between the Mexican government and its people. It ended the myth, begun after the 1910 Revolution, of the benevolent, paternal State.
This paper discusses the hopes and fears that were generated in 1968 and the consequences of the brutal massacre that tragically ended so many young lives, and which has indelibly marked the Mexican political and social scene.
Claire Brewster is the author of Responding to Crisis in Contemporary Mexico: The Political Writings of Paz, Fuentes, Monsiváis and Poniatowska. She has worked extensively on the representation of Mexican social movements in literature, especially about the Mexican student movement.
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Who can attend: Anyone
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Organising departments and research centres: European Languages and Cultures
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