The Evolution of Modern Mexican Historiography: From Mentalities to Globalization

The emergence of a “history of mentalities” in the late 1960s, related to the work of José Gaos, marked a significant shift toward studying collective psychology and behavior as a critique of official revolutionary nationalism. This approach gained formal institutional status in 1978 through a seminar organized by the Dirección de Estudios Históricos of INAH and the Instituto Francés de América Latina. Early research focused on the Colonial period, examining family, daily life, and religion, transforming topics once seen as antiquarian curiosities into serious scholarly subjects. This new focus highlighted the negotiation between social norms and their practice, aligning with Michel de Certeau’s concept of the “strategies of the weak” and privileging a sociology of dissidence over elite-centric history.

Methodologically, this school grappled with understanding irrational or emotional social actors influenced more by tradition than by post-1940 modernity, rooted in the longue durée concepts of Fernand Braudel. Despite growing interest, scholars like Pilar Gonzalbo noted at the 1988 Symposium on Mexican Historiography that it remained a minor genre, lacking a robust theoretical base. These doubts were later addressed by the “new cultural history,” which gained momentum after 1989. This movement expanded sources and subjects, challenging positivist epistemologies and exploring alterity, madness, and belief systems, reflecting a broader epistemological transformation across the humanities.

Concurrently, academic history became one of Mexico’s most productive fields, fueled by the post-1970 expansion of university degree programs and specialized journals. However, this growth led to hyper-specialization, thematic fragmentation, and a decline in public engagement, with critics noting obscurantism and a lack of leadership. Evaluation criteria from bodies like CONACYT and the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI), established in the 1980s, often prioritized quantity over the maturation of research, exacerbating theoretical weaknesses in analyzing global processes and relegating much regional history to local relevance only.

The SNI’s classification of history within the “humanities and behavioural sciences” prompted a “return to the humanities,” drawing the discipline closer to philosophy, literature, and cultural anthropology. This shift, influenced by theorists like Paul Ricoeur, Hayden White, and Roger Chartier, revived narrative history and spurred the “new cultural history,” which largely supplanted the older history of mentalities. Its dominance is evident in its widespread adoption across academic programs, responding to the global discrediting of classical theories like Marxism after the fall of the Soviet Union.

In the face of globalization, the field exhibits a split between defensive nationalist tones and a new generation open to global reconfigurations. Historians like Enrique Florescano argue for a timeless “México profundo,” while criticizing professional scholarship for losing touch with collective memory. The current challenge is to advance a global history without succumbing to a limiting “culturalism,” avoiding the earlier excesses of economic determinism. This ongoing evolution reflects a mature, if self-critical, discipline navigating its complex role between national identity and global academic currents.

TIMELINE/KEY DATES:
- 1946: Establishment of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
- 1949: First Congress of Mexican/North American historians; Daniel Cosío Villegas begins his research seminar.
- 1951: First issue of the periodical Historia Mexicana.
- 1968: Student crisis and Tlatelolco massacre during the Mexico City Olympics.
- 1970: Establishment of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT).
- 1984: Creation of the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI).
- 1994: Start of the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas.
- 2000: PRI loses the presidency for the first time since 1946.

KEY HISTORICAL SOURCES:
- Altamira y Crevea, Rafael, La enseñanza de la historia (1894; 1997).
- Cosío Villegas, Daniel, Nueva historiografía política del México moderno (1966).
- Florescano, Enrique, Precios del maíz y crisis agrícolas en México (1969).
- O’Gorman, Edmundo, Crisis y porvenir de la ciencia histórica (1947); La invención de América (1958).
- Zavala, Silvio, Ideario de Vasco de Quiroga (1941).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- Hale, Charles A., ‘Los mitos políticos de la nación mexicana’ (1996).
- Matute, Álvaro, ‘La historia en México (1984-2004)’ (2004).
- Zermeño Padilla, Guillermo, La cultura moderna de la historia (2011).