Mexican Women’s Self-Expression through Dress – Episode 43 – The Oxford Comment

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History

Substantive, peer-reviewed, and regularly updated, the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History combines the speed & flexibility of digital with the rigorous standards of academic publishing.

By Stephanie Wood, Susie S. Porter, and William Beezley
May 11^th 2018

Our host for this episode is William Beezley, Professor of History at the University of Arizona and Editor in Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. He moderates a roundtable discussion with historians Stephanie Wood and Susie Porter about Mexican women’s self-expression through textiles and dress throughout history to the present day.

Societal changes in post-revolutionary Mexico of the 1920s produced shifts in urban women’s activity and mobility that were reflected in their dress and appropriation of indigenous stylistic and symbolic traditions. Women today continue to use traditional forms, such as embroidered huipiles, as a means of expressing their identities and rights through fabric.

Painting of a woman at a back-strap loom, from a copy of the Mapa de Cuauhtlantzinco, San Juan Cuautlancingo, Puebla. Courtesy The Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon. Photograph: Jack Liu.
Butterfly huipil. San Andrés Chicahuaxtla, Oaxaca. Photograph: Stephanie Wood.
Sueños de migrantes wall hanging. San Francisco Tanivet, Oaxaca. Photograph: Robert Haskett.
Wall hanging depicting a woman calling her son, who is working as a chef in the United States. San Francisco Tanivet, Oaxaca. Photograph: Stephanie Wood.
Rufina Montaño Bocardo, Derecho a una vida libre de violencia. Tapestry hand-embroidered with silk thread. Coyomeapan, Puebla.
Crispina Osio Saldaña, Derecho a la igualdad. Tapestry hand-embroidered with silk thread. Coyomeapan, Puebla.
Susana Abrego Pacheco, Derecho al voto. Tapestry hand-embroidered with silk thread. Coyomeapan, Puebla.
Minerva Lozano Gil, Derecho a la justicia. Tapestry hand-embroidered with silk thread. Coyomeapan, Puebla.

Featured image credit: Photo courtesy of Stephanie Wood.

William Beezley is Professor of History at the University of Arizona and the Editor in Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History.

Stephanie Wood is the Director of the Wired Humanities Projects at the University of Oregon and a Senior Editor of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History.

Susie S. Porter is Associate Professor of History and Chair of the Gender Studies division at the University of Utah. She is the author of the article “Working Women in the Mexican Revolution” in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History

Painting of a woman at a back-strap loom, from a copy of the Mapa de Cuauhtlantzinco, San Juan Cuautlancingo, Puebla. Courtesy The Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon. Photograph: Jack Liu.

Butterfly huipil. San Andrés Chicahuaxtla, Oaxaca. Photograph: Stephanie Wood.

Sueños de migrantes wall hanging. San Francisco Tanivet, Oaxaca. Photograph: Robert Haskett.

Wall hanging depicting a woman calling her son, who is working as a chef in the United States. San Francisco Tanivet, Oaxaca. Photograph: Stephanie Wood.

Rufina Montaño Bocardo, Derecho a una vida libre de violencia. Tapestry hand-embroidered with silk thread. Coyomeapan, Puebla.

Crispina Osio Saldaña, Derecho a la igualdad. Tapestry hand-embroidered with silk thread. Coyomeapan, Puebla.

Susana Abrego Pacheco, Derecho al voto. Tapestry hand-embroidered with silk thread. Coyomeapan, Puebla.

Minerva Lozano Gil, Derecho a la justicia. Tapestry hand-embroidered with silk thread. Coyomeapan, Puebla.

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