The pursuit of ruins : archaeology, history, and the making of modern Mexico /
Christina Bueno.
- 1 online resource (xi, 267 pages) : illustrations, maps
- Di�alogos series .
- Di�alogos (Albuquerque, N.M.) .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
A day at the ruins -- Ruins and the state -- The museum men -- El inspector -- Guarding -- Inspecting -- Centralizing -- Reconstructing.
"This book, then, is essentially about objects. It examines how the ruins of the ancient Indians--monuments overtaken by nature and used by foreigners and local people for centuries--were transformed into museum pieces and official sites. It looks at the making of patrimony, how the pots and statues of the Toltecs, Aztecs, and many other ancient cultures became Mexican objects. It does not pretend to be an intellectual or institutional history of archaeology, nor a comprehensive history of the science. Instead, it focuses on archaeology's role in nation building during one of Mexico's pivotal regimes, a dictatorship that is often thought to have brought the country its first modern state. It explores the process of constructing an ancient patrimony and past--the Porfirian government's effort to cast a net over the pre-Hispanic remains and draw them into the fold of the state"--Introduction.
Indians of Mexico--Antiquities. Archaeology and history--Mexico. Archaeology and state--History.--Mexico Cultural property--Political aspects--History.--Mexico Material culture--Political aspects--History.--Mexico Nationalism--History.--Mexico HISTORY--Latin America--Mexico. Antiquities. Archaeology and history. Archaeology and state. Cultural policy. Indians of Mexico--Antiquities. Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.) Nationalism. Politics and government.
Mexico--Antiquities. Mexico--Politics and government--1867-1910. Mexico--Cultural policy. Mexico.