"La Adelita: Feminist Fighter or Chauvinist Creation?" Topic

"Many countries have iconic images and unofficial anthems that capture the essence of the national spirit. In the United States, there's the high-stepping tune "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Sometimes, just a few words are enough to evoke a familiar cause and its historic significance. Rosie the Riveter. The suffragettes. The colonial minutemen. We can easily picture them in our mind's eye, with any attendant nostalgia or national pride.

In Mexico, one iconic female figure embodies that cultural and historic significance. La Adelita, a mythical composite persona, represents the thousands of unknown women who joined the Revolution of 1910, playing various key roles in the popular uprising that overthrew the Eurocentric dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz.

Historically, the women who fought during the Mexican Revolution were called soldaderas, a generic term for female soldiers. But their status as cultural icons came through a song that helped popularize their nickname. "La Adelita" is a corrido that strikes a chord with Mexicans of all political persuasions and social classes. It is as universally embraced as is a song such as "This Land Is Your Land" in the United States…"

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Armand

I find it funny that the poster shows the Mexican couple with those Hollywood movie features when in reality their appearance couldn't be more different and far removed from that reality, as in this photo…

Armand

An excellent article about a fascinating period. It's one of those periods I've always wanted to game but never had the opportunity. I enjoyed it very much.

Happy you enjoyed it…maybe some day…

Armand

I highly recommend "Las Soldaderas" by Elena Poniatowska just filled with period images by the great Mexican photographer Agustin Victor Casasola (including the one above)

Thanks

Armand