Mexico in Ruins

Mexico in Ruins 

By Emily Baker

The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 has been viewed by historians as a way that America asserted its emerging strength in new technology while becoming an industrial giant. World’s Fairs were avenues by which a country could gain respect, and America was looking to gain that respect in 1893.

However modern historians, especially those in the anthropological field, have noted that the World Fairs were frequently exploitative in nature both by the sorts of displays and objects brought to be put on display as well we the effects of the general public. While World’s Fairs were only held in a few countries the news about the fair had a massive effect on how countries thought and viewed themselves and others. An example of this internal as well as external struggle with finding the right balance of being authentic but also trying to use the fair to their advantage was Mexico. The Mexican government had conflicting ideas and feelings about loaning their countries artifacts to the United States for the fair. They did not like the idea of displaying their culture but on the other hand, they were in desperate need of both financial and military aid from the United States and felt as though they were not in a position to refuse such a powerful ally. This is how the World’s Fair obtained artifacts and other culturally significant artifacts from Mexican and how they came to display the Ruins Of Yucatan.

 Long before Chicago hosted their World Fair and invited Mexico; Mexico had participated in various other World Fairs. During London’s Crystal Palace, wealthy Latin Americans saw an opportunity to start rubbing elbows with what they considered to be more prestigious European countries in order to advance themselves in the world. This need to establish themselves came from the fact that Mexico only gained independence 83 years before the Chicago world fair. This newly acquired independent made Mexico want to participate in both the Paris and Chicago world fair as to make a name for themselves and be recognized as a civilized country. However, due to financial restraints, Mexico could only feature a small portion of their newly reclaimed artifacts that the Spanish government gave back to them, after gaining their independence. 

The building that Mexico presented for the Chicago audience was actually not designed by anyone from the Mexican government, instead, it was built by Edward H Thomas, a wealthy white American who was commissioned by the fair to creat the Mexican exhibit building. The facade of the building was decorated with paper mache rock with a mixture of, Aztec, Incan, and Zapotecs cultural icons and motifs. The building resembled less like the actual ruins of Yucatan and more like a European version of it. This depiction of the ruin caused some upset with Porfirio Díaza, the Mexican president. Diaza originally wanted to display raw materials and goods at the fair to show how modern Mexico had become. The need to seem modern and industrial came from the ridicule that Mexico had received when they participated in the Paris World Fair, a few years earlier. 

During the Paris World Fair, Mexico wanted to show the progressive nature of their country in both technology and scientific advances, unfortunately, this was not what the Parisian Congress wanted. They preferred that Mexico showed off the more "exotic" side of their country. This left the fair-goers that attended the Paris world fair with the idea that Mexico was still living in the past and glorified their ancient ways instead of celebrating the new advances in the same way that the Europeans countries were doing.

Throughout the Chicago world fair, the US developers and the representatives from Mexico were at a similar disagreement with each other. The Mexican government wanted to show how far they had come since being colonized by the Spanish. They wanted to blend both traditional Indigenous population’s art and artifacts as well as more modern inventions at their exhibition. 

Mexico’s goal for participating in the fair was political. In order to guarantee a spot at fair  Mexico and a few other Latin American countries opted for a government-sponsored exhibit, The American government would oversee and approve the artifacts Mexico wished to present. This effectively stripped the Mexican government of having a say in how the country was being presented to the millions of fair goes from around the world. Even though Mexico’s reasoning to participate was political, they also wanted a chance to redeem themselves and reshape how the nation’s image was being presented to the world. 

 Throughout both the Paris World Fair as well as the Chicago World Fair Mexico struggled with having their exhibit be one that was balanced. The Mexican government wanted the Ruins of Yucatan to showcase not only their rich history and the blend of multicultural people but also showcasing the way in which the country was moving into the future. Mexico didn’t want the Ruins of Yucatan to only reflect their past.

  This is why when Mexico had a chance to participate in the Chicago World Fair they were once again disappointed that they could not accurately portray their countries achievement. 

Although the American committee who oversaw all of the cultural exhibits held most of the power in the ways in which countries got to display their artifacts, the Mexican government was reluctant to actually send any artifacts to the fair. 

In the end, Mexico did participate in the Chicago World Fair and gave up most of their creative control in how their artifacts were presented to the American public. At the time the Mexican government was so desperate for foreign investment that they ended up pandering to the American public. In essence, they gave up their autonomy for exposure. Throughout the World Fair Mexico only wanted to broadcast and display their advances in order to make themselves more appealing to the American government, by doing this, they “sold” and warped their culture. The end product is the Ruins Of Yucatan which can be seen as the result of the internal and external struggles that Mexico faced while participating in the fair. 

Randy. “PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS (Pp. 7-8).” Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair (blog), December 11, 2017. https://worldsfairchicago1893.com/2017/12/11/picturesque-worlds-fair-an-elaborate-collection-of-colored-views-pp-7-8/.

Schuster, Sven. “The World’s Fairs as Spaces of Global Knowledge: Latin American Archaeology and Anthropology in the Age of Exhibitions.” Journal of Global History 13, no. 1 (March 2018): 69–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022817000298.