The following is a list of resources you may use as entry points into the novel to better understand the literary, historical, and cultural contexts.
The Popol Vuh is the foundational sacred text of the K’iche’ people, one of the Maya peoples. “Popol Vuh” ultimately means “Book of the Community” and preserves the oral traditions of the religious narratives of the Maya. It is believed to have been recorded around 1550. This text was then translated by Priest Francisco Ximénez in 1701 into Spanish, leading to our ability to preserve and access these stories today. Allen J. Christenson’s work returns to the K’iche’-Maya text to offer an English translation. Christenson also offers extensive notes on the original language, the history of the Popol Vuh manuscript, and the Maya people. This source can help those who wish to learn more about the Maya religion and myths that are the backbone of Moreno-Garcia’s novel.
This book can be accessed through I-Share with the COD library.
Krauze’s monograph chronicles Mexico history, marking the expansive shifts in power, control, and society accessible for the reader. The chapters centering on the Porfiriato, the Revolutionary era, and the Reconciliation years will be most useful to those who are looking for a deeper understanding of the historical context of Moreno-Garcia's novel.
This book can be found within the COD library.
This scholarly article explores the development of feminism in Mexico, including its origins and its growth in the 1970s. Marcos traces the ways in which the Mexican Women’s Movement has struggled in overcoming oppressive Catholic standards established by Spaniard colonizers as well as failing to reconcile Indigenous ancestry. This article can provide a resource for understanding the changing state of women rights and identity within Mexico across the years, informing Casiopea’s personal and social anxieties.
This source can be accessed online.
For professors looking to find other avenues of integrating the text within their classrooms, I recommend looking at Aja Y Martinez’s work. Martinez maps how to center “experiential knowledge so as to better elucidate lived reality from (intersectional) rather than about (essentialist) people of color” (14). In other words, Martinez’s work offers a method for teaching students how to reframe BIPOC and non-normative voices as well as language use in writing. This can inspire professors to restructure assignments to assist students with anti-racist writing. Additionally, this approach can help students find validation in their own voices and narratives. Moreno-Garcia’s novel can serve as a case study alongside Martinez’s theoretical framework.
This book can be accessed through I-Share with the COD library.
In the post-revolutionary period, Mexico had a number of population issues on their hands. First, the population had significantly declined due to deaths during the war, deaths during the flu pandemic, and citizens seeking new opportunities in different areas of the world (including the U.S.). There is no definitive number of the population loss, but it is estimated to be in the millions. Second, there was a growing question of understanding what a “true” Mexican was. (See Krauze for more on this concern, including a fascinating story about the fighting over what to do with Hernán Cortés' bones.) To answer these concerns, many policymakers (like other nations during this time) turned to eugenics. Approaches to eugenics in Latin America differed from those in Europe. Rather than center eugenics on a Mendelian conception of genetics, Latin America (most notably Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina) was inspired by Lamarckian considerations of heredity. Alexandra Mina Stern is a scholar who has contributed many influential works examining developments of racial identity and eugenics within Latin America. This chapter in particular traces the politics of racial classification in the U.S. and in Mexico, to understand the different approaches and meanings of science and society within each context. She specifically examines the ways eugenic ideas informed racial classification systems within these two countries. Understanding the shifts in classifying racial identity can help with understanding the racial tension between Casiopea and Martín (one reason why Martín treats Casiopea as he does), as well as Casiopea's lived experience during this time.
This chapter is available through the COD library as an ebook.