The Roots of Lo Mexicano: Self and Society in Mexican Thought, 1900-1934

With the publication of Profile of Man and Culture in Mexico (1934) Samuel Ramos launched the modern search for Mexican national identity, shifting examination of that country’s problems from a physical to a psychological plane. But Ramos’ work crystallized a long inquiry into the meaning of Mexican civilization, discernible from the 1920s on.

From 1900 to 1934 Mexicans made the difficult transition from a culture largely foreign in spirit to one created in the aftermath of the 1910 Revoluti...