Why go
The idea of mestizaje, or cultural mixing, helps explain a recurring theme in Mexican writing and public art. Reading it as an idea shaped by history makes encounters with Rivera's murals or regional cooking more revealing, while leaving room for the distinct Indigenous traditions that a single national story can obscure.
The full story
Mexican cultural identity has been debated as well as celebrated. Spanish colonial rule brought institutions and artistic traditions into contact with Indigenous cultures. Later generations used those relationships to think about what an independent Mexico should express through its arts. José Vasconcelos offered one influential formulation in La Raza Cósmica, describing cultural mixing as central to national identity. This is a historical argument about Mexico, rather than a description that every community must fit. The Mexican Revolution also gave artists and writers a powerful subject through which to revisit the country's past. Compare the ways that story is told. Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros brought historical narratives into public murals. Regional cuisines in Oaxaca, Veracruz and the Yucatán Peninsula show how local ingredients and different exchanges produce distinct traditions within the same country.