THE US ENTREPRENEURS WHO REINVENTED AND REDEFINED MEXICAN CULTURE AND TOURISM.
Executive summary of the article from Latin American Research Review, nominated at Latin American Studies Association as the best and most ground-breaking research article for 2019.
 
Los norteamericanos que reinventaron a los pueblos de México: Los emprendedores extranjeros en la redefinición de la cultura y el turismo

By Mario Alberto Velázquez García and Helene Balslev Clausen 

 
The article explores the role of transnational entrepreneurs from the US who settled in Mexican villages in the beginning of the 20th Century after coming to the region as tourists profoundly reconstructed the culture, identity and economy of the Mexican populations. The entrepreneurs have played a significant role in the redefinition of productive work in two Mexican towns; Taxco the city of silver and Álamos. The entrepreneurial businesses set up in these town have had a fundamental role in the constitution of the social spaces as tourist places. Moreover, the lifestyle and cultural entrepreneurs have been change-makers in transforming the cultural identity of not only these places but in the Mexican cultural identity. The paper is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the last 15 years in the two case study areas of Taxco (State of Guerrero) and Álamos (State of Sonora) in Mexico.
There has been little analysis of the role of transnational entrepreneurs in the reconstruction of cultural characteristics and tourism in Latin America. The presence of tourists is generally seen only in terms of demand and supply of services. The role visitors play in the recomposition of identities and even tourist activities is rarely analysed. However, entrepreneurship is a determining factor in the development of current tourism, and the role of entrepreneurs becomes relevant if we consider that they comprise a group with economic, cultural and symbolic capital that transforms not only commercial but also social aspects of wellbeing. In the cases we analysed, the Mexican state did not consider this type of undertaking by foreign tourists as suitable projects to support. This can be explained, in part, in that these individuals and the type of activities they undertook did not fit with the national development model being promoted in the country. In the case of Taxco, the US citizen William Spratling (1900-1967) was the founder of a type of Mexican handicraft in which indigenous symbols are emphasised; this style has now been recognised as part of the art of Mexico. This is not a minor change because it means that North Americans from the United States have participated in a re-creation of the Mexican national identity. This contradicts the discursive closure of nation-states but represents an increasingly common practice in the global era.

 

In the case of Taxco (State of Guerrero), which is one of the largest mining areas in colonial Mexico, had been unexploited for decades when Spratling settled in the town in 1928. He saw an opportunity to establish a business selling silver and jewellery; thus, he began to design rings and bracelets. Within two decades, his work began to be known, and the shops and workshops he organized became the principal tourist attractions of the city. With this work, he not only innovated in a fledgling industry in Taxco (handicrafts based on silver) but also created a new source of employment opportunities in a city with a practically stagnant economy. The style of Spratling’s designs not only became somewhat distinguishable but began to be imitated by new silver-working workshops in Taxco. Spratling’s aesthetic proposal became a correlate of post-revolutionary nationalism expressed in the mural paintings from for instance Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, with whom the American had established a friendship. In 1953, the municipality of Taxco named Spratling as a favourite son; a street was named Guillermo Spratling in his honour to celebrate him. Although he lived outside of Taxco for the last decade of his life, upon his death, the city paid tribute to him, and hundreds of people attended Spratling’s funeral tributes.

 

In northern Mexico, Álamos (State of Sonora) was the political capital of the north-western region and an important mining and coin production centre, but the Revolution and a crisis in the price of silver turned this city into an abandoned town by the 1930s. This was the point at which the American William Alcorn arrived. He was an entrepreneur who knew that people in certain social networks in the United States were interested in acquiring houses (with colonial characteristics) in Mexico, so he decided to invest in the purchase and restoration of old residences located in the centre of the town. He personally supervised the restorations, and he made the purchasing of houses his business venture; Alcorn established his permanent residence in this small town in Mexico, which was a way of promoting a specific lifestyle. The entrepreneurial vision soon paid off, and several compatriots bought houses from Alcorn. In a few years, a colony of second-home residences for Americans was evident.

 

The arrival of North Americans in Álamos as part of the resident population allowed marginalised social groups to gain formal employment, which meant a reactivation of the local economy. Jobs were available in relation to the sale of the land where the houses would be built, construction work on the houses and work in the new service industry that emerged. In all these jobs, the wages offered were higher than those paid for the same type of work when the owners were Mexican. Alcorn became a cultural mediator between the Mexican community and North Americans who were interested in living and visiting Álamos. The constant presence of North Americans attracted by the environment and the reconstruction of the village centre area generated tourism interest. At first, this was evident among those in the social networks of the new residents. Gradually, visitors from the south-eastern United States made Álamos one of their tourist destinations. The reconstruction of the houses did not try to copy or faithfully preserve the original style of the constructions; rather, it aimed to conform to a Mexican colonial style that corresponded to the idealised image North Americans had about this type of housing. The reconstructions sought to meet the interests of their new owners—North American tourists—and were carried out in a specific manner for practical reasons because only the facades of the old colonial residences remained standing by the time Alcorn arrived in Álamos; there were no plans or photos that would allow an exact reconstruction. Thus, the re-creations were approximate.

 

Despite having different histories, Taxco and Álamos are two communities that were partially abandoned by the Mexican state in both political and economic terms. This generated a narrative vacuum regarding local identity and its position vis-á-vis the rest of the Mexican nation. The arrival of such entrepreneurs as William Spratling and William Levant Alcorn rebuilt the identity of these localities based on particular reinterpretations of elements already present, including the exploitation of silver or the existence of an indigenous community with a long history. The new practices and images had an impact both internationally and locally, with such force that they ended up pressing the Mexican state to integrated the new narratives of these places into its discourse. Not only that, but these elements generated changes in the national identity. Taxco and Álamos went from being neglected cities to tourist centres. Moreover, the identity and vocation of these cities were radically transformed around the work of transnational entrepreneurs: From mining cities, they became tourist centres and producers of the national Mexican cultural identity.