ABSTRACT¡EN VOZ ALTA!MEXICO'S RESPONSE TO UNITED STATES IMPERIALISM, 1821-1848ByRochelle L. Trotter This purpose of this dissertation is to explore and convey Mexico's response to the aggressive actions of both the Texas colonists and the U.S. government between 1821 and 1848. In order to accomplish this task, I engaged a variety of sources that included newspapers, foletins, governmental documents, travel journals, dime novels, letters, diaries, diplomatic correspondence, treaties, speeches, poetry, and books, all of which addressed the events leading up to the United States War against Mexico. However, the breadth and depth of material available in the published primary source record required that I focus my inquiry. Therefore, I emphasized three specific topics; Anglo immigration into Texas, the Texas colonist rebellion, and the efforts of the U.S. government to acquire the Texas territory beginning with the Louisiana Purchase and terminating with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Additionally, I expanded my time parameters and considered a contemporary response to the memories of that war, represented in the Mexican-produced telenovela Ramona (2000). In this manner, the story that appears in the following pages represents Mexico's response, both then and now. This dissertation stands on a strong foundation of previous Mexican and Chicano scholarship. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo articulated its own mythological narrative that not only sought to maintain discord, but also solidify a subordinate role for both Mexico as a nation, and Mexicans as a people who chose to remain on their land. The real-life ramifications of these events have been topics that scholars such as Rodolfo Acuña, Arnoldo de León, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Gilberto López y Rivas, Mario Gill, Gastó García Cantú, David Montejano, Jesús F. de la Teja, Andrés Tijerina, and Josefina Zoraida Vásquez de Knauth have critically engaged. In doing so, their work has provided a space for this dissertation. Finally, in its widest scope, the topic of this dissertation connects to other violent acts of oppression, specifically those that seek to silence the voice of the oppressed. In that context, the works of Franz Fanon, Roland Barthes, Benedict Anderson, Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, and Albert Memmi have significantly influenced my analysis. Of particular note to the conversation that follows is the development of a large structure mythological narrative that I have termed the Anglo-centric myth of the Mexican, how mythmakers utilized this narrative to indoctrinate the public in their truths, and how they disseminated it on a large scale through genres of popular culture.
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