Latin America in the Twentieth Century: revolutions, muralism, imperialism, and dependency

Abstract

This article presents elements for understanding past and present Mexican mural art as an integral part of twentieth-century Latin American and Caribbean critical thinking, and the impact of its contributions to political actors from various areas throughout the class struggle of the 21st-century. A bibliographical historical-critical review of both muralism and the Marxist theory of dependency was conducted. The study brings into dialogue two insights: the engaged political art of Mexican muralism and revolutionary militant praxis of the theory of dependency. The debate of muralist political art from the Mexican school is perceived as a fertile reference of Latin American Marxism, based on the centrality that this art gave to the history of resistance and revolutions as counterpoints to hegemonic history in the colonial invasion and throughout the following period. The guiding question of this discussion is: What does Mexican muralism have to teach us in the 21st century?