Articles about "elites"

Temáticas

Mérida's carnival in 1913, social contrasts of a city through the lens of a German photographer

  • Laura Machuca Gallegos

Photographs of the city of Mérida, Yucatán, taken in 1913 by Wilhem Schirp, a German amateur photographer, are the axis of analysis to reflect on the representation of this city, particularly during carnival, as an event of memory. It shows that the festive cycle was used by the elites to show off their wealth at the height of the henequen boom, while appealing to the "popular" and the "traditional". In this context, the photographer's lens captured the contrasts and social inequalities in a festival that was supposed to be one of investment.