Recognizing the fiftieth anniversary of the protests, strikes, and
violent struggles that formed the political and cultural backdrop of
1968 across Europe, the United States, and Latin America, Susana
Draper offers a nuanced perspective of the 1968 movement in Mexico.
She challenges the dominant cultural narrative of the movement that
has emphasized the importance of the October 2nd Tlatelolco Massacre
and the responses of male student leaders. From marginal cinema
collectives to women’s cooperative experiments, Draper reveals new
archives of revolutionary participation that provide insight into how
1968 and its many afterlives are understood in Mexico and beyond. By
giving voice to Mexican Marxist philosophers, political prisoners,
and women who participated in the movement, Draper counters the
canonical memorialization of 1968 by illustrating how many diverse
voices inspired alternative forms of political participation. Given
the current rise of social movements around the globe, in 1968
Mexico Draper provides a new framework to understand the events
of 1968 in order to rethink the everyday existential, political, and
philosophical problems of the present.
