Charros, cholos y chelas. Visual representations of the Mexican para-identity on the labels of Cerveza Indio

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the visual representations of the identity of several local Mexican places that different designers expressed in the special edition of Cerveza Indio's "Barrios de México" labels. The collection of 150 labels conforms a Mexican para-identity since it visually represents identitarian spaces and cultural practices that are alternative to the national identity based on the pre-hispanic past of Mexico. First, the paper describes the beer background and the nationalism context, an ideological perspective from the 20th century that gained importance after the Mexican revolution, in which the pre-hispanic Indian was promoted as a unifying identitarian figure. Secondly, some labels representing buildings are shown, stereotypes, typical costumes, crafts, and landscapes, among other elements. Finally, the collection’s value resides in that it projects a multicultural perspective of Mexican identity, collaboratively built and alternative to the ideologies imposed and promoted by the State.