Revisiting the Long 1968 in Mexico: Reviewing the Literature and Setting an Agenda for Future Research

The list of academic studies and journalistic accounts of 1968—when a massive, student-led protest movement erupted on the streets of Mexico City in the months prior to the staging of the Summer Olympics—is large, and the politics of memory is vibrant. Yet if it is the case that 1968 created a watershed in the history of post-war Mexico, it is not possible to grasp the significance of this watershed if we do not locate the events of 1968 within a broader chronological framework and one that takes us beyond the confines of the capital. This presentation will survey the extant literature on 1968, placing particular emphasis on the Mexican historiographical discussion. My intention is to establish an agenda for future research, based on this survey and an analysis of the changing forms of recovery of memory tied to the significance of the events of 1968. I will argue that in order to establish a more coherent historical understanding of 1968 as a “watershed” year, we will need to adopt a much wider vision of Mexican political, social, and cultural history that saddles that pivotal year. A commonplace in academic discussion and on the left is to regard the events of 1968 as a brutal rupture in the political, social and culture life of the country. For many, Tlatelolco was a turning point that divided Mexico into two separate worlds: a Mexico of “before” and a Mexico of “after.” This paper will challenge that historiographical consensus by arguing that 1968 must be understood within a broader chronological interpretation of Mexican social history.