2002/05/01 by Rick A. López · 1 voice · 3 citations
Social Sciences · #Asian American and Pacific Histories #Latin American and Latino Studies #Media, Gender, and Advertising
paper · doi:10.1215/00182168-82-2-291
openalex publication_date 2002/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
In a 1987 filming of Televisa’s Nuestro Mundo Guillermo Ochoa introduced his guest as La India Bonita María Bibiana Uribe, winner of the first Miss Mexico competition. He drew attention to her colorfully ribboned braids, indigenous-style outfit, and bare feet, explaining that she chose to come on the show this way so as to appear before the Mexican public just as she had 66 years earlier when she became the first Miss Mexico. But according to the historical record, María Bibiana Uribe never even participated in the Concurso Universal de Belleza of 1921, which crowned the first “Miss Mexico.”1 In fact, the Miss Mexico contest was based on an entrenched canon of classical beauty that precluded consideration of nonwhite contestants. Televisa’s Nuestro Mundo unintentionally conflated the Miss Mexico pageant with the India Bonita Contest, which focused on indigenous contestants and was billed as the “first entirely racial contest.”The two racially exclusive beauty pageants have even been conflated in María Bibiana’s hometown Necaxa, Puebla, where since the 1920s citizens have celebrated an India Bonita festival each May in which they crown two beauty queens, one from the indigenous countryside and one from the mestizo town.2 Bibiana’s 1987 appearance on Nuestro Mundo stirred local pride when it revealed to Necaxans that their own hija del pueblo had been crowned “La Primera Miss Mexico.” After that, she was regularly invited to the yearly crowning of Necaxa’s Indias Bonitas in a ceremony staged before a three-foot-tall 1921 photograph of a young María Bibiana Uribe dressed in local indigenous clothes and holding a lacquered gourd. Local and regional radio stations and newspapers likewise merged the two competitions, referring to María Bibiana interchangeably as the “First Miss Mexico” and the “First India Bonita.”3Both locally and nationally, the public considers it unremarkable that an Indian girl from the Sierra de Puebla outside of Necaxa would have been crowned the first Mexican beauty queen. María Bibiana Uribe is accepted as both the first Miss Mexico and as the first “India Bonita” without any hint that the two categories might have been considered incompatible in 1920s Mexico. Nor has anyone questioned María Bibiana’s statement that all of the Miss Mexico finalists were Indians. Instead, the public assumes that Mexico has long been a racially mixed nation where Indian culture has woven seamlessly into the national fiber. And, since the country was even more Indian in the past, audiences have had no trouble accepting Bibiana’s claim that all the finalists in the first competition for a Mexican beauty queen would have been indigenous women.The incongruence between memory and the documented past prompts us to ask the following questions: How did María Bibiana Uribe, winner of an indigenous beauty contest, become transformed by popular memory into the first Miss Mexico? Why has the all-white Miss Mexico contest, whose winner continued on to the worldwide competition in France, been all but forgotten? What does this process of remembering and forgetting reveal about the historically changing place of Indianness in Mexican national identity?This article focuses on the India Bonita Contest in an effort to understand nation-formation and constructions of Indianness during the early 1920s in Mexico.4 It does not claim that the contest was the most important part of the movement, only that it is particularly revealing about the goals, methods, and contradictions inherent in the efforts to identify Indian culture as characteristically Mexican and to bring Indians into the national fold. These, in turn, were part of the dual process of “creating” the Mexican Indian, and of “ethnicizing” the nation (or what Manuel Gamio and Moisés Sáenz at the time termed “Indianizing” Mexico, and which historian Mary Kay Vaughan has more recently referred to as “the browning of the nation”).5The early 1920s was an era of guarded optimism that followed the violence and destruction of the Mexican Revolution (1910–20). Urban cultural elites began exploring the Mexican countryside to learn who the Mexican people were, what values they held, and what patterns of thought, religion, and aesthetics they followed. In their search for a uniquely Mexican identity, elites inspired by the social reforms growing out of the Mexican Revolution turned their attention to Mexico’s rural populations, whom they recast as fragmented, unintegrated, and culturally Indian.These urban elites interpreted Mexico as falling horribly short of new ideas of what it meant to be a modern nation. They felt that to be modern a nation had to be a culturally, economically, and politically distinct and unified people with deep historical roots, for which France (and less frequently, Germany, the was as the and elites were by a to Mexico’s culturally, economically, and racially into a culturally politically nation. they was the that would the the of the Mexican and Mexico a of be Mexican one was to be part Indian to a for the and of the Mexican Indian as part of the nation. who the Indianness were for their and of India Bonita Contest was one a of the time that it was was to each of the to to the of a which for the first time would public and the into the rural of the of the for at the in Mexico that would become a for of popular culture and a for “the Mexican of and a Mexico to the country with new was the time when an effort to a national to public about the the was more and were from one and of but they were all early efforts the of a culturally Mexican with a and of they the between cultural and at the of the Mexican the the India Bonita Contest became important in the early it was not a In fact, this new of Mexican national to Indian a continued on more entrenched that to Mexico’s and and a on a of that the to the of was the India Bonita Contest an become part of the and of the contest was to public attention to his his the contest, so as to Universal of attention to by a of the rural as a María Bibiana Uribe, it did not even an indigenous to of for by who was in her hometown of at the whom she had of the contest, with of reveal the of in with the early the to Indian culture as to Mexican national was not the was it out of was it a It was by and and only did it it was a new and it did and the India Bonita Contest did the public as of the time it was a that the of the new of who during the 1920s to most and of whom and cultural article to the and of early efforts to Indian and to with Mexican national about the between Mexican national and ideas of which have become to popular memory and in modern Mexico. It of the of the that in Mexico during the early India Bonita Contest began in 1921, when and of the his that to the Mexican by a contest that would bring attention and Indians as part of Mexico, and to an important for cultural and his that the contest to the of the Concurso de public for the India Bonita Contest that it had long been the to for the beauty of a for the of a but no had to with the and of the indigenous of the Mexican was not first to aesthetics with the popular years in of as of his for the de of for without it so as to it for the popular But the India Bonita Contest was the first time focused on Indian culture as a way to his of the contest, was in effort to and the growing of to in search of whose would appear in the with After the of what the contest was to the would outside contest would from 1921, and the winner would a and by Universal with a was the for public competitions, and to of and and the of the contest, about the they would on the part of whom they were by social from urban and mestizo They became when their efforts to contestants in the Mexico were with and even was by since the the any indigenous and of the they and the a on a of He on the and turned to the Indian to search for the of the the was by and to to young indigenous who from rural to the where they with of a into a since it a of had with urban they would be more to have at of and be more to to the would be for the of the contest, but not so as to be began the and the of in the of the of and the first a her to be and in the first a statement about what were a young girl of with and with no and early were followed by a that the into and the contest at a of the was that the public did not understand what Universal meant when it that it was for who were of in of that had become a urban Mexican even to the Indian the of the contest by as indigenous of Indianness and what would did not come to and mestizo contestants in to the regional Mexican as the and the was a regional of from the of had been by the and it was with the by a and the was in the rural in it the and is most with Mexican was a by regional from the of in Mexico, by a the were by of with to the and new in the they were in and public cultural Mexico’s to national of the with a for from Mexican the for their of the of and were culturally and politically and racially They a way of Mexican popular by their to was to the to their to They Mexican culture to and they celebrated regional attention from the cultural rural and the that from the of by the India Bonita Contest, in drew attention to Mexico’s racial cultural and the urban from rural Indians. India Bonita Contest did not Mexican Instead, contest focused on rural Mexico in the of the new national by the and with the of a more of what it meant to be to public about the place of indigenous the Mexican the India Bonita Contest an the public with and They began by that they were for who were Universal it with short of the to the were at about of the that as an braids, and a the were not just of but they to as Indian to the way were in the popular and with and not only what the considered but what they beauty might in to indigenous who had been from of were invited to of their outside to But with time they in whom the did not the process on by more of his own the of the contest, less from the and in Indianness and nonwhite public beauty were the that has by this of the the India Bonita Contest, of and of the were be no about the After a winner was the contest even an article by Manuel Gamio explaining an Indian be considered way the India Bonita Contest was when it to the Concurso Universal de and important between the two of the Concurso Universal de Belleza invited of the to national and Universal of the search for Miss it was based a canon of the of the Mexican of the competition of whom were in the India Bonita a for of Mexican of the was did the any the finalists were with and and on a about what and no one it to only were the an in a of the of the India Bonita Contest were about In the beauty contest they the of a the of a But in the India Bonita Contest they about braids, Indian and to the of and social of the to Indian beauty as on the even of the as about Indian beauty became even when the finalists were their own that were the by that in “the considered only the Indian of the and in no way were they by ideas of beauty were about any on the part of their In of the were Indian did the contest to ask the they Nor did to the to in the they to in a they had an in their the of the before the of the girl was Universal even to to out to the their to search the and the for the way they the contest, as the who into the of Mexico to and indigenous the contest the of Indianness as part of the Mexican national identity, it the to a in the of a new between indigenous and the before the the contest a that Mexican would the indigenous of the the one who most the of would the of the He felt that only were of the that the Mexican and were since and might be more to Mexican indigenous the the contest not to the they to have of his as by their to as who Mexican and Indian Manuel Gamio to Mexico’s Indian and of the of the contest and of the of two and were in and of the of 1921 to of from which they finalists whom they invited to Mexico at the of the finalists young in two all dressed in regional the contestants is that the a of what Indian In to the were by social the of had been of in urban most of the finalists were from rural that were to be rural and the at the of to the finalists in they their to María Bibiana Uribe and the but Gamio that no one with be considered a that Gamio had an article for the to of on Indian Gamio the the with a which María Bibiana to the all the to statement that to crown and a queen of beauty was a that a and that has been by Mexican and that had never the of the contest, was a that that even they had been and Indians a part of Mexico. Gamio that the contest an important first culturally the of Mexico it bring Indians into the national and drew attention to the for their and He that it was that the winner be an Indian, and us that María Bibiana Uribe was the anyone his was to her to a of the of each by the the with the attention the India Bonita Contest had to that and with the way it had the 1921 with a new of based on an with the indigenous the was a of beauty as an of it to the to national by with all the of the Mexican India Bonita Contest became an for Mexican to into the cultural the María Bibiana Uribe as the Universal on a of the from the Sierra de of the attention to her but rural her indigenous-style her her and the of her racial continued with that a of a María Bibiana In her she a lacquered from a and in the of was to as an Mexican of the had been to her in the as a to her one of the that it to He to her the on her to her from the indigenous in Mexico at the and it to from during her long in the He that María Bibiana was a rural Indian girl about to public her a who with her all the of and Indian girl with her all the of the of Bibiana her with her and and the María Bibiana in the of the that when for her she have no this but that was no she her her by her in an Indian her and He the with María Bibiana at the never the of by she was of the India Bonita Contest María Bibiana Uribe into the of Mexico social and she began to and and and were in her the for a “La India Bonita” an of Universal and was by of the and of María Bibiana contest even on popular Mexican in in part to the by the India Bonita in most of were the and that had long and which were to their of to and to their to and the of any to But that of Indians did in attention to Mexico’s indigenous to Mexican and to that into more and inspired by the and of Mexico’s Indian a of that became one of the most of the What from was to with Indians in a less in the even that the Mexican national was to be in the the But the the did to Indians was by in a Indian that Indians as Mexican was particularly during It a a of regional by and the of the the in the in a of the about the of the for a more on the of the India Bonita Contest by a about a young Indian who about an most of the the of the the Indian and his to most Indian for Mexico where they a on a was La India María for her of and that the was to be a of the India Bonita Contest, but was to that it was a that, was not his was to a about an the of in the He was that the were not following the of a of to Indian it one of the of the and on to that the on a more of the not us a of a an an but of the a Indian to the indigenous of the in Indians as was It was at this for that from more a in to his of Mexican popular which to his about his to that to the aesthetics of Mexico’s popular Indian which an of and which had been for without was in Mexico, but and were the years when and were from and and began with the they in might to Mexico. cultural to a new that as indigenous and as in from the in from to own and by the were in Mexican were to at the Mexico and even was own have to to what is a a the of this in the India Bonita of this is just a when is more it be more more in and have the historical of the to the and of the In the to the Mexican Indian, that the was of a when it did become it was at the of and who for their cultural In the of the India it was not into the contest, it had become a public that the the But when the did the it with India Bonita Contest into the for the into the India Bonita Contest, the to an of the of had been by the in first public by the was an that the would be to the public and that of the would be in and so but the that the most attention were based on popular and the most were the India Bonita Contest became into the and the of that this the between the new and and of the the of the Mexico’s of and a in Indians from a national into an of the Mexican nation. for the in this Indians from all of the to Mexico to the so that they might with of the Mexican for the of Mexico’s national to out what they in what what they and what they followed. was to be into a of to to the with a of the Mexican were for 1921 the of the of the of time before the and the of but ideas would be during the that India Bonita Contest was part of this early effort to and the Indians who as of France and of the at María Bibiana was both the and the Mexico’s of own the India Bonita was not as an to the but as a of the national important was that the India Bonita the into the of of and and the they were the were to the of and the that the of Mexico and in to and cultural In this aesthetics began to a in national of and in the India Bonita Contest was into the out of their way to be with the India Bonita with of Mexican national and María Bibiana was of invited her to his for a in her and de and most of the and Mexican and Bibiana’s social was a in her at the of her new by Universal as part of the contest María Bibiana in regional by her and to and his the her a and and to her at his own at the where his He to María Bibiana’s she turned at which felt she would be to it more public was to in this of the India the Mexico María Bibiana and her and was by by and Indians It was with an and and the was India Bonita on her regional and holding a of the and of as the of all the and of Indian her from the of Mexico to the Indian of just the of the a that drew a between the and the indigenous her the by the Bibiana as and who Bibiana their to the of from her the her with and her in and Bibiana and the India Bonita Contest became one the most celebrated cultural of the this was by no to Mexico in her was a for a did not when that the India Bonita Contest not only the of the but had become one of the of the the María Bibiana was crowned in a before a that all the and most of the to the from and the a that Bibiana to the the her into his to as they at the she in the on the of the began with Mexican followed by de a by María Bibiana as the of all indigenous in Mexico, her her and her to the Mexico He that Mexico’s Indians had been as a and his that the India Bonita Contest might to a new that would a La India followed by a not India short the come on to an Indian to the India He was dressed as a indigenous with a and his and of an of Indian by a of all to the that an Indian might be of even a Indians were to be his it be by urban and not by the of the which had been with popular and that to and indigenous that María Bibiana the Indian was He Bibiana’s to her new who it on her as on ideas of out that was a to a and that, all it was his to be for the After the María Bibiana had to be out the to the of people to at the of her of the of the was María the in India In by in Universal María Bibiana a holding a from and María dressed to the in and from a of the an even with and Bibiana by in the the to have had the of their by the between the indigenous girl in and the dressed as an Indian In Bibiana the India and the more Bibiana as the and María as the national crowning of the India most of the that the contest, to a racially and culturally Mexico. It celebrated not a mestizo but an and cultural nation that Indians and and in Manuel for that Mexico’s be celebrated and and that all and Indian as part of the national that to according to were and never the contest had transformed María Bibiana into an and a of the of a new for Universal optimism that the that the India Bonita Contest had a in Mexican might for the of the Mexican public to a between the two and for the of Indians as the for from of the India Bonita was the of María Bibiana’s to her as part of her never his to Bibiana at a In this be by the that it was that María Bibiana Uribe was when she her outside of was the the indigenous from the Sierra de Puebla at the time it is in rural But it the of and would have an to had her to the early outside of the of the India Bonita by Universal and by the Mexican by María Bibiana her was the of of her of and to her María as an Indian, not understand the of and was for and as a young she was her own the of her first of to a she had to to and In her and the contest was not the by Universal by the the of the India Bonita from the of for a young indigenous María the of the India Bonita the of as rural Indian Mexico became into urban Mexican But just as the contest did not indigenous to to the of new cultural and María Bibiana was not invited to the public about rural Indian Nor did she have the to on what she rural in national Instead, she was to of the of Indianness before to that the to the indigenous was a that was based on a of the Mexican India Bonita Contest of 1921 public about the of indigenous Mexico’s national the contest, Manuel and in public indigenous and national in the of newspapers and Mexican to Mexico’s into a cultural a growing of the to urban with rural Mexico, which were interpreted as Mexico” and people Mexico’s and Indian popular but that they had to be to the since the countryside was and to time that a Mexico culture was the was not to since a not they a cultural was a growing Mexican and that this be in the culture of the rural popular and that it Mexico’s India Bonita Contest as part of the growing in “creating” and the Mexican Indian, for a and into an Mexican nation. In 1921 of the between Indianness and Mexican national were just to a new Mexico’s and were to that which was the India Bonita became a popular of the of Mexican the of Mexico’s Indian and the of the rural of to be from the urban in the of an and rural indigenous the India Mexico’s rural recast as were as of the national but in of outside to this and the most urban that indigenous rural to be to be to part in modern and to their own to the nation. were as and Indians were as they were as to the national But cultural elites did not as of for the did they to their own national Instead, Indians and the of the popular were to to the by the urban and mestizo in Mexico of the India Bonita Contest of 1921 that about what and what is to Mexican national were considered that the search for a place for Indianness in Mexican began as an by and and only by the was with and of which with us the has been from of Mexico’s historical the contradictions to the of who their own and whose to be in by historically about the between the Mexican and Mexico’s rural ideas of Indianness have become as part of Mexican national has a of past the of indigenous culture even have any place in Mexico’s modern national of and of racially beauty have been from popular of the cultural In their place have of a of of both Necaxans and the Mexican public at the of the to María Bibiana as La India Bonita and as the first Miss Mexico to the of the cultural in the of this cultural might even us to that María Bibiana Uribe in a the Miss Mexico. Concurso Universal de Belleza with of nonwhite Mexico was a from Mexico’s past, the India Bonita Contest the way a new their on earlier of this to Mary Kay and and for this article was by the and the to the at the particularly for all of their during the