Las «clases obscuras»: las niñas y los niños en el imaginario de las élites en México (1843-1844)

Abstract

In this text we address the literature for childhood that emerged during the first decades of the 19th century; we are interested in addressing in particular The Children Painted by Themselves (Mexico, 1843) and The Girls Painted by Themselves (Mexico, 1844), whose purpose was to contribute to the training of young citizens for the new liberal society project and enlightened world to which bourgeois circles aspired. It is interesting to keep in mind that this is a field of tension in which the conservatism also converges at different levels and levels. The axes that articulate this text, are: 1.º the political and cultural context in which this genre of magazines is published; 2.º signs of the expansion of the publishing world that makes this publication possible; 3.º the pointing out of some elements present in both publications, which reveal the imaginaries of the time.