Editor's Comment 38, no. 2

Abstract

Welcome to our second issue of 2022. On behalf of the editorial committee of MS/EM, I am glad to announce the award for best article by an early career scholar published in 2020–21. This award seeks to recognize contributions of the highest academic quality in the multidisciplinary field of Mexican studies for the originality of their topics, theoretical perspectives, and/or methodological strategies. In addition to the one award for best article, one honorable mention is also recognized. Early career scholars who have obtained a doctorate within the last five years and published an article in MS/EM during 2020–21 were eligible. The first place was awarded to Marjolein Van Bavel for her article “Morbo, lucha libre, and Television: The Ban of Women Wrestlers from Mexico City in the 1950s.” The committee selected Van Bavel’s article as the winning entry due to the originality of the topic, rigorous bibliography, and incorporation of multiple research methods, such as oral history and analysis of print culture. The article addresses the history of sport, media history, demographic shifts, and the history of Mexico City to explain how luchadoras emerged and the reasons why they were perceived to challenge dominant attitudes regarding proper masculinity, femininity, and entertainment fit for family consumption. You can read this article for free online. The honorable mention went to José Ignacio Lanzagorta Garćıa for his article “La conquista de la Glorieta de Insurgentes de la Ciudad de México: lo abyecto en los procesos de gentrificación.” The committee pointed out the author’s skillful presentation of the Glorieta de Insurgentes roundabaout as a meaningful space in which classed and gendered sociabilities are negotiated vis-à-vis dominant business and political interests. The article also shows a bifurcation between forms of LGBTQþ sociabilities that are perceived as acceptable and decent, and those that are treated as abject—a frame that currently determines the dominant discourse on this public space.