Emociones y ciudad: los motines de pachucos y la prensa del noreste estadounidense

Abstract

The aim of this article is to rescue the role of the U.S. press as a generator and disseminator of emotions within certain urban subjects. I start from the assumption that emotions play an important role in the configuration of national, local, and group identities (age, gender, race). The regulations on their forms and (appropriate/proper) moments of expression or containment contribute to legitimize, subordinate, and differentiate the dissimilar groups that coexist in a place. With this research, my analysis focuses on the study of the handling of emotions by the press during the so-called zoot suit riots or “motines de pachucos” lead by young Marines and mexican american teenagers in the city of Los Angeles, California during the summer of 1943. One of my interests is to find similarities and differences in the way two different geographical spaces, the Southwestern and Northeastern American regions, approached and interpreted emotionality the events. And answer whether the particularity in their historical developments plays a role in the interpretation and emotional, racial, and age-related reading of the events.