Resumen de José Vasconcelos Classical Readings for Children and the making of childhood in post-revolutionary Mexico

Beatriz Alcubierre Moya, Rodrigo Bazán Bonfil

• This paper discusses the work of Mexican writer and politician José Vasconcelos, focusing on his polemic ideas regrading notions of childhood and race in the context of post-revolutionary period, during the 1920s. Our approach centers specifically on a very rare contribution to children�s genre: Classical Readings for Children, an anthology of �high literature� adapted for young readers. This edition, in two volumes, was conceived, planned, and sponsored by Vasconcelos during the time he served as Minister of Education. It represented a part of a vast cultural project intended to redefine the principles of Mexican identity through the exaltation of miscegenation and the promotion of the concept of �Cosmic Race.�