La Referencia: los padres y madres de la Patria. Metáforas familiarizantes en Fernández de Lizardi

Abstract

From 1821 to 1827, Fernández de Lizardi assumed, consciously or unconsciously, that the Mexican United States needed to have a “Reference” or ascendants which would be different than Spain, and which would serve them as collective orderers oriented toward defending the persistence of the nation-state which was being forged. We imaginarily organize ourselves in families because “nation” (from natio, nationis, brood) signifies brotherhood and identification of its members with forms of living-together favorable to the majority. Without justice putting into progress the “Reference,” whether mythical or secular, societies can fall into unsociability. In a strongly patriarchal stage, Lizardi gave the status of mothers of the homeland to the women who participated in the epic of independence.