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This paper focuses on contemporary religious practices and expressions of social groups influenced by the Catholic church in Western Mexico. The patronal festival in San Francisco Tesistán is exposed, under an ethnographic study, to describe its structure, organization and function. The category of popular religiosity is presented as an analytical model to address the explanations manifested in the social structure by the patron-client bond, providing meaning to the political, economic, and symbolic order. Reinforcing the category of popular religiosity, the analysis of the popular production points to subcultural groups within larger societies. Within this model, it seeks to contribute to the understanding of the “popular” in religious practices of a fragment of the population determined by the division of labor, in a space of invention, interpretation and representation. The symbolic power preserves memories, determines a common origin and crystallizes the holistic worldview in the social order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to argue that Mexico's involvement in the Universal Exhibitions and World Fairs of the nineteenth century can be considered as the immediate background of what would be called cultural diplomacy in the twentieth century. The evidence found is that Mexico started a tradition that will remain nowadays. The influence of history, as well as the richness and diversity of its artistic and cultural production were their "letters of credence" that allows the country to be appreciated and recognized internationally. Based on testimonies from those who witnessed and attend the exhibitions, as well as official documents and papers of that period, the features of these exhibitions were exposed. To this end, this paper analyzes Mexico's involvement in three of the most important exhibitions of nineteenth century: 1851, 1889 and 1900. This selection allows to compare different contexts and at the same time contributes to observe Mexican political narrative evolution. This article aims to show that the Universal Exhibitions were an opportunity for Mexico to be known and to promote an idea of a country that was aligned with the canons of that century: progress, civility and peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the influence of editing and publishing on the readers’ literary preferences, either through collections as reading programs (in case of the institutions interested in the diffusion of culture) or as reading offers (in case of the businesses that participate in the cultural marketing in Mexico.) Both editing processes share a cultural history, a cultural patrimony and political strategies for growing and strengthening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]