Mexico Unveiled
Resisting Colonial Vices and Other Complaints
Published on 15. September 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
200 pages
978-0-8265-0798-3 (ISBN)
Description
Carlos Pereda's Mexico Unveiled is a fresh, idiosyncratic synthesis of twentieth-century Mexican philosophy that puts contemporary debates about Mexican identity politics into a critical perspective. This edition-translated, edited, and introduced by Noell Birondo-brings the Mexican thinker's ideas to a new English-language audience.
In three engaging essays written in a peerless prose style, Pereda considers the persistent influence of European colonialism on Mexican intellectual life, the politics of inclusion, and the changing ideas of what it means to be Mexican. He identifies three "vices"-social habits, customs, and beliefs inherited from European colonialism-that have influenced the development of Mexican national identity: subaltern fervor, craving for novelty, and nationalist zeal. Pereda demonstrates that these three tendencies have led Mexican intellectuals, and Mexican society more generally, to uncritically adopt a politics of exclusion and destructive nationalist attitudes.
Using a strategy he calls "nomadic" thinking-the act of moving beyond our cultural preconceptions and habits of thinking-Pereda guides readers through a number of examples drawn from Mexican philosophy and culture that illustrate these tendencies. At its core, Mexico Unveiled is an accessible and entertaining introduction to the philosophical themes that have long occupied Pereda's life and work and Mexican philosophy more generally.
In three engaging essays written in a peerless prose style, Pereda considers the persistent influence of European colonialism on Mexican intellectual life, the politics of inclusion, and the changing ideas of what it means to be Mexican. He identifies three "vices"-social habits, customs, and beliefs inherited from European colonialism-that have influenced the development of Mexican national identity: subaltern fervor, craving for novelty, and nationalist zeal. Pereda demonstrates that these three tendencies have led Mexican intellectuals, and Mexican society more generally, to uncritically adopt a politics of exclusion and destructive nationalist attitudes.
Using a strategy he calls "nomadic" thinking-the act of moving beyond our cultural preconceptions and habits of thinking-Pereda guides readers through a number of examples drawn from Mexican philosophy and culture that illustrate these tendencies. At its core, Mexico Unveiled is an accessible and entertaining introduction to the philosophical themes that have long occupied Pereda's life and work and Mexican philosophy more generally.
Reviews / Votes
"This volume treats the reader to Carlos Pereda's philosophical virtuosity. With this flawless translation, Noell Birondo introduces an English-speaking audience to Pereda's masterful reflections on 'nomadic reason,' modern notions of identity, and the persistence of 'colonial vices' in contemporary Mexican philosophy. This is an essential text for anyone interested in these topics and in contemporary Latin American philosophy more generally."-Carlos Alberto Sanchez?, author of Blooming in the Ruins: How Mexican Philosophy Can Guide You Toward the Good Life "Mexico Unveiled is a both a critical survey and a powerful intervention into the philosophical currents of the twentith century in Mexico. Carlos Pereda-one of Latin America's most influential and admired philosophers-masterfully tackles the legacy of key Mexican thinkers, from Jose Vasconcelos to Luis Villoro, by examining crucial questions of coloniality, nationalism, exile, identity politics, and exclusion. Against the toxicity of what he diagnoses as 'arrogant reason,' Pereda's intellectual project engages in 'nomadic thinking,' that is, a philosophical inquiry in constant movement. This book unseats sedimented structures, disrupts pernicious ideological stances, and ultimately invites the reader to explore Mexico's rich philosophical debates that extend far beyond national and epistemic borders."
-Oswaldo Zavala, author of Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture Praise for the original Spanish edition:
"In a world with a lot of violence and great injustices, Mexico Unveiled offers a breath of fresh air: the deontological perspective is not abandoned; on the contrary, it is used to argue claims and denounce relations of domination. Not only does it teach us to go beyond the obvious, but also to ask ourselves why the consolidation of the obvious."
-Arturo Santillana Andraca, Anfora
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Tennessee
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
243 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8265-0798-3 (9780826507983)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Carlos Pereda is professor emeritus at the Institute for Philosophical Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Two of his books, Lessons in Exile and Practical Holism and Nomadic Thought, have previously been translated into English by Sean Manning.
Noell Birondo is professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso. His previous books are The Moral Psychology of Hate and Virtue's Reasons: New Essays on Virtue, Character, and Reasons.
Noell Birondo is professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso. His previous books are The Moral Psychology of Hate and Virtue's Reasons: New Essays on Virtue, Character, and Reasons.
Content
Translator's Acknowledgments
Carlos Pereda's Porous Reason: A Critical Introduction by Noell Birondo
Preface: Indications of the Road Ahead
Chapter One: Colonial Vices: Outlines of a General Perspective
Chapter Two: Fragments of Mexican Philosophy, For Example
Chapter Three: Inconvenient Mexican Thinkers, and Irreverent Claims
Bibliography
Carlos Pereda's Porous Reason: A Critical Introduction by Noell Birondo
Preface: Indications of the Road Ahead
Chapter One: Colonial Vices: Outlines of a General Perspective
Chapter Two: Fragments of Mexican Philosophy, For Example
Chapter Three: Inconvenient Mexican Thinkers, and Irreverent Claims
Bibliography