A War in Slow Motion: The Zapatista Revolt, the Politics of Display, and the (in)Visibility of the Face

• In Event: The Top Papers in Visual Communication

Abstract

This paper examines the various politics of display at work in the 1994 Zapatista uprising. Arguing that the revolutionaries deftly remained unmarked (despite their incessant visibility) because they refused the Mexican government’s facialization, the essay concludes that Marcos’ revolution was terrifying to the regime not because they captured territory but because he became a liminal figure always beyond the grasp of the government’s ability to “fix” his identity and to govern him properly.

Author

• William Trapani, Wayne State Univ