Radio, Consumer Culture, and Nationalism in Mexico's Campaña Nacionalista, 1931–1934

Abstract This article draws upon archival documents from Mexico's Nationalist Campaign to argue that the rise of radio, advertising, and consumer culture significantly shaped Mexican musical nationalism in the early 1930s. The Nationalist Campaign, led by Rafael Melgar, sought to promote the consumption of national products as a patriotic act to secure the nation's future amid the growing economic dominance of the United States during the interwar period. The campaign utilized radio broadcasts of speeches, slogans, and national music concerts to publicize a unified brand of national identity, aligning with the needs of modernizing the state economy and centralizing political authority through the newly formed PNR (Partido Nacional Revolucionario). This research seeks to explore the role of media, popular music, and consumer culture as an alternative track to Mexican musical nationalism, which has primarily been studied through art music.