I want to be Mexican! Approach to the process of naturalization in San Luis Potosí, 1924-1932

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the nationalism of the first decades of the twentieth century forced certain foreign nationals to become naturalized Mexicans in the state of San Luis Potosí. For the above, 99 naturalization trials were examined and the xenophobic discourse that was published in Action was analyzed, a publication that reproduced anti-foreigner prejudices. As a result, it can be highlighted that this is the first study on naturalization in the entity that addresses the foreign national-nation relationship. One of the limitations is that, to date, there are not enough historiographical analyses on naturalization; this is why the study focuses on the most numerous. The value of the research is the fact that is the first study about the naturalization of a wide spectrum of foreigner nationals in San Luis Potosí. Lastly, it is concluded that the benefit of being Mexican was determined by the nationality of the foreign national in question: for some (Europeans) it was a smooth process; for others (Chinese), long and bureaucratic.