Francesca Edgerton (UCL) - 2022-23 Students

Political Exiles, Latin American Identity, and the Transnational Impact of the Mexican Revolution

From the 1920s to the 1980s, Mexico became a home for Latin American political exiles, from Augusto Sandino to Che Guevara. Although many have described this phenomenon, I will show that political exile in Mexico was instrumental in the creation of a distinct Latin American political identity both within Mexico and throughout the region. Mexico accepted exiles due to their attempts to realise the ideals of the Mexican Revolution at home and abroad which impacted Latin America and left-wing transnational political identity in underexplored ways. Mexico also played a key role in shaping the global category of political exile and studying exiles allows us to interrogate conventional understandings of migration as a South-North phenomenon.

Primary supervisor: Dr Thom Rath, UCL
Secondary supervisor: Dr William Booth, UCL