Household Hegemon: Domestic and Affective Traces of US Influence in Mexico in the 1950s and 1990s

Author

• Edgar Solórzano, Rhode Island School of DesignFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-22-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Sculpture

First Advisor

Derrick Woods-Morrow

Second Advisor

Gail Dodge

Third Advisor

Anne West

Abstract

“Household Hegemon: Domestic and Affective Traces of US Influence in Mexico in the 1950s and 1990s” is a collection of personal essays, historical research, and fictional texts that examine the impact of US-American soft power on Mexican society. This project expands and deepens the research and work developed during my two-year MFA in Sculpture at RISD, evolving material investigations into a comprehensive written and visual record of the 1950s post-WWII boom and the 1990s post-NAFTA transition. These two decades not only represent the most significant in terms of American influence but also the years in which my parents and I grew up in Mexico.

By blending historical analysis with fictional narratives and personal anecdotes, the work reveals how macro-scale global forces manifest within the domestic realm. My family and personal history serve as a primary site of investigation, showing how geopolitical shifts affect personal experiences and domestic life. This comparative historical approach provides a lens for understanding the exportation of the “picket-fence dream,” a set of aspirations regarding masculinity, success, and individualism that were attached to the American way of life and marketed as the global standard for modern families.

Specifically, my research examines several key “actants” of cultural influence: houses, cars, food, movies, and linguistics. These topics illustrate how ideologies translate into material objects consumed by my family or me. Through this collection, I aim to develop tools to better navigate these inherited aspirations, recognizing that they are fundamentally unattainable for the vast majority of populations who consumed American culture in this way.

Recommended Citation

Solórzano, Edgar, "Household Hegemon: Domestic and Affective Traces of US Influence in Mexico in the 1950s and 1990s" (2026). Masters Theses. 1622.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1622

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.