Search

On 18 July 1921, Modesta B., a thirty-five-year-old single woman, arrived at the General Insane Asylum – the largest state institution devoted to the care of mentally ill men, women and children in early twentieth-century Mexico. Days earlier, a police agent had apprehended her because she was allegedly involved in a street fight. As she did not calm down in gaol, authorities called on the expertise of a licensed doctor who diagnosed her as mentally unstable. Modesta B. passionately rejected his diagnosis but, poor and lacking a supportive network, her escalating agitation was only used as further evidence of mental derangement. Following a standard procedure, the government of the Federal District then issued an order requesting her committal to the asylum. Located in Mixcoac – a village to the south of the capital city where members of the elite relaxed over the weekends – the once imposing medical facilities lingered in utter decay. Indeed, little if anything was left of the glamour that surrounded the inaugural ceremony of the massive architectural complex on 1 September 1910 – an act that opened the nationalistic festivities of the centenary of the Independence of Mexico under the vigilant gaze of aging president Porfirio Díaz. During his thirty years in office, General Díaz led the nation through an era of rapid social transformation based on growing involvement in the global economy and centralization of political power, which came to an end with the outbreak of the Mexican revolution in November 1910. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]