The subaltern is a recurrent literary figure in Mexican narrative. The objective of this thesis is to investigate three ethnic groups – indeed, subalterns – in Mexico which include: Afro-Mexicans, indigenous groups, and Filipino colonial subjects from the perspectives of the Mexican Revolution, post-revolutionary Mexico, and the conquest of the Philippines in the sixteenth century. The principal characters play crucial roles in events shaping the history and culture of Mexico and thus demonstrate their importance to the country's development while also revealing the reality of subalterns. The literary research shows that trying circumstances or a lack of self-identity were the main causes for a character to be or become a subaltern in addition to their inherent ethnic disadvantages. However, the characters who overcame their subaltern state often changed personality traits or adapted to their surroundings in order to be assimilated into the majority culture.

Être Noir au Mexique c’est avant tout ne pas exister. Ne pas exister pour la Nation : aucune reconnaissance officielle dans le cadre de la pluriculturalité de l’État-nation actée constitutionnellement depuis 2001. Ne pas exister aussi pour les Mexicains eux-mêmes qui ne savent pas qu’ils ont des compatriotes noirs. Et pourtant les Afro-mexicains sont bien présents, sur les côtes de Veracruz, mais surtout sur la côte pacifique, et plus précisément sur la Costa Chica entre les États de Guerrero et Oaxaca. Présents physiquement mais aussi culturellement. Ce qui caractérise la situation des Afro-mexicains est cette tension entre invisibilité et visibilité. L’objectif de cette thèse est de questionner cette tension à travers un corpus de chanson (cumbia et chilena) issu de la tradition populaire afro-mexicaine de la Costa Chica. Chansons qui s’accompagnent toujours de danse et d’une certaine pratique orale spécifique. Plus précisément, on se demandera en quoi la musique-danse-oralité peut-elle être considérée comme une forme de langage de la culture afro-mexicaine, c’est-à-dire dans quelle mesure la musique-danse-oralité des Afro-mexicains est-elle une représentation (une sorte de miroir) de leur identité culturelle ? Ou encore, peut-on analyser la musique-danse-oralité chez les Afro-mexicains comme un espace-temps d’épanouissement (conscient, inconscient ?) de leur culture dans un pays dominé par l’idéologie du métissage. Idéologie excluante, car construite comme un unique dialogue entre Blancs et Indigènes ? / In Mexico, Black people are deprived of a real existence. The Nation ignores their existence. They have no official status within the framework of the pluriculturality of the nation which was constitutionally enacted in 2001. Mexican people also ignore them because they do not know that they have black fellow citizens. Yet Afro-Mexican people do exist on the Coast of Veracruz, and mainly on the Pacific Coast, and more precisely on Costa Chica between the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca. Not only do they exist physically-speaking but they also do culturally-speaking. What characterizes the situation of Afro-Mexican people is this duality between invisibility and visibility. The aim of this doctorate is to deal with that duality through a corpus of songs (cumbia and chilena) from the Afro-Mexican popular songs of Costa Chica. These songs always include dances and a specific oral practice. The question is to know how music, dance and orality can be regarded as a form of language of Afro-Mexican culture, that is to say to what extent Afro-Mexican music, dance and orality is a representation –a kind of mirror –of their cultural identity. Or, in other words, can Afro-Mexican music, dance and orality be analysed as a pattern within space and time that enables the fulfillment –either conscious or unconscious- of their culture in a country dominated by the ideology of melting pot ? That ideology excludes some people because it is based upon a dialogue between White people and indigenous people only.