“Súbete al chile” [“Get on the Chile”]. Interpellation and Machinic Pleasure in the Town of Tequila, Jalisco

https://doi.org/10.25058/20112742.n47.09

Daniel Ramírez
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6883-8705
Universidad Surcolombiana, Colombia
ramirezp.daniel@gmail.com

Abstract:

This article reflects upon the tensions brought about by the positioning of the town of Tequila, Jalisco, as a Magical Town. Drawing on the fieldwork conducted for my PhD thesis and in a dialogue with the notions of interpellation and machinic pleasureformulated by John Law (2001) and picked up by Adrian Franklin (2003, 2004), I analyze José Cuervo Express and Chile-bus as machines giving room and making part to complex tourist assemblages on which two sorts of tourists and Mexican idiosyncrasy are labelled. On one hand, those linking the magic of town to an idyllic and elitized representation of the Mexican past; on the other hand, those linking them to the ludic and excess linked to tequila. Despite their diverse labels, an interdependency relationship may be seen between these two machines.

Keywords: interpellation; machinic pleasure; magical towns; nationalism; Mexicanity.