Lynn Stephen, Transborder Lives: Indigenous Oaxacans in Mexico, California and Oregon (Durham, NC, and London: Duke University Press, 2007), pp. xxii+375, £57.00, £13.99 pb.
People were always questioning whether this was the ‘ real ’ Marcos ; the one they had seen before had blue eyes, pale skin, was taller, bigger. What I came to realise was that he was a mask with a voice and with a pipe. Does it really matter who is behind that mask? This is a question Henck fails to ask. This work is exhaustive and full of detail. Henck provides some interesting insights into Rafael’s personal life and upbringing, collating interviews with former teachers and family members, which combine to provide a sense of early intellectual influences. Perhaps of most importance is his contribution to the link between Rafael and Che Guevara, one of the figures on which Marcos based himself. But this section ends in a fogged account of what happened to Rafael in the three years after leaving university and immersing himself in Chiapas. It is this unquestioning and uncritical reliance on facts and figures that troubled me. There are entire sections of the book attributed to a single set of authors (Oppenheimer, or De La Grange and Rico) which are digested and given to the reader as concrete facts. This simply stresses the lack of a critical standpoint. Crucially, this biography intends to reveal Marcos’ becoming ; his transition from Nicolas Guillén Vicente to Subcomandante Marcos. I am not sure how far this can be done without a critique of certain crucial events and discourses. This is not only because Marcos has intentionally controlled the media and what is written about him, but perhaps more importantly, because a biography should engage with, and deconstruct Marcos. Clearly, revolutions and their leaders make up a vast and rich area of analysis. This biography adds albeit indirectly – to discussions about the ways in which the Zapatista movement has achieved and devised a new way of doing politics. Moreover, it serves to accentuate the role that Subcommander Marcos has had (placing him) as its leader. Although in his own words, Marcos is not a revolutionary leader but simply a spokesperson, Nick Henck’s biography illustrates the importance of considering Marcos as a central figure in the transformation of the Zapatista movement. However, it fails to engage beyond a description of events ; it fails to critique, to contrast and to really understand the Zapatista movement and its most mythical figure : Subcomandante Marcos.