‘‘An Urgent Need for Hygiene’’: Cremation, Class, and Public Health in Mexico City, 1879–1920

ovens in the capital’s municipal cemetery, the Panteón de Dolores, in cul-mination of a late nineteenth-century campaign by officials that advocated cremation as a modern and hygienic form of burial for all Mexicans. In practice, all classes rejected cremation and only the very poor were cremated. This essay examines the arguments for and against cremation and the imple-mentation and daily practice surrounding cremation in Mexico City from the 1870s–1920. The establishment of cremation was part of the Porfirian project to modernize and sanitize Mexico that targeted the poor as an obstacle to progress. En 1909, el Departamento de Obras Públicas de la ciudad de México instaló dos hornos crematorios en el cementerio municipal de la capital, el Panteón de Dolores, en culminación de una campaña a finales del siglo XIX por los funcionarios que defend́ıan la cremación como una forma moderna e higiénica de entierro para todos los mexicanos. En práctica, todas las clases rechazaron cremación y sólo los muy pobres fueron cremados. Este ensayo examina los argumentos a favor y en contra de la cremación y la implementación y la práctica *I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexi-canos for the careful and extensive commentary on the article manuscript. In addition, numerous people provided constructive feedback on this article during its many stage