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This collection brings together a group of important and
influential essays on Mexican history and historiography by Eric
Van Young, a leading scholar in the field. The essays, several of
which appear here in English for the first time, are primarily
historiographical; that is, they address the ways in which separate
historical literatures have developed over time. They cover a wide
range of topics: the historiography of the colonial and
nineteenth-century Mexican and Latin American countryside;
historical writing in English on the history of colonial Mexico;
British, American, and Mexican historical writing on the Mexican
Independence movement; the methodology of regional and cultural
history; and the relationship of cultural to economic history. Some
of the essays have been and will continue to be controversial,
while others-for example, those on studies of the Mexican hacienda
since 1980, on the theory and method of regional history, and on
the "new cultural history" of Mexico-are widely considered classics
of the genre.
This book explains the development of a regional agrarian system,
centered on the rural estate (hacienda), in late colonial Mexico,
in the area of Guadalajara. It describes the features of the rural
economy-patterns of land ownership, credit and investment, labor
relations, the structure of production, the relationship of a major
colonial city to its surrounding area, and so forth. The thesis is
that the population growth of Guadalajara progressively integrated
the large geographical region surrounding the city through the
mechanisms of the urban market for grain and meat, and that this in
turn put pressure on local land and labor resources. Eventually
this drove white and Indian landowners into increasingly sharp
conflict with each other and led to the progressive
proletarianization of the region's peasantry during the last
decades of the Spanish colonial era. It is no accident, given this
history, that the Guadalajara region was one of the major areas of
armed conflict for most of the decade during the Mexican struggle
for independence from Spain (1810-1821).
This collection brings together a group of important and
influential essays on Mexican history and historiography by Eric
Van Young, a leading scholar in the field. The essays, several of
which appear here in English for the first time, are primarily
historiographical; that is, they address the ways in which separate
historical literatures have developed over time. They cover a wide
range of topics: the historiography of the colonial and
nineteenth-century Mexican and Latin American countryside;
historical writing in English on the history of colonial Mexico;
British, American, and Mexican historical writing on the Mexican
Independence movement; the methodology of regional and cultural
history; and the relationship of cultural to economic history. Some
of the essays have been and will continue to be controversial,
while othersOCofor example, those on studies of the Mexican
hacienda since 1980, on the theory and method of regional history,
and on the new cultural history of MexicoOCoare widely considered
classics of the genre."
The fall of empires and the rise of nation-states was a defining
political transition in the making of the modern world. As United
States imperialism becomes a popular focus of debate, we must
understand how empire, the nineteenth century's dominant form of
large-scale political organization, had disappeared by the end of
the twentieth century. Here, ten prominent specialists discuss the
empire-to-nation transition in comparative perspective. Chapters on
Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Russia, and China
illustrate both the common features and the diversity of the
transition. Questioning the sharpness of the break implied by the
empire/nation binary, the contributors explore the many ways in
which empires were often nation-like and nations behaved
imperially. While previous studies have focused on the rise and
fall of empires or on nationalism and the process of
nation-building, this intriguing volume concentrates on the
empire-to-nation transition itself. Understanding this transition
allows us to better interpret the contemporary political order and
new forms of global hegemony.
Mexico's movement toward independence from Spain was a key episode
in the dissolution of the great Spanish Empire, and its
accompanying armed conflict arguably the first great war of
decolonization in the nineteenth century. This book argues that in
addition to being a war of national liberation, the struggle was
also an internal war pitting classes and ethnic groups against each
other, an intensely localized struggle by rural people, especially
Indians, for the preservation of their communities.
While local and national elites focused their energies on wresting
power from colonial authorities and building a new nation-state,
rural people were often much more concerned about keeping village
identities and lifeways intact against the forces of state
expansion, commercialization, and modernization. Conventional
wisdom says that Mexican independence was achieved through a
cross-class and cross-ethnic alliance between creole ideologues,
military leaders, and a mass following. This book shows that this
is not only an incomplete explanation of what went on in Mexico
during the decade of armed confrontation that led to Mexico's
independence, but also a distortion of Mexican social and cultural
history.
The author delves deeply into life histories, previously unexamined
texts, statistical social profiling, and local historical
ethnography to examine the dynamics of popular rebellion. He
focuses especially on Mexico's Indian villages, but also considers
the role of parish priests as insurgent leaders; local conflicts
over land, politics, and religious symbols; the influence of
messianism and millenarianism in popular insurgent ideology; and
the everyday language of political upheaval.
An eminent historian's biography of one of Mexico's most prominent
statesmen, thinkers, and writers Lucas Alaman (1792-1853) was the
most prominent statesman, political economist, and historian in
nineteenth-century Mexico. Alaman served as the central ministerial
figure in the national government on three occasions, founded the
Conservative Party in the wake of the Mexican-American War, and
authored the greatest historical work on Mexico's struggle for
independence. Though Mexican historiography has painted Alaman as a
reactionary, Van Young's balanced portrait draws upon fifteen years
of research to argue that Alaman was a conservative modernizer,
whose north star was always economic development and political
stability as the means of drawing Mexico into the North Atlantic
world of advanced nation-states. Van Young illuminates Alaman's
contribution to the course of industrialization, advocacy for
scientific development, and unerring faith in private property and
institutions such as church and army as anchors for social
stability, as well as his less commendable views, such as his
disdain for popular democracy.
David Brading is one of the foremost historians of Latin America in
the United Kingdom. The essays in this volume convey the enduring
nature of many of the questions raised by his work. They reflect
the wide range of his interests: from Mexican Baroque and
post-Tridentine Catholicism to studies of the dynamics of state
building in nineteenth- century Mexico and of the problem of
Mexican national identity. The contributions represent a wide
chronological spread from the late seventeenth century to the
twentieth century, as well as geographical diversity (Mexico City,
Queretaro, and Puebla). Part I comprises an autobiographical essay
by David Brading, an appreciation of him by Enrique Florescano, and
an historiographical assessment of Brading's work by Eric Van
Young. Part II gathers together six essays by former students
(Susan Deans-Smith and Ellen Gunnarsdottir) and colleagues (Brian
Hamnett, Marta Garcia Urgarte, Guy Thomson, and Alan Knight). David
A. Brading recently retired from a chair in history at the
University of Cambridge, UK where he directed the Latin American
Centre. He is the author of dozens of articles and a number of
widely praised volumes, including The First America: The Spanish
Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and the Liberal State, 1492-1867
(Cambridge University Press, 1991).
This classic history of the Mexican hacienda from the colonial
period through the nineteenth century has been reissued in a silver
anniversary edition complete with a substantive new introduction
and foreword. Eric Van Young explores 150 years of Mexico's
economic and rural development, a period when one of history's
great empires was trying to extract more resources from its most
important colony, and when an arguably capitalist economy was both
expanding and taking deeper root. The author explains the
development of a regional agrarian system, centered on the landed
estates of late colonial Mexico, the central economic and social
institution of an overwhelmingly rural society. With rich empirical
detail, he meticulously describes the features of the rural
economy, including patterns of land ownership, credit and
investment, labor relations, the structure of production, and the
relationship of a major colonial city to its surrounding area. The
book's most interesting and innovative element is its emphasis on
the way the system of rural economy shaped, and was shaped by, the
internal logic of a great spatial system, the region of
Guadalajara. Van Young argues that Guadalajara's population growth
progressively integrated the large geographical region surrounding
the city through the mechanisms of the urban market for grain and
meat, which in turn put pressure on local land and labor resources.
Eventually this drove white and Indian landowners into increasingly
sharp conflict and led to the progressive proletarianization of the
region's peasantry during the last decades of the Spanish colonial
era. It is no accident, given this history, that the Guadalajara
region was one of the major areas of armed insurrection for most of
the decade during Mexico's struggle for independence from Spain. By
highlighting the way haciendas worked and changed over time, this
indispensable study illuminates Mexico's economic and social
history, the movement for independence, and the origins of the
Mexican Revolution.
This classic history of the Mexican hacienda from the colonial
period through the nineteenth century has been reissued in a silver
anniversary edition complete with a substantive new introduction
and foreword. Eric Van Young explores 150 years of Mexico's
economic and rural development, a period when one of history's
great empires was trying to extract more resources from its most
important colony, and when an arguably capitalist economy was both
expanding and taking deeper root. The author explains the
development of a regional agrarian system, centered on the landed
estates of late colonial Mexico, the central economic and social
institution of an overwhelmingly rural society. With rich empirical
detail, he meticulously describes the features of the rural
economy, including patterns of land ownership, credit and
investment, labor relations, the structure of production, and the
relationship of a major colonial city to its surrounding area. The
book's most interesting and innovative element is its emphasis on
the way the system of rural economy shaped, and was shaped by, the
internal logic of a great spatial system, the region of
Guadalajara. Van Young argues that Guadalajara's population growth
progressively integrated the large geographical region surrounding
the city through the mechanisms of the urban market for grain and
meat, which in turn put pressure on local land and labor resources.
Eventually this drove white and Indian landowners into increasingly
sharp conflict and led to the progressive proletarianization of the
region's peasantry during the last decades of the Spanish colonial
era. It is no accident, given this history, that the Guadalajara
region was one of the major areas of armed insurrection for most of
the decade during Mexico's struggle for independence from Spain. By
highlighting the way haciendas worked and changed over time, this
indispensable study illuminates Mexico's economic and social
history, the movement for independence, and the origins of the
Mexican Revolution.
In the Age of Democratic Revolution, countries on both sides of the
Atlantic were linked together through trade networks, diplomatic
ties, and social interactions. More importantly, however, they also
shared a common revolutionary dynamic that oscillated back and
forth across the ocean. Revolutionary Currents explores the global
crosscurrents and revolutionary ideologies that inspired four great
modern revolutions England's Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, the
American Revolution of 1776, the French Revolution in 1789, and the
Mexican Revolution in the early 1800s. Michael A. Morrison and
Melinda S. Zook bring together noted historians to look at how each
nation reshaped these revolutionary traditions, making them their
own, and exported them once again. In examining each event, the
contributors respond to the historiographical trends of
revolutionary ideology, transatlantic cross-fertilzation of ideas,
and nation-building. In assessing and analyzing the ideas,
traditions, and nationalisms that inspired revolution and
nation-building in the modern world, this book breaks new ground in
the area of transatlantic history."
In the Age of Democratic Revolution, countries on both sides of the
Atlantic were linked together through trade networks, diplomatic
ties, and social interactions. More importantly, however, they also
shared a common revolutionary dynamic that oscillated back and
forth across the ocean. Revolutionary Currents explores the global
crosscurrents and revolutionary ideologies that inspired four great
modern revolutions-England's Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, the
American Revolution of 1776, the French Revolution in 1789, and the
Mexican Revolution in the early 1800s. Michael A. Morrison and
Melinda S. Zook bring together noted historians to look at how each
nation reshaped these revolutionary traditions, making them their
own, and exported them once again. In examining each event, the
contributors respond to the historiographical trends of
revolutionary ideology, transatlantic cross-fertilzation of ideas,
and nation-building. In assessing and analyzing the ideas,
traditions, and nationalisms that inspired revolution and
nation-building in the modern world, this book breaks new ground in
the area of transatlantic history.
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