Mexico from revolution to democracy

This course will survey a century of Mexican history that oscillated between an authoritarian regime (Porfirio Díaz’s presidency, 1876-1911), a massive revolutionary upheaval (1911-1920), the construction of a single-party, corporatist regime that became a model of stability and economic success (that of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional), and a complex transition to democracy (culminated in the July 2000 presidential elections).

Politics will be defined in broad terms. Besides political events, lectures and readings will consider social and cultural processes from diverse perspectives. Topics will include: migration and population growth; economic expansion and stagnation; urban history, crime and punishment; gender, women and familes; elite and popular culture; labor, agrarian reform; the left, electoral and armed insurgency; relationship with the United States and other countries of Latin America. Local and regional perspectives will be offered as an alternative against prevailing state-centered, national narratives. Combining thematic and chronological lectures, the course will examine the most exciting recent literature on Mexican society, culture, and politics.

The course will require two papers (40% of the grade), a midterm and a final exam (40%), and short reports and participation in discussion sections (20%).

Assignments:

There will be two kinds of written assignments:

-Short reports, 200 to 400 words. They are mainly intended to build toward the discussion in sections. You must post these on the Courseworks site by 5pm of the day before your section meets. They should consist of a very synthetic statement about the main theses of the readings plus a response that may involve questions, criticisms, praise, links with other themes and readings discussed in class. These reports will be considered as part of your participation grade.

-2 Papers: up to 8 pages long. You must hand a printout of these to your teaching assistant on the due date. No electronic files will be accepted. Papers should attempt to answer the question drawing on the bibliographies provided under each one (see “Paper Assignments”). Students are also encouraged to read critically, and to compare the different approaches and methods in the texts in order to help situate their own argument. Students who wish to add further titles to their essay bibliography may draw on the optional bibliography (below) intended to guide and complement the required books. Students may also add other titles after prior consultation with Prof. Piccato or the TA. Further instructions will be provided in class and during discussion sections.

-Schedule:

Report 1, Sep. 12: Guardino, “Barbarism or republican law?”; Tutino, From Insurrection to Revolution, chapter 7.

Report 2, Sep. 19: Knight, “Cardenismo.”

Paper 1, Sep. 28.

Report 3, Oct. 3: Vaughan, Cultural Politics in Revolution.

Report 4, Oct. 10: Vaughan, “Modernizing Patriarchy”; Bliss, “Guided by an Imperious, Moral Need”; Prieur, “Domination and Desire.”

Midterm, Oct. 19.

Report 5, Oct. 24: Schmidt, “Making it Real.” Moreno, Yankee don’t go Home, contrasted against selected chapters of Fragments of a Golden Age.

Report 6, Oct. 31: Vanderwood, Juan Soldado

Paper 2, Nov. 14.

Report 7, Nov. 21: Rubin, “Decentering the Regime.”

Report 8, Nov. 28: Cornelius, Subnational Politics and Democratization, chapters 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Report 9, Dec. 5: Harvey, Chiapas Rebellion; or Womack, Rebellion in Chiapas.

General readings:

Bethell, Mexico since independence. A good reference, particularly the chapters by Katz, Womack, and Knight. Chapters can be used, along with lecture notes, to help with background for the papers.

Knight, The Mexican Revolution. An extensive, solid, engaging history of the revolution. Highly recommended if you want to look into specific regions, periods or characters, or for an overview.

Tutino, From Insurrection to Revolution. A synthesis of agrarian history that will complement the discussion. Very useful to understand the nineteenth century.

Meyer and Héctor Aguilar, In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution. A synthesis centered on the post-revolutionary state. Not a great translation but useful nevertheless.

Joseph and Henderson, The Mexico reader. This book contains a large selection of documents pertaining to Mexican history. It can be used to add material to papers and reports, and during discussions.

Bibliography:

Bethell, Leslie. Mexico since independence. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. 1991.

Bliss, Katherine Elaine. “Guided by an Imperious, Moral Need. Prostitutes, Motherhood, and Nationalism in Revolutionary Mexico.” In Reconstructing Criminality in Latin America, edited by C. A. Aguirre and R. Buffington. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources. 2000.

Boyer, Christopher R. Becoming Campesinos: Politics, Identity, and Agrarian Struggle in Postrevolutionary Michoacan, 1920-1935. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. 2003.

Brading, D. A and Alan Knight (eds.), Caudillo and Peasant in the Mexican Revolution. Cambridge, 1980

Brunk, Samuel. Emiliano Zapata! : Revolution and betrayal in Mexico. 1st ed. ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1995.

Carey, Elaine. Plaza of Sacrifices: Gender, Power, and Terror in 1968 Mexico. 1st ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005.

Cornelius, Wayne A. Subnational Politics and Democratization in Mexico, U.S.-Mexico contemporary perspectives series ; 13. La Jolla: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies University of California San Diego. 1999.

Dawson, Alexander S. Indian and Nation in Revolutionary Mexico. Tucson. University of Arizona Press. 2004.

Fein, Seth. “Myths of Cultural Imperialism and Nationalism in Golden Age Mexican Cinema.” In Fragments of a golden age : the politics of culture in Mexico since 1940, edited by G. M. Joseph, A. Rubenstein and E. Zolov. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 2001.

Frazier, Lessie Jo, and Deborah Cohen. “Mexico ‘68: Defining the Space of the Movement, Heroic Masculinity in the Prison, and ‘Women’ in the Streets.” Hispanic American Historical Review 83 (4):617-60. 2003.

Guardino, Peter. “Barbarism or republican law?: Guerrero’s peasants and national politics, 1820-1846.” Hispanic American Historical Review 75 (2):185-213. 1995.

Harvey, Neil. Chiapas Rebellion: The Struggle for Land and Democracy. Durham: Duke University Press. 1998.

Joseph, G. M., and Timothy J. Henderson. The Mexico reader : history, culture, politics. Durham: Duke University Press. 2002.

Joseph, Gilbert M. “Rethinking Mexican Revolutionary Mobilization: Yucatán’s Seasons of Upheaval, 1909-1915.” In Everyday forms of state formation: Revolution and the negotiation of rule in modern Mexico, edited by G. M. Joseph and e. Daniel Nugent. Durham: Duke University Press. 1994.

Knight, Alan. The Mexican Revolution. 2 vols. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P. 1990.

———. “Cardenismo: Juggernaut or Jalopy?” Journal of Latin American Studies 26 (1):73-107. 1994.

———. “Racism, Revolution, and Indigenismo: Mexico, 1910-1940,” in Richard Graham (ed.). The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870-1940. Austin. University of Texas Press. 1990.

Markarian, Vania. “Debating Tlatelolco: Thirty Years of Public Debates about the Mexican Student Movement of 1968.” In Taking Back the Academy: History of Activism, History as Activism, edited by J. Downs and J. Manion. New York and London: Routledge. 2004.

Moreno, Julio. Yankee Don’t Go Home! : Mexican Nationalism, American Business Culture, and the Shaping of Modern Mexico, 1920-1950. Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina Press. 2003.

Meyer, Lorenzo, and Camín Héctor Aguilar. In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution, Contemporary Mexican History, 1910-1989. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1993.

Pilcher, Jeffrey M. “Mexico’s Pepsi Challenge: Traditional Cooking, Mass Consumption, and National Identity.” In Fragments of a Golden Age: The Politics of Culture in Mexico since 1940, edited by G. M. Joseph, A. Rubenstein and E. Zolov. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 2001.

Poniatowska, Elena. Massacre in Mexico. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. 1991.

Prieur, Annick. “Domination and Desire: Male Homosexuality and the Construction of Masculinity in Mexico.” In Machos, Mistresses, Madonnas: Contesting the Power of Latin American Gender Imagery, edited by M. Melhuus and K. A. Stolen. London: Verso. 1996.

Rubenstein, Anne. “Bodies, Cities, Cinema: Pedro Infante’s Death as Political Spectacle.” In Fragments of a Golden Age: The Politics of Culture in Mexico since 1940. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 2001.

Rubin, Jeffrey. “Decentering the Regime: Culture and Regional Politics in Mexico.” Latin American Research Review 31 (3):85-126. 1996.

———.Decentering the Regime : Ethnicity, Radicalism, and Democracy in Juchitan, Mexico. Durham. Duke University Press. 1997.

Rus, Jan. “The “Comunidad Revolucionaria Institucional”: The Subversion of Native Government in Highland Chiapas, 1936-1968.” In Everyday forms of state formation: Revolution and the negotiation of rule in modern Mexico, edited by G. M. Joseph and e. Daniel Nugent. Durham: Duke University Press. 1994.

Schmidt, Arthur. “Making it Real Compared to What? Reconceptualizing Mexican History Since 1940.” In Fragments of a Golden Age: The Politics of Culture in Mexico since 1940, edited by G. M. Joseph, A. Rubenstein and E. Zolov. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 2001.

Tutino, John. From Insurrection to Revolution in Mexico: Social Bases of Agrarian Violence, 1750-1940. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1988.

Vanderwood, Paul. J. Juan Soldado : Rapist, Murderer, Martyr, Saint. Durham. Duke University Press. 2004.

Vaughan, Mary Kay. Cultural Politics in Revolution: Teachers, Peasants, and Schools in Mexico, 1930-1940. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. 1997.

———. and Stephen E. Lewis (eds.). The Eagle and the Virgin: Nation and Cultural Revolution in Mexico, 1920-1940. Durham. Duke University Press. 2006.

———. “Modernizing Patriarchy: State Policies, Rural Households, and Women in Mexico, 1930-1940.” In Hidden Histories of Gender and the State in Latin America, edited by E. Dore and M. Molyneux. Durham: Duke University Press. 2000.

Womack, John. Rebellion in Chiapas: An Historical Reader. New York: New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton & Co. 1999.

Womack Jr, John. Zapata and the Mexican Revolution. New York: Vintage. 1970.

Zolov, Eric. Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1999.

Optional Bibliography/Further Reading

Bantjes, Adrian A. As if Jesus Walked on Earth: Cardenismo, Sonora, and the Mexican Revolution. Wilmington, Del.: SR Books. 1998.

Brewster, Keith. Militarism, Ethnicity, and Politics in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, 1917-1930. Tucson. University of Arizona Press. 2003.

Chand, Vikram K. Mexico’s Political Awakening. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press. 2001.

Fallaw, Ben. Cárdenas Compromised: The failure of Reform in Postrevolutionary Yucatán. Durham NC: Duke University Press. 2001.

Journal of Peasant Studies, 32 (3-4). 2005, Special issue: Rural Chiapas Ten Years after the Zapatista Uprising.

Knight, Alan. “Popular Culture and the Revolutionary State in Mexico, 1910-1940.” Hispanic American Historical Review 74 (3):393-444. 1994.

Latin American Perspectives, 33 (2). 2006. (A recent edition dedicated to Mexican politics and society).

Purnell, Jennie. Popular Movements and State Formation in Revolutionary Mexico : The Agraristas and Cristeros of Michoacan. Durham. Duke University Press. 1999.

Note: Books have been placed on reserves and requested at Labyrinth Books. They should have most of them although we recommend that you do not wait too long if you decide to buy them. Most book chapters are in a package available at Village Copier. Most articles are available online, via Jstore.

A chronology of modern Mexican politics

Paper Assignments

Paper 1 (due Sept. 28).

Please answer one of the following questions:

Question 1: Why did peasants join the Mexican Revolution and what gains did they achieve?

Question 2: Why was the Mexican Revolution in the countryside so conflictive?

Bibliography for question 1 and 2:

Boyer, Christopher R. Becoming Campesinos: Politics, Identity, and Agrarian Struggle in Postrevolutionary Michoacan, 1920-1935. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. 2003.

Brading, D. A and Alan Knight (eds.), Caudillo and Peasant in the Mexican Revolution. Cambridge, 1980. (Esp. chapters by Brading, Knight, Folwer-Salamini, Jacobs, Ankerson).

Brunk, Samuel. Emiliano Zapata! : Revolution and betrayal in Mexico. 1st ed. ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1995.

Joseph G.M and Daniel Nugent (eds.), Everyday forms of state formation: Revolution and the negotiation of rule in modern Mexico, edited by Durham: Duke University Press. 1994. (Esp. Chapters by Joseph, Knight, Rus )

Paper 2 (due Nov.14).

Please answer one of the following questions:

Question 1: Account for the appeal, and for the limitations of the 1968 student movement.

Bibliography for question 1:

Carey, Elaine. Plaza of Sacrifices: Gender, Power, and Terror in 1968 Mexico. 1st ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005.

Frazier, Lessie Jo, and Deborah Cohen. “Mexico ‘68: Defining the Space of the Movement, Heroic Masculinity in the Prison, and ‘Women’ in the Streets.” Hispanic American Historical Review 83 (4):617-60. 2003.

Markarian, Vania. “Debating Tlatelolco: Thirty Years of Public Debates about the Mexican Student Movement of 1968.” In Taking Back the Academy: History of Activism, History as Activism, edited by J. Downs and J. Manion. New York and London: Routledge. 2004.

Poniatowska, Elena. Massacre in Mexico. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. 1991.

Zolov, Eric. Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1999.

Question 2: “Post- revolutionary Indigenismo in Mexico was fundamentally elite-led, and superficial in impact.” Discuss.

Bibliography for question 2:

Dawson, Alexander S. Indian and Nation in Revolutionary Mexico. Tucson. University of Arizona Press. 2004.

Knight, Alan, “Racism, Revolution, and Indigenismo: Mexico, 1910-1940,” in Richard Graham (ed.). The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870-1940. Austin. University of Texas Press. 1990.

Rubin, Jeffrey W. Decentering the Regime : Ethnicity, Radicalism, and Democracy in Juchitan, Mexico. Durham. Duke University Press. 1997.

Vaughan, Mary K. and Stephen E. Lewis (eds.). The Eagle and the Virgin: Nation and Cultural Revolution in Mexico, 1920-1940. Durham. Duke University Press. 2006.