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History 580

Qu viva Mxico!: Issues
and Debates in the
History of Mexico




Professor R.A. Kashanipour
Office: Biology 206
Office Hours: M & W 9:00-10:30 and by appointment
Email: ra.kashanipour@nau.edu



Course Overview

The scene is Mexico, the meeting place, according to some, of mankind itself... the age-old arena of
racial and political conflicts of every nature, and where a colorful native people of genius have a
religion that we can roughly describe as one of death, so that it is a good place... to set our drama of
a mans struggle between the power of darkness and light. Its geographical remoteness from us, as
well as the closeness of its problems to our own, will assist the tragedy each in its own way. We can
see it as the world itself, or the Garden of Eden, or both at once. Or we can see it as a kind of
timeless symbol of the world on which we can place the Garden of Eden, the Tower of Babel and
indeed anything else we please. It is paradisal: it is unquestionably infernal. It is, in fact, Mexico...

Malcolm Lowry, Selected Letters, c. 1920


To explore Mexico is to study paradoxes. Mexicos history simultaneously illustrates both modernity
and tradition, urbanity and rurality, and piety and secularism. Mexico was the site of the first state-
level societies in the Americas and hosted the most important region in the first truly global empire.
Memories of the past and visions of the future are frequently manifest in the ethnic diversity of the
contemporary nation. Indigenous populations, for instance, continue to constitute highly visible
groups that celebrate the past in culture and ideology. This graduate colloquium explores major
issues and debates in Mexican historiography from the colonial to modern periods. The course
begins with a selection of reflections by significant literary Mexican figures of the twentieth century.
Our attention then turns to a thematic and chronological approach in which we will explore basic





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works on the colonial indigenous roots of the nation, creole identity and nationalism, expressions of
modernity, and finally nationalizing of the revolution.

Weekly Discussion & Response Papers
This course will be driven by discussion and depends on student participation. Everyone must be
openly and actively engaged, which will be demonstrated in both discussion and written assignments.
In discussion, each student will give a summary of the reading and outline major comments,
criticisms, and questions. Further, students will write response papers to summarize and to identify
out the major issues within the literature for each reading. Response papers should contain two
parts: summary and issues for discussion. Summaries, which should be precisely 500 words, must
identify the thesis of the work and outline the structure and evidence that the author uses to support
the position. The aim here is to synthesize and condense major arguments. Issues for discussion
serve further discussion and debate. This means that simplistic summaries and fact-oriented
questions should be avoided. Instead, attempt to identify provocative statements and positions.
The issues for discussion should be no longer than 300 words and begin with the following
statement: These are the issues that I believe we should discuss and debate. All response papers
are to be pre-circulated among everyone in the class and are due Mondays at 4:00 PM. This is a firm
deadline. Everyone is expected to come to class having read each others weekly work and ready to
discuss issues directly related to the readings.

Historiographical and Reflective Essay
The final assignment will be a critical interpretation of the history of Mexico, which will be both
historiographical and interpretive in nature. The aim of this assignment is to synthesize major
themes in the history of Mexico by responding to the following metaphorical questions: If Mexico is
a labyrinth, where are the bends and turns, where are the dark allies, and what does one find on the
journey through?

Map Quiz
Basic knowledge of the cultural and political geography of Mexico is essential for understanding
basic arguments about the nation. Each student must pass a map quiz of Mexican geography, which
includes political boundaries of all the states and major cities, physical landmarks of major significant
features, and cultural groups and regions. This quiz will be given in my office by appointment and
must be taken until a successful score is recorded. No final grade will be registered without
successful completion of the map quiz

Grade Breakdown:
Weekly Participation 25%
Weekly Response Papers 45%
Historiographical and Reflective Essay 30%

A Note on General Preparation
This course does not require an extensive background on the history of Mexico. It would, however,
be helpful to understand the basic chronology and events. If you are unsure of the basics of
Mexican history, I suggest you consult Meyer, Sherman, and Deeds, The Course of Mexican History
(Oxford University Press, 2010).






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A Note on Weekly Preparation
Absences, except in very special circumstances, are ill-advised. Furthermore, engagement with the
course material is the minimal expectation for this course. Each student must actively contribute to
discussion by posing questions and summarizing basic arguments. Come to class with something to
say and then say it! I expect everyone to illustrate brilliance in every class!

Readings
The weekly readings for the course are listed below. There are five common readings, listed below,
which are on sale in the bookstore and widely available online. For the individual readings, most are
in the library and I can make my copies available.
Common Readings:
Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude: The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude,
Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre (New York: Grove Press, 1961).
Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatn, 1517-1570
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
Juan Pedro Viqueira Albn, Propriety and Permissiveness in Bourbon Mexico (New York:
Rowman and Littlefield, 1999).
Tutino, From Insurrection to Revolution in Mexico: Social Bases of Agrarian Violence, 1750-1940
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989).
Gilbert Joseph, Anne Rubenstein, & Eric Zolov, eds. Fragments of a Golden Age: The Politics
of Culture in Mexico Since 1940 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2001).








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Course Schedule

Week 1 (28-Aug) - Introduction


Week 2 (4-Sept) Visions of Mxico
Common Reading:
Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude: The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude,
Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre (New York: Grove Press, 1961).


Week 3 (11-Sept) Visions of Mxico
Individual Readings:
Jos Vasconcelos, The Cosmic Race/La raza csmica (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1997).
Leslie Byrd Simpson, Many Mexicos, 4th Edition (Berkley: University of California Press,
1960).
Miguel Leon Portilla, Endangered Cultures (Dallas: Southern Methodist Press, 1990).
Enrique Florescano, Memory, Myth, and Time in Mexico from the Aztecs to Independence
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994).
Guillermo Bonfil Batalla, Mxico profundo: Reclaiming a Civilization (Austin: University of
Texas Press, 1996).
Carlos Monsivis, Mexican Postcards (New York: Verso, 1997).
Daniel Cooper Alarcn, The Aztec Palimpsest: Mexico in the Modern Imagination (Tucson:
University of Arizona Press, 1997).
Ramn Eduardo Ruiz, Mexico: Why a Few Are Rich and The People Poor (Berkeley:
University of California, 2010).


Week 4 (18-Sept) - Indigenous Mexico
Common Reading:
Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatn, 1517-1570
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).


Week 5 (25-Sept) - Indigenous Mexico
Individual Readings:
Charles Gibson, Aztecs Under Spanish Rule (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1964).
Nancy Farriss, Maya Society Under Colonial Rule (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1984).
Serge Gruzinski, Man-gods in the Mexican Highlands: Indian Power and Colonial Society
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989).
Louise Burkhart, The Slippery Earth: Nahua-Christian Moral Dialogue in Sixteenth-Century
Mexico (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1989).





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James Lockhart, Nahuas After the Conquest: A Social and Cultural History of the Indians of
Central Mexico, Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries (Stanford: Stanford University Press,
1994).
Pete Sigal, From Moon Goddesses to Virgins: The Colonization of Yucatec Maya Sexual Desire
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000).
Yana Yannakakis, The Art of Being In-Between: Native Intermediaries, Indian Identity, and Local
Rule in Colonial Oaxaca (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008).
David Tavarez, The Invisible War: Indigenous Devotions, Discipline, and Dissent in Colonial
Mexico (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011).


Week 6 (2-Oct) No Class


Week 7 (9-Oct) Indians, Creoles, Liberals and Independence
Common Reading:
Juan Pedro Viqueira Albn, Propriety and Permissiveness in Bourbon Mexico (New York:
Rowman and Littlefield, 1999).


Week 8 (16-Oct) Indians, Creoles, Liberals and Independence
Individual Readings:
William Taylor, Drinking Homicide and Rebellion in Colonial Mexican Villages (Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1979).
Silvia Arrom, The Women of Mexico City, 1790-1857 (Stanford: Stanford University Press,
1985).
William Taylor, Magistrates of the Sacred: Priests and Parishioners in Eighteenth Century Mexico
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996).
Van Young, Eric. The Other Rebellion: Popular Violence, Ideology, and the Mexican Struggle for
Independence, 1810-1821 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004).
Peter Guardino, The Time of Liberty: Popular Culture in Oaxaca, 1750-1850 (Durham: Duke
University Press, 2005).
Deborah Kanter, Hijos del Pueblo: Gender, Family and Community in Rural Mexico, 1730-1850
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008).
Terry Rugeley, Rebellion Now and Forever: Mayas, Hispanics, and Caste War Violence in Yucatn,
1800-1880 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009).
Sonya Lipsett-Rivera, Gender and the Negotiation of Daily Life, 1750-1856 (Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 2012).


Week 9 (23-Oct) Peasants, Modernity, and Nationalism
Common Reading:
Tutino, From Insurrection to Revolution in Mexico: Social Bases of Agrarian Violence, 1750-1940
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989).






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Week 10 (30-Oct) Peasants, Modernity, and Nationalism
Individual Readings:
William Beezley, Judas at the Jockey Club and Other Episodes of Porfirian Mexico (Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1987).
Paul Vanderwood, Disorder and Progress: Bandits, Police, and Mexican Development
(Wilmington: SR Books, 1992).
Peter Guardino, Peasant, Politics, and the Formation of Mexicos National State: Guerrero, 1800-
1857 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996).
Mauricio Tenorio Trillio, Mexico at the Worlds Fairs: Crafting a Modern Nation (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1996).
Raymond Craib, Cartographic Mexico: A History of State Fixations and Fugitive Landscapes
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2004). ILL
Emilio Kouri, A Pueblo Divided: Business, Property, and Community in Papantla, Mexico
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004). ILL
Mark Overmeyer-Velzquez, Visions of the Emerald City: Modernity, Tradition, and the
Formation of Porfirian Mexico (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006). ILL
Pablo Piccato, The Tyranny of Opinion: Honor in the Construction of the Mexican Public Sphere
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2010). ILL


Week 11 (6-Nov) Revolution
Individual Readings:
Gilbert M. Joseph, Revolution from Without: Yucatn, Mexico, and the United States, 1880-1924
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
Alan Knight, The Mexican Revolution, Volume 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1986).
Alan Knight, The Mexican Revolution, Volume 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1986).
John Mason Hart, Revolutionary Mexico: The Coming and Process of the Mexican Revolution
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987).
Michael Gonzalez, The Mexican Revolution, 1910-1940 (Albuquerque: University of New
Mexico, 2002).
Chris Boyer, Becoming Campesinos: Politics, Identity, and Agrarian Struggle in Revolutionary
Michoacn, 1920-1935 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003).
Paul Hart, The Bitter Harvest: The Social Transformation of Morelos, Mexico, and the Origins of the
Zapatista Revolution, 1940-1910 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2007).
Patrick McNamarra, Sons of the Sierra: Jurez, Daz, and the People of Ixtln, Oaxaca, 1855-
1920 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007). ILL


Week 12 (13-Nov) Institutionalized Revolution
Individual Readings:





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Jean Meyer, The Cristero Rebellion: The Mexican People between Church and State, 1926-1929
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976).
Adrian Bantjes, As If Jesus Walked on Earth: Cardenismo, Sonora, and the Mexican Revolution
(New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998).
Marjorie Becker, Setting the Virgin on Fire: Lzaro Crdenas, Michoacn Peasants and the
Redemption of the Mexican Revolution (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).
Alexander Dawson, Indian and Nation in Revolutionary Mexico (Tucson: University of
Arizona Press, 2004).
Paul Vanderwood, Juan Soldado: Rapist, Murderer, Martyr, Saint (Durham: Duke University
Press, 2004).
Joanne Hershfield, Imagining la Chica Moderna: Women, Nation, and Visual Culture in
Mexico, 1917-1936 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008)
Rick Lpez, Crafting Mexico: Intellectuals, Artisans, and the State after the Revolution (Durham:
Duke University Press, 2010).
Emily Wakild, Revolutionary Parks: Conservation, Social Justice, and Mexicos National Parks,
1910-1940 (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2011). ILL

Week 13 (20-Nov) Popular Culture
Individual Readings:
Selections from Gilbert Joseph, Anne Rubenstein, & Eric Zolov, eds. Fragments of a
Golden Age: The Politics of Culture in Mexico Since 1940 (Durham: Duke University Press,
2001).


Week 14 (27-Nov) Flex Week

Week 15 (14-Dec) Final Essay Due