[PDF] Exploring Identity in Latin American History

PDF document for free

1. PDF document for free

158683_517089362.pdf

10.1177/0094582X03254305REVIEWLATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESBOOK REVIEWS

Exploring Identity in Latin American History

by

Jocelyn Olcott

Susan M. SocolowThe Women of Colonial Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2000.

Elizabeth Dore and Maxine Molyneux(eds.)Hidden Histories of Gender and the State in Latin America. Durham: Duke University Press, 2000. AnnFarnsworth-AlvearDulcineaintheFactory:Myths,Morals,Men,andWomen in Colombia"s Industrial Experiment, 1905-1960. Durham: Duke University Press, 2000.
AvivaChomskyandAldoLauria-Santiago(eds.)IdentityandStruggleattheMar- gins of the Nation-State: The Laboring Peoples of Central America and the Hispanic

Caribbean. Durham: Duke University Press, 1998.

The historiography of Latin America, which for decades centered on the twin cold-war concerns of revolution (and the repression thereof) and economic develop- ment, has within the past few years begun to explore questions of identity-the ways in which the ideologies and subjectivities of ordinary people have intersected with material conditions. In the Latin American context, analysis of social identities has centeredprimarilyonclass,ethnicity,gender,race,andnationality,consideringways in which elite and nonelite actors have tried to fashion the meanings of labels such as "woman," "Maya," or "peasant." Other categories, such as sexual, generational, and regional identities, have begun to attract some scholarly attention but thus far have taken a back seat to categories more conventionally associated with Latin American studies. This scholarly turn is hardly divorced from interest in revolutionary move- ments, however. Examining levels of repression and exploitation in the region, many historians of Latin America have speculated on why no larger and more successful resistance movements have blossomed. Exploring identity as an analytical category uncoversthefissuresthatoftengapedunderpressurefromrepressivemilitaryforces, foreignintervention,andelitedomination.Alternatively,thesestudiesalsorevealthe importantwaysinwhichsocialidentitiesprovidedtheculturalgluethatbolsteredsol - idarity under these same pressures. The success of these recent explorations of Latin American identities thus hinges upon the examination of social markers as histori - cally specific rather than essential and inherent. The four books under review here form part of a larger body of literature that has fundamentally shifted the terrain in Latin American studies. Edited collections such

107JocelynOlcottisanassistantprofessorofhistoryatDukeUniversityandiscurrentlycompleting

amanuscriptonwomen"sorganizinginpostrevolutionaryMexicotobepublishedbyDukeUni - versity Press. LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 131, Vol. 30 No. 4, July 2003 107-119

© 2003 Latin American Perspectives

asGilbertJosephandDanielNugent"sEverydayFormsofStateFormation(1994)and JohnFrenchandDanielJames"sGenderedWorldsofLatinAmericanWomenWorkers (1997) link questions of popular identity with larger processes of state formation and industrialization. More recent monographs have also placed identity at the heart of their analyses. Greg Grandin"sThe Blood of Guatemala(2000) exposes the class antagonisms that undermined the potential of Guatemala"s pan-Mayan movement. Thomas Klubock"sContested Communities(1998) and Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt"sGendered Compromises(2000) consider the importance of redefining Chilean masculinity to the development of a reliable and relatively compliant indus - trial wage-labor force. The books under review here do not explore identity as constitutive of social movements in the manner of the "new social movements" literature (Escobar and Alvarez, 1992; Alvarez, Dagnino, and Escobar, 1998). Instead, they take a more broadlycontextualapproach,integratingarticulationsofidentityintothelargerfabric of historical experience. Rather than examining specific organizations or campaigns inrelativeisolation,thebestofthesestudiesconsiderquestionsofidentityaspartofa concatenation of factors and processes and as the product of contingent historical forces.Inotherwords,theyunderstandidentitiesascultivatedwithinspecificcircum- stancesandalargermatrixofpowerrelationsratherthanaseitheressentializedapri- ori or overdetermined in their effect. Thisexaminationofidentityasananalyticalcategorydrawsmethodologicallyon the interdisciplinary turn in historical studies, particularly the growing interest in ethnohistorical approaches of participant observation and oral history. Classic works such as Peter Winn"sWeavers of the Revolution(1986) and more recent studies such as Jeffrey Rubin"sDecentering the Regime(1997), Allen Wells and Gilbert Joseph"s Summer of Discontent, Seasons of Upheaval(1996), Jeffrey Gould"sTo Die in This Way(1998),andDanielJames"sDoñaMaría"sStory(2000)haveallmadesubstantial use of oral testimony and explored theoretical questions related to the roles of mem- oryandnarrativeinconstitutingsocialidentities.Withtheexception(forobviousrea - sons) of Susan Migden Socolow"sThe Women of Colonial Latin America, all the booksunderreviewheremakesomeuseoforalhistoryorethnohistoricalmethodsto explore identity formation in Latin American history. Socolow"s book has come under fire on H-net lists as "rightist," a label that is unfairandnotparticularlyilluminating.Asitstitlewouldimply,itoffersabroadover - view of women"s experiences not only in colonial Latin America but also in the con - tributingIberian,African,andindigenousAmericansocieties.Herclearwritingstyle and synthetic approach to the material combined with the inclusion of plates, docu - mentaryexcerptsatthebeginningofeachchapter,andadocumentaryappendixmake the book well-suited for adoption in undergraduate survey courses covering either colonialLatinAmericaorwomenandgenderinLatinAmerica.Thebook"semphasis on elite experiences and sanguine representation of institutions such as slavery-the attributes that have attracted pedagogical and scholarly criticism fromneteros- would also make it an interesting book for a graduate historiography class alongside something like Ann Twinam"sPublic Lives, Private Secrets(1999). In other words, Socolow"sbookmakesausefulpedagogicaltoolnotonlyforteachingundergraduate

108 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

classes but also for asking ourselves and our graduate students questions about what constitutes a fair and responsibly written textbook. Socolow offers her own response to that concern. She explicitly rejects moral judgments about Latin America"s colonial past. "My goal is not to present colonial women as either empowered or victimized by their culture," she writes, going on to explain, "Instead of seeking heroines or victims, this book hopes to understand women in their time and their society, without judging them by the standards of our political or social agendas" (2000: 3-4). While this approach creates the impression that Socolow declines to judge the past-and what could be more deserving of harsh judgment than, for example, the intersection of colonialism, slavery, and sexual exploitation?-herowndescriptionofherprojectdoesnotentirelydoherjustice.For example, she describes slave women as "subjected to a gruesome catalog of physical abuse" while explaining why slave women remained more likely than their male counterparts to gain manumission. Even as she strains to use value-neutral language through most of the text, her descriptions of women"s living conditions and the artful use of historical examples will push students to reflect upon the social, cultural, and economic circumstances that informed various women"s experiences during the period under consideration. Socolowtakescarenottotreatthecolonialperiodasastatichistoricalmoment.In herchapteronwomenandwork,forexample,shepointstotheracializationofdomes- tic labor, explaining that in the early colonial period Spanish women often journeyed to the Americas as indentured servants but "by the beginning of the seventeenth cen- tury as a general rule white women no longer worked in such low-prestige employ- ment"(2000:117).Whilewhitewomenmightworkasdomesticadministrators,more menialtasksofdomesticlaborfellto"womenofcolor."Similarly,sheexplainsthatby the late eighteenth century the professionalization of health care had led to the replacement of midwives with malemédico-parteros(121). Largely because of the limitations of her project-namely, that of writing a con- cise and comprehensive survey of women"s experiences during the precolonial and colonial era-Socolow does not wrestle with the conceptual issue of the constitution of gendered identities during this period. In an effort to simplify matters for under - graduate consumption, she often glosses over the tensions and contradictions at the heartofidentityformationandcompetingclaimsof"authentic"identities.Indescrib - ingIberianculture,forexample,sheassertsthatthereis"nograyarea"(2000:8)inthe realmofwomen"ssexualmoralityandthatanysexualtransgressionbywomenwould be tantamount to prostitution. This description sits uncomfortably alongside her description of concubinage as a "regular and recognized relationship" (13). The fol - lowingchapter,onindigenousAmericanandAfricanwomen,describesamultiplicity of cultural practices revealing a broad range of ideologies about sexuality and gendereddivisionsoflabor,yetSocolowconcludesthechapterbyassertingthat"near universal ideas about women" (31) existed across cultures. Thisbookhasalsoattractedcriticismforitsimplicationthatelitewomen"sexperi - ences were what really counted. In her conclusion, she contends, "This ideal [of female passivity and dependence], this 'social construct," was so all-pervasive that residents and visitors alike failed to see a far more complicated social reality" (2000:

BOOK REVIEWS 109

179).Althoughshegoesontodescribethemanywomenwhodidnotconformtothis

upper-class norm, on the following page she states that "only women of middle and lower social groups left their homes to work" (180). She does not offer demographic dataforthesedifferentsocialstrata,butitisclearfromthetextasawholethatwomen who left their homes to work in fact constituted the vast majority of Latin American women.Perhaps,then,itwouldbemoreaccuratetosaythatonlyelitewomendidnot leave their homes to work. In other words, the definition of normative gender ideolo - gies might not have been quite as elite-driven as the colonial documents would indi - cate. Socolow"s assertions point to the need for further research into the extent to which colonial gender practices were shaped from below as well as-and perhaps even more than-from above. Socolowtendstouse"gendersolidarity"(2000:118,180)asagaugeofgendered self-identification, leading her to the conclusion that race and class are more salient identifiers. This conclusion is somewhat surprising, since she opens the book by asserting that sex was "less malleable" than race and class during the colonial period and therefore the "most important factor in determining a person"s status in society" (1). It remains unclear from these assertions what evidence of gender solidarity she soughtorwhatevidenceconvincedherthat"likemen,womenidentifiedcloselywith their respective race and class" (179-180). Such declarations underscore the diffi- culty of exploring-not to mention historicizing-social identities. Socolow meets with the greatest success when she acknowledges the contingency of gender ideolo- gies on specific historical circumstances such as riots, millenarian movements, and theInquisitionratherthanmakingmoregeneralizedassertionsaboutwomen"sidenti- ties and experiences. However, this criticism reflects the limitations of the genre. So longasweofferclassesinwomen"shistory-andatremendousneedforthesecourses certainly persists-books such as Socolow"s remain indispensable. They should be complemented,however,bystudiesthatexplorethehistoricalspecificityandmallea- bility of gender ideologies. Elizabeth Dore and Maxine Molyneux"s wide-ranging collectionHidden His- toriesofGenderandtheStateinLatinAmericaoffersausefulstartingpointforexam- ining the contingency of gendered identities in Latin American history. The collec - tion, as the title implies, focuses on the intersection of gender and state formation in Latin America from the late colonial period to the present. The editors open the vol - umebyasking(2000:ix),"If[various]stateformscanbeseenasrepresentingdistinc - tive political projects whose realization depended upon a specific matrix of state- society relations and economic conditions, then what impact did they have on and how did they respond to the gender order within which they operated and which they sought to influence?" Introduced by two analytical overviews, Dore"s covering the "longnineteenthcentury"andMolyneux"sthetwentiethcentury,thevolume"sdozen case studies from throughout Latin America elaborate a useful and multifaceted framework for exploring gender and state formation in ways that often call widely heldassumptionsintoquestion.Regardingtherelationshipbetweenstatepoliticsand gender politics during the nineteenth century, for example, Dore argues persuasively that "the general direction of change was regressive rather than progressive" (5).

110 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

Several of the case studies link the assertion of patriarchal gender norms with the rise of either commodities production in the agro-export sector or industrialization and wage labor. Thus, Eugenia Rodríguez S. argues that the rise of coffee capitalism in Costa Rica fostered efforts to "civilize" the lower classes by idealizing "the male self-sufficientbreadwinnerandthedependenthomemakingwifesubjectedtodomes - tic space" (2000: 87). Similarly, Dore"s study of coffee capitalism in a Nicaraguan community adds the dimension of changing notions of Indianness and gender within private-propertyregimes.Thelinkbetweenpropertyandgenderoftenremainsspecu - lativeinthesestudies,buttheyhintthatwomen"sgreateraccesstopropertyandtothe cash economy subverted traditional gender divisions of labor and made women less likely to marry. Acommonpitfallofinvestigationsofhistoricalidentitiesisafascinationwithdis - cursive constructions, placing undue emphasis on theoretical formulations. María Eugenia Chávez"s persistent invocation of discourses, in particular Homi Bhaba"s notion of "normative colonial discourses," becomes compelling only when she turns tohercasestudy,groundingherlinguisticassertionsinhistoricalevidence.Thisfasci - nating case draws on the court records of claims by a Guayaquil slave, María Chiquinquira,whoinvertedhonorcodesbytestifyingthathermasterhadinsultedher honor as a married woman. To be sure, the linguistic twists and turns of the court records make for engrossing reading, but they ultimately highlight the fact that state-sponsored coercion trumps discursive gymnastics every time. Laura Gotkowitz effectively integrates discursive interpretations into her study exploring the ways mid-twentieth-century Bolivian market women capitalized on the myth of the independence-eraheroínas. Several of the essays explicitly analyze masculinity, while the historical constitu- tion of manliness hovers in the background of other studies. Rebecca Earle"s exami- nation of Colombian republicans" nationalist rhetoric, for example, considers the "rape" scare of the early national period as an effort to reassert patriarchal gender rolesevenwhilechallengingthepatriarchalauthorityofthecrown.Thecelebrationof women republicans as beautiful, virtuous mothers rather than valiant, independent fighters bolstered notions of republican manliness and restored social "order" amid postrevolutionary uncertainty. Donna Guy"s exploration of juridical constructions of ArgentinepatriarchyandMaryKayVaughan"sreflectionsonthe"modernization"of patriarchy in postrevolutionary Mexico consider the reconstitution and reform of patriarchal practices amid the dramatic social and political upheavals of the early twentieth century. Karin Rosemblatt"s essay on Popular Front Chile explicitly takes on the question ofhowtheorganizedworkingclasscooperatedwithpolicymakerstoredefineworking- class masculinity in such a way as to exclude defiant and raucous behavior and to re- ward discipline and temperance. Rosemblatt persuasively argues that "national and grassroots leaders linked national advancement to gendered arrangements that, althoughtheyrestrictedindividualmaleautonomy,buttressedworking-classsolidar - ity and granted political, economic, and familial privileges to men as family heads" (2000:267).Thus,genderideologyallowedforcross-classcooperationthatbolstered

BOOK REVIEWS 111

a"normativemaleidentitylinkedtotheconsolidationofthenuclearfamilyandcapi- talist production relations, and therefore to national prosperity" (283). Rosemblatt attributes this "class compromise" to the Popular Front but concedes that "the notion thatworking-classmenshouldleadorderly,controlled,vicelesslivespredatedsocial - ist participation in popular-front coalitions" (277), raising the question of whether theseclasscompromisesarenotpartofalongertraditionoftheparticipationof"labor aristocrats" in the construction of a "proletarian honorability" (277). In other words, Rosemblatt points to-and explores more fully in her book on this subject (Rosemblatt, 2000)-a longer-standing contestation over political strategies of class and gender. Donna Guy and Ann Varley exploit court records from family law cases to exam - ine both hegemonic and counterhegemonic conceptions of gender roles within fami - lies. These studies demonstrate the usefulness of court records in revealinglongue duréechanges in assumptions about family structures and practices. Guy argues that the cultural and juridical meaning ofpatria potestadshifted to reflect Argentina"s politicalanddemographictransformationduringthelatenineteenthandearlytwenti - ethcenturies.VarleycontendsthatduringthecourseofthetwentiethcenturytheMex - icanSupremeCourtincreasinglyupheldayoungmarriedwoman"srighttoaconjugal home separate from that of her in-laws. Such arguments are critical to understanding thetransformationofofficialpositionsthroughsocialconflictsbutarelessconvincing evidence of concomitant social practices. Linking these court cases (by definition exceptional instances) to larger demographic trends of marriage rates and family formswouldnodoubtgroundtheselegalfindingsinsocialhistory,clarifyingthecon- nection between state policies and changing identities of mothers and fathers. Maxine Molyneux, Jo Fisher, and Fiona Macauley all take a more institutional approach,exploringthewaysinwhichparticularlyinfluentialinstitutionsofwomen"s organizing-the Federación de Mujeres Cubanas (FMC) in Cuba, the Sindicato de Amas de Casa (SACRA) in Argentina, and the Centro Feminista de Estudos e Assesoria (CFEMEA) in Brazil-navigated the issue of proximity to state appara - tuses. These organizations often took on radical agendas. Fisher explains that SACRA,forexample,arguedthatallofsocietyderivedbenefitsfromwomen"srepro - ductive labor and therefore all mothers should receive wages, health benefits, and socialsecurityfromthestate.TheFMCis,ofcourse,themosttightlyboundupwitha stateapparatus,andthishashistoricallyundermineditslegitimacyasaneffectiverep - resentativeofwomen"sinterests.However,thesethreeessaysunderscorethatthereis no simple inverse relationship between institutional efficacy and proximity to a regime. Macauley points out that bureaucratic structures and "leaky" allocations of resourcescanactuallycreateopeningsfornewcollectiveinterests(2000:364).Fisher underscores that transnational contexts and domestic political culture remain critical factors,regardlessofhowcloselyanorganizationcooperateswithpolicymakers.And even in Cuba, where we might expect the greatest limitations on an organization"s spacetoadvanceitsagenda,Molyneuxarguesthat"theFMCrepresentedasustained and in some ways successful attempt to legitimate an institutionalized women"s movement,justaspopulistregimesinLatinAmericahadplayedaninnovativerolein shaping an institutionalized labor movement" (313).

112 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

Theseinstitutionalapproaches,alongwiththejuridicalmethodologiesadoptedby GuyandVarley,generallysidestepthequestionofhowsuccessfullytheseinstitutions definegenderedidentities.Althoughallthreewriters,especiallyFisher,useoraltesti - mony to good effect, they show more interest in political and institutional strategies than in the ways in which these organizations, tactics, and gendered identities informed one another. For example, the SACRA leadership expressed the belief that trainingwomenfortraditionallymasculinejobswouldamountto"nothingmorethan areturntoadevaluationoftheworkshedoesinthehome"(2000:334).Fisher"sinter - viewsandotherresearchmakeclearthewaysinwhichthisbelieftranslatedintopolit - ical strategy, but there is little indication of its reception among the rank-and-file (or desired) constituency of SACRA. Fisher highlights the essentializing aspects of SACRA"sprogram,butacriticalaspectofinstitutionalhistoryisthereceptionofand contestation over organizing programs. Providing this "bottom-up" perspective would,ofcourse,addsubstantialbulktowhatisalreadyanambitiousvolume.Asitis, Hidden Historiesgoes considerable distance toward outlining a research agenda for scholars embarking on studies of gender and state formation in Latin America. Hav - ingreadjustedthelensesthroughwhichweviewtheprocessofstateformationandthe veryconceptofstates,thiscollectioncallsonstudentsofgendertodeepenourunder- standing of the complex interplay between gendered identities and political processes. Aviva Chomsky and Aldo Lauria-Santiago"s collectionIdentity and Struggle at the Margins of the Nation-State: The Laboring Peoples of Central America and the Hispanic Caribbeanplaces identity at the center of its analysis, "incorporating the study of cultures and identities and...using this added dimension to show how his- tory written from above is inevitably a distorted history" (1998: 7). The collection opens with a thorough and extremely helpful review of the regional historiography, but-caveat lector-it is not for the uninitiated. The introduction does a marvelous job of laying out both the scholarly debates and the impact of the changing political situation in the region. However, the volume includes no maps-despite the heavy emphasisoncommunitystudies-andvariouschaptersuseregionallyspecifictermi - nology. For example, Lauria-Santiago"s study of the impact of coffee capitalism on ethnic identities in Chalchuapa, El Salvador, centers on the role of the "Indian Com - munity," with the capital "C" indicating a particular juridical meaning and status that Lauria-Santiago never fully explicates. The relationship between the "Indian Com - munity" and "Indian class" (35) or "Indian roots" (36) remains murky, and he leaves unexplainedthechangesinthelegalstatusofIndianandLadinocommunities.Tostu - dentsoftheregionthissortofinformationmayseemtoofundamentaltomeritspace, but those unfamiliar with the history of Central America may find these terms confusing. Oneimportantstrengthofthestudy,however,isthatthechaptersalldialoguewell with one another, often taking up strands from one another and weaving them together.Lauria-Santiago"sandPatriciaAlvarenga"sessaysexaminethesameareaof ElSalvador,whileJeffreyGould"sandJulieCharlip"sstudiesconsiderthesametime period of Nicaraguan history. Darío Euraque, Chomsky, Cindy Forster, Eileen Findlay,andBarryCarrallexplorelaborpracticesandmobilizations,albeitindistinct

BOOK REVIEWS 113

settings, giving particular attention to the ways in which identities of race, class, eth- nicity, and (in Findlay"s case) gender informed one another in specific historical cir - cumstances.Notsurprisingly,theimpactoftheagro-exportsectoringeneralandcof - fee capitalism in particular looms large in this volume, but by approaching these questions from different angles and explicitly highlighting comparative elements- ethnic identity, the role of debt, and the formation of repressive forces, just to cite a few examples-the collection offers a depth and nuance of analysis that exploits the advantages of an anthology as opposed to a monograph. Several of the studies do come perilously close to making essentialist arguments about the formation of historical identities. Euraque, for example, contends, "The black Caribs"tradition of struggle can be traced back to their ancestors, the enslaved West Africans" (1998: 156). This assertion ill accords with his better-historicized argumentthat"atransformationtookplaceintheimaginationofthecountry"sofficial elites, a transformation tied to social, political, and economic events on Honduras"s north coast" (155). Similarly, Forster argues that "in San Marcos, collective worker identity took place in an Indian cultural idiom. Indigenous identity infused the free - domsoftherevolutionwiththememoryofyearsofresistancetoforcedlabor"(196). Shelaterstates,"Racialidentityliesatthecoreoftheinvestigationoflaborhistoryin San Marcos for the simple fact that race proved the first principle of unity among the poor. Indigenous values survived the separation from the highland communities in tierra fría(or cold country) and formed the foundation of collective loyalties in the heart of plantation society" (202). These assertions of cultural and ethnic continuity require greater evidentiary support than poorly substantiated assertions of "clandes- tinenetworks"andtheinfluenceofMexico"spostrevolutionaryagrarianreform(206,

208).Grandin"s(2000)workonthesameregionunderscoresthewaysinwhichclass

identity generally overrode ethnic identity in highland Guatemala. The evidence for theselinksmaybestrongerinForster"s(2001)monograph,buttheirimportancetoher argument about the experiences of coffee and banana workers calls for more specific evidencehere.Forster"smethodologicalstrengthliesinherampleoraltestimony,and it would be a major contribution to capitalize on those sources to shed light on the actual functioning of clandestine networks and the practical lessons of the Mexican agrarian reform. The absence of this evidence distracts from her important and com - pelling larger argument that lower-class mobilizations-rather than middle-class reforms-forced the most radical reforms of the "Guatemalan spring." Aside from Findlay"s chapter, none of the other studies in this collection includes genderasanimportantcategoryofanalysis.Insomecases,theabsenceisstriking.In his interesting discussion of Trujillo"s use of land distribution programs to shore up popular support for his dictatorial regime, Richard Turits refers several times to the Trujilloadministration"semphasisonfavoring"menofwork"(1998:298-299,301-

302).Agenderanalysisofthispolicywouldlikelyexplicatetheregime"sefforttocul

- tivate a specific notion of industrious masculinity to promote modernization of agri - cultural production and to counter the seminomadic rural practices that prevailed when Trujillo ascended to power. Similarly, the quotidian violence under discussion in Alvarenga"s examination of theauxiliarios civilesin El Salvador would no doubt

114 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

benefitfromanexplorationofthewaysinwhichconceptionsofmasculinityandvio- lence informed decisions to join or to evade theauxiliarios. ThecollectioncloseswithaconclusionandcommentarybyLowellGudmundson andFranciscoA.Scaranothatfurtherdrawsthecontributionstogetherbyunderscor - ing dialogues among chapters. This conclusion also points scholars toward the new questionsandresearchagendassuggestedbythesestudies.Tothedirectionsmapped out by Gudmundson and Scarano I would add the importance of transnational influ - ences on popular conceptions of identity. Carr describes, for example, how the "tropicalized Anglo-Saxon" arrangements of Cuban sugar plantations proved to be "crucial to the reproduction of quasi-colonial ruling-class culture" (1998: 274-275). Chomsky"s and Euraque"s explorations of immigrant labor forces demonstrate the centrality of transnational labor flows to the formation of working-class identities. Findlay"saccountoftheappropriationofEuropeananarchistandlibertariansocialist ideasaboutfreeloveandnonpatriarchalfamilystructuresunderscorestheimportance of transnational ideologies in developing local movements. In short, these studies highlight the fact that the global exchange of ideas via labor unions, political parties, church networks, and women"s organizations is as crucial to our understanding of "identity and struggle" as colonial and multinational capitalist enterprises. AnnFarnsworth-Alveardeftlyplacesgenderatthecenterofherstudyofindustri- alization in Medellín, Colombia. Her introduction, especially the section outlining her"conceptualapproach,"shouldberequiredreadingforanyscholarseekingtonav- igate the murky theoretical waters in which historians currently swim. She cogently clarifies theoretical and methodological debates and locates her own work within them.Herartfulintegrationoforalandwrittensourceswithasmartandsensitivethe- oretical framework renders this book field-defining in the area of Latin American labor history. Drawing on more than 50 interviews (including a handful of informal and group interviews), popular and labor press ranging fromLifemagazine toEl Socialista, company records and propaganda, municipal archives, and national eco- nomic data, Farnsworth-Alvear weaves together an engaging narrative examining "two intertwined historical processes closely associated with worldwide modernity: the geographic expansion of factory production and the transformation of gender roles, whether real or potential, that is implied by women"s wage labor" (2000: xi). Beginningwiththeoverwhelmingstatisticaldataonthemasculinizationoftextile factory labor, Farnsworth-Alvear sets out to explain this transition starting from "the idea that the changing gender pattern in Medellín"s mills is a topic in cultural his - tory-ratherthansimplyanepiphenomenonofeconomicandtechnologicalchange" (2000:13).Dispensingwithexplanationsthatattributethemasculinizationoffactory work to protectionist legislation and mandatory maternity leave (these laws, she argues, were neither obeyed nor enforced and did not coincide with the major demo - graphic shift within the textile industry), she delves into ideologies of "industrial - ism"-the political, social, and cultural transformations that accompanied the tech - nologicalandeconomicexperienceofindustrialization.Settingherstudyinacitythat Lifemagazine in 1947 dubbed a "capitalist paradise" (40) and was portrayed by its own industrialists as the Manchester of South America (xi), Farnsworth-Alvear

BOOK REVIEWS 115

explores the emergence of welfare capitalism and "paternalistic discipline" (235) as the products of emerging tensions between normative conceptions of gender and class. Farnsworth-Alvear"s attention to the nuances of her sources allows her to explore thewaysinwhichdistinctionsamong"good"and"bad"womenovershadowedmale- female binaries in the experiences of working women. Elite Catholic reformers" "obsession" with governing the working woman"s sexuality, for example, "was not with her as a being-in-the-world but as a romanticized abstraction of poverty, sexual danger, and bodily weakness" (2000: 86). And the journalists who editorialized on behalf of the hundreds of striking textile workers (predominantly but not entirely women) who went on strike in February 1920 defended the workers as "'damsels in distress"ratherthanasworking-classactivists"(91)."Ratherthanmakingthestrikers seem unwomanly or abnormal," Farnsworth-Alvear explains, "reporters"representa - tionsplayedonthesympathetic,carnivalesquepossibilitiesofgenderinversion"(94). Furthermore,sheisassensitivetothesilencesinhersourcesassheistoself-represen - tations. One chapter adroitly probes the question of why the 1935-1936 strikes have been obscured in popular memory. Examining the public record of the strike along - side the memories of her informants, she explains (136), Justasreporterstoldthestoryofthe1920strikethroughatranscendentalmoral narrativeoffemalevictimizationandlapsedchivalry,sotheynarratedthe1935 strike as a secular conflict between labor and capital. In each case, the discur- sive frame erased key aspects of the event, irrespective of the reporters"politi- cal leanings. At Coltejer in 1935, newspapermen found no charming "señoritas" on strike, but rather women marked by the grittiness of street con- frontations and inseparable from "la clase obrera" as a category. Thus, pointing to Pierre Bourdieu"s emphasis on awareness of unspoken rules and everyday practices, Farnsworth-Alvear develops a richly textured portrayal of gendered social relations in the context of early industrialization. Theoverarchingnarrativethustraceshowchangesinhegemonicideologiesdeter - mined the discursive options available to industrialists, reformers, and workers. As strikes became more militant and the Communist party"s popular-front campaign madeinroadsintotextileunions,industrialistsandCatholicreformersredoubledtheir efforts to link anticommunism (a value that remained class-specific) with piety and sexualpropriety(valuesthattranscendedclasslines)."Metaphorically,thebattlewas not between communism and the time-honored hierarchies of class; it was between impiety and faith, lasciviousness and chastity, sinfulness andla moral" (2000: 163). Thus,virginitybecameaprerequisiteforemploymentinanefforttoimplementafam - ily model of patriarchal control within the mills. Even as women lived within more fluid conceptions of normative sexuality, enforcement of moral codes became a source of pride for workers and of legitimacy for employers. As industrialists deployed "neo-Taylorist" methods of discipline, they gradually shifted to an all-male workforce to facilitate shop-floor control, eliminating the opportunities for flirtation and "street behavior" that potentially undermined the

116 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

authority of managers. While the female operatives whom Farnsworth-Alvear inter- viewedlinkedtheTaylorizationofthefactorieswiththeirdisplacement,industrialists depicted the shift fromla moraltoel controlas a sign of progress. As one manager explained, "If in the past control has been exercised over conduct, it is now exercised over results. If in the past awards were given for good attendance, they will now be given for efficiency" (2000: 223). Concomitantly, Farnsworth-Alvear argues, "Fac - tory managers now defined their ideal worker, quite explicitly, as a male head-of- household" (225). Having its origins in a doctoral dissertation,Dulcinea in the Factoryretains dis- cussionsofhistoriographyandmethodandisrichinphotographs,charts,graphs,and maps that highlight the heterogeneity of its methodology. Farnsworth-Alvear exam - ines elite networks, Catholic organizations, and popular experiences, exploiting a wide variety of historical sources. She also includes lengthy passages of interviews with former textile workers, exposing the complexity of human subjectivity while bringing historical actors to life. She offers similar transparency in her engagement withtherelevantliterature,meticulouslysituatingherworkwithinthehistoriographic and theoretical debates. Perhaps because she is herself the "long-lostgringacousin" (2000: xiv) ofmedellinenses, she takes seriously the local historiography to which foreign historians are often prone to condescend when they do not ignore it entirely. She also openly engages theoretical questions throughout, arguing, for example, that "a discursive invention such asla mujer obreramay be demonstrably fiction and yet be undeniably 'real"in its historical effects" (74). Her elegant writing style and clear organization of chapters prevent this material from seeming too heavy-handed, how- ever,andherdecisiontoexposethemachinerybehindthenarrativemakesthebooka usefultoolforteachingaspiringhistorianstheartandcraftofscholarlyengagement. This study does raise several questions that Farnsworth-Alvear chooses not to explore. Despite vibrant accounts of working women"s pride in their reputations, skill, and ability to purchase and maintain their own homes, there is no sustained dis- cussion of working women"s views about unpaid domestic labor, a frequent point of disputeinworking-classhouseholds.Similarly,althoughshealludestoliberationthe- ology,pointingoutthatby1968"companypriestsatbothColtejerandFabricatowere firmlyalignedwiththeCatholicleft"(2000:226),sheleavesbeyondthescopeofher study any exploration of the impact of liberation theology on gender ideologies. Finally,thecloseattentiontoregionalcontextinDulcineaintheFactoryraisesques- tions about transnational comparisons. Mexico experienced analogous ideological and labor-force transitions during this period (Keremitsis, 1973; 1984), and Eileen Findlay"sessayinIdentityandStruggleandhermonograph(Findlay,1999)exposea similarclosingdownofsexualpluralityaspartofalargerprocessoftheconsolidation of working-class political organizations. However, these questions underscore the book"susefulnessnotonlytohistoriansoflaborandgenderinLatinAmericabutalso asacoursebookforanupper-divisionorgraduateseminar.Farnsworth-Alvearpoints the way to new research agendas and provides an excellent model for their pursuit. Takentogether,theseworkshighlightboththecentralityandthedifficultyofusing identityasananalyticalcategory.Farnsworth-Alvear,withtheluxuryofspaceoffered byafull-lengthmonograph,exposesthecontingencyofgenderedidentities.Manyof

BOOK REVIEWS 117

the other studies under consideration here, partly because of limitations of sources, space,orintendedaudience,allowidentifierssuchasindioor"woman"tostandinfor a set of assumed values, experiences, and qualities. This shorthand is perhaps neces - saryintheinterestofintegratingculturalandideologicalquestionsintoresearchareas that have historically been dominated by modes of production and power politics. However,thesestudies,alongwithotherrecentpublications,clearlydemonstratethe importance of keeping a close eye on more time-worn Marxist and materialist ques - tions even while employing an analysis with greater sensitivity to contingency and discursiveframeworks.Thebooksunderreviewhereunderscorethatthenextwaveof scholarship will have to do both.

REFERENCES

Alvarez, Sonia E., Evelina Dagnino, and Arturo Escobar

1998Cultures of Politics, Politics of Cultures: Re-visioning Latin American Social Move-

ments. Boulder: Westview Press.

Escobar, Arturo and Sonia E. Alvarez

1992TheMakingofSocialMovementsinLatinAmerica:Identity,Strategy,andDemocracy.

Boulder: Westview Press.

Findlay, Eileen J. Suárez

1999Imposing Decency: The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870-1920.

Durham: Duke University Press.

Forster, Cindy

2001The Time of Freedom: Campesino Workers in Guatemala"s October Revolution. Pitts-

burgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

French, John and Daniel James (eds.)

1997GenderedWorldsofLatinAmericanWomenWorkers:FromHouseholdandFactoryto

the Union Hall and Ballot Box. Durham: Duke University Press.

Gould, Jeffrey L.

1998To Die in This Way: Nicaraguan Indians and the Myth of Mestizaje, 1880-1965. Dur-

ham: Duke University Press.

Grandin, Greg

2000The Blood of Guatemala: A History of Race and Nation. Durham: Duke University

Press.

James, Daniel

2000DoñaMaría"sStory:LifeHistory,Memory,andPoliticalIdentity.Durham:DukeUni-

versity Press.

Joseph, Gilbert M. and Daniel Nugent (eds.)

1994EverydayFormsofStateFormation:RevolutionandtheNegotiationofRuleinModern

Mexico. Durham: Duke University Press.

Keremitsis, Dawn

1973La industria textil mexicana en el siglo XIX. Mexico City: Secretaría de Educación

Pública.

1984 "Latin American women workers in transition: sexual division of the labor force in

Mexico and Colombia in the textile industry."The Americas40: 491-504.118 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

Klubock, Thomas Miller

1998Contested Communities: Class, Gender, and Politics in Chile"s El Teniente Copper

Mine, 1904-1951. Durham: Duke University Press.

Rosemblatt, Karin Alejandra

2000GenderedCompromises:PoliticalCulturesandtheStateinChile,1920-1950.Chapel

Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Rubin, Jeffrey W.

1997Decentering the Regime: Ethnicity, Radicalism, and Democracy in Juchitán, Mexico.

Durham: Duke University Press.

Twinam, Ann

1999Public Lives, Private Secrets: Gender, Honor, Sexuality, and Illegitimacy in Colonial

Spanish America. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Wells, Allen and Gilbert M. Joseph

1996Summer of Discontent, Seasons of Upheaval: Elite Politics and Rural Insurgency in

Yucatán, 1876-1915. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Winn, Peter

1986Weavers of the Revolution: The Yarur Workers and Chile"s Road to Socialism.New

York: Oxford University Press.BOOK REVIEWS 119

Latin American Revolutions Documents PDF, PPT , Doc

[PDF] after the latin american revolutions what was the fate of simòn bolìvar

1. History

2. World History

3. Latin American Revolutions

[PDF] causes for latin american revolutions

[PDF] causes for latin american revolutions worksheet answers

[PDF] crash course latin american revolutions questions

[PDF] facts about the latin american revolutions

[PDF] french and latin american revolutions digital interactive notebook

[PDF] french and latin american revolutions digital interactive notebook answers

[PDF] french and latin american revolutions digital interactive notebook quizlet

[PDF] french and latin american revolutions quizlet

[PDF] haitian and latin american revolution venn diagram

12345 Next 200000 acticles