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The Time of Liberty: Popular Political Culture in Oaxaca, 1750 – 1850

2007; Duke University Press; Volume: 87; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1215/00182168-2007-054

1527-1900

Christon I. Archer,

Politics and Society in Latin America

Long neglected, Mexican regional political history of the independence and postindependence epoch recently has begun to attract significant attention. Eric Van Young, José Antonio Serrano, Guy Thomson, Jaime del Arenal Fenochio, and Alfredo Ávila recently published books that broke new ground. Jaime E. Rodríguez’s essays on political processes in Oaxaca and on Mexican federalism in Guadalajara during and after independence added significantly to our knowledge of regional political processes. Well known for his book on the state of Guerrero, Peter Guardino now follows up with a pathbreaking study of the complex political culture of Oaxaca. He examines the impact of the Bourbon reforms and the independence epoch, dramatically advancing our understanding of the chaotic period up to the beginning of the Reforma. Guardino centers his research on the city of Antequera, later renamed Oaxaca, and on the heavily indigenous rural jurisdiction of Villa Alta. This approach — beyond the use of extensive new archival research — constructs a new and fascinating picture of change and resistance to change in the city and rural pueblo settings.The indigenous society of Villa Alta remained homogeneous, and the elders of its many autonomous villages were able to exert strong patriarchal authority. The Bourbon reforms produced some changes, but the small number of Spanish district administrators, merchants, and parish priests failed to alter the traditional society. In the city of Oaxaca, beginning in September 1810, news of the Hidalgo Revolt exacerbated conflicts among the urban social classes. Plots, conspiracies, and even a few executions followed, but in November 1812, the insurgent forces of José María Morelos flooded into the city and held it until April 1814. At first, the rebels claimed to be loyal to Fernando VII, but they demonized the viceregal regime as unjust and abusive, executing senior royalist military leaders and turning on peninsulares whom they viewed as “monopolists and tyrants” (p. 136). Royalist forces commanded by Colonel Melchor Álvarez finally reoccupied Oaxaca for the royalists. He organized the election of a city council under the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and later established schools in the pueblos to bring education to the Indians. Guardino argues that the experience of the revolutionary years (1808 – 21) served to implant notions of equality among the male urban population and in the future produced clashes between emerging political groups, factions, and parties.Having set the scene in the rural pueblos of Villa Alta and in the city of Oaxaca, Guardino plunges into the cauldron of postindependence regional politics. The formation of the republic under the 1824 constitution altered political culture by granting almost universal male suffrage and in the process stimulated violent partisan politics. In the city, conservative opponents of the new egalitarianism and federalism feared the dangers of excesses, disorder, and radical laws imposed by the national government. Although Oaxaca was solidly Catholic by belief and tradition, it was also a hotbed of political activity. Publishers in this city of 20,000 inhabitants printed as many as five newspapers, as well as many printed political broadsides and pamphlets.Two parties emerged to struggle for control over the ayuntamientos: the conservative-oriented aceites (oils) and the populist vinagres (vinegars). The vinagres sought to enfranchise men of the lower classes, while the aceites employed race and income to exclude lower-class and less-wealthy voters and to maintain elite political domination. Through the 1820s and 1830s, wild accusations and meanspirited foul play marked cycles of virulent political struggle. National issues such as the campaigns to expel peninsulares or the broader struggle between federalism and centralism played out within the context of Oaxaca politics. The aceites believed that Catholicism was under attack, and the vinagres identified nefarious conservative conspiracies designed to restore Spanish rule. In the 1830s and 1840s, the aceites described themselves as centralists, and the vinagres first as federalists and later as either moderate or radical liberals. However, Guardino cautions against the view that the earlier vinagres were liberals, since they did not attack the powers and real estate of the Catholic Church or propose to break up indigenous communal lands.The turmoil of the postindependence epoch influenced the political and economic lives of Oaxaca’s indigenous population in the district of Villa Alta. Broad male suffrage produced conflict within the villages and challenged patriarchal traditions. Under the centralist 1836 constitution, hundreds of villages lost their elected municipal alcaldes and regidores. Instead, the district governors appointed jueces de paz, who in many cases failed to establish their authority. In 1846, the end of the centralist epoch returned the system of elected municipal officials. Overall, the indigenous villagers of Villa Alta rejected outside influences and resisted military service that often meant hardships, including death, and also prevented them from advancing within the village seniority system. Throughout this period, despite many challenges, the village elders continued to maintain their control over the land and the people.Guardino casts new light upon regional political life in Oaxaca in both the city and in the rural villages of Villa Alta. As in his earlier work on Guerrero, this fascinating study opens new windows to explain a regional political picture that until now has been quite murky. It is clear from Guardino’s work on Oaxaca that many additional studies are needed to provide a better understanding of the political culture of the postindependence Mexican regional elites and of those sometimes amorphous subalterns.