United States Copper Companies, the State, and Labour Conflict in Mexico, 1900-1910

Article explores worker strikes in the Mexican copper industry, incorporating elemetns of both traditional interpretations, emphasizing the activities as precursor to the Mexican Revolution, and revisionist interpretations presenting the strikes as industrial disputes without revolutionary pretensions

Chinese Plantation Workers and Social Conflict in Peru in the late Nineteenth Century

Examines Chinese plantation workers' transition from indentured servitude to wage labor in Peru of the late nineteenth century, providing detailed anlaysis of labour conditions in the Condor and Sana Valleys

Capitalist Agriculture and Labour Contracting in Northern Peru, 1880-1905

Article argues that the process of enganche, or the procurement of native highlanders to labor in coastal Peruvian sugar plantations, stemmed in the period 1880-1905 from elements of coercion and violence, as well as capital incentives

Imagining Mexico in 1910: Visions of the Patria in the Centennial Celebration in Mexico City

Mexico’s 1910 Centenario reflected a popular trend in Western Europe and its former colonies to use centenaries of important historical events to promote political programmes and philosophies through the construction of historical memory. Centennial organisers in Mexico linked Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and Jose´ Maria Morelos to President Porfirio Dı´az in words and symbols, and associated state formation and civic culture with Liberal leaders and policies, such as public education, material progress and secularism. The planners also promoted Morelos as a mestizo icon and symbol for national identity and integration, while they simultaneously celebrated Mexico’s pre-Columbian cultures and criticised contemporary natives as impediments to progress. The Centennial’s audience included hundreds of thousands of Mexicans as well as foreigners from around the globe, who came away with different impressions based on their cultural perspectives, political philosophies and material interests. Following the overthrow of Dı´az in 1911, Mexico’s revolutionary governments continued to use Independence Day celebrations to promote their programmes, including some whose origins lay in the Porfiriato. As we approach the bicentenary of Latin American independence, competing visions of patrias will likely surface and provide insights into the construction of historical memory and contemporary political discourse

Planters and Politics in Peru, 1895-1919

Article explores Peruvian political development in the period 1895-1919, with a focus on the activities of the Civilistas Party, Guillermo Billinghurst, and Augusto B. Leguia.Research for this article was funded by a Ford Foundation Fellowship in 1974-5 and by a Fulbright Fellowship in autumn 1987

Ruffians and Revolutionaries: the Development of the Young Lords Organization in Chicago

The Young Lords began as a street gang in the early 1960s in the western Puerto Rican section of Chicago\u27s Lincoln Park community area. In late 1968, some of the group\u27s leaders began to embrace radical politics and the Young Lords changed from a social group into a political organization. By examining the various factors that led to the politicization of the group\u27s leaders and informed their organizing, this thesis works to provide a better understanding of the Young Lords movement. More specifically, this study looks at how local social pressures, traditions of radical organizing, and efforts to forge collective identities all worked to influence the genesis, development, and political ideas of the Young Lords movement. In doing so, it identifies and discusses three major influences upon the group\u27s political analysis and major activities. First, this thesis demonstrates that Young Lords members were shaped by a history of colonization and resistance to colonial subjugation, both in Puerto Rico and in Chicago. Also, this study shows that the Black Power movement inspired and provided direction for Young Lords leaders. Finally, this thesis demonstrates that the movement against urban renewal projects in Lincoln Park motivated Young Lords members into action, helped define their activism, and became one of the driving causes of their movement

Michener Centenary: Memories

In celebration of the centenary of Charles D. Michener’s birth, the Journal of Melittology offers a sampling of memories from colleagues and former students