Riot and rebellion in Mexico : the making of a race war paradigm

Many scholars assert that Mexico’s complex racial hierarchy, inherited from Spanish colonialism, became obsolete by the turn of the nineteenth century as class-based distinctions became more prominent and a largely mestizo population emerged. But the residues of the colonial caste system did not simply dissolve after Mexico gained independence. Rather, Ana Sabau argues, ever-present fears of racial uprising among elites and authorities led to persistent governmental techniques and ideologies designed to separate and control people based on their perceived racial status, as well as to the implementation of projects for development in fringe areas of the country. Riot and Rebellion in Mexico traces this race-based narrative through three historical flashpoints: the Bajío riots, the Haitian Revolution, and the Yucatan’s caste war. Sabau shows how rebellions were treated as racially motivated events rather than political acts and how the racialization of popular and indigenous sectors coincided with the construction of “whiteness” in Mexico. Drawing on diverse primary sources, Sabau demonstrates how the race war paradigm was mobilized in foreign and domestic affairs and reveals the foundations of a racial state and racially stratified society that persist today.

2023 Best Book in the Humanities, Latin American StudiesAssociation Mexico Section Challenging conventional narratives ofMexican history, this book establishes race-making as a centralinstrument for the repression of social upheaval innineteenth-century Mexico rather than a relic of the colonial-eracaste system. Many scholars assert that Mexico's complexracial hierarchy, inherited from Spanish colonialism, becameobsolete by the turn of the nineteenth century as class-baseddistinctions became more prominent and a largely mestizo populationemerged. But the residues of the colonial caste system did notsimply dissolve after Mexico gained independence. Rather, Ana Sabauargues, ever-present fears of racial uprising among elites andauthorities led to persistent governmental techniques andideologies designed to separate and control people based on theirperceived racial status, as well as to the implementation ofprojects for development in fringe areas of the country.

Riot and Rebellion in Mexico traces this race-basednarrative through three historical flashpoints: the Bajío riots,the Haitian Revolution, and the Yucatan's caste war. Sabau showshow rebellions were treated as racially motivated events ratherthan political acts and how the racialization of popular andindigenous sectors coincided with the construction of "whiteness"in Mexico. Drawing on diverse primary sources, Sabau demonstrateshow the race war paradigm was mobilized in foreign and domesticaffairs and reveals the foundations of a racial state and raciallystratified society that persist today.

2023 Best Book in the Humanities, Latin American Studies Association Mexico Section Challenging conventional narratives of Mexican history, this book establishes race-making as a central instrument for the repression of social upheaval in nineteenth-century Mexico rather than a relic of the colonial-era caste system. Many scholars assert that Mexicos complex racial hierarchy, inherited from Spanish colonialism, became obsolete by the turn of the nineteenth century as class-based distinctions became more prominent and a largely mestizo population emerged. But the residues of the colonial caste system did not simply dissolve after Mexico gained independence. Rather, Ana Sabau argues, ever-present fears of racial uprising among elites and authorities led to persistent governmental techniques and ideologies designed to separate and control people based on their perceived racial status, as well as to the implementation of projects for development in fringe areas of the country. Riot and Rebellion in Mexico traces this race-based narrative through three historical the Bajo riots, the Haitian Revolution, and the Yucatans caste war. Sabau shows how rebellions were treated as racially motivated events rather than political acts and how the racialization of popular and indigenous sectors coincided with the construction of whiteness in Mexico. Drawing on diverse primary sources, Sabau demonstrates how the race war paradigm was mobilized in foreign and domestic affairs and reveals the foundations of a racial state and racially stratified society that persist today. Many scholars assert that Mexico's complex racial hierarchy, inherited from Spanish colonialism, became obsolete by the turn of the nineteenth century as class-based distinctions became more prominent and a largely mestizo population emerged. But the residues of the colonial caste system did not simply dissolve after Mexico gained independence. Rather, Ana Sabau argues, ever-present fears of racial uprising among elites and authorities led to persistent governmental techniques and ideologies designed to separate and control people based on their perceived racial status, as well as to the implementation of projects for development in fringe areas of the country.0Riot and Rebellion in Mexico traces this race-based narrative through three historical flashpoints: the Bajio riots, the Haitian Revolution, and the Yucatan's caste war. Sabau shows how rebellions were treated as racially motivated events rather than political acts and how the racialization of popular and indigenous sectors coincided with the construction of "whiteness" in Mexico. Drawing on diverse primary sources, Sabau demonstrates how the race war paradigm was mobilized in foreign and domestic affairs and reveals the foundations of a racial state and racially stratified society that persist today. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. The Bajío Chapter One. Vanishing Indianness: Pacifi cation and the Production of Race in the 1767 Bajío Riots Chapter Two. “So That They May Be Free of All Those Things”: Theorizing Collective Action in the Bajío Riots Coda One. From the Country to the City: Movement, Labor, and Race at the End of the Eighteenth Century Part II. Haiti Chapter Three. The Domino Affect: Haiti, New Spain, and the Racial Pedagogy of Distance Chapter Four. Staging Fear and Freedom: Haiti’s Shifting Proximities at the Time of Mexican Independence Coda Two. Haiti in Mexico’s Early Republican Context Part III. Yucatán Chapter Five. On Criminality, Race, and Labor: Indenture and the Caste War Chapter Six. The Shapes of a Desert: The Racial Cartographies of the Caste War Coda Three. “Barbarous Mexico”: Racialized Coercive Labor from Sonora to Yucatán Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index "The book examines how the concepts of equality and revolution changed over time in Mexico and acquired new significance in the midst of indigenous rebellions and transnational economic, political, and cultural exchanges. Using a variety of sources, including plays, newspaper articles, maps, and legal documents, it traces how race-based events were presented as the single most-important threat to a fragile state recently separated from the Spanish Empire, with this race-based narrative used as a form of control both within Mexico and in dealings with foreign authorities in the Caribbean"-- Provided by publisher