Description
Book SynopsisColombia's western Coffee Region is renowned for the whiteness of its inhabitants, who are often described as respectable pioneer families who domesticated a wild frontier and planted coffee on the forested slopes of the Andes. This book examines both of these legends.
Trade Review”
Muddied Waters is an outstanding contribution to the history of race and colonization in modern Colombia. It invites revision of current interpretations of Colombian and Latin American regionalism.”—Marco Palacios, coauthor of
Colombia: Fragmented Land, Divided Society”The story of Riosucio illuminates the multiple and complex ways in which discourses of race, region, and nation inform each other.
Muddied Waters not only gives us a new way of thinking about postcolonial Colombia, but also offers rich comparative insights into other Latin American societies where race and place have become historically intertwined.”—Barbara Weinstein, author of
For Social Peace in Brazil: Industrialists and the Remaking of the Working Class in São Paulo, 1920-1964Table of ContentsList of Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Riosucio: Race, Colonization, Region, and Community 1
Part I. Country of Regions, 1946–1886
1. Beauty and the Beast: Antioquia and Cauca 31
2. “Accompanied by Progress”: Cauca Intermediaries and Antioqueno Migration 52
3. “By Consent of the Indigenas”: Riosucio’s Indigenous Communities 80
Part 2. The White Republic, 1886–1930
4. Regenerating Riosucio: Regeneration and the Transition to Conservative Rule 107
5. Regenerating Conflict: Riosucio’s Indigenas in the White Republic 124
6. Riosucio on the Margins of the “Model Department” 142
Part 3. Remembering Race, Region, and Community
7. Remembering Riosucio: Imagining a Mestizo Community 167
8. Remembering San Lorenzo: Imagining an Indigenous Community 184
Conclusion: Reimagining Region and Nation 206
Notes 221
Bibliography 267
Index 287
