Description
Book SynopsisA history of women's political organizing and state formation in Mexico before and during the populist regime of Cardenas, challenging assumptions that all Mexican women were conservative and anti-revolutionary
Trade Review“Jocelyn Olcott’s book combines impressive original research, lucid exposition, and keen insight. Three valuable case studies offer broad comparative analysis informed by telling details, examples, and anecdotes. Above all, the book successfully blends innovative women’s history with big, old, unresolved questions about popular mobilization, state-building, and the rise and fall of Cardenismo.”—Alan Knight, author of
The Mexican Revolution“This book is extraordinarily important as a work of feminist political history. It’s a breathtakingly ambitious tour of Mexican women’s movements and feminist politics that will stand as a model for future histories of Latin American feminism and state formation.”—Heidi Tinsman, author of
Partners in Conflict: The Politics of Gender, Sexuality, and Labor in the Chilean Agrarian Reform, 1950–1973“This book is a valuable addition to the growing literature gendering Mexico's revolution. Its depth and theoretical grounding raise important comparisons for scholars of history and politics throughout the Americas.” -- Ann S. Blum * Gender & History *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii
Introduction. The Daughters of La Malinche: Gender and Revolutionary Citizenship 1
1. “A Right to Struggle”: Revolutionary Citizenship and the Birth of Mexican Feminism 27
2. Laboratory of Cardenismo: Constructing Michoacán’s Postrevolutionary Edifice 60
3. Educators and Organizers: Populating the National Women’s Movement 93
4. “All the Benefits of the Revolution”: Labor and Citizenship in the Comarca Lagunera 123
5. “Her Dignity as a Woman and Her Sovereignty as Citizen”: Claiming Revolutionary Citizenship 159
6. “All Are Avowed Socialists”: Political Conflict and Women’s Organizing in Yucatán 201
Conclusions and Epilogue: The Death of Cardenismo 232
Notes 245
Bibliography 287
Index 321
