The Mobius strip : a spatial history of colonial society in Guerrero, Mexico / Jonathan D. Amith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Amith, Jonathan D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Land settlement--Mexico--Guerrero (State)--History.

Land settlement.

Land tenure--Mexico--Guerrero (State)--History.

Land tenure.

Migration, Internal--Mexico--Guerrero (State)--History.

Migration, Internal.

Grain trade--Mexico--Guerrero (State)--History.

Grain trade.

Guerrero (Mexico : State)--Economic conditions.

Guerrero (Mexico : State).

Guerrero (Mexico : State)--Colonization.

Guerrero (Mexico : State)--Commerce--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (685 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Möbius Strip explores the history, political economy, and culture of space in central Guerrero, Mexico, during the colonial period. This study is significant for two reasons. First, space comprises a sphere of contention that affects all levels of society, from the individual and his or her household to the nation-state and its mechanisms for control and coercion. Second, colonialism offers a particularly unique situation, for it invariably involves a determined effort on the part of an invading society to redefine politico-administrative units, to redirect the flow of commodities and cash, and, ultimately, to foster and construct new patterns of allegiance and identity to communities, regions, and country. Thus spatial politics comprehends the complex interaction of institutional domination and individual agency. The complexity of the diachronic transformation of space in central Guerrero is illustrated through an analysis of land tenure, migration, and commercial exchange, three salient and contested aspects of hispanic conquest. The Möbius Strip, therefore, addresses issues important to social theory and to the understanding of the processes affecting the colonialization of non-Western societies.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

List of maps

List of figures

List of tables

Acknowledgments

Conventions

Orientation maps

1. Introduction

Part 1. Terrain and Territoriality: The Natural and Social Context of Land and Property

2. The Lay of the Land

3. The Law of the Land: Crown Policy and Iberian Custom in the Colonization of New Spain

Part 2. Eppur si muove! The Dynamics of Economic Transformation in Rural Central Guerrero

4. Land Acquisition during the Early Colonial Period

5. Hacienda Formation and Market Structure: Landholding in North- and South-Central Guerrero

6. Place Making and Place Breaking: Migration and the Development Cycle of Community

7. The Politics of Economy and Space: Interjurisdictional Migration into the Iguala Valley

8. Spaces of Capital and Commerce: Rural Society and the Interregional Economy of Central Guerrero

9. The Transformation of Rural Society: Commercial Capital and the Monopolization of Resources

Part 3. Absolute Property and Spatial Politics: Struggles for Control over Grain in the Late Colonial Period

10. The Political and Moral Economy of Subsistence: State Control of Grain Markets

11. Seeds of Discord and Discontent: Grain, Regionalism, and Emerging Class Conflict

Conclusion

12. Conclusion

Reference Matter

Glossary

Bibliography and abbreviations used in notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780804767354

0804767351

9781423749462

1423749464

OCLC:

63188472