Married to a Daughter of the Land : Spanish-Mexican Women and Interethnic Marriage in Calif., 1820-1880 / María Raquel Casas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Casas, Maria Raquél.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mexican American women--California--Social conditions--19th century.

Mexican American women.

Mexican American women--California--History--19th century.

Interethnic marriage--California--History--19th century.

Interethnic marriage.

California--Social conditions--19th century.

California.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 261 p., [8] p. of plates ) ill. ;

Place of Publication:

Reno, Nevada ; Las Vegas, [Nevada] : University of Nevada Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The surprising truth about intermarriage in 19th-Century California. Until recently, most studies of the colonial period of the American West have focused on the activities and agency of men. Now, historian María Raquél Casas examines the role of Spanish-Mexican women in the development of California. She finds that, far from being pawns in a male-dominated society, Californianas of all classes were often active and determined creators of their own destinies, finding ways to choose their mates, to leave unsatisfactory marriages, and to maintain themselves economically. Using a wide range of sources in English and Spanish, Casas unveils a picture of women's lives in these critical decades of California's history. She shows how many Spanish-Mexican women negotiated the precarious boundaries of gender and race to choose Euro-American husbands, and what this intermarriage meant to the individuals involved and to the larger multiracial society evolving from California's rich Hispanic and Indian past. Casas's discussion ranges from California's burgeoning economy to the intimacies of private households and ethnically mixed families. Here we discover the actions of real women of all classes as they shaped their own identities. Married to a Daughter of the Land is a significant and fascinating contribution to the history of women in the American West and to our understanding of the complex role of gender, race, and class in the Borderlands of the Southwest.

Contents:

Introduction

Spanish women as cultural agents from medieval Spain to the new world frontier

Class and marriage choices

Marriage and the myth of romantic California

The legal system and "a reckless breed of men"

Interethnic marriages in the post-Mexican-American War era

Epilogue.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-244) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780874177145

0874177146

OCLC:

137336059