Spent Cartridges of Revolution

What happens to a revolutionary town after the revolution? This apparently simple question frames "Spent Cartridges of Revolution", an anthropological history of Namiquipa, Chihuahua, Mexico. Officially, the revolution of 1910-20 restored control over land and local politics to the peasantry. But Namiquipan peasants, who fought alongside Pancho Villa, have seen little progress and consider themselves mere "spent cartridges" of a struggle that benefited other classes. Daniel Nugent's approach combines an emphasis on the peasants' own perceptions of Mexican society after the revolution with an analysis of the organization and formation of state power. He shows that popular discontent in Chihuahua is motivated not only by immediate economic crises but by two centuries of struggle between the people of Northern Mexico and the government. Nugent discusses the relations of the rural class structure, ideology and the state, while analyzing the particular meanings of land, the labour process and politics for Namiquipans. Weaving long-range history, current events, and anthropological and social theory, this book challenges previous analyses of the Mexican revolution.

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