The construction of the nation-state, the development of capitalism, and the modernization of society have historically been defined as masculine endeavors, with women on the sidelines. This biography of Juana Catarina Romero (1837-1915) shatters many of the stereotypes of nineteenth-century women and provides a new perspective of women's national agency during a time in which women could neither vote nor hold political office. Romero's breathtaking climb from illiterate cigarette peddler and Liberal spy to wealthy entrepreneur, philanthropist, and, finally, cacica (political boss) of the city of Tehuantepec, despite the opposition of male elites, reveals the growing fluidity of class, race, and ethnicity. Francie Chassen-Lopez's fascinating biography of Romero offers rich insight into the complexities of modernization as it developed on the periphery of Mexico. Romero sought a Tehuantepec-style modernity, a modus vivendi between modernization, Catholicism, and isthmian Zapotec culture. Like her friend President Porfirio Diaz, Romero formed part of a group of ambitious Mexicans of modest origins, forged in civil war, who would build the Mexican nation-state.
Francie Chassen-Lopez is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Kentucky. She is the author of From Liberal to Revolutionary Oaxaca: The View from the South, Mexico, 1867-1911.
List of Illustration Acknowledgments Abbreviations Cast of Characters Introduction Chapter 1: A New Republic Chapter 2: War Chapter 3: A Female Entrepreneur Chapter 4: Social Engineering Chapter 5: Modernity and Consumer Society Chapter 6: The Cacica Chapter 7: The Final Years? Conclusions? Notes? Glossary? Bibliography? Index?
"A magnificent book - certainly the best and most innovative we have on gender, nation building, and market expansion in nineteenth century Mexico. . . . It will be a model for gender studies. It is also a model for studies integrating history at the local, regional, national, and international levels."-Mary Kay Vaughan, author of Portrait of a Young Painter: Pepe Zuniga and Mexico City?s Rebel Generation "This modern biography of Juana Catarina Romero from a gender perspective is original due to its very structure: The author combines two axes, the thematic and the chronological, and uses several methodologies such as regional history, microhistory, education and culture, public health, and daily life. The management of biographical time with historical time is another of Francie Chassen-Lopez's achievements."-Milada Bazant, author of Laura Mendez de Cuenca: Mexican Feminist, 1853-1928
