Bøger af Silvia Marina Arrom

This thoughtful study challenges a number of widespread assumptions about the role of Catholicism in Mexican history by examining two related Catholic charities: the male Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Ladies of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. With thousands of volunteers, these lay groups not only survived the liberal reforms of the mid-nineteenth century but thrived, offering educational, medical, and other services to hundreds of thousands of poor people.Arrom stresses the prominence of women among the volunteers, showing the many ways that Catholicism promoted Mexican modernization rather than being an obstacle to it. Moreover, by reinserting religion into public life, these organizations defied the secularizing policies of the Mexican government. By comparing the male and female organizations collectively, the work shows that the relationship between gender, faith, and charity was much more complicated than is usually believed, with devout men and women supporting the Catholic project in complementary ways.

"La Güera Rodríguez is a well-paced, well-written story of one of Mexico's most interesting and controversial women. It will fascinate experts, history fans, and undergraduates alike, and it will thrill teachers, not only with its abundance of angles for re-interpreting Mexican history and women's roles in it, but also for Arrom's smart and insightful dissection of the ways La Güera's life story was--and continues to be--manipulated by contemporaries and historians after her death."--Margaret Chowning, Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley "Writing an important and long overdue book for Mexican history, Silvia Marina Arrom has carried out a truly herculean task ferreting out the facts in archives, newspapers, memoirs, travel accounts, and other nineteenth-century primary and secondary sources to skillfully construct and bring to life the true history of La Güera Rodríguez, leaving the hoary myths by the wayside."--Francie R. Chassen-López, author of From Liberal to Revolutionary Oaxaca: The View from the South, Mexico 1867-1911 "La Güera Rodríguez exposes the vicissitudes of life for women in Mexico in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: the high stakes of family politics in battles over land and inheritance, marriage, domestic violence, religious faith, and strategic alliances with Church authorities. While historians have addressed the themes raised in this book, they have not done so with the detail we get from reading the history of a life as it unfolds. This book is beautifully written, striking a balance between historical context, biographical details, and the politics of memory. It does important work in revealing the way women's history has been devalued through construing female historical figures as famous for their sexual freedom."-- Susie S. Porter, author of From Angel to Office Worker: Middle-Class Identity and Female Consciousness in Mexico, 1890-1950

This pioneering study poses three main questions: Were women's roles in this era as narrow and unimportant as has been assumed? To what extent were women dominated by men? Can significant differences be found betweeen younger and older women, married and single, upper class and lower class?

A social history of poverty in Mexico City, based on a study of a poorhouse designed to incarcerate and train "deserving" beggars to be productive and responsible citizens.