Synopses & Reviews
Visions of the Emerald City is an absorbing historical analysis of how Mexicans living in Oaxaca City experienced andldquo;modernityandrdquo; during the lengthy andldquo;Order and Progressandrdquo; dictatorship of Porfirio Dandiacute;az (1876andndash;1911). Renowned as the Emerald City (for its many buildings made of green cantera stone), Oaxaca City was not only the economic, political, and cultural capital of the state of Oaxaca but also a vital commercial hub for all of southern Mexico. As such, it was a showcase for many of Dandiacute;azandrsquo;s modernizing and state-building projects. Drawing on in-depth research in archives in Oaxaca, Mexico City, and the United States, Mark Overmyer-Velandaacute;zquez describes how Oaxacans, both elites and commoners, crafted and manipulated practices of tradition and modernity to define themselves and their city as integral parts of a modern Mexico.
Incorporating a nuanced understanding of visual culture into his analysis, Overmyer-Velandaacute;zquez shows how ideas of modernity figured in Oaxacansandrsquo; ideologies of class, race, gender, sexuality, and religion and how they were expressed in Oaxaca Cityandrsquo;s streets, plazas, buildings, newspapers, and public rituals. He pays particular attention to the roles of national and regional elites, the Catholic church, and popular groupsandmdash;such as Oaxaca Cityandrsquo;s madams and prostitutesandmdash;in shaping the discourses and practices of modernity. At the same time, he illuminates the dynamic interplay between these groups. Ultimately, this well-illustrated history provides insight into provincial life in pre-Revolutionary Mexico and challenges any easy distinctions between the center and the periphery or modernity and tradition.
Review
andldquo;In his fascinating saga of a provincial eliteandrsquo;s struggle to claim a place in Mexicoandrsquo;s late-nineteenth-century narrative of progress and nation building, Mark Overmyer-Velandaacute;zquez reveals the centrality of the city to the modern ideal of Mexico. The politicians, workers, prostitutes, intellectuals, and clerics whose words and actions animate the pages of this book show us how the promise of modernity reconfigured domains of privilege and visibility. By documenting the civic rituals, administrative projects, literary ideals, and architectural plans through which Oaxacaandrsquo;s Porfirian wizards built their Emerald City, Overmyer-Velandaacute;zquez forces us to rethink our understandings of church-state relations, provincial cultural projects, and nation building in pre-Revolutionary Mexico.andrdquo;andmdash;Deborah Poole, author of Vision, Race, and Modernity: A Visual Economy of the Andean Image World
Review
andldquo;[T]he book provides an excellent picture of the fragmented and contested visions of modernity that emerged in the city of Oaxaca. It is a contribution to a growing body of literature on the history of regional cities and a welcome addition to the historiography of modern Mexico.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;This is an empirically rich and methodologically suggestive work. As well as contributing importantly to Mexican urban historiography, Overmyer-Velandaacute;zquez shows how the idea of modernity itself is unsettled by attentive readings of the historical record in a place like Oaxaca City. . . . It is, in sum, an excellent and original contribution to Mexican historiography and should provoke further research on the intersection of visual studies and history.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Visions of the Emerald City makes a significant contribution to the historiography of the Porfiriato. . . . Overmyer-Velandaacute;zquez provides a reinterpretation of the Porfiriato and the reasons for the Revolution that should have scholars looking at more cultural explanations for the outbreak of war in Mexico in 1910 . . . . His analysis of Porfirian Oaxaca is solid and innovative. . . . The case he makes for Oaxacaandrsquo;s cultural history in the Porfiriato stands out from other regional studies already published.andrdquo;
Synopsis
Visions of the Emerald City is an absorbing historical analysis of how Mexicans living in Oaxaca City experienced "modernity" during the lengthy "Order and Progress" dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz (1876-1911). Renowned as the Emerald City (for its many buildings made of green cantera stone), Oaxaca City was not only the economic, political, and cultural capital of the state of Oaxaca but also a vital commercial hub for all of southern Mexico. As such, it was a showcase for many of Diaz's modernizing and state-building projects. Drawing on in-depth research in archives in Oaxaca, Mexico City, and the United States, Mark Overmyer-Velazquez describes how Oaxacans, both elites and commoners, crafted and manipulated practices of tradition and modernity to define themselves and their city as integral parts of a modern Mexico.
Incorporating a nuanced understanding of visual culture into his analysis, Overmyer-Velazquez shows how ideas of modernity figured in Oaxacans' ideologies of class, race, gender, sexuality, and religion and how they were expressed in Oaxaca City's streets, plazas, buildings, newspapers, and public rituals. He pays particular attention to the roles of national and regional elites, the Catholic church, and popular groups--such as Oaxaca City's madams and prostitutes--in shaping the discourses and practices of modernity. At the same time, he illuminates the dynamic interplay between these groups. Ultimately, this well-illustrated history provides insight into provincial life in pre-Revolutionary Mexico and challenges any easy distinctions between the center and the periphery or modernity and tradition.
Synopsis
Explores how elites and commoners in Oaxaca constructed and experienced the process of modernity during President Porfirio Diaz's government.
About the Author
Mark Overmyer-Velandaacute;zquez is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Connecticut.
Table of Contents
Illustrations and Tables ix
Preface xi
Introduction: Writing the Emerald City 1
1. La Vallistocracia: The Formation of Oaxacaandrsquo;s Ruling Class 17
2. The Legible City: Constructed, Symbolic, and Disciplined Spaces 40
3. andldquo;A New Political Religious Orderandrdquo;: Church, State, and Workers 70
4. andldquo;A Necessary Evilandrdquo;: Regulating Public Space and Public Women 98
5. Portraits of a Lady: Visions of Modernity 122
Conclusions: The Consequences of Modernity 153
Appendix: Articles Cited from the 1857 Constitution 161
Notes 163
Bibliography 203
Index 221