HIST 326 Rise and Fall of the Mexican Revolution (Not offered 1998-99; to be offered 1999-2000)*

The first great revolution in the twentieth-century world, the Mexican Revolution was as epic a struggle as later episodes in Russia, China, and Cuba. This course will examine the social, economic, and political forces that exploded in more than a decade of violence and produced the peculiar, relatively stable "institutional revolutionary" government that continues to rule in Mexico. Themes will include the construction of capitalism in the late nineteenth century; the creation of an authoritarian Liberal political tradition; and the legacy of revolutionary culture, art, and politics that emerged from the violent phase. By taking up such phenomena and their effects on peasants, workers, women, middle-class professionals, and the wealthy, we will try to assess the extent to which this was a social revolution and to what extent merely a reshuffling of those who had been ruling the country. Toward the end of the course we will analyze recent events such as the outbreak of a peasant revolt in Chiapas and the series of scandals and assassinations that have bloodied the corridors of political power in the 1990s. Students will then debate a final topic: Is the Mexican Revolution dead, or is its promise just now to be fulfilled?

KITTLESON