San José de Gracia: Mexican Village in Transition

by Anny Meyer and Luis González

Book Overview

The village of San Jos de Gracia is not mentioned in any history of Mexico, nor is it referred to in any of the annals of the state of Michoac n. It is not to be found at all on most maps, and almost none show its correct location. It is an unknown point in space, in time, and in the consciousness of the Mexican republic.

In Luis Gonz lez's classic history of the world of San Jos , he turns his attention in every direction: toward what is...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292775717
• ISBN13: 9780292775718
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 406 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

everyday life

In San Jose de Gracia, Luis Gonzalez traces the incidents of a small Mexican village in order to depict the history of rural Mexico. Gonzalez calls the town "an unknown point in space, in time, and in the consciousness of the Mexican republic" with "unproductive land, plodding lives, [and] undistinguished inhabitants." Because of these characteristics, he argues that San Jose displays "[s]mallness, but typical smallness" and represents the "intimate relationship between natural surroundings and rural life." Gonzalez believes that local studies are necessary to fully comprehend Mexican history. Gonzalez begins with three origins for San Jose de Gracia. The town sprang from "a quasi-mountainous landscape; and early state of upheaval and subsidence; and a small cultural backwater made up of rude cattle farmers." In the mid-nineteenth century, land reform created small rancheros, which formed the backbone of society in the area. Gonzalez describes six noteworthy events, including the Ochoa rebellion, the great famine, and the appearance of a comet, that took place during this initial period. Under the peace of the Diaz regime, middle class ranchers decided that they needed their own community and, with political and ecclesiastical help, founded San Jose. The townspeople were largely homogeneous, because of their isolation, and self-sufficient. Gonzalez argues that they lived without social discord, extreme poverty, back-breaking toil, or big-city comforts. Gradually, the outside world intruded into the town and ended its isolation. Newspapers, mail, and seminary students brought information about national events. Political discourse entered San Jose and incipient nationalism and regionalism developed. Commerce shifted from a consumer-based to a market-orientated economy. The onset of the Mexican Revolution halted these trends and brought poverty, isolation, and self-sufficiency to the town. These "years of depravity" produced hunger, bandits, and a lowering of public morals. Gonzalez believes that "[t]he people of San Jose were like dry gunpowder ready to burst into flame at the slightest spark." The Cristero Revolution ignited the people. The federal government initiated a series of anticlerical measures, which provoked a loyalist backlash. The people of San Jose supported the Roman Catholic Church. Federal troops burned the town and forced the inhabitants to abandon it. After various skirmishes, a negotiated peace calmed the land. Although the people rebuilt the town, animosity towards the government lingered because of humiliation, poverty, and injustice. Gonzalez argues that the Cristero movement united the townspeople. Agrarian reforms initiated under President Cardenas shattered this unity. People split between the agrarianists, who favored the reforms, and landowners, who resisted them. Despite this vigorous opposition, property was transferred from larger landowners to the landless and smaller landowners. T