An Agrarian Republic: Commercial Agriculture and the Politics of Peasant Communities in El Salvador 18231914 (Pitt Latin American Series 349)

About this book

With unprecedented use of local and national sources Lauria-Santiago presents a more complex portrait of El Salvador than has ever been ventured before. Using thoroughly researched regional case studies Lauria-Santiago uncovers an astonishing variety of patterns in land use labor and the organization of production. He finds a diverse commercially active peasantry that was deeply involved with local and national networks of power. An Agrarian Republic challenges the accepted vision of Central America in the nineteenth century and critiques the "liberal oligarchic hegemony" model of El Salvador. Detailed discussions of Ladino victories and successful Indian resistance give a perspective on Ladinization that does not rely on a polarized understanding of ethnic identity.