Autumn Quezada-Grant | Roger Williams University (original) (raw)

Papers by Autumn Quezada-Grant

Los territorios colindantes de Chiapas y Guatemala, cuyas dependencias historias se han desarroll... more Los territorios colindantes de Chiapas y Guatemala, cuyas dependencias historias se han desarrollado en función de su cercanía, raramente han sido analizados en conjunto por la historiografía. En ciertos aspectos comparten más el uno con el otro que con el resto de la República mexicana o el territorio centroamericano, espacios en los que son insertados a menudo cuando se trata de ubicarlos en discusiones historiográficas de mayor amplitud. Los trabajos aquí reunidos pretenden sugerir al lector acercamientos analíticos a diferentes temáticas presentes en al historia decimonónica de Chiapas y Guatemala, en espacial de los dos primeros tercios del siglo. Con la publicación de estas aportaciones se busca que las visiones, a veces contrastantes, permitan apreciar los cambios en las dos historiografías, afianzar una discusión entre ellas y, se espera, acercarlas cada vez más.

Ethnohistory, 2013

The great social divide between Spanish-speaking ladinos and non- Spanish-speaking Indians-a long... more The great social divide between Spanish-speaking ladinos and non- Spanish-speaking Indians-a long-held division reaching back to Mexico\u27s colonial period around San Cristóbal de Las Casas-fueled distrust and complaints of maltreatment and exploitation of the laboring class of Indians. Indians labored under the double burden of ethnicity and class, and dialogues between Indians and ladinos existed throughout the decades in the nineteenth century over issues of labor, land, and pay. On the heels of a violent race war (1867-70) between Indians and ladinos, the state government sought to allow Indians more opportunities to redress legal issues in order to prevent future rebellions. Beyond aggressive tactics by elites to suppress Indians in revolt, government officials opted to reinstitute the colonial office of protector de indios in an attempt to address interethnic issues. Indians used the opportunity to contest and negotiate long-held grievances. A study of the legal culture in San Cristóbal de Las Casas and of the reintroduction of the protector de indios proved precipitous in the two decades prior to the rise of the agricultural-export industry. The use of the protector de indios eased tensions between Indians and ladinos. Moreover, it offered a short period of legal empowerment in the daily lives of individual Indians as they engaged, contested, and actively participated in shaping their relations with the ladino elite, thus demonstrating the dynamic relationship between Indians and ladinos in the state of Chiapas on the cusp of momentous change in the late decades of the nineteent century

Diseased Relations is an impressive work succinct in its focus on the topic of public health hist... more Diseased Relations is an impressive work succinct in its focus on the topic of public health history in the Mexican state of Yucatán. Adding to a growing body of scholarship on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this book offers a new lens through which to consider the mechanics of state formation. In this turn to the study of disease and public health, McCrea pulls in the unfolding story of science's understanding of the origin and spread of diseases and reflects upon the dialogue between national officials and state or local officials in the Yucatán. By choosing to focus on specific disease campaigns, McCrea extends the common discussion of state formation and casts it into a light of intimacy and

Diseased Relations is an impressive work succinct in its focus on the topic of public health hist... more Diseased Relations is an impressive work succinct in its focus on the topic of public health history in the Mexican state of Yucatan. Adding to a growing body of scholarship on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this book offers a new lens through which to consider the mechanics of state formation. In this turn to the study of disease and public health, McCrea pulls in the unfolding story of science’s understanding of the origin and spread of diseases and reflects upon the dialogue between national officials and state or local officials in the Yucatan. By choosing to focus on specific disease campaigns, McCrea extends the common discussion of state formation and casts it into a light of intimacy and personal level as she explores the ways in which disease prevention touched and changed the lives of individuals. Instead of viewing ‘nation-building’ through abstractions, she adroitly pursues the palpable and deadly topic of disease and efforts to combat epidemics as a clear...

A Review of Emily Wakild's Revolutionary Parks: Conservation, Social Justice, and Mexico’s Na... more A Review of Emily Wakild's Revolutionary Parks: Conservation, Social Justice, and Mexico’s National Parks, 1910-1940 (Tucson: U of Arizona P, 2011).

Diseased Relations is an impressive work succinct in its focus on the topic of public health hist... more Diseased Relations is an impressive work succinct in its focus on the topic of public health history in the Mexican state of Yucatan. Adding to a growing body of scholarship on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this book offers a new lens through which to consider the mechanics of state formation. In this turn to the study of disease and public health, McCrea pulls in the unfolding story of science’s understanding of the origin and spread of diseases and reflects upon the dialogue between national officials and state or local officials in the Yucatan. By choosing to focus on specific disease campaigns, McCrea extends the common discussion of state formation and casts it into a light of intimacy and personal level as she explores the ways in which disease prevention touched and changed the lives of individuals. Instead of viewing ‘nation-building’ through abstractions, she adroitly pursues the palpable and deadly topic of disease and efforts to combat epidemics as a clear...

RMCLAS Conference Paper, 2017

Power and Everyday Resistance’: Ladinos, ‘their’ Indians, Legal Culture in Chiapas, 1830-1870 A... more Power and Everyday Resistance’:
Ladinos, ‘their’ Indians, Legal Culture in Chiapas, 1830-1870

Abstract Common practices and historical gaze has upheld the power trope of a segregated society in nineteenth century Mexico. Power elites and average ladinos regularly used the local parley of “my” Indian when referring to their indigenous workers. This notion of ownership in the nineteenth century reveals an intimate knowing between ladinos and indigenous populations, a hold-over from the colonial period, as opposed to separate worlds. Close examination of legal culture allows us to see ways in which the Indian class lived intertwined lives of their patrons. Court records between the 1830s and 1860s convey just such a point and paint a vivid picture of Indians appealing for justice within their daily life, relations and opinions of both groups. Despite the fact that ladinos perceived their own lives as wholly separate from their Indian servants, both worlds were in fact pieces of the intricately woven social fabric Chiapas in the nineteenth century. This example opens a world for us to ask questions about power, but before we delve into that nineteenth century world and trying to tease out marginalized stories and peoples we have to think about the production of knowledge. Where did these bits and pieces of knowledge come from? Latinos not only had control of populations, towns, land and labor, they had control of what would come to be known as the history of the region. What we know comes from sources written by the powerful, the ladinos of the region. Ladinos controlled the newspapers, courts and hospitals and in effect controlled the narrative of the region. This paper attempts to thicken that narrative.

Nicaragua in its post-revolutionary period is a nation in transition. Under the leadership of Dan... more Nicaragua in its post-revolutionary period is a nation in transition. Under the leadership of Daniel Ortega and the FSLN, the country a crossroads is a study in contradictions. With successes of the socialist revolution, the country made strides in land redistribution and great successes in public health vaccination campaigns, as well as literacy initiatives. In 2011, Daniel Ortega won in a landslide election the presidency of Nicaragua initiating a new era of Sandinismo that embraces neoliberal policies. This paper explores the intersections of recent history, neoliberal Sandinismo and public health with a focus on the state of Rivas. What are the changing health and social needs of locals within the state and how does this connect to the recent past and future? Rivas experienced a population collapse within its male inhabitants during the Revolution when the Somoza regime forced all able-bodied men to fight the Sandinistas. During the Contra War, males were then recruited to fight for the Contras. The state of Rivas with its historic center at Granada remains very conservative both socially and politically, today is a staunch supporter of the FSLN paper, and ironically the state most impacted by a growing tourist trade and the path of the future Nicaraguan canal. Despite the privileging of wealth by the national government, the state remains devastatingly poor and rural. This paper examines the role of public versus private health and the role of public health NGOs in the gap between.

The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in 2010 sparked a fire in Tunisia that brought the end of... more The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in 2010 sparked a fire in Tunisia that brought the end of a more than two-decade dictatorship. While the origins of the Tunisian revolt are deeply rooted within economic issues, there remains a conflicted desire to claim a new voice in this opening towards democracy. The world of the then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was one that limited expression. The revolt created an opening for expression. Today scholars and everyday people are attempting to (re)claim voice and ideas that speak to their very specific needs and frustrations. Seemingly benign expressions of revolutionary art (Latin American in origin) color the streets of Tunis and Sousse. Taking into account the tyranny of the dictatorship and the unique context of the Tunisian revolt, the use of these art pieces take on different meanings. This paper examines the use and significance of transnational resistance art forms from Latin America in Tunisia. The iconic symbols of the Cuban Revolution, images of Che, and the Zapatista rebels take on new meanings as Tunisian street artists tag retaining walls and underpass pillars. The shared post-colonial experiences between Tunisia and Latin American countries allow us to open a discussion of rebellion. However, we cannot generalize the post-colonial experience. We must take into account the specific nature of these regions to understand how icons get translated. Looking at the change in meaning can sharpen our understanding of how global expressions of image become localized voices towards a new history.

This paper explores the ways in which highland Indians in the state of Chiapas negotiated their l... more This paper explores the ways in which highland Indians in the state of Chiapas negotiated their lives in the nineteenth century through the experience of labor and the relationships they had with local elites. Little attention has been paid in the scholarly record to the experience of Indian life in the dynamics of a changing world. Expeditionary reports and travelogues by armchair academics beginning in the late 1890s offer forth impressions of savage peoples needing the firm hand and civility of white culture. Public discourse by the mid-nineteenth century tended to frame those on the side of civilization and the ideas of progress as against those whom society considered the enemy of modernization, Indians, locked in an eternal battle with their social superiors. This paper utilizes an obituary from 1872 of Salvador Gomes Tuxni, a Chamulan Indian, who was painted by the writer as a "model Indian" as an opening to question this world and the labor system known as baldiaje. All too often, Indians are cast in the role of submissive servant. Such an approach obfuscates the real experience of peoples who negotiated their lives within the confines of social constraints to the best of their abilities.

The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in 2010 sparked a fire in Tunisia that brought the end of... more The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in 2010 sparked a fire in Tunisia that brought the end of a more than two-decade dictatorship. While the origins of the Tunisian revolt are deeply rooted within economic issues, there remains a conflicted desire to claim a new voice in this opening towards democracy. The world of the then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was one that limited expression. The revolt created an opening for previously silenced voices. Today scholars and everyday people are attempting to (re)claim voice and ideas that speak to their very specific needs and frustrations. Seemingly benign expressions of revolutionary art (Latin American in origin) color the streets of Tunis and Sousse. Taking into account the tyranny of the dictatorship and the unique context of the Tunisian revolt, the use of these art pieces take on different meanings. This paper examines the use and significance of transnational resistance art forms from Latin America in Tunisia. The iconic symbols of the Cuban Revolution, images of Che, and the Zapatista rebels take on new meanings as Tunisian street artists tag retaining walls and underpass pillars. The shared post-colonial experiences between Tunisia and Latin American countries allow us to open a discussion of rebellion. However, we cannot generalize the post-colonial experience. We must take into account the specific nature of these regions to understand how icons get translated. Looking at the change in meaning can sharpen our understanding of how global expressions of image become localized voices towards a new history.

The great social divide between Spanish speaking ladinos and non-Spanish speaking Indians, a long... more The great social divide between Spanish speaking ladinos and non-Spanish speaking Indians, a long held division reaching back to Mexico"s colonial period around San Cristóbal de Las Casas fueled distrust and complaints of maltreatment and exploitation of the laboring class of Indians. Indians labored under the double burden of ethnicity and class, dialogues between Indians and ladinos existed throughout the decades in the nineteenth-century over issues of labor, land and pay. On the heels of a violent race war (1867-1870) between Indians and ladinos, the state government sought to allow Indians more opportunities to redress legal issues in order to prevent future rebellions. Beyond aggressive tactics by elites to suppress revolting Indians, government officials opted to reinstitute the colonial office of protector de indios in an attempt to address inter-ethnic issues. Indians used the opportunity to contest and negotiate long held grievances. A study of the legal culture in San Cristóbal de Las Casas and the re-introduction of the protector of indios proved precipitous in the two decades prior to the rise of the agro-export industry. The use of the protector de indios eased tensions between Indians and ladinos. Moreover it offered a short period of legal empowerment in the daily lives of individual Indians as they engaged, contested and actively participated in shaping their relations with the ladino elite thus demonstrating the dynamic relationship between Indians and ladinos in the state of Chiapas on the cusp of momentous change in the late decades of the nineteenth-century. 1

Talks by Autumn Quezada-Grant

Images of immigration rarely focus on the experience of child immigrants.

The frontier of Chiapas is a dangerously impoverished place. Once considered a backwater, the sta... more The frontier of Chiapas is a dangerously impoverished place. Once considered a backwater, the state is now a locus of issues important to Mexico: revolution, immigration and the drug war. Since 1994, the militarization of the state has had a direct effect upon not only the indigenous population (the rebels) but rather upon everyone. Another growing issue of concern revolves around the issue of immigration. While many chiapanecos leave the region in migration waves to the United States it is their state where the focus of immigration issues are the hottest. Immigration officers, since 1988, vigilantly attempt to enforce the border with Central America through routine checks for papers. Yet despite a hardened official stance, immigrants found fairly easy passage atop trains. But this is changing. The entrance of the vicious drug cartel both the Sinaloan Cartel and Los Zetas are making life harder for everyone. The cartels control not only the drug trafficking through the state, but also the polleros and by extension the immigrants. Poverty and a lack of education undoubtedly exacerbate the reach of drug cartels with the victims being those most vulnerable – immigrants, the poor, women and children. Ironically, the Mexican government has attempted to misrepresent the long-suffering Zapatista Movement (EZLN) in Chiapas as a drug cartel themselves. As champions of gender, community, and socio-economic equality, Zapatista leadership paint a link between state driven violence and the cartels through a gendered language of savage fierceness against women. A nation-wide peace movement named ¡Hasta la Madre! attempt to challenge the growing structural violence within the country. This paper examines the response of the Zapatistas to the synergy of violence within their state and within Mexico.

Abstract: Gender inequality is a serious issue in many developing nations, especially in light of... more Abstract: Gender inequality is a serious issue in many developing nations, especially in light of the reality of living in a more globalized world. My particular research interest lies within the state of Chiapas in Mexico. And I ask this question “How does globalization affect gendered relations within the state of Chiapas?” Now most critiques of globalization are negative. But can we find examples that challenge this understanding? Chiapas, I offer, is a good case study in that there are unique forces at play that serve to complicate both our understanding of globalizing affects and gender inequality.

Ethnohistory, 2013

Diseased Relations is an impressive work succinct in its focus on the topic of public health hist... more Diseased Relations is an impressive work succinct in its focus on the topic of public health history in the Mexican state of Yucatan. Adding to a growing body of scholarship on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this book offers a new lens through which to consider the mechanics of state formation. In this turn to the study of disease and public health, McCrea pulls in the unfolding story of science’s understanding of the origin and spread of diseases and reflects upon the dialogue between national officials and state or local officials in the Yucatan. By choosing to focus on specific disease campaigns, McCrea extends the common discussion of state formation and casts it into a light of intimacy and personal level as she explores the ways in which disease prevention touched and changed the lives of individuals. Instead of viewing ‘nation-building’ through abstractions, she adroitly pursues the palpable and deadly topic of disease and efforts to combat epidemics as a clear...

RMCLAS Conference Paper, 2017

The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in 2010 sparked a fire in Tunisia that brought the end of... more The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in 2010 sparked a fire in Tunisia that brought the end of a more than two-decade dictatorship. While the origins of the Tunisian revolt are deeply rooted within economic issues, there remains a conflicted desire to claim a new voice in this opening towards democracy. The world of the then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was one that limited expression. The revolt created an opening for previously silenced voices. Today scholars and everyday people are attempting to (re)claim voice and ideas that speak to their very specific needs and frustrations. Seemingly benign expressions of revolutionary art (Latin American in origin) color the streets of Tunis and Sousse. Taking into account the tyranny of the dictatorship and the unique context of the Tunisian revolt, the use of these art pieces take on different meanings. This paper examines the use and significance of transnational resistance art forms from Latin America in Tunisia. The iconic symbols of the Cuban Revolution, images of Che, and the Zapatista rebels take on new meanings as Tunisian street artists tag retaining walls and underpass pillars. The shared post-colonial experiences between Tunisia and Latin American countries allow us to open a discussion of rebellion. However, we cannot generalize the post-colonial experience. We must take into account the specific nature of these regions to understand how icons get translated. Looking at the change in meaning can sharpen our understanding of how global expressions of image become localized voices towards a new history.

Images of immigration rarely focus on the experience of child immigrants.

Abstract: In this ever-shrinking global world, there remains for immigrants the shared heart-wren... more Abstract: In this ever-shrinking global world, there remains for immigrants the shared heart-wrenching experience of being physically separated from their families. For migrants from impoverished regions such as Mexico and Central America (these areas identified within the confines of the global south), the fact of leaving is nearly always a difficult decision with always a promise of a quick return. Sons leave their mothers and years lapse before they again set foot in their pueblos. Husbands leave their pregnant wives and miss the experience of birth and toddler years. Proof, that the push-pull effect within immigration is a failure of theirown national governments to its own citizenry. Migrant workers in the United States endear themselves to songs of sons who ask their mothers ‘when will papá return?’ The standard behavior for migrants are the weekly if not nightly calls to mothers, wives, and children desperate to experience over cellphones what they can not see with their own eyes. Photos in hand are cherished and occasionally sent however, mail services are at best unreliable and memories are lost. Yet it is interesting to note, there seems to be a surge in the use of social media and photo sharing on Facebook offering a new immediate connection to family members back home. In particular, amongst a younger generation – 16- to 20-somethings coming of age with access to the Internet creates conduits for connection with family members far-flung. As Internet cafés become more accessible and Internet connections spread into the marginalized and impoverished communities (of course, usually paid for with monies made in the United States) there appears to be more and more opportunities for a democratization of information sharing and inclusion.

Abstract. The great social divide between Spanish speaking ladinos and non-Spanish speaking India... more Abstract. The great social divide between Spanish speaking ladinos and non-Spanish speaking Indians, a long held division reaching back to Mexico’s colonial period around San Cristóbal de Las Casas fueled distrust and complaints of maltreatment and exploitation of the laboring class of Indians. Indians labored under the double burden of ethnicity and class, dialogues between Indians and ladinos existed throughout the decades in the nineteenth-century over issues of labor, land and pay. On the heels of a violent race war (1867-1870) between Indians and ladinos, the state government sought to allow Indians more opportunities to redress legal issues in order to prevent future rebellions. Beyond aggressive tactics by elites to suppress revolting Indians, government officials opted to reinstitute the colonial office of protector de indios in an attempt to address inter-ethnic issues. Indians used the opportunity to contest and negotiate long held grievances. A study of the legal culture in San Cristóbal de Las Casas and the re-introduction of the protector of indios proved precipitous in the two decades prior to the rise of the agro-export industry. The use of the protector de indios eased tensions between Indians and ladinos. Moreover it offered a short period of legal empowerment in the daily lives of individual Indians as they engaged, contested and actively participated in shaping their relations with the ladino elite thus demonstrating the dynamic relationship between Indians and ladinos in the state of Chiapas on the cusp of momentous change in the late decades of the nineteenth-century.

This volume explores dynamic conversations through history between individuals and communities ov... more This volume explores dynamic conversations through history between individuals and communities over questions about religion and state. Divided into two sections, our authors begin with considerations on the separation of religion and state, as well as Roger Williams’ concept of religious freedom. Authors in the first half consider nuanced debates centered on emerging narratives, with particular emphasis on Native America, Early Americans, and experiences in American immigration after Independence. The first half of the volume examines voices in American History as they publicly engage with notions of secular ideology. Discussions then shift as the volume broadens to world perspectives on religion-state relations. Authors consider critical questions of nation, religious identity and transnational narratives. The intent of this volume is to privilege new narratives about religion-state relations. Decentering discussions away from national narratives allows for emerging voices at the individual and community levels. This volume offers readers new openings through which to understand critical but overlooked interactions between individuals and groups of people with the state over questions about religion.

Issues related to justice sit at the forefront for Mexican indigenous communities, both historica... more Issues related to justice sit at the forefront for Mexican indigenous communities, both historically and most recently with the rise of the drug war (2006 forward) and decades of political corruption. As a professor of Latin American History, I have 15 years of experience in the study of indigenous cultures in southern Mexico and count myself an authority on indigenous relations with Ladinos (Mestizos) in the modern period. While in the past I have focused on the nineteenth century, with an eye to the twentieth century Zapatistia uprising, I find myself drawn to modern issues related to land dispossession, racism and violence against indigenous peoples in the larger region of southern Mexico. Rampant impunity related to escalating violence and lawlessness in Mexico is a lived reality for everyday Mexicans, but is more so a lived fear for indigenous peoples who are the country's most vulnerable. Across Mexico indigenous peoples are on heightened alert and live in unprecedented and often undocumented fear. On top of that, the rising rate in cartel control of local officials as well as military, police officials and human trafficking since 2006 we see frightening numbers of violent crimes and human rights violations. CNN reported in March of 2017 that the rate of " organized-crime style homicides " peaked in 2011, with over 17,000 deaths related to organized crime and then after a dip resurged in 2015 with 22,852 document organized crime related death in just that year and these numbers are on the rise.