Indigenous Autocracy

Rezensionen / Stimmen

"Indigenous Autocracy reveals how Tlaxcala's Prospero Cahuantzi managed to stay in power for twenty-six years as one of Mexico's few 'full-blooded' Indigenous governors. Compellingly arguing that the secret to Cahuantzi's political longevity was a deft and selective use of his indigeneity and its signifiers, the book effectively integrates cultural, political, and environmental history to revise our understanding of Porfirian Mexico."-Mikael Wolfe, Stanford University "Reconstructing in painstaking detail the life and times of a powerful Indigenous governor, Jaclyn Ann Sumner gives us a heady combination of predictable elite thuggery and development with far less predictable racial politics, regional autonomy, development, environmental consideration, and even populism. The result is credible, readable, and professionally unmissable."-Paul Gillingham Northwestern University "Sumner's Indigenous Autocracy masterfully demonstrates how bringing together research on race, the environment, technology, and local history can illuminate broader changes in identity politics, nation-state construction, development, and power."-Justin Castro, H-Environment "This is a well-researched lens into Mexican politics, society, and culture during a critical period in Mexico's history. Recommended."-E. C. Rothera, CHOICE "Jaclyn Ann Sumner's well-written and well-documented research represents the current state of Porfiriato historiography: one that broadens its gaze while blending the cultural and postmodern approach with interpretations on the right of the ideological spectrum. Indigenous Autocracy is a useful work for specialists familiar with the extensive historiographical production on Tlaxcala and the Porfirian years."-Jose Alfredo Rangel Silva, Hispanic American Historical Review