
Parishioners of Sovereignty
A History of Nationhood and War in Nineteenth-Century Paraguay
Michael Kenneth Huner(Author)
University of Nebraska Press
Will be published approx. on 1. November 2025
Book
Hardback
386 pages
978-1-4962-3141-3 (ISBN)
Description
The story of nineteenth-century Paraguay is the story of the dawn of modern nationhood in the world-and a devastating war is the culmination of this tale. The War of the Triple Alliance (1864-70), considered the bloodiest interstate conflict in the history of the Americas, pitted Paraguay against the combined forces of imperial Brazil and the republics of Argentina and Uruguay. By the end of the war, Paraguay was defeated and occupied, losing more than half its total population. Why, then, did everyday people in nineteenth-century Paraguay join and endure the violence and trauma associated with postcolonial sovereignty?
In Parishioners of Sovereignty Michael Kenneth Huner answers this question. He explores how modern nationhood became a living, breathing reality among everyday people in Paraguay even as such bonds of sovereignty remained fluid and contingent in the years leading up to and during the war. Although conventional history still portrays Paraguay's experience in the conflict as the result of a precocious cultural and ethnolinguistic-based nationalism, Huner argues in contrast that religion and republicanism rendered modern nationhood a moral imperative for which everyday Paraguayans worked, died, killed, and subverted. By tracing the complex interplay of religion, republicanism, and local social history that created the Paraguayan nation and state, and utilizing sources in the GuaranI language, Parishioners of Sovereignty casts crucial new light on the social history of early nation-building throughout the Americas.
In Parishioners of Sovereignty Michael Kenneth Huner answers this question. He explores how modern nationhood became a living, breathing reality among everyday people in Paraguay even as such bonds of sovereignty remained fluid and contingent in the years leading up to and during the war. Although conventional history still portrays Paraguay's experience in the conflict as the result of a precocious cultural and ethnolinguistic-based nationalism, Huner argues in contrast that religion and republicanism rendered modern nationhood a moral imperative for which everyday Paraguayans worked, died, killed, and subverted. By tracing the complex interplay of religion, republicanism, and local social history that created the Paraguayan nation and state, and utilizing sources in the GuaranI language, Parishioners of Sovereignty casts crucial new light on the social history of early nation-building throughout the Americas.
Reviews / Votes
"Michael Huner has crafted a highly readable and compelling tale of elite and popular nationalism in Paraguay, a country whose independence struggles reveal so much about armed contests throughout Latin America."-Anne Eller, author of We Dream Together: Dominican Independence, Haiti, and the Fight for Caribbean Freedom "Parishioners of Sovereignty makes a valuable contribution to our understandings of the myriad ways republicanism evolved in Latin America and the many forms created by Spanish Americans, both rich and poor. The book is meticulously researched, well written, and engaging. It will be of great interest to scholars of republicanism, nation and state formation, war and violence, and nineteenth-century religion. While it will be the book on nineteenth-century Paraguay for these subjects, I am also sure it will be used by scholars across the Americas, especially because Paraguay provides such a fascinating comparative case."-James E. Sanders, author of The Vanguard of the Atlantic World: Creating Modernity, Nation, and Democracy in Nineteenth-Century Latin AmericaMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lincoln
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
3 illustrations, 4 maps, index
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
672 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4962-3141-3 (9781496231413)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Michael Kenneth Huner is an associate professor of history at Grand Valley State University.
Content
List of Illustrations
A Brief Note about Translations and GuaranI Words and Place Names
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Extraordinary Demise of Lieutenant Remigio Acosta
PART I: 1800-1844
Chapter 1: A Curious Republic Born
Chapter 2: A Curious Republic Preserved
Part II: 1844-1865
Chapter 3: Good Christians and Good Citizens
Chapter 4: Divine-Right Republicanism
Chapter 5: Subversive Whims
Part III: 1865-?1870
Chapter 6: Sacred Cause, Republican War
Chapter 7: Anastacio BAez
Conclusions
Notes
Bibliography
Index
A Brief Note about Translations and GuaranI Words and Place Names
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Extraordinary Demise of Lieutenant Remigio Acosta
PART I: 1800-1844
Chapter 1: A Curious Republic Born
Chapter 2: A Curious Republic Preserved
Part II: 1844-1865
Chapter 3: Good Christians and Good Citizens
Chapter 4: Divine-Right Republicanism
Chapter 5: Subversive Whims
Part III: 1865-?1870
Chapter 6: Sacred Cause, Republican War
Chapter 7: Anastacio BAez
Conclusions
Notes
Bibliography
Index