Dr. A. Lauria-Santiago
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Questions for class discussion of readings week four

1. How and why is gender an important category in the analysis of rural society?
2. How were peasant communities in mid-nineteenth century organized?
3. How did Mexico's region differentiate themselves during the nineteenth century?
4. How did Peasants and Rancheros experience the period between the 1830s and 1870s?  What is meant by agrarian decompression?
5. How did the emergence of new middle sectors affect the national politics of the mid-century?
6. How did peasants and their leaders come to participate in the politics of the larger nation-state?
7. How did the development of agrarian capitalism benefit sectors of Mexican society before the 1880s?
8. How was the power and autonomy of local peasants asserted despite the existence of laws that would potentially harm them?
9. What role did the different peasant revolts of the mid-century have in the formation of regional politics and local society?  How did they respond to national politics?
10. How did the process of distribution and privatization of communal lands proceed during the mid-century?