The Work of Recognition: Caribbean Colombia and the Postemancipation Struggle for Citizenship

345 Pages·2014·2.52 MB·English

by  Jason McGraw

The Work of Recognition
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THE WORK
OF RECOGNITION
Caribbean Colombia and the
Postemancipation Struggle for Citizenship
Jason McGraw
The University of North Carolina Press CHAPEL HILL
© 2014 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Set in Miller by codeMantra, Inc.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources. The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the
Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Complete cataloging information for this title is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4696-1786-2 (paper: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4696-1787-9 (ebook)
18 17 16 15 14  5 4 3 2 1
Parts of this book have been reprinted in revised form from “Spectacles of Freedom:
Public Manumissions, Political Rhetoric, and Citizen Mobilisation in Mid-Nineteenth-
Century Colombia,” Slavery and Abolition 32, no. 2 (June 2011): 269–88.
For Ellen, Paolo, and Augie
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Contents
Acknowledgments, xi
Introduction, 1
1 The Emancipatory Moment, 20
2 Revolution of the People, War of the Races, 51
3 The Freedom of Industry and Labor, 73
4 The Lettered Republic, 99
5 The Rise and Fall of Popular Politics, 132
6 A Hungry People Struggles, 164
7 Class War of a Thousand Days, 195
Epilogue, 220
Notes, 233
Bibliography, 283
Index, 313
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Map, Tables, and Illustrations
MAP
I.1 Caribbean Coast of Colombia, 15
TABLES
I.1 Population of Caribbean Coast and Colombia,
1825–1918, 17
I.2 “Population, Classified by Races and Castes, and Savages,”
[1853], 18
1.1 Slave Population of New Granada, 1825–1851, 25
4.1 Primary Instruction, Nationwide and Coastal States,
1848–1895, 108
ILLUSTRATIONS
Ramón Torres Méndez, Champán en el Río Magdalena, 76
Waiting to sell on the banks of the Magdalena, 97
Candelario Obeso, 103
Luis A. Robles, 104
Caño Mercado, Barranquilla, crowded with canoes laden
with corn and fruits, 1906, 184
A Colombian washing day along the Magdalena River,
near Barranquilla, 1906, 186