Week 8: Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Ag

Revolution: attempt to shape a view of the past that organizes power in the present and making claims on the meaning of those events. With regard to Latin America people say that the revolution never really ended.

The video talks about the 3 major components of revolution.  There was people like the Diaz’s that benefited from the power and economic advantages that were happening. Another ethos was the revolution of the Serrano- the frontiers-  people that lived a free life in the Mexican state and had seen their life transform because of the modernity that had happened.  For them, this was freedom, and freedom of authority. The last group was the Agrarian: mostly indigenous people living in central and southern Mexico who’s land was illegally taken from them.

The concept of who won the revolution is very difficult to say some people won land and some walked with nothing at all.  I found it very interesting to hear what Dawson said about revolution and how the youngest were usually the ones to survive and they had been followers, not leaders. So at that particular time, it was better to be a follower than a leader which is ironic.  One thing that really struck me was when Dawson talked about the phenomenon that nobody really wins a revolution, you can win a war but never a revolution.

The claim of “liberty and land never go away” I discovered was extremely important.  The 2 icons: Wachovia and Zapata. The fights between the Zapatistas and the Agrarians got me thinking about the world today and how it would be if people asked for their lands back and fought for their lands back. For one- would we be on the Musqueam lands, secondly would war like Israeli/Palestinian conflicts would be further amplified?

The reading of Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age talks about the struggles that people faced whilst trying to gain some type of modernization. When Dawson talks about this he talks about how it was beneficial in some respects but similarly- people do not realise about all the suffering that took place- it was unstable, violent and a struggle despite the fact that it was an “economic boom”