From haciendas to rural elites: Agriculture and economic development in the historiography of rural Mexico

Abstract

A historiographical overview is presented in this work, in relation to two key issues in Mexican rural history: the hacienda and the social actors that moved the agricultural sector, particularly the rural elites. This analysis begins with the classic works of François Chevalier and Charles Gibson, then provides an overview of different approaches (functionalist, sectorial, regional, neo-institutional, business and environmental) to analysing the hacienda. The study focuses on the historiography of rural (or agrarian) elites and its remarkable presence in recent academic works. The authors contend that Mexican agrarian historiography has overflowed its regional geographic scope to become a reference for Latin American historical studies. The development of agrarian studies in Mexico, especially in relation to the hacienda system, stems from the interest in explaining the agrarian nature of the Revolution of 1910. Diverse and even contradictory interpretations have been proposed, which in perspective have allowed huge historiographical advances.