Los Latinoamericanistas

Summer 2011

In the Spotlight:

“Modesto C. Rolland Family Reunion”: Justin Castro Guest Presentation in Querétaro

I was honored to be the guest speaker at a reunion of the descendants of engineer Modesto C. Rolland, June 2011, in Queretaro, QTO, MX.

I became interested in the life of Modesto C. Rolland early on in my investigations about the development of Mexican radio. He was the president of the Central Mexican Radio League in 1923, authored Mexico’s first broadcasting legislation, and had previously been the Oficial Mayor de Comunicaciones for Venustiano Carranza’s revolutionary government in 1914-1915.

What impressed me most about Rolland was how many aspects of modern Mexico he had helped construct and how long he remained an important part of Mexican industry and the Mexican government. He had taught as a professor during the Porfirio Díaz regime and the brief presidency of Francisco I. Madero. He was a communications leader, propagandists, and intellectual for the Constitutionalists, he was crucial to the agrarian policies of revolutionary Yucatan, he led the move to develop “free ports” in Mexico, he edited multiple newspapers, wrote patents on concrete, built the stadium in Jalapa (1926), was instrumental in the work on Tehuantepec 1920s-1940s, was Under Secretary of Communications during the Cardenas presidency, and was president of the port authority in the 1940s. In addition he built numerous houses and assisted in a number of important engineering projects. His political and engineering career spanned from 1905 to 1952! Especially impressive for such a turbulent period of Mexican history.

I was invited to speak by Modesto’s grandson, engineer Jorge C. Modesto Rolland. He e-mailed me after coming across a query on H-Net LatAm that I posted about Modesto Rolland. Since then we have collaborated much of our work together about Modesto's career. The life and times of Modesto C. Rolland is an ongoing side project of mine that I hope to turn into a full-length book after finishing my dissertation on the impact of early wireless communications in Mexico.

                                                                           Justin J. Castro

Los Latinoamericanistas

FALL 2010

Conferences:

XIII Reunión de Historiadores de México, Estados Unidos y Canadá

“México y sus Revoluciones”

In 2010, Mexicans celebrated the Bicentennial of the Independence Wars and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution.  In commemoration of these events, scholars gathered in Santiago de Querétaro for the XIII Meeting for Historians of Mexico, the United States, and Canada.  From October 26 to 30, scholars presented on themes related to “Mexico and its Revolutions.”  Faculty and students from the University of Oklahoma had the opportunity to attend this international conference in the beautiful city of Querétaro, during the celebratory weekend of the ‘Day of the Dead.’ 

http://13mexeuacan.colmex.mx/

Faculty Presentations:

Dr. Terry Rugeley, “The Private War of Miguel Bruno: National Crisis and Popular Revolution in Tabasco, 1845-1849”

Student Presentations:

Ariana Quezada, “El legado de la Revolución en la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDH)”

Michele M. Stephens, “The revolution before the Revolution: Lozada, Land and Indigenous Action in Jalisco”

125^th Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association

Conference on Latin American History

Boston, MA.  January 6-9, 2011

http://www.historians.org/annual/2011/index.cfm

            Student Presentations:


            J. Justin Castro, “Radio, State Formation, and National Identity in 
            México, 1920-24.”

Student Updates:

Congratulations to J. JUSTIN CASTRO!

            J. Justin Castro (jcastro@ou.edu) successfully completed his comprehensive exams this semester (with distinction).  Justin received his B.A. in history from Northeastern State University in 2005 and his M.A. in history from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2008.  His M.A. focused on the history of song and ethnic interaction in the Cherokee Nation.  He is presently studying Modern Latin American history with Dr. Terry Rugeley.

            Justin works on the history of the radio in Mexico.  His tentative dissertation title is “Waves of Transformation: Radio and Revolution in Mexico, 1900-1934.”  After his exams, Justin worked with microfilmed material from the Benson Latin American Collection (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/benson/).  Justin has three published articles, and this semester he wrote a number of encyclopedia entries for Dr. Alan McPherson’s Encyclopedia of U.S. Intervention in Latin America (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, forthcoming 2013).

http://www.ou.edu/cas/history/grad-castro.html

Well done to GARY MORENO!

          

  Gary Moreno (Gary.A.Moreno-1@ou.edu) is a second year PhD student in Latin American history.  He received his B.A. from Humboldt State University in Northern California.  He completed his M.A. at Long Beach State University in 2009.  His work focuses on Mexican culture and its transnational aspects. 

            Students in the Latin American program are encouraged to conduct archival work as soon as they begin the PhD program.  Gary worked at the following libraries/archives during the fall 2010 semester.
http://www.ou.edu/cas/history/grad-moreno.html  

·      Circus World Museum Robert L. Parkison Library in Baraboo

http://circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org/About/ResearchCenter.aspx

·      Western History Collection, Los Angeles Public Library, George B. Smith Collection

http://www.lapl.org/index.html

·      Oklahoma Historical Society Archives

http://www.okhistory.org/

·      National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (Research Center)

http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/research/cms/

·      Western History Collection (University of Oklahoma)

http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/whc/

·      Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum, Hestand Collection

        http://www.okhistory.org/outreach/homes/pawneebill.html

Los Latinoamericanistas: Summer 2010

Incoming Students:

Welcome Matt S. Caire to the Latin American program at the University of Oklahoma.  Matt Caire comes to OU from Southern California.  His research focuses on corn in modern Mexican history.  More specifically, he researches how economic and political policies adopted over the last three decades, have impacted corn’s place in Mexico’s cultural, agricultural, economic and political landscapes over the last 80 years.  He received his BA degree from Humboldt State University and his MA degree from Bowling Green State University.  Matt enjoys traveling, jogging and spending time outdoors.

http://www.ou.edu/cas/history/grad-caire.html

Summer 2010 Research Trips

The past three years, Dr. Terry Rugeley has guided a group of history students to the archives of Mexico.  In this trip: Terry Rugeley, Margarita Peraza-Rugeley, Justin Castro, Gary Moreno, Teryn Piper, and Ariana Quezada.

Students in Mexico City

Teryn and Ariana in Chiapas and Guatemala

Students visited the following archives:

Archivo General de la Nación

http://www.agn.gob.mx/

Archivo General del Estado de Chiapas (Centro Cultural de Chiapas Jaime Sabines)

http://gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/chu/chiapas-info/General/index.htm

Archivo Histórico del Ayuntamiento de la Ciudad de México

http://cronicascartograficas.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/archivo-historico-del-ayuntamiento-de-la-ciudad-de-mexico/

Archivo Histórico Diocesano, San Cristóbal de Las Casas (Chiapas)

http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/tavera/mexico/cristobal.html

Centro de Estudios de Historia de México (CARSO) and previously Condumex

http://www.cehm.com.mx/En/Pages/Home.aspx

Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas (CDI) and previously Instituto Nacional Indigenista (INI)

http://www.cdi.gob.mx/

Museo de la Charrería 

http://www.elcentrohistorico.com.mx/lugares-museo-de-la-charreria.html

Los Latinoamericanistas

Spring 2011

New Graduates:

Dr. Terry Rugeley and Dr. Michele Stephens

The spring semester proved a historic moment for the Latin American history program at the University of Oklahoma.  Michele M. Stephens became the program’s first Ph.D. graduate.  Her dissertation titled “Under the Eyes of God: The Huichols and the Mexican State, 1810-1910” examines how the Huichols maintained a significant degree of indigenous identity and culture in the face of an expanding Mexican state over the course of the 19th century. In many ways, the Huichols used the state against itself in defense of core beliefs (one of the most important of which was peyote) and adapted aspects of non-indigenous culture that would not threaten their existence. 

Michele accepted a two-year position as a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Denison University in Granville, OH. 

Teryn L. Piper successfully defended her Master’s Thesis titled “The 1974 Congreso Indigena: The Church, the State, and the Emergence of the Indigenous Movement of Chiapas.”  Teryn conducted summer research in the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City and archives in Tuxtla Gutiérrez and San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas.

Congratulations to Michele and Teryn!

Conferences:

The University of Oklahoma Department of History consistently encourages students to present their work.  Here are this semester’s conference presentations:

58^th Annual Conference of the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies (RMCLAS)

                        Santa Fe, New Mexico (April 6-9, 2011)

                        http://www.rmclas.org/conf_11.php

                        Student Presentations:

Matt Caire, “From Commonplace to Concern: Mexico’s Corn Crisis, 1940-2008”

                        Gary Moreno, “Mexicans in the Wild West:  José ‘Mexican Joe’ Barrera as Performer”

Gary Moreno, Matt Caire, Dr. Sterling Evans, Dr. Chris White (RMCLAS)

New Students:

Welcome  Elena!

Elena Llinas received her B.A. in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology from the University of Arizona in 2007.  She fell in love with history after exploring various fields within the Social Sciences. Elena is now working on her M.A. with Dr. Terry Rugeley exploring the complex dynamics of education in the 19th and 20th centuries in the southern Mexican region of Yucatán.

http://www.ou.edu/cas/history/grad-llinas.html

Student Updates:

Research Trips

This semester Gary Moreno and Justin Castro visited the Wisconsin Historical Society. 

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/

Gary Moreno 

Comprehensive Exams

            Congratulations to Ariana Quezada for completing her doctoral exams.  

Los Latinoamericanistas: Spring 2010 Activities

Remembering the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920 (February, 2010)

            The Latin American group at the University of Oklahoma cordially accepted an invitation to a commemorative symposium in Arlington, TX,  “Remembering the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920.”  Guest speakers included Jürgen Buchaneau, Miguel Ángel González Quiroga, Douglas Richmond, Linda Hall, Thomas Benjamin, Stephen E. Lewis, and Carlos R. Martínez Assad.

RMCLAS 2010 (April 7-11, 2010)

            We had a strong showing at the 57^th Annual Conference of the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies.  Dr. Terry Rugeley proudly brought home the Lieuwen Teaching Award. 

Faculty Presentations:

Sterling Evans, "Crossing Borders and Ecosystems: The Intersections of Borderlands, Transnational, and Environmental History"

Terry Rugeley, "Miguel Bruno and the Tabascan Resistance, 1844-1849"

Student Presentations: 

J. Justin Castro, "Radio and the Bourgeois Revolution, 1921-1924”

Gary Moreno, "From the Hacienda to Hollywood: A History of Professional Charro Performance"

Ariana Quezada, "Human Rights and the Sanctuary Movement in Oklahoma"

Michele M. Stephens, "A Small, Powerful 'Being': Peyote and Cultural Continuity Among the Huicholes"