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8/3/2019 Matthias Vom Hau - Unpacking the School: Textbooks, Teachers, and the Construction of Nationhood in Mexico, Arg

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Unpacking the School Textbooks, Teachers, and the Construction

of Nationhood in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru

Matthias vom Hau

Latin American Research Review, Volume 44, Number 3, 2009,

pp. 127-154 (Article)

Published by Latin American Studies Association

DOI: 10.1353/lar.0.0105

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Latin American Research Review, Vol. 44, No. 3. 2009 by the Latin American Studies Association.

U N PAC K I N G T H E S C H O O L

Textbooks, Teachers, and the Construction

o Nationhood in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru

Matthias vom HauBrooks World Poverty Institute, University o Manchester

Abstract: This article examines trajectories o nationalism in twentieth-centuryArgentina, Mexico, and Peru through the analytical lens o schooling. I argue that

textbooks reveal state-sponsored conceptions o nationhood. In turn, the outlooksand practices o teachers provide a window or understanding how state ideologieswere received, translated, and reworked within society. During the late nineteenthcentury, textbooks in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru conceived o the nation as a po-litical community, emphasized civilization or having achieved national unity, andviewed elites as driving national history. During the twentieth century, textbookseventually advanced a cultural understanding o the nation, envisioned nationalunity to be achieved through assimilation into a homogeneous national identity,and assigned historical agency to the masses. Yet teacher responses to the textbooksvaried. In Mexico, under Lzaro Crdenas (19341940), teachers predominantlyembraced textbooks that promoted a popular national culture. Teachers in Argen-

tina under Juan Pern (19461955) and in Peru under Juan Velasco (19681975)largely opposed the texts.

This article examines trajectories o nationalism in twentieth-centuryArgentina, Mexico, and Peru through the analytical lens o schooling.The classical works on nationalism treat schools as a key site or cultivat-ing national attachments and or socializing the citizenry into nationalramings o everyday experience (e.g., Gellner 1983; Hobsbawm 1990;Smith 1986). Yet the specifc mechanisms o how national socialization

unolds in schools oten remain obscure in this literature.1 This articleocuses on the role o textbooks and teachers in the construction o na-tionhood. School textbooksespecially those used in primary schoolsreveal state-sponsored versions o national identity and history. In turn,schoolteachers worldviews and their use o textbooks provide a window

I am grateul or the generous support o this research by the Social Science Research Coun-cil and the German Academic Exchange Service. I would like to especially thank James Ma-honey, John Modell, Myriam Southwell, Fulya Apaydin, and the three anonymous LARR

reviewers or their excellent comments and advice.1. An important exception is Webers (1976) study o nationalization in nineteenth-century rural France that careully disentangles the roles o teachers, textbooks, and class-room acilities.


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128 Latin American Research Review

or understanding how those ofcial ideas are received, translated, andreworked at the interace between state and society.2

Over the past decades, several studies have used textbooks to analyze

ofcial conceptions o nationhood in Latin America (e.g., Arnove 1995;Cucuzza and Somoza 2001; Nava 2006; Plotkin 2002; Portocarrero andOliart 1989; Vaughan 1982; Vzquez 2000).3 Analogously, a substantial lit-erature on the role o Latin American teachers in national socializationhas emerged (e.g., Angell 1982; Contreras 1996; Luykx 1998; Rockwell 2007;Vaughan 1997). However, most o these studies are single-case studiesor edited volumes (e.g., Ossenbach and Somoza 2001; Rieckenberg 1991)without a comparative perspective. A ocus on Mexico, Argentina, andPeru provides the opportunity to address the relative absence o compara-

tive studies on nationalism and schooling in Latin America.The historical development o public education in the three countries

represents extreme points within the region. During the early twentiethcentury, Argentina already marshaled a airly extensive public educationsystem, whereas in Mexico and Peru public schooling remained in anembryonic stage. Mexico experienced a substantial expansion o publiceducation during the 1930s and 1940s; in Peru, comparable institutionaldevelopments unolded much later, during the 1950s and 1960s (Bertoni2001; Contreras 1996; Vaughan 1997).

From a comparative perspective, textbooks in these otherwise verydierent countries exhibited striking similarities. During the late nine-teenth century, textbooks in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru portrayed thenation as a political association, grounded in a social contract among cit-izens that was symbolized by a shared constitutional ramework. Thispolitical-territorial understanding o the national community convergedwith the idea o creating a civilized nation. Mexican, Argentine, and Pe-ruvian textbooks depicted their respective national history as an evolu-tion rom barbarism to greater civilization, a process that was driven by

a ew great men. Throughout the twentieth century, cultural understand-ings o national identity gained prevalence; the nation was imagined asgrounded in cultural eatures, such as a shared language, religion, cus-toms, or ethnic identity; and accounts o national history became centeredon the agency o popular sectors.

The timing o these changes varied across cases. In Mexico, shits intextbook content unolded during the 1920s and 1930smost promi-

2. Other approaches to nationalism and schooling include analyzing curricula (e.g.,

Dvila 2003; Escud 1990) or exploring the in-class perormance o national discourses andpractices (e.g., Levinson 2001). The particular advantage o textbooks is that they conveycurriculum contents that actually reach teachers and students. Moreover, historical dataon teachers is oten easier to obtain than comparable inormation on students. A ocus onteachers is thus particularly appropriate when school ethnography is not possible.

3. For the concept o nationhood, see Brubaker (1996).


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UNPACKINGTHESCHOOL 129

nently under the government o Lzaro Crdenas (19341940). In Argen-tina, cultural conceptions o nationhood gained prominence during the1910s, whereas a greater emphasis on popular agency emerged during the

1940s and 1950s, under the government o Juan Domingo Pern (19461955). In Peru, comparable changes took place only during the 1960s and1970s, most importantly under the military government o Juan Velasco(19681975).

Teachers reactions to the changes also diered. Schoolteachers inMexico largely embraced the changed conceptions o nationhood oundin textbooks andi availableused the new teaching materials issuedby the Crdenas government. By contrast, the majority o teachers in Ar-gentina opposed the ideas about national identity and history ound in

Peronist textbooks and employed various strategies to circumvent usingsuch texts. In Peru, teachers were divided in their own understandings onationhood, yet they largely converged in their opposition to the newlyissued texts and actively sought to avoid their use in the classroom. Thus,during the twentieth century, textbooks in all three countries showed asimilar shit rom political and elitist to cultural and class-based under-standings o nationhood, while the timing and teacher responses to thesechanges varied substantially across cases.

CONCEPTUALANDMETHODOLOGICALCONSIDERATIONS

Textbooks are written texts that are specifcally crated or use in teach-ing. Even when taking into consideration the potentially huge dierencesbetween text content and classroom lessons, textbooks are o critical im-portance in shaping what students learn. Especially in countries with de-veloping public education systems, teachers requently employ textbooksas their main device to prepare or lessons. As a matter o act, textbooksare oten the frst, and sometimes the only, books that students are ex-

posed to. Moreover, as is evident in the long history o controversies overtextbooks, the public usually treats textbooks as authoritative and accu-rate sources or what students should know.4

Textbooks do not reveal the acts; they convey particular visions osocial reality by emphasizing and downplaying certain aspects o theworld. As cultural artiacts, textbooks are planned, designed, and distrib-uted by actors with real interests. In particular, states are the key actorsin shaping textbooks. Textbooks are written by individual authors andoten compete as economic commodities in the market, yet the political

hand o state textbook-adoption policies primarily determines their con-tent and structure (Apple 1992, 6). A common strategy o state agencies is,

4. For examples o textbook controversies, see DelFattore (1994) on the United States,Gilbert (1997) on Mexico, and Nozaki (2002) on Japan.


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or instance, to sponsor special approval commissions that either directlyselect specifc texts or compile a list o approved titles rom which schoolsmake their choices.

At the same time, textbooks do not determine classroom activities. Notevery statement in the texts is taught and ollowed literally. Schoolteach-ers regularly contextualize, rethink, and change textbook contents. Eventhough teachers requently constitute the largest group o civil servantsand the main contact point between state and local citizenry, they are notjust transmitters o state-sponsored policies and ideological orientations.The role o teachers is more aptly described as translators who adapt andlocalize ofcial curricula. Indeed, teachers oten act as local intellectu-als, recognized as having the authority and responsibility to deend and

promote their community (Wilson 2001, 314). Teachers, thereore, play acritical role in the translation o state-sponsored conceptions o nation-hood ound in textbooks into everyday understandings o the world.

This article analyzes textbooks rom the implementation o obligatorypublic schooling in late-nineteenth-century Mexico, Argentina, and Peruuntil the educational reorms during the 1980s and 1990s,5 the main ocusbeing periods o substantial change. For each country I reviewed betweenfty and seventy textbooks, with at least fve publications per decade. Theselection criteria or my sample had three pillars. First, I ocused on pri-

mary school textbooks, because only a small segment o the populationattended secondary schools during the time o interest. Second, I selectedthose textbooks that were published or approved by national educationalauthorities. Third, I preerred approved texts that were reprinted in sev-eral editions, which indicated their actual use.

To explore the negotiation o textbooks by teachers, I used existing sec-ondary literature on the subject (e.g., Angell 1982; Artieda 1993; Bernettiand Puiggrs 1993; Civera 2004; Gvirtz 1996; Portocarrero and Oliart 1989;Rockwell 2007; Vaughan 1997; Wilson 2001) in combination with dier-

ent kinds o primary sources.6 In each source, I explored normative judg-ments o major historical epochs and ideas about the main agents drivingnational history. Analogously, I traced descriptions o national heroes andrepresentations o major external enemies. Finally, I ocused on hierar-

5. From this point onward, decentralization o public education makes textbooks a lessreliable source or tracing state-sponsored conceptions o nationhood.

6. In Mexico I drew on teacher testimonies already active during the 1920s and 1930sound in the oral history archive Archivo de la Palabra. I reviewed orty-fve interviews and

ultimately used evidence rom thirteen o them that contained inormation on the use otextbooks and personal outlooks on national identity and history. In Argentina I combinedsemistructured interviews with teachers active during the Peronist era and La Obra, a pe-riodical written by teachers or teachers. Because o retirement and age, I was able to locateonly our retired schoolteachers. In Peru, I conducted thirteen semistructured interviews withteachers already active during the 1970s.


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chies imagined within the nation and tracked characterizations o immi-grants and indigenous people.

TEXTBOOKSANDNATIONHOODDURINGTHEOLIGARCHICPERIOD

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centurya period otendescribed in terms o oligarchic dominationcentral state power consoli-dated in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru. State elites saw the school as the keyinstitution or modernizing and nationalizing society. School programs,curricula, and teacher training were brought under the direct control othe respective central government, and state authorities installed specialtextbook approval commissions (Bertoni 2001; Contreras 1996; Vaughan

1982).

Political Conceptions o Nationhood and the Creation o a Civilized Nation

From a comparative perspective, textbooks converged in their emphasison the political-territorial underpinnings o national membership. State-ments like The Peruvian nation is the political association o all Peruvi-ans (Wiesse 1913, 52) were common. Some textbooks even echoed Re-nans idea o the nation as a daily plebiscite and conceived o the national

community as the creation o our wills taken together (Eizaguirre 1895,20). Political institutions were depicted as defning eatures o nationhood.The constitution appeared as the central uniying orce, guaranteeing thatall the inhabitants . . . have the right and acility to do what they please(Sierra 1894, 7).

Accounts o national history urther reinorced such a political under-standing o nationhood. In Argentina, textbooks ocused on the ormationo a binding legal order, which constituted Argentina as a ederal republic,and systematically downplayed the early-nineteenth-century struggles

and civil wars between regional strongmen and political elites rom Bue-nos Aires (Fregeiro 1896, 201; Pelliza 1905, 103106). Analogously, Peruvianhistory tended to culminate in the Republic o Peru as a teleological end-ing point, while in Mexican textbooks the liberal constitution rom 1857appeared as the historical destiny o the nation, securing material prog-ress and internal peace (Fanning 1915, 18; Rosay 1913, 183; Sierra 1894, 7).

The political understanding o nationhood converged with the visiono a civilized nation.7 In all three countries, textbooks advocated thespread o civilizationa category associated with whiteness, economic

modernization, and an urban and cosmopolitan European cultureasthe main vehicle or overcoming ethnoracial and political divisions. For

7. For the distinction between civilized nation and homogeneous nation, see Quijada(2000).


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instance, many o the main characters that appeared in school texts werechildren o an upper-middle-class background, oten portrayed as enthu-siastically immersed in the study o ancient Greek and Roman cultures

(e.g., Pizzurno 1901, 223228).Accordingly, textbooks drew a major distinction between those who

were imagined as part o the civilized nation and those who were not,portraying the indigenous population as the main maniestation o bar-barism. In Argentina, textbooks celebrated the Conquest o the Desertoutright extermination campaigns against indigenous people during thesecond hal o the nineteenth centuryas extending civilization into theinterior o the country (e.g., Ferreyra 1895, 41, 78; Pelliza 1905, 112113).Mexican and Peruvian textbooks stressed that indigenous people main-

tained their superstitions and idolatries rom beore the conquest (Sierra1894, 63) and thereore lacked capacities or ull citizenship. The remedyto overcome the proound dejection o the indigenous race (Rodrguez1900, 145) appeared to be the systematic whitening o the population withthe help o education and European migration.

Benevolent Elites and Evolution toward Civilization

The idea o a civilized nation also shaped representations o the past. In

all three countries, textbooks identifed the precolonial period with bar-barism. Even the Aztecs and Incasin Mexican and Peruvian textbookscredited or their achievements as architects and political centralizers(Oviedo 1894, 12; Rodrguez 1900, 4)ultimately lacked civilization. Thiswas epitomized by the practice o human sacrifces, which textbooks de-scribed as an inamous holocaust that showed the anaticism o thesepeople and the cruelty o their unrefned and uncivilized religion (Agu-irre Cinta 1897, 37).

In all three countries, textbooks provided a positive assessment o

Spanish colonialism. Ultimately, the benefcial eects o Spanish colo-nialism oset violence and exploitation because the Spanish gave theirAmerican colonies as much civilization as Spain had hersel (Sierra 1894,in Vzquez 2000, 128). Spanish colonialism instituted centralized rule,while the spread o Spanish as the dominant language and the arrival oChristianity ostered national unity and progress. As such, the result oSpanish colonialism was the ormation o a new society . . . , based on theprinciples o a superior culture (Rodrguez 1900, 4).

Representations o colonial history also illustrate the elite-centeredness

o late-nineteenth-century textbooks. Textbook narratives were primarilyorganized around political leaders. In Argentina, accounts o Spanish co-lonialism celebrated the oresight and virtues o Christopher Columbus, Juan Daz de Sols, and Pedro Mendoza (Eizaguirre 1895, 76). In Mexicoand Peru, accounts o the Spanish Conquest predominantly concentrated


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on the character traits o Hernn Corts and Francisco Pizarro (AguirreCinta 1897, 6599): without the boldness o Hernn Corts the countrywould have never been conquered and submitted to Spanish govern-

ment (Lain 1890, 3).Descriptions o national independence were equally constructed

around elites. In Mexico, textbook narratives centered on Miguel Hidalgo,who successully initiated the insurgency because the Indians adoredhim and would have ollowed him to the end o the world (Sierra 1894,74). In Argentina and Peru, accounts o national independence were cen-tered on General San Martn, who was a man o right judgment, o re-fned sentiments, o pure patriotism, and o honest character (Rodrguez1900, 98). I textbooks mentioned subordinate sectors, they appeared as

obedient subjects, content to ollow the orders o their leaders.

TEXTBOOKSANDNATIONHOODDURINGTHEPOPULISTPERIOD

Over the course o the twentieth century, textbooks published in Mex-ico, Argentina, and Peru changed dramatically. State-approved texts ad-vanced a cultural understanding o nationhood, envisioned the construc-tion o a homogeneous nation, and began to portray popular sectors asprotagonists o national history. The timing o these changes varied sub-

stantially across the three countries.

Mexico

The decades ater the Mexican Revolution (19101920) witnessed theconsolidation o state power within the context o highly mobilized sub-ordinate sectors. During the 1920s, the newly ormed Secretara de Ed-ucacin Pblica (SEP) made the expansion o a rural school network itstop priority (Vaughan 1982). Under Crdenas, the SEP introduced a new

curriculum grounded in the ideas o socialist education, a program thatenvisioned schools as the primary mechanism or controlled popular mo-bilization (Vaughan 1997).

State-approved textbooks advanced cultural defnitions o nationhood.The underpinning o a homogeneous national culture appeared to be mes-tizaje, the process o biological and cultural mixing initiated under Span-ish rule. The three centuries o Spanish domination were enough or anew race to emerge within the territory o New Spain, . . . a result o themixing between conquerors and the conquered. This race that inherited

the language, religions, and customs rom the Spanish and the sense oresistance and stoicism rom indigenous people, is the one that constitutesthe Mexican nation today (Bonilla 1925, 8384).

While the notion o mestizaje departed rom explicit reerences to thespread o civilization, textbooks continued to reproduce cultural and ra-


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cial hierarchies. Becoming mestizo meant speaking Spanish and adoptinga modern urban liestyle. Being indigenous meant to not ully belong tothe nation. Only with the assimilation o the indigenous population intoa homogeneous mestizo identity would Mexico attain national unity (TejaZabre 1935, 189). Thus, textbooks viewed mestizaje as both a historical

process initiated during the colonial period and an idealized projection omixture removed rom contemporary lived experience.

The representation o Mexico as a mestizo nation converged with anemphasis on social class. Textbooks depicted mestizos as peasants, work-ers, and parts o the middle sectors. As shown in fgure 1, the daily lie ochildren rom humble origins became a ocal point o these texts.

This ocus on popular classes also inormed accounts o national his-tory. Against the orders o Moctezuma, the masses rose up and launcheda massive attack against the Spanish (de la Cerda 1943, 131). Subordinate

sectors also appeared as a crucial orce in national independence and theMexican Revolution. The people, who elt their oppression . . . that cre-ated the Dictatorship [o Porfrio Daz], began with reclaiming their rightsin a peaceul manner, but exasperated by the dictatorship, they had toact in a violent orm (Romero Flores 1939, 347). Thus, during the 1930s,

Figure 1 Peasants and workers as textbook protagonists. Drawing by Diego Rivera, inManuel Velzquez Andrade, Fermn (Mexico City: Secretaria de Educacin Pblica,1927).


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textbooks began to assign agency to popular sectors in shaping Mexicanhistory.

Transcending particular historical epochs, the oligarchy constituted

the main internal other. The Aztec empire was ruled by a nobility com-posed o priests and warriors, a closed caste the plebeians could not en-ter into (Chvez Orozco 1938, 103, 113). For the colonial period, textbooksidentifed merchants, in their majority Spaniards, as the worst exploit-ers (Castro Cancio 1935, 105), while ater independence, criollo merchantsand large landowners appeared as major obstacles to national progress(de la Cerda 1943, 243).

These class-based depictions o national history were complemented bymore celebratory descriptions o the precolonial period. Textbooks drew

an intrinsic connection between modern Mexico and the Aztec empire,oten portraying ordinary Aztecs as Mexicans, and started to contextual-ize human sacrifces. The inquisition introduced by Spanish colonizersappeared to have destroyed people with a more painul death when com-pared to Aztec sacrifces (Bonilla 1930, 63). Textbooks also assessed Span-ish colonialism in largely negative terms. Internal divisions were the mainreason or the all o the Aztec empire, and with Spanish colonial rule, aperiod o oreign domination began. Corts did not have much talent andabandoned his studies to pass his time on the street (Castro Cancio 1935,

44). Thus, Corts personifed Spanish cruelty and greed, enhanced by theact that the conqueror lacked a proper education.

Representations o Mexican independence ollowed the general empha-sis on subordinate agency. The emergence o global capitalism weakenedSpains authority, a process that enabled subordinate movements to gainmore leverage vis--vis colonial authorities (Teja Zabre 1935, 120). Hidalgowas portrayed as responding to a strong popular impulse and provid-ing a politically, socially, and militarily oriented plan when enormousmasses o people began to ollow their instincts to fght or their ree-

dom and economic improvement, tired o so much misery and tyranny(Castro Cancio 1935, 145).

Yet textbooks were highly critical o the fnal outcome. In the end, theRevolution o Independence was crushed. . . . It was the great landown-ers and higher clergy who contributed to carry out Independence as apurely political project o separation rom Spain (Teja Zabre 1935, 139).Only the revolutionary struggles between 1910 and 1917 secured Mexicosull political and economic independence. Textbooks embraced the imageo the Mexican Revolution as a revolution o the exploited poor against

the opulent exploiters (Castro Cancio 1935, 250).Under Crdenass successors, educational authorities ollowed the gen-

eral move toward the right o the postrevolutionary regime. However,during the 1940s and 1950s, most o the ofcial textbooks introduced un-der Crdenas remained in use (Vzquez 2000, 246). During the early 1960s,


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the SEP established the so-called ree text program, which distributed asingle set o mandatory textbooks to students (Gilbert 1997, 274). This newgeneration o texts continued to envision Mexico as a mestizo nation and

ully identifed Mexico with the Aztec empire. While the ree texts sot-ened their tone, accounts o national history remained organized aroundclass conict and subordinate agency (Vzquez 2000, 256257, 281283). Itwas only during the 1980s and 1990s that state-approved textbooks wit-nessed another round o major changes, when the idea o a homogeneousmestizo nation gave way to the image o Mexico as a multiethnic nation(Gutirrez Chong 1999, 7289).

ArgentinaIn Argentina, state-approved textbooks went through two major trans-

ormative episodes. The frst change developed against the backdrop odeclining oligarchic power, and the almost-complete demographic re-organization o the country as a result o mass migration rom Europeand the Middle East. Around 1910 educational authorities instituted pa-triotic education as the overarching principle o public schooling, whichremained the dominant orientation or educational policy until the 1940s(Escud 1990).

Textbooks published during this period portrayed Argentinean iden-tity as grounded in a Hispanic national culture. The nation appeared tobe constituted by those who share the same language, have the same tra-ditions, [and] come rom the same ancestors (de Bedogni 1910, 15). Thegaucho emerged as the personifcation o Argentine identity. O Spanishdescent, in his veins moved the blood o warriors, artists, nomads, andsingers (Bunge 1910, 155). Endowed with the strength o lions (Fesquetand Tolosa 1935, 99), he ran ree and rebellious like his horse (Levene1912, 21). The gaucho already was Argentine beore national emancipation.

He serenaded the atherland without even knowing it. He loved reedomand set the stage or national independence (Bunge 1910, 155). The gauchothus exemplifed the existence o Argentina as a cultural community andallowed or the backward projection o the nation into the colonial period.

European migration appeared as a mixed blessing. Migrants were criti-cal or economic progress, yet textbooks lamented their lack o nationalidentifcation. Migrant assimilation into a Hispanic national culture ap-peared as the only viable path toward unity and progress: This ather-land, generous to the oreigner, demands the orgetting o all the other

atherlands in exchange or its provisions (Blomberg 1940, 224).This new emphasis on national culture combined with the continued

celebration o elites as driving orces o national history. Accounts o thecolonial period remained organized around the agency o Spanish con-


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querors. Analogously, the military genius, courage, and intelligenceo San Martn, the greatest o all Argentines, remained critical or trans-orming Argentina into a sovereign nation (de Bourguet 1932, 46; Macas

1933, 45).The second major transormative episode unolded in a context o ma-

jor subordinate mobilization and changing political alliances. In 1946,Juan Domingo Pern, a ormer military ofcer, ascended to power andbuilt a highly personalistic political movement grounded in a coalitionwith organized labor. The Peronist government radically redefned theschool curriculum and modifed the content o textbooks, all to be ori-ented toward the creation o the true Argentine man (Cucuzza and So-moza 2001, 212213).

A new generation o textbooks advanced a class-based understand-ing o the nation. Workers and peasants appeared in opposition to theoligarchy that had ruled the country or centuries. Textbooks were espe-cially critical o Spanish colonial elites and their role in exploiting Ar-gentinas natural resources. This new emphasis on popular sectors couldalso be detected on the visual level. As fgure 2 shows, stonemasons, carmechanics, and carpenters populated Peronist textbooks, breaking withthe exclusive ocus on upper-class lie ound in previous texts (de Garca1954, 17).

In the new Argentina, there was no need or class conict anymore.Struggles between elites and the masses were a reality o the past. Instead,in a context where everybody, even the most humble Argentines[, would]beneft rom the riches o the country (de Garca 1954, x), social peacewould prevail. Textbooks portrayed Argentina as a land where work-ers are happy (Raggi 1953, 2), and where class conict had given way tosocial harmony.

The people also emerged as protagonists o national history. The inde-pendence wars succeeded because o the brave and heroic gauchos [who]

strolled around the mountains and caused despair among the hostiletroops with their surprising attacks (de Garca 1954, 85). Peronist text-books even envisioned San Martn as a man o the people (de Palacio1952, 124). Historical accounts thus moved away rom an exclusive ocuson enlightened leadership and emphasized the critical role o subordinateclasses.

This emphasis on popular agency stood in tension with the identifca-tion o a charismatic leader and his wie as the embodiment o the nation.Peronist textbooks engaged in a ull-edged personality cult centered on

Pern and his wie Eva. Pern appeared as the conductor (de Garca1954, 5), the frst worker o the Republic (de Palacio 1952, 111), and theauthentic Argentine (Raggi 1953, 33). Evita was represented as SpiritualMother (de Palacio 1952, 38), and ater her death in 1952, she ascended to-


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wards immortality (Raggi 1953, 99), having burned her lie to build theNew Argentina (de Garca 1954, 11). Textbooks ultimately suggested thatonly the conjuncture between the heroism o the masses and the guidanceo benevolent leadership would enable national development.

Compared to the 1910s, the representation o European migration be-came more positive. During the 1940s and 1950s, textbooks depicted Ar-gentina as a crisol de razas, the local version o the melting pot. Most de-

scriptions ocused on migrants o European descent. Blond and brownkids, Italians with blue eyes and Spaniards with dark hair, men andwomen rom all parts come to Argentina, in the hope o [fnding] a worldo peace and calm, where the dignity o work is respected (de Garca

Figure 2 My Father Is a Construction Worker. Luisa de Garca, Patria Justa (Buenos

Aires: Kapelusz, 1953).


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1954, 164). Peronist textbooks thus used a class-based understanding othe national community with the idea o Argentina as a white and Eu-ropean nation. The destination o the crisol de razas continued to be the

assimilation into a Hispanic culture (de Garca 1954, 115).In 1955 a military coup ousted Pern rom government. The new educa-

tional authorities were quick to remove Peronist textbooks rom schools.The texts published during the subsequent decades avoided any men-tioning o Pern and Eva. At the same time, representations o nationalidentity and history largely resembled those ound in Peronist textbooks.Texts emphasized the Hispanic roots o Argentina, and accounts o na-tional history continued to stress the agency o the people, especially instruggles against Spanish colonial rule. Similar to Mexico, major changes

in textbook content unolded again only during the 1980s and 1990s. Fromthis period onward, state-approved textbooks began to problematizequestions about the national we and celebrated the recognition o cul-tural dierences within the nation (Romero, de Privitellio, Quintero, andSabato 2004, 43, 4964, 9495, 168169).

Peru

Comparable changes in textbook content unolded much later in Peru,

yet again in a context o subordinate mobilization and the decline o oli-garchic power. During the 1960s, textbooks began to emphasize history,language, and religion as basic identity markers. All o the Peruviansrom the Coast, the Highlands, and the Jungle orm the Peruvian nation,we all speak Spanish, proess to Catholicism [and] celebrate the same he-roes (Venciendo 1960, 531). Similar to Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s,textbooks envisioned mestizaje as the crucial underpinning o this sharedculture (Pons Muzzo 1961, 23).

The ormation o a mestizo nation remained incomplete. Textbooks

complained about an alarming cultural diversity caused by the unfn-ished process o transculturation (Pons Muzzo 1961, 16). Lets assumethat we could unite [all Peruvians] on a large square. There would be tenmillion noisy people o dierent races, speaking dierent languages, be-longing to dierent religious belies (Peruanito 1964, 320). Those to blameor this lack o cohesion were indigenous people, whose insistence onmaintaining their own autochthonous culture impeded their assimila-tion into a homogeneous national identity (Pons Muzzo 1961, 16).

Notions o transculturation thus remained wedded to occidental cul-

tural orms. White children o middle- or upper-class backgrounds ap-peared as the main characters in textbooks, and their association withindigenous culture remained confned to the celebration o olklore andethnic consumption (e.g., Coquito 1963, 233). Analogously, enlightened and


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benevolent individualsmost o them military leadersremained thedriving orces o national history (e.g., Pons Muzzo 1962, 5767; Venciendo1960, 449).

More dramatic shits in textbook content unolded during the 1970s,when Velascos military government initiated a period o substantial po-litical, social, and ideological change. More than any previous presidentin modern Peruvian history, Velasco enjoyed a high degree o autonomyrom traditional elites, and his ambitious reorm program, most impor-tantly agrarian reorm, permanently weakened oligarchic domination.

Educational authorities designed a new generation o primary schooltexts that portrayed the peopleconceived o as workers, peasants, andthe middle sectors (Fichas 1974b, 5.5)as constituting the core o the

national community. Similar to Mexico and Argentina, visual representa-tions ocused on children whose parents worked as carpenters, armers,or small shopkeepers (e.g.,Amigo 1976; Paseo 1976). This class-based under-standing o national identity also transormed representations o Perusracial divisions. Textbooks understood indigenous people primarily aspeasants and workers, while the oligarchy emerged as the most importantinternal other (Fichas 1974a, 3, 31.4; 1974b, 5.3).

During the 1970s, textbooks also became less celebratory when assess-ing the potentials o mestizaje. Texts described transculturation between

Spain and indigenous societies as a violent process that led to the dis-tortion o the previously existing national identity (Fichas 1974b, 1.3). Artorms, cognitive scripts, and normative orientations ound among indig-enous peoples in the Andes appeared as maniestations o an authenticnational culture. The origins o Peru were located in the Inca empire. Along time ago Peru was governed by kings called the Incas. Peru was thencalled the Inca Empire (Peruanito 1974, 27).

Accounts o the colonial period reinorced Perus precolonial origins.Similar to Mexico, textbooks represented Spanish colonialism as a period

o oreign domination and emphasized that Spanish authorities acedconsiderable resistance rom below. Peruvians always ought againstthe Spanish (Fichas 1974a, 31.3) and rose up against the abuse colonialauthorities committed against indigenous people (Venciendo 1976, 111).Tpac Amaru emerged as the Peruvian precursor o national indepen-dence (Venciendo 1976, 112115;Amigo 1976). General San Martn declaredthe Independence o Peru, but the Peruvian people had already ought ormany years to be ree. The frst great revolution that took place in Americaagainst Spain was orchestrated byJos Gabriel Condorcanqui Tpac Amaru

[italics in original] (Peruanito 1974, 155). As shown in fgure 3, Tpac Am-arus prominence as a central national hero also maniested itsel in his in-creased visibility. He was credited or channeling the state o consistentrebellion against Spanish colonial rule ound among popular classes intoa major insurgency (Fichas 1974b, 15.2).


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In 1975 a dissident group within the military removed Velasco rompower, and soon thereater, the educational reorm initiated under hisgovernment stalled. Many o the textbooks published during the 1960sregained state approval and were used together with the texts publishedunder Velasco, as schools did not witness textbook removal eorts com-parable to those o Argentina in 1955 (Portocarrero and Oliart 1989, 8993).

Similar to Mexico and Argentina, another round o substantial textbookchanges unolded again during the 1990s, when a new generation o text-books began to depict Peru as a multiethnic nation and emphasize therecognition o cultural dierences as integral part o the national project(Garca 2005, 7883).

Figure 3 Tpac Amaru. Luis Guillermo Talavera, Educacin Cvica (Lima: EditorialColegio Militar Leoncio Prado, 1979).


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TEACHERSANDTHENEGOTIATIONOFNATIONHOOD

From a comparative vantage point, state-approved textbooks published

in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru during the mid-twentieth century ex-hibited strikingly similar patterns o change. Yet teachers negotiation othose changes varied substantially across the three countries.

Mexico

During the 1920s and 1930s, the new postrevolutionary state elites sawschooling as the key to integrating a conict-stricken society. Teachers rep-resented the vanguard in transorming and nationalizing Mexicos highly

mobilized subordinate classes. And the majority o teachers embracedtheir ofcially ascribed role as messengers o the revolution (Rockwell2007, 181, 211, 222; Vaughan 1997, 67, 47, 103, 190191).

Yet the actual role o teachers in local communities varied. Especiallyin the central and western highlands, teachers acted as mediators who ac-tively promoted the ofcial agenda o national development while simul-taneously sotening ofcial policies, especially the antireligious zeal osocialist education. In other regions, especially in indigenous communi-ties o northern Mexico and Chiapas, teachers tended to emphasize their

cultural superiority and understood themselves as direct agents o thestate, oten provoking substantial community resistance (Vaughan 1997,103104, 117118, 152153, 178181; Lewis 2001, 5883). Moreover, ofcialimage and teacher sel-understandings contrasted with their socioeco-nomic situation. In postrevolutionary Mexico, teaching remained a pro-ession with low salaries and social prestige. Federal teachers were some-what better paid than state teachers employed by provincial governments,yet both usually came rom a modest middle-class background (Vaughan1997, 12; Rockwell 2007, 178, 186).

Despite these social and regional dierences, teachers across Mexicowere largely sympathetic to the textbook changes enacted during the1920s and 1930s. Studies show that teachers in Puebla (Vaughan 1997,9293, 125), Sonora (Vaughan 1997, 182184), Tlaxcala (Rockwell 2007,210217), and Chiapas (Lewis 2001, 6671) embraced the idea o Mexicoas a mestizo nation and class-based interpretations o national history.The teacher testimonies rom Tabasco and Mexico City reviewed here ur-ther support those fndings. Interviewees depicted subordinate sectors asthe main orces in shaping Mexicos ate, portrayed class conict as deci-

sive or Mexicos historical trajectory, and projected the nation back intothe precolonial period. Beore Spanish colonialism the Mexicans werethe owners o the land, and subsequently large Spanish landowners, to-gether with the clergy, took away the lands o the people (public second-


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ary school teacher, history, Mexico City, March 6, 1979). Colonial exploita-tion and oppression met with popular resistance. The great majority othe Mexican people, rom their initial movements onwards, were against

Spanish colonialism (public secondary school teacher, history, MexicoCity, March 6, 1979).

There was a congruence between conceptions o nationhood oundamong teachers and their classroom practices. Most teachers tended touse the new educational materials. For instance, under Crdenas the SEPpublished Simiente, a new series o introductory texts to reading and writ-ing. These texts contained a rich popular iconography and always talkedabout agrarianism and the redistribution o land (public primary schoolteacher, Emiliano Zapata, Tabasco, November 30, 1979). Most o the inter-

viewees reported their requent use o Simiente, a pattern also ound byMary Kay Vaughan (1997, 97, 182). I teachers voiced concerns, they usuallycomplained about the lack o educational materials. As one teacher re-members, textbooks oten were not available, the problem was that theywere very scarce (public primary school teacher, Villahermosa, May 1,1979). Thus, teachers tended to embrace the new textbook contents andincorporate them into their teaching practices, yet at times they aced di-fculties in accessing these materials.

The public education system worked somewhat better with respect to

the training o schoolteachers. During the 1930s, state authorities madeteacher training one o their highest priorities, and inculcating popularconceptions o nationhood constituted a persistent goal (Civera 2004, 78).Participants remembered training institutes as advancing an ideologyin avor o the workers, the peasants, in deense o the proletariat (pub-lic primary school teacher, Villahermosa, May 1, 1979). Their own role asteachers was to improve the lot o the popular masses . . . so that theywere liberated (public primary school teacher, Villahermosa, May 2,1979). Another major objective o the trainings was the proessionalization

o a largely inexperienced and young teaching body. Frequent attendanceand good grades would improve salary and career perspectives. Again,teacher reaction was predominantly positive. Especially rural teachers,oten eeling not ully prepared or their task, tended to embrace the newtraining programs and their ideological contents (public primary schoolteacher, Villahermosa, May 3, 1979).

Argentina

Pern (19461955) perceived schoolteachers as crucial contributors tothe transormation o Argentina into an industrialized and cohesive so-ciety with a skilled labor orce (Gvirtz 1991; Plotkin 2002, 96; Escud 1990,169171). In their sel-understandings, teachers active during the 1940s


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and 1950s tended to exhibit a strong patriotic orientation and conceive othemselves as apostles o knowledge. They also converged in their anti-Peronism.

In comparison to Mexico under Crdenas, Argentine teachers receivedquite generous salaries that placed them squarely into the middle class.Similar to Mexico, ederal teachers were signifcantly better paid than stateteachers, leading to recurrent tensions between the two actions (Bernettiand Puiggrs 1993, 208209, 225227). Moreover, the local role o teachersvaried. In rural areas, rom Patagonia to Salta to the Chaco, public schoolsconstituted the state institution par excellence and teachers played a cen-tral role in local lie. They were mediators o ofcial educational policiesand, oten the only ones with a ormal education, negotiated with the out-

side world on behal o the community. In rural communities composedpredominantly o indigenous peoples or European migrants, teachersusually remained more distant rom local lie, and their patriotic orienta-tion was oten met with hostility. Analogously, in Buenos Aires and themore urbanized Litoral, teachers usually played a less central role in localcommunities and were less involved in the organization o extracurricu-lar activities (Artieda 1993, 307308, 326329, 333).

Regardless o social dierences and regional location, most o the ma-jor studies on the subject reveal widespread teacher opposition to Peronist

educational policies (e.g., Bernetti and Puiggrs 1993, 226228; Escud1990, 175179). Indeed, teachers largely opposed the new textbooks andtraining programs, and their ideological contents (Cucuzza and Somoza2001, 214; Gvirtz 1996, 155157). The primary sources consulted or thisarticle provide a similar picture. Interviewees were alarmed about the in-troduction o new textbooks and complained that the new texts were ullo demagogy up to the last page (public primary school teacher, BuenosAires, August 28, 2004). Especially their persistent celebration o the Per-onist government made them suspect. These textbooks were simply an

eulogy o everything Pern and Evita did (public primary school teacher,Buenos Aires, August 11, 2004).

The majority o teachers also rejected the celebration o the massesound in the new textbooks, noting that mass politics and the theory othe dominant majority would bear the danger o ostering intoleranceand coercion (La Obra 1949, 581). In their own understandings o nationalidentity and history teachers viewed assimilation into a Hispanic nationalculture as key or achieving national progress (Artieda 1993, 321323).[Migration] can to a certain degree divert the true sentiments o the Ar-

gentine nation, which thereore made it important to consolidate the tieso national cohesion by diusing a culture [that is] authentically ours (LaObra 1954, 392). Enlightened elites appeared as the driving orce behindthe nations ate and anchored most teachers accounts o Argentine his-tory. For instance, San Martin appeared as the brilliant securer o Argen-


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tinas reedom and independence and constituted the greatest hero oour national history (La Obra 1946, 307).

Teacher opposition had real consequences or classroom activities. For

instance, teachers used only a small amount o classroom time to discussthe new textbooks with students (public primary school teacher, BuenosAires, August 11, 2004). Another strategy was to keep the old textbooks aspart o a small library in the back o the classroom. As one teacher remem-bers, when asked by inspectors about these texts she responded by saying,These are books rom the students, books with stories that the studentsread over the weekend (public primary school teacher, Buenos Aires, Au-gust 28, 2004). Finally, teachers oten employed the new textbooks solelyor grammar or orthographic exercises and did not urther engage with

their content (Gvirtz 1996,157162).Teachers justifed their opposition by pointing to the supposed authori-

tarianism o Pern. In their perspective, Peronism undercut citizens dem-ocratic rights, a view reinorced by the act that the Peronist governmentlargely ignored the input o teachers and ormed alternative associationsto established teacher unions (Bernetti and Puiggrs 1993, 207208, 227228; Plotkin 2002, 101). Representing a common Argentine middle-classperspective during this period, teachers were also concerned about the in-creased public presence o popular sectors, the main supporters o Pern.

Especially nonwhite immigrants rom the interior o the country poseda threat to the idea o Argentina as a white and largely European nation.Pern brought people rom the interior, and they installed themselvesin the shantytowns (villas) around the city. These cabecitas negras [littleblackheads, a racialized term or supporters o Pern, oten nonwhite in-ternal migrants rom rural areas] even took baths in the ountain o thePlaza de Mayo! (public primary school teacher, Buenos Aires, August 28,2004).

Another major actor in teacher opposition was their already well-

developed identity as members o a circumscribed status group (Artieda1993, 319321). In contrast to Mexico under Crdenas, teachers in Argen-tina exhibited a strong sense o proessional autonomy. They viewed thenew educational policies under Pern as an intererence in their work andan attack on their liberties to select their teaching materials according totheir proessional knowledge (secondary school teacher, history, BuenosAires, August 25, 2004).

PeruIn Peru under Velasco, teacher reception o the new texts was equally

hostile, yet or reasons other than those in Argentina. During the 1960sand 1970s, both civilian and military governments hoped to achieve themodernization o Peru through the expansion o education. The eorts


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cumulated in the attempt o an encompassing educational reorm by Ve-lasco. Schoolteachers were seen as crucial in transorming establishedideas about nationalism and development. At the same time, teachers

nationwide were exposed to declining salaries and worsening workingconditions. Moreover, as a proession teaching lost in prestige because itincreasingly provided members o Perus subordinate race-class groupswith a path or social ascendance (Angell 1982, 4, 79; Wilson 2007, 728).

The literature indicates that the majority o Peruvian teachers embraceda class-based understanding o national history and ully identifed Peruwith the Inca empire (Portocarrero and Oliart 1989, 113114; Vargas 2005,78; Wilson 2007, 727, 734). My own fndings resonate with this assess-ment. Especially schoolteachers rom a lower-middle-class background

with afnities to Sindicato Unitario de Trabajadores de la Educacin delPer (SUTEP)the major independent teacher union under the control othe Maoist party Patria Rojawere sympathetic to popular understand-ings o nationhood. As a representative o this action suggests, the aim ohis classes was to approach the phenomenon o history rom the perspec-tive o the great social mobilizations rom below (public school teacher,Lima, March 27, 2004). Tpac Amaru was considered the most importanthero and representative o Peruvian identity (public school teacher,Lima, March 24, 2004).

Interviewees rom an urban middle-class background articulated a di-erent understanding o nationhood. This action emphasized the politicaloundations o the national community. The spine o a nation is a verygood constitution (private school teacher, Lima, March 29, 2004). More-over, they viewed national history as driven by elites. As one such teacherpointed out, Pizarro conquered Peru. He took all our gold and took ad-vantage o the act that Huascar y Atahualpa [two rivaling Inca rulersat that time] ought each other (private school teacher, Lima, April 17,2004).

The distinct understandings o nationhood are related to importantregional dierences among teachers in Peru. Teachers working in urbanareas tended to be more concerned with proper middle-class appearanceand maintained a distance rom students and their parents. Rural teach-ers usually became more involved in the communities they worked in.Similar to post-revolutionary Mexico, the majority o teachers in the coun-tryside acted as mediators between local communities and larger society,while a minority maintained a more paternalistic attitude and acted asmistismestizos convinced o their own racial and cultural superiority

(Contreras 1996; Montero 1990).Yet again, the social and regional dierences among teachers went

along with crucial similarities in their classroom practices. Across Peru,teachers rom dierent backgrounds opposed the new educational ma-terials put orward by the military government (Wilson 2001, 328330;


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Portocarrero and Oliart 1989, 117118). Both rural and urban teachers por-trayed the top-down character o the Velasco educational reorms as anoense against their proessional autonomy and resisted the implementa-

tion o new educational materials, even when the new textbooks were insync with their own conceptions o nationhood. Teachers oten sought tocircumvent textbook contents, or instance by dedicating only minimalclassroom time to the ofcial texts or by supplementing textbook contentwith opposing views rom other sources, such as newspapers or theirown texts.

One prominent example o teacher resistance against new textbookswas Amigo. The educational reorm obliged primary school teachers towork with this new introduction to reading and writing. In the words o

an interviewee rom Lima, all the pages [o Amigo] . . . were images othe proound Peru, o the rural Peru, and had nothing to do with groupso people that were administrators [or] bankers (private school teacher,Lima, April 7, 2004). Yet even teachers actively involved with SUTEP didnot like to work withAmigo because o its new approach to teaching liter-acy and preerred the traditional Coquito instead. In many cases, teachersmade students buy Coquito, while the ministry o education distributedAmigo or ree. Only when supervisors came, they used Amigo. Everytime supervisors came around, all the children had [Amigo] on their desks.

But when the supervisors were gone, the teacher took out Coquito againand worked with Coquito (public school teacher, Lima, March 29, 2004).

One major actor in teacher opposition against the new educationalmaterials was the authoritarianism o the military government (Angel1982, 4; Wilson 2001, 328). The undamental reason why Velascos projectdid not pan out was that he did not trust the people, and did not makethem the protagonists o his reorms . . . with the educational reorm itwas the same. The teachers were told: Here you have the reorm, andnow you have to apply it! (public school teacher, Lima, April 2, 2004).

Moreover, beyond their political rights as citizens, it was especially theirproessional identity as teachers that required their inclusion in the re-orm process. Thus, similar to Argentina, teachers in Peru perceived thenew policies and educational materials as an insult to their proessionalautonomy.

CONCLUSION

This article has examined the role o schooling in the construction o

nationhood in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru. An analysis o school text-books has provided a window on state-sponsored ideas about nationalidentity and history. An analysis o the ideological outlooks and teachingpractices o schoolteachers has revealed insights into the negotiation othose ofcial national discourses in the classroom.


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The main fndings point to the importance o political and institutionalactors in shaping nationalization eorts at schools. The striking similari-ties in how textbooks in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru changed in their

representation o the nationover the course o the twentieth-centurystate-approved texts shited rom political and elitist to cultural and class-based understandings o nationhoodsupport arguments about a generaltrend o convergence in curriculum development over the last hundredyears (Frank, Wong, Meyer, and Ramirez 2000). Comparable changes intextbook content were not limited to these three countries but could be ob-served across Latin America (e.g., Harwich Vallenilla 1991; Luna Tamayo2001), and even on a global scale (Soysal and Schissler 2005).

Yet country-specifc patterns, especially with respect to when text-

books adopted dierent understandings o national identity and history,and how schoolteachers reacted to them, also indicate the importance odomestic actors behind curriculum development (Dierkes 2005; vom Hau2008). In Mexico, Argentina, and Peru, changing political confgurationswhether brought about by subordinate mobilization, regime change, orrevolutionraised new questions about national inclusion and historicalagency, and made previously established ramings o nationhood moredifcult to sustain.

Teachers reactions to the new educational materials point to the criti-

cal role o state institutional development. In all three countries, teachersvaried in their political orientation, community involvement, and socio-economic background. Yet by themselves, these variations cannot ac-count or how Mexican, Argentine, and Peruvian schoolteachers reactedto the textbook changes. In Argentina, teacher resistance against Peronisttextbooks was, to an important extent, motivated by their opposition toPeronism and a well-developed sense o proessional autonomy. The twoactors were closely related to their prior socialization within an estab-lished educational system. In contrast to Mexicos newly recruited teach-

ers in a public school system under construction, Argentine teachers hadan already-well-established career path with clear guidelines or promo-tion. They were also paid a decent salary, which positioned them in theranks o the middle class. Likewise, the majority o Peruvian teachers hadalready entered the proession beore the military government came topower in 1968, and their sense o proessional autonomy and level o orga-nization provided them with the ability to challenge the Velasco reorms(vom Hau 2008).

An exclusive ocus on textbooks and teachers also has its limitations.

First, the modern classroom includes a variety o other artiactsmostprominently maps, wall charts, and photographsthat are equally in-volved in the national raming o lived experience. Expressions o nation-hood may also be negotiated outside the classroom, at schoolwide eventsand ceremonies, such ag pledges and patriotic estivals, or at visual dis-


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plays ound in school spaces, such as memorials and name plaques. AsGrosvenor (1999) suggests, the cumulative eects and relative importanceo the value messages and cognitive orientations negotiated at schools

have received relatively little scholarly attention and thereore warrantuture research.

Moreover, what is taught in the classroom is distinct rom the messagesstudents take home. Their learning experience is obviously inuenced bytextbooks and how teachers select, package, and present these texts, yet it isalso shaped by the outlooks that students have already brought to school.National socialization at home may reinorce or counteract the particularvisions o national identity and history advanced in schools. Recent re-search on the relationship between parents and teachers (e.g., Levinson

2001; Vaughan 1997) provides a promising starting point to urther un-pack the interaction between dierent agents o national socialization.

Second, treating textbook content as a window on state-sponsoredideas about national identity and history is only one o many possibleapproaches to the study o textbooks. While the political hand o the statecertainly plays a central role, textbook production ultimately is a multi-aceted process thatamong other thingsinvolves authors, publishers,educational authorities, and teacher associations. In turn, these actorsdraw on a variety o broader pedagogical, philosophical, ideological dis-

courses (Ossenbach and Somoza 2001). For example, during the late nine-teenth century, most textbooks resembled religious catechisms, written inthe style o a supposed dialogue between an all-knowing author and a fc-tive student. During the frst hal o the twentieth century, school texts be-came structured around a narrative with plot and characters, and soughtto be o greater visual appeal. The driving orces behind those shits intextbook orm were global changes in pedagogical styles and the increas-ing proessionalization o textbook authorship.

Finally, a growing literature emphasizes the signifcance o gender in

the construction o Latin American nationalisms (e.g., Gutirrez Chong2007; see also Yuval-Davis 1997). Even a cursory review reveals that theconceptions o nationhood conveyed in Mexican, Argentine, and Peruviantextbooks were inherently gendered. In many texts the nation appeared asembodied by a emale fgure, La Patria, that had to be protected by maleagents, whether enlightened elites or popular movements. Analogously,the shit toward cultural and class-based ideas about national identitydid not change the established gender hierarchy displayed in textbooks.Female fgures remained largely absent rom descriptions o national his-

tory. Another extension o this research would thus be to ocus on genderas an analytical category.

Beyond these limitations, however, what this article does provide is ananalytical grid or the comparative study o nationalism and schoolingin Latin America. For example, textbook representations o Spanish colo-


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nialism ound in Ecuador and Venezuela (Harwich Vallenilla 1991; LunaTamayo 2001) were similarly structured around the activities and out-looks o Spanish conquerors and indigenous rulers. Analogously, studies

on textbooks in Bolivia ater 1952 and Brazil under Vargas indicate that,during these periods, popular sectors emerged as protagonists o nationalhistory (Luykx 1998; Nava 2006). Thus, the ramework developed here orexamining the nexus between schooling in the construction o nation-hood in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru opens up a starting point or synthe-sizing this literature and systematically comparing national socializationin Latin America.

APPENDIX: SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS CITED

Aguirre Cinta, Raael1897 Lecciones de historia general de Mxico. Mexico City: Sociedad de Ediciones y Li-

brera Franco-Amrica.Blomberg, Hector Pedro

1940 El Surco: Libro de lectura. Buenos Aires: ngel Estrada.Bonilla, Jos Mara

1925 La evolucin del pueblo mexicano: Elementos de historia patria. 2nd ed. Mexico City:Herrero Hermanos Sucesores.

1930 La evolucin del pueblo mexicano: Elementos de historia patria. 3rd ed. Mexico City:Herrero Hermanos Sucesores.

Bunge, Carlos1910 Nuestra patria: Libro de lectura para la educacin nacional. Buenos Aires: ngel

Estrada.Castro Cancio, Jorge

1935 Historia patria (4o. ao). Mexico City: Editorial Patria.Chvez Orozco, Luis

1949 [1938]Historia patria (3er ao). Mexico City: Editorial Patria.de Bedogni, Emma

1910 Alegre despertar: Libro de lectura para el cuarto grado. Buenos Aires: AquilinoFernandez.

de Bourguet, Lola1932 Agua Mansa: Texto de lectura para tercer grado. Buenos Aires: Independencia.

de Garca, Luisa F.1954 Patria justa: Libro de lectura para tercer grado. Buenos Aires: Kapelusz.

de la Cerda Silva, Roberto1943 Breve historia de Mxico. Mexico City: El Nacional.

de Palacio, ngela1952 La Argentina de Pern. Buenos Aires: Luis Lasserre.

Eizaguirre, Jos Manuel1895 La patria. Buenos Aires: ngel Estrada.

Enciclopedias Coquito1963 Fanal: Para el primer ao de educacin primaria. Lima: Coleccin Coquito.

Fanning, Teresa G. de1915 Lecciones de historia del Peru. Lima: Sanmarti y Ca.

Ferreyra, Andres1895 El Nene: Mtodo de lectura. Buenos Aires: ngel Estrada.

Fesquet, Alberto, and P. O. Tolosa1935 Proa: Libro de lectura para cuarto grado. Buenos Aires: ngel Estrada.

Fregeiro, C. L.1896 Lecciones de historia argentina. Buenos Aires: G. Mendesky.


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1890 Catecismo de historia general de Mjico. Mexico City: Tipograa La Providencia.Levene, Ricardo

1912 Cmo se ama a la patria. Buenos Aires: Crespillo.Lucio, G.

1935 Simiente: Libro cuarto para escuelas rurales. Mexico City: Secretaria de la EducacinPblica.

Macas, Jos1933 Arco iris: Texto de lectura corriente. Buenos Aires: ngel Estrada.

Ministerio de Educacin del Per1974a Fichas de ciencias histrico-sociales. Cuarto grado, educacin bsico regular. Lima: Min-

isterio de Educacin.1974b Fichas de ciencias histrico-sociales. Segundo grado, educacin bsico regular. Lima:

Ministerio de Educacin.1976a Amigo: Libro de lectura (primer grado). Lima: Ministerio de Educacin.1976b Paseo: de lecturas e imagenes (segundo grado). Lima: Ministerio de Educacin.

Oviedo, Aurelio

1894 Nuevo catecismo de historia de Mxico. Mexico City: Gallegos Hermanos Sucesor.Pelliza, Mariano A.

1892 Historia argentina al alcance de los nios. Buenos Aires: Alsina.Pizzurno, Pablo

1901 El libro del escolar. Buenos Aires: Aquilino Fernandez.Pons Muzzo, Gustavo

1961 Historia del Per: El Per contemporneo. Lima: Editorial Universo.1962 Historia del Per: Dedicada a los alumnos del segundo ao de secundaria. Lima: Edito-

rial Universo.Raggi, Angela

1952 Pueblo eliz: Libro de lectura para segundo grado. Buenos Aires: Luis Lasserre.Rodrguez, Pedro Manuel

1900 Nociones generales de la historia del Peru: Para las escuelas y colegios de la repblica.Lima: Librera Cientfca y Casa Editora Galland.Rojas Portilla, Teodoro, Alberto Faggioni Mallea, Carlos La Torre Balza, and RolandoCortijo Bustos

1960 Enciclopedia Venciendo: Quinto ao. Lima: Antonio Lulli.1962 Enciclopedia Venciendo: El primer ao. Lima: Antonio Lulli.1976 Enciclopedia Venciendo: Quinto ao. Lima: Studium.

Romero Flores, Jess1939 Historia de la civilizacin mexicana. Mexico City: Ediciones guilas.

Romero Peralta, Guillermo, Ruben Romero Mendez, Leopoldo Daz Montenegro, TelmaSalinas Garca, Pedro Coronado Arrascue, and Isaias Bisbal

1964 Peruanito: Enciclopedia escolar para el quinto ao de primaria. Lima: EducacinRenovada.

Rosay, Emilio1913 Mi primera historia del Per. Lima: Librera Francesa Cientfca Galland y Casa

Editora E. Rosay.Ruiz Lpez, Raael

1937 Caminito de luz: Libro de lectura para tercer grado. Buenos Aires: Kapelusz.Salinas Garca, Telmo, Leopoldo Daz Montenegro, Luz Valcarcel, Guillermo RomeroPeralta, Ruben Romero Mendez, and Antonio Bisbal

1974 Peruanito: Tercer grado. Lima: Enrique Miranda.Sierra, Justo

1922 [1894].Historia patria. Mexico City: Secretaria de Educacin Pblica.Talavera, Luis Guillermo

1979 Educacin cvica. Lima: Editorial Colegio Militar Leoncio Prado.Teja Zabre, Alonso1935 Breve historia de Mxico: Texto para escuelas rurales y primarias. Mexico City: Talleres

Grfcos de la Nacin.Velzquez Andrade, Manuel

1927 Fermin. Mexico City: Secretaria de Educacin Pblica.


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Wiesse, Carlos1913 Elementos de instruccin moral y cvica. Lima: E. Rosay.

Zrate, Julio1899 Compendio de historia general de Mxico. Mexico City: Librera de la Vda. de Ch.

Bouret.

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