Sonia Hernández
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780252044045
- eISBN:
- 9780252052989
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252044045.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
Building upon historic transnational connections between the cosmopolitan port of Tampico, the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, the Mexican north, and ports of entry across the Atlantic, a network of ...
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Building upon historic transnational connections between the cosmopolitan port of Tampico, the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, the Mexican north, and ports of entry across the Atlantic, a network of labor activists including women such as Caritina Piña emerged in the early twentieth century to address labor inequities. This book retraces the emergence of this network circulating on the eve of the 1910 Mexican Revolution. The early revolutionary period ushered in a wave of anarcho-syndicalist groups privileging organizing via labor unions and other collectives. Organizations such as the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) were among the most progressive of collectives that incorporated women’s issues in their agenda. Its members encouraged women’s participation as compañeras, key to creating a real revolution. Yet, despite such progressive stance, gendered ideas about femininity and masculinity shaped members’ perspectives just as much as they shaped mainstream media outlets casting radical female activists as “women of ill-repute.” Their own understanding of gender and ideas about motherhood shaped women activists too. While anarcho-syndicalism declined as the revolutionary state grew stronger in its co-opting of organized labor, the legacy of women’s activism remained a distinctive feature of the greater Mexican borderlands. Women left an indelible mark on the Tamaulipas-Texas borderlands’ labor history. Such historic and gendered border solidarities, while imperfect, helped to build a foundation for postrevolutionary labor alliances.Less
Building upon historic transnational connections between the cosmopolitan port of Tampico, the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, the Mexican north, and ports of entry across the Atlantic, a network of labor activists including women such as Caritina Piña emerged in the early twentieth century to address labor inequities. This book retraces the emergence of this network circulating on the eve of the 1910 Mexican Revolution. The early revolutionary period ushered in a wave of anarcho-syndicalist groups privileging organizing via labor unions and other collectives. Organizations such as the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) were among the most progressive of collectives that incorporated women’s issues in their agenda. Its members encouraged women’s participation as compañeras, key to creating a real revolution. Yet, despite such progressive stance, gendered ideas about femininity and masculinity shaped members’ perspectives just as much as they shaped mainstream media outlets casting radical female activists as “women of ill-repute.” Their own understanding of gender and ideas about motherhood shaped women activists too. While anarcho-syndicalism declined as the revolutionary state grew stronger in its co-opting of organized labor, the legacy of women’s activism remained a distinctive feature of the greater Mexican borderlands. Women left an indelible mark on the Tamaulipas-Texas borderlands’ labor history. Such historic and gendered border solidarities, while imperfect, helped to build a foundation for postrevolutionary labor alliances.
Sonia Hernández
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780252044045
- eISBN:
- 9780252052989
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252044045.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
This introductory chapter places the case of a transnational labor network anchored in Tampico in a greater geographic and historiographical context. It outlines transnational feminisms as a ...
More
This introductory chapter places the case of a transnational labor network anchored in Tampico in a greater geographic and historiographical context. It outlines transnational feminisms as a principal theoretical framework to understand both the uniqueness of anarchist labor organizing in this region as well as similarities with other anarchist movements. It also outlines the major works focused on Tampico’s labor history and its gradual inclusion of women’s historical experiences that have led to a richer, more nuanced Mexican and women’s labor historiography.Less
This introductory chapter places the case of a transnational labor network anchored in Tampico in a greater geographic and historiographical context. It outlines transnational feminisms as a principal theoretical framework to understand both the uniqueness of anarchist labor organizing in this region as well as similarities with other anarchist movements. It also outlines the major works focused on Tampico’s labor history and its gradual inclusion of women’s historical experiences that have led to a richer, more nuanced Mexican and women’s labor historiography.
