“Energy is an instrument of power. What did the United States do when it broke off relations with Cuba? Take away our oil supply. What did the USSR do? Give us oil.” So stated, in an interview with me in 2017, Luis Berriz, president of the Cuban nongovernmental organization Cubasolar, set up during the acute energy crisis in the 1990s to promote renewable energies on the island.Gustav Cederlöf's work interrogates this statement through an examination of the dynamic between energy transition, geopolitics, and the infrastructural state in Cuba, as the title indicates. In doing so he makes a valuable contribution to the “geographies of knowledge about energy,” which, as he recognizes, are shaped by research on countries in Europe and North America (p. xi). Thus, this book provides a fresh angle within Cuba studies, in which discussions about energy (almost exclusively oil) have been tangential to a focus on Cold War–style geopolitics. It also engages with debates around energy politics, development studies, degrowth, and eco-socialism. In Cuba, where development is shaped by centuries of colonization and imperialism, the issue of energy is intrinsically linked to the struggle for sovereignty, development, and the commitment to social justice, as Cederlöf recognizes.The book is based on Cederlöf's doctoral research, drawing on interviews and analysis of documentation and policy, theoretical framing, and lived experiences in Cuba. He argues that the core contradiction of Cuban development is that life in revolutionary Cuba has been shaped by both “a political project embroiled with fossil-fueled economic growth” and “political efforts to create a low-carbon economy resting on non-growth-based social values” (p. 8). The analysis is presented over five main chapters. Necessarily, Cederlöf starts with a chapter of historical contextualization, fittingly titled “Against the Energy Empire,” which underscores Cuba's oil dependence from the mid-twentieth century, initially on US interests and then, post-1959, following the shift in trade, investment, and alliances, on the Soviet Union. Key themes are Cuban efforts to reduce oil dependence and to expand and democratize access to energy as part of the broader political economy transformations underway with the adoption of a socialist centrally planned economy.Chapter 2, “Electrification or Death,” discusses the efforts of the post-1959 socialist government to expand the National Electricity System (SEN). As Cederlöf argues, “Two basic assumptions underpinned Cuban Marxist debate: first, that increasing energy use was definitive of development, and second, that a centralized, nationally integrated infrastructure was a requisite material condition for social justice—or in more contemporary terms, ‘energy justice’” (p. 16). The SEN was expanded with Soviet assistance, including abundant oil imports. Nevertheless, in the 1980s the Cubans began working on the Project of the Century, a nuclear power plant, to reduce the island's dependence on oil and facilitate development of its productive forces. Little has been written in English about this endeavor, and Cederlöf provides a useful account. Both Soviet oil imports and the nuclear power plant construction came to an abrupt end, however, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, which by then supplied 86 percent of Cuba's crude oil supplies.The third chapter is aptly titled “Blackout,” a term that characterizes the Special Period of economic crisis in the 1990s, which was fundamentally an energy crisis. Cederlöf shows how Cuba responded by developing a low-carbon economy without high-tech innovations. Based on ethnographic encounters in Pinar del Río and Havana, the author describes how urban households adapted to energy shortages, building resilience, while relations with the socialist state apparatus were altered: “Most Cubans were forced into energy poverty and were compelled to find solutions to the livelihood challenges facing them in the enforced low-carbon environment” (p. 71). Notwithstanding the electricity shortages, he notes, “the SEN was an infrastructure that assured the equitable distribution of energy as a non-commodity,” which explains how electricity was rationed through scheduled blackouts to each neighborhood (p. 75).Chapter 4, on “socialist redistribution and autonomous infrastructure,” discusses government, academic, and industry responses to the energy crisis, including the 1993 Program for the Development of National Energy Sources, which mobilized grassroots strategies, in parallel to the state, to build resilience in localized spheres. Cederlöf argues that these responses can be interpreted in terms of eco-socialist or degrowth paradigms of attempted energy transition. Moving on to the 2000s, chapter 5 discusses pivotal developments post-2000: first, the impact of increasingly frequent and intense hurricanes tearing into Cuba's energy infrastructure; second, the Energy Revolution, a government program to decentralize energy generation, thus reducing Cuba's energy vulnerability, and promote energy saving and conservation; and third, the alliance with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution, which alleviated Cuba's oil shortages through the famous “oil for doctors” program.Cederlöf concludes with a discussion about what Cuba's low-carbon contradiction can offer to our understanding of energy transitions globally. His book also ends with reference to the renewed energy crisis into which Cuba has been plunged since 2019, with a return to blackouts and energy rationing. This externally imposed crisis, the intended result of US sanctions under President Donald Trump, reveals the persistence of the structural problems that the Energy Revolution addressed but did not resolve.
The Cuban government has implemented a series of agricultural transformations since 2007 to increase the country’s agricultural self-sufficiency and reduce its dependence on food imports. These include the transfer in usufruct, i.e. use rights only, of State-owned land to non-State producers (i.e. cooperatives and private farmers), moderate price reforms, the decentralization of decision making, and the gradual relaxation of existing forms of agricultural commercialization. As a result of these measures, the area planted, as well as physical output and agricultural yields (in selected non-sugar crop categories) have shown mixed results, and still remain below desired levels. There are three fundamental unresolved issues that have prevented Cuba’s agricultural sector from achieving desired levels: (1) the need to achieve the “realization of property”; (2) recognition and acceptance of the market as a complementary economy in coordination with a planning mechanism; and (3) absence of a systemic focus to achieve the successful completion of the agricultural production cycle (i.e. the value chain). These unresolved issues should be addressed through: (1) consolidating markets for inputs, where producers can obtain essential inputs at prices that correspond to the prices they can obtain for their output; (2) granting greater autonomy to agricultural producers to allow them to decide when, where, and to whom they can sell their output, after social contracts have been fulfilled; (3) diversifying types of agricultural commercialization to permit greater participation by non-State economic actors; (4) allowing agricultural producers to freely hire the labor necessary to sustain and increase production; and (5) providing agricultural producers with needed financing and technical assistance. Please refer to Supplementary Materials, Full text Spanish version of this article, for a full text Spanish version of this article.
The Cuban government has implemented a series of agricultural transformations since 2007 to increase the country’s agricultural self-sufficiency and reduce its dependency on food imports. These include the transfer (in usufruct) of State-owned land to non-State producers (e.g. cooperatives and private farmers), moderate price reforms, the decentralization of decision making, and the gradual relaxation of existing forms of agricultural commercialization. As a result of these measures, the area planted, as well as physical output and agricultural yields (in selected non-sugar crop categories) have shown mixed results, but still remain below desired levels. There are three (3) fundamental unresolved aspects that have prevented Cuba’s agricultural sector from achieving the desired outcomes: (1) the need to achieve the “realization of property,” (2) the recognition and acceptance of the market as a complementary economic coordination mechanism, and (3) the absence of a systemic focus to achieve the successful completion of the agricultural production cycle. These unresolved aspects should be addressed through: (1) the consolidation of input markets, where producers can obtain essential inputs at prices that correspond to the prices they can obtain for their output, (2) greater autonomy to allow agricultural producers to freely decide when, where, and to whom they could sell their output, after social contracts have been fulfilled, (3) the diversification of the forms of agricultural commercialization to permit greater participation by non-State economic actors, (4) allowing agricultural producers to freely hire the labor necessary to sustain and increase production, and (5) providing agricultural producers with the financing and technical assistance necessary.
On 14 November 1904, El Mundo, Havana’s conservative newspaper, reported the “mysterious disappearance of Zoila,” a four-year-old white girl, from her home in El Gabriel, a small town outside of Havana.1 Over the course of a year, the newspaper would devote a great deal of attention to the story. Eduardo Varela Zequiera, the story’s reporter who would eventually build a career based on his reporting on issues of race, publicly surmised, along with his reporting of the facts, that the child had been a victim of brujería. At the same time, El Gabriel’s increasingly alarmed and vocal residents demonstrated before the courthouse and police station, demanding thorough searches of every household in the vicinity until the brujos were found and detained. Suspicion settled on Pablo and Juana Tabares, a black couple living together, and on Domingo Boucourt, a former slave known in the area for his African-derived healing and religious practices. They were detained briefly, but released after questioning for lack of evidence. The same month a parallel case involving the death of Celia, another little girl, and the arrest of a black man named Tin-Tan also occupied the front pages of the newspapers. About two weeks after Zoila’s disappearance, the police found a body. A gruesome description of its condition communicated, in all its details, the allegedly barbaric nature of the crime. A large portion of the torso and extremities were missing skin and flesh. Yet the feet were intact, including shoes and socks that were still on the body. The heart had been extracted, according to forensic doctors, with a sharp instrument. After a lengthy investigation in which the number of accused grew to a dozen, the following story began to emerge. Boucourt was said to be the leader of a group of brujos who gathered regularly to enact rituals and healings. Juana Tabares, whose children suffered from ill health, had sought Boucourt’s help, and since his remedy required the blood of a white child, he was said to have demanded that someone in the group kill one and bring him the corpse. The investigation had failed to pin down the actual murderer, although suspicion rested on Victor Molina and another man of African descent. But it had confirmed (or so it claimed) the instigating role of brujería.By January 1905, Boucourt and Victor Molina had received the death penalty for murder. They were executed amidst a great deal of attention from the press in 1906. After the execution, the brains of Molina and Boucourt were sent to Luis Montané, professor of anthropology at the University of Havana, to be put on display at the Museo Antropológico Montané on campus. There, they took their places alongside ñáñigo suits, ritual objects and archaeological findings, adding to the collection of “criminal brains” examined by students of anthropology for morphological evidence of violent tendencies.Zoila was the first of a series of public, sensational brujería scares that shook early Republican Cuba. As this brief example suggests, the unfolding of events reverberated, beyond the families and towns most immediately affected, into courts of law and elite intellectual spheres. In the courts, both prosecutors and defendants exploited the contradictions arising from a changing legal system. Long investigations and trials tested the elusive boundaries among brujería, ñañiguismo, asociación ilícita, and delinquency against changing notions of legal responsibility and new codifications of rights to freedom of religion and association. For intellectuals monitoring Cuba’s imbibement of modernity, evidence of practices deemed primitive threatened the achievements of political autonomy and universal manhood suffrage and aspirations to social order.In the earliest moment of the republic the contours of criminality and citizenship had been subject to contention. A hybrid and evolving legal system both codified and added ambiguities to the definitions of brujería, ñañiguismo, and asociación ilícita. Although authorities often conflated them of of practices to African-derived brujería and were legal a of often and violent the of asociación the in a that it in practices from to to in of a had the In the early of the authorities had to brujería the of both asociación and health, which had been in the of the The for freedom of religion and of a of after the In accused of brujería and new they freedom of religion in their the both legal and of African-derived religious practices into a of this from and also by elusive boundaries at the took it to and the of they practices of African descent. 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that with of the of the of a arising of the of in a of and to the in which both and black criminality of race, and spheres. of in the social and in the courts into of the republic with to In they that and and practices but were also to one legal and political of the for of the by this to that the of black criminality into Cuba’s a often in and intellectuals on of of and with to the of the a whose according to a on intellectuals and and a for and whose course on one of the most at the University of Havana, and the to the two most and for the of all to they had a for based on and to had and lack of to the In that this and had the a a political The for a to and that were for that universal suffrage had been a that and was a and that the was by of the of social the of whose from that of For black Havana’s in Cuba’s social from he the But the was and social on the increasingly of and and that sought a he the for Cuba’s along with its its and its of Cuba’s that the to the of autonomy and attention to a series of violent race, African into the of the black on this subject reported in the press and to his that had been from the the press that brujería and to a them a the the for that The reporting was and Long on the of the and and new evidence of its with the and of the little new was The also of the of the of the accused and their the its were the of the execution, were with of the As of the and a of brujería and a of the the one black often with African-derived religious white children in to their blood for ritual The accused in a by was of Varela that and barbaric was in and in the of the and Varela that the of the black was most a barbaric a that social would and Yet he Varela them for his that was for it was of the be to the a in of of by at the role of and in evidence a and of in the early of the had been of since the early with the first press in In the had (or with to their and including black and the of had a for and of to with one the early the and of grew a of changing A in of for in that it was to to and by In since were at the same time, of were At two El and reported the have that he had a for along with his reporting of the facts, his of the of the The was of but a of a and from the Cuba’s he on his of religious at that they were and he that the of to in and brujería was and at the heart of the was a great The of was a for but it one of the by the so by to to in the of a of had to of its he this and was by the of its in the and its to with its practices the and was before a religion a against of The and practices of brujos at the a to and a to a and to the of the of Boucourt’s and a man who would in intellectual his to Varela the the of and for a of Boucourt and a of the the system the would be with in of of was a he that the was to be he would have been a had he one of the most known to his African and his role a in the with a and were that would have by of evidence for the of a first of since Boucourt to was a of his his had been a 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to by the of was on a Varela of the of Although brujería still a he it had a of its with Cuba’s of The for was on the of on the of the of the the Cuba’s and the of brujos of They were but of one had so that brujería so of it was with the of that one the the of their required investigation and still in a would it to that this of would to they to the and and following the of another with but with the of the the in which would the had the of ritual and into evidence of he was to his to which had its but of the African At the of his that Boucourt was of his a that the had a for his in In a had a for and who to him in the of a for his to be of he “criminal was in a had at the University of and and to in to in In a the of the a to the of him a in he was in had a brief the of to in a by the intellectual who was to his was of the the case the press and public, he to have attention from after the story in the he had the on which he would brujos the that the on the of the was and of the on the of Boucourt’s execution, its the of the and of the race, and crime. Yet the beyond the in its of and In and and and for brujos was a new of for a sensational series of events into the of a and the social that on the of by At the same it career a of and a with with intellectual including and the on to the on in and evidence both to to the of brujería and to a case for As social were to the was a that of the Cuba’s was to for the of African into the the was based on the of on criminality and delinquency it rested on and notions of was the of the Yet brujos at on of on of their and objects and on the and to their on first which the of Cuba’s with a of and its on the he it to race, in by their to in a was of the of a which and the of to the the the black which to and the white its that into from the of his and were for for at that time, but The of and criminality was from but from he his from of and to reporter of from newspaper that of brujería the and 1906. the the story of child would on after the of practices and to brujería in pages The healing and ritual from which objects were and in one case the of a black from a one story of reported the of a child, from of which in his and it was one of the that the with child in the and that the case of was the for the the A of the of he on and the religious system he to the brujos and the practices of the and a of the of in African and so that the practices and their criminality to be a for the of brujería, with in and were also with a of the African the be a following the of on the the of would a Yet The with a for first in the against brujería be to the them from their with brujería have their and their their all the of that its to the barbaric of be to to their from the of and to of In to of and of African in to the of brujos were in their in of and subject to the of and a number of from the for attention The the that a race, and criminality it to brujos was a The of in this case of and was in the case and he the he on and for with the newspaper gathered and sent to him in the case his he was with brujería. by police of the small town of and police from the town of of of and and of of on the the by the in of and into in the of social of of The police would for social but for legal his with in and a of thorough and first in to it was and by of brujos in political and of most that their from the of the had They of that with in a of Cuba’s in the They also and to to in El on with the his and the of in so a and the attention the and had received from had been for Cuba’s put his on the and found the of and that have but have in brujos and two of two of against this his subject for this by began with but a of to with his in to of he and from he that of his based on with were and a of from the in that he the but was of for the whose intellectual so the that of new for of and intellectual In findings, he on their to and on role in by took on and of religious and that the had been to and brujería, and that brujería had so of the new to the the for and to that the was a and with for that he was the one that and to to social so that they be according to the of The of to social and to the of of the to who had a and the of it The and a at the University of evidence from the in his on in a a by his of brujos of a and in El in it to the and the of to the of at and from of the in to on a and the a of intellectual on a number of issues be gathered the of and with a number of social of from and also of intellectual and his of for the of the republic have to of and for their to in the and and of a number of new the had race, and social this a in the of and to social took University of one home for the of After the of was in the Luis Montané, of the of and professor of anthropology and of the two of a course on the and of the of at the time, his to from a number of he his course first course on for the law to students in the of anthropology to The of and of the and in course description to the of of The that both and be subject to his his students the of of The of from the of the a and he them the of of also a on of the for and by the were in in with his and although by the they had to The for students in the of the and of into its Montané of the of the in and in and the and of with of a the anthropology for law students and for and a of and one of The to a with new on and and on the of in legal with new on of the a of and legal of the On of the of the and to students also in to Havana’s and that they the and of the of from the in students to in the adding the of and to the he the responsibility the among by who of a with his on the of received a deal of attention in and would to a role in the system At was the to which be for their by of to by In the this was a often of accused brujos and of this course the same until at For the of until he in the were in the of from with to on the of took the after he most of the of the it adding a on the that had been in the press and since 1906. In to the in in the University of Havana’s he his on the of he most of that his in that his The most of a child reported the year, demonstrated the of the to with the death of Although with Varela his were have of the who with been one of the most and social in the to which his of the in and the in including and and to new in the and and a in which the social were to and social The with which they of their in the of that the would on political and in all the a of that they and Yet of their of a of health, the role of the in and the of with to the and the of by and and on the of they also a for of intellectual of in the of law and in the their to social deemed The of in this also a and in law and and from a of were were on and on by in and doctors, of them political of the intellectual elite group to the of Cuba’s social and In the and were to a of and that in a in the in and of this intellectual to of at the in both the and be As the of been and the of social and social a of The early intellectuals on by and in both in the and in In the that be a of and In demonstrated that a and that his were the of in to a to and intellectuals with began with the notions of social and of of social and social with the of in their in a of responsibility in a healing of the In the of and and of Havana’s in that of the that be from and to so to the and to be most and his for the and and and with and to be a of of The of in which he eventually one of the in which they of the most on race, one of the most to a with and anthropology after from in the with which the African-derived religious and practices social to the and crime. The a from his of at the University of his was new to their was in legal and in intellectual was and on his before the of of and early in two had a on the of Havana’s for his to be a for the of the same he was by the of to in the for in the of took the race, and that had and the of was to that brujos they so of a of their from their from to and social two of he black he the of from the of he he it in the to in his The from which was that a by his a ñáñigo that Although brujos were by and they had the who were by their for the of their the the would have been for the of had been social to this by his pages with at the of to criminality their In a he that of their the and elusive of the The the it to of of and of and Yet his on a that the to was to that although he was that would of the and of he the was so in by the ambiguities of intellectual to in But a changing and to his objects of his objects A by the of the in a on of the evidence. and the which he the and of the black on the of his for his career in would be and In he of the of In he the to of of which he was also a which El El all of which received from the which received the from the in in and in the and gathered for the of anthropology to law and a and in one of into the of the of the black was to a number of social and social to with a of to that would and in their social Yet the and put of black criminality in and their in the of The of this of the in which the and criminality in the of In the courts, black criminality the for the of in the hybrid legal system. In the of the had been most the black intellectuals a against which to their and notions of the its in the press and its in the social brujería in the was law against at were by rights the of a of autonomy of the legal and social spheres. and according to were of accused of white children of reported in the In of in in and in the black accused were released of to the including were released for lack of evidence. The accused in the in were by the amidst a was the case in which the accused were found and of rights by the in a case in against and for asociación ilícita. In this case the of and Luis Montané were for the to the the objects in rituals of The the of religion and the that of the objects was a crime. The case before the so the but the the boundaries of and practices in which the and a of the social and the legal system. A case against and black according to the for asociación in the of the legal of and the and crime. also the and role of gathered by law of by that have been the police had objects their of the The which named and two of for with the of said a of a large named another named another of the another the of and two whose against the of the accused that they were by of evidence for the to that they to be detained and the to the of the objects and their with to the and of the the police to investigation to the accused were to they and its practices and rituals by and to have the for they the of for that although it was a known that were at ñáñigo in Havana, their of it to that one of the he was and that the had gathered on added that following the death of one of their in to which of and in Havana, and it was to the of their of that the police were this he a that the accused of the of and the police a but it to that all of the were was that they in healing practices and with that they at the In his of the case the to by of have for it the of a of a group of to that events the of to accused for the of the had the for both and the sought to from the legal system with of his on the that of the law against asociación of the to in the were political which had to be to by on the to on of the ñáñigo of to he they had he the to a and of the the of a who sought to the same his subject in the most until it was into the to of said to political The and of his he to of its from with to said a of the and including the of which the by a of his of the of this by a great deal of and with a of the that had to after the of that had failed to ñañiguismo, it he to a and political of the he the that at the case also a by of the Luis which with the and crime. the by the of the investigation and them in his their by the that were But for it their that the most of of have been and so that they by of in by all that from the to the case to the for a with a of for one year, and at which had Boucourt and was Cuba’s first black and and in a The
distinguished service awardDauril Alden, University of Washingtonherbert e. bolton memorial prizeFriedrich Katz, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa, Stanford University Press, 1998 José C. Moya, Cousins and Strangers: Spanish Immigrants in Buenos Aires, 1850–1930, University of California Press, 1998conference on latin american history prizeErik Ching and Virginia Tilley, “Indians, the Military and the Rebellion of 1932 in El Salvador,” Journal of Latin American Studies 30, no. 1 (1998)james a. robertson memorial awardKatherine E. Bliss, “The Science of Redemption: Syphilis, Sexual Promiscuity, and Reformism in Revolutionary Mexico City,” HAHR 79, no. 1 (1999)tibesar prizeFrancie Robin Chassen de López, “Maderismo or Mixtec Empire? Class and Ethnicity in the Mexican Revolution, Costa Chica of Oaxaca, 1911,” The Americas 55, no. 1 (1998)Honorable Mention: Cynthia Radding, “Crosses, Caves, and Matachinis: Divergent Appropriations of Catholic Discourse in Northwestern New Spain,” The Americas 55, no. 2 (1998)lewis hanke prizePatrice Elizabeth Olsen, Stephen F. Austin State University, “Artifacts of Revolution: Architecture, Society, and Politics in Mexico City, 1920–1940”the lydia cabrera awardJane Landers, Vanderbilt University, “Afro-Floridian Exiles in Cuba, 1763 and 1821”james r. scobie memorial awardGregory Spira, Georgetown University, “Rebellion, Resistance, and Cultural Change: Popular Reactions to the Bourbon Reforms, San Luis Potosí, 1767–1810”Honorable Mention: Annalyda Alvarez Calderón, State University of New York, Stony Brook, “Peasant Revolts, Intellectuals and the State: Ideology and National Identities under Leguía’s Patria Nueva”Papers in this session centered around links between local elites and provincial interests on the one hand, and early definitions of the Brazilian monarchy and state, on the other. Kirsten Schultz’s (Columbia University) paper, “The Foundation of Royal Authority in the Brazilian Empire (1808–1821),” examined the process of redefining the ideals and practices of Portuguese royal authority in Brazil during the residence of the Portuguese king in Rio de Janeiro. The transfer of the royal court was understood to be the greatest of all revolutions in the existing political system, and royal officials and Brazilians alike pursued a critique of the inequality that had existed under colonialism. Yet, the acclamation of a “new Lusitanian empire” was gradually conflated with the emergence of an “Empire of Brazil,” and from this it required only the adoption of constitutionalism in Portugal to progress to the point where, as constitutionalists put it, “the Kings are Kings, when and where the peoples want.” As a new political language emerged, the discourse began to define “the nation” as a distinct and autonomous Brazil rather than as a renewed union with Portugal.Jeffrey D. Needell (University of Florida) was the organizer of the session. His paper, “Provincial Origins of the State: The Province of Rio de Janeiro, the Monarchy, and National Political Organization, 1808–1853,” addressed the origins in the province of Rio de Janeiro of the reactionary centralist movement that would eventually become the Conservative Party. During the minority of Pedro II from 1831 to 1840, the movement coalesced in response to the decentralizing liberal reforms of 1831–34, but this party reversed those reforms after it came to power. Needell’s primary focus was a consideration of the economic and social interests and regional bases of this party of the Regresso, thereby analyzing the ideologies and actors involved in state-making. This movement dominated the imperial government by the late 1840s and its vision—centralized, authoritarian, and monarchical—largely became the imperial vision under Pedro II.Jeffrey C. Mosher’s (Texas Tech University) paper, “Elite Divisions and the Choice for Monarchy in Pernambuco, 1831–1853,” looked at divisions among provincial elites and their relationship with political parties and the imperial court in Rio de Janeiro. Mosher considered a particularly interesting example: the province of Pernambuco during the dominance of the Cavalcanti de Albuquerque and Regos Barros families, a classic regional oligarchy in every sense. Mosher showed how this extended family was divided internally in ideology, resisted by other elite families located north of Recife, and opposed by the rise of a major new liberal movement. Disputes over provincial power even forced conservatives from Pernambuco into open defiance of the emperor over the selection of lifetime senators from the province. Yet, to protect their own interests, local conservatives had to stand by the throne, which was in some ways their own creation.The theme of regionalism continued in Judy Bieber’s (University of New Mexico) paper entitled “Liberals, Pardos, and Pés de Chumbo: Nativism, Ideology and Partisan Politics in the Sertão Mineiro, Brazil, 1831–1850.” Politics in the rural hinterland of the Comarca do Rio São Francisco of Minas Gerais, she argued, were no more immune to the influence of ideology and party than were those in the coastal cities. The contest over definition of the Brazilian identity and state extended even to this distant region and was often seen in contests over control of municipal governments and resources. Electoral violence first appeared in the region in 1849, introduced by the Conservative provincial president of the day to insure the electoral victory of conservatives. With the loss of local autonomy came greater violence, often induced by outside intervention. Local and national politics were intimately linked, as the development of a centralized political machine that could control local elections created an institutionalized form of patronage, which in turn this distant region was into the national by session E. 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