Household Mobility and Persistence in Guadalajara, Mexico: 18111842

(Hardback)

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1821 Guadalajara, Mexico exhibited surprising mobility within its population. Using data from the back-to-back censuses of 1821 and 1822, this study argues that mobility affected almost every individual who lived in Guadalajara during that time period. The methodology used traces individuals who persisted from one year to the next to determine overall rates of mobility. An analysis of short-term stability and change within this set of historically identifiable individuals, families and households reveals a process of mobility that not only has been neglected by studies based on aggregate data, but that is often at variance with the findings of those studies. The evidence shows that a significant portion of the extensive movement of individuals to and from the wards is short term and often cyclical, rather than long term and permanent. Additionally, data sets from 18111813 and 18391842 are used as "control groups" to conclude that the mobility in 18211822 was not a unique historical event based on circumstances, but an overarching trend throughout the nineteenth century.

Reviews

Hardins new work is a highly focused study of census data from an important period in Mexican history. It is incisive and clear and will be useful to those interested in the history of kinship in the early nineteenth century and those looking at urban history in times of turmoil. * Hispanic American Historical Review *
Monica L. Hardin makes the most of nineteenth-century census data and provides an unprecedented, granular examination of household structure and urban mobility in early-nineteenth-century Guadalajara. In a compelling blend of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this study brings demographic analysis to the personal level and builds an important bridge between statistical aggregation and the complicated lives of specific individuals who show up in multiple censuses. This is a significant contribution to Latin American history in both methodology and content. -- Stephen C. Dove, Centre College
This study uses seemingly traditional historical sources to ask new and exciting questions about rural to urban migration patterns, and is an expertly-researched source for scholars and students of Latin America. -- Andrea Vicente, Hillsborough Community College
Monica L. Hardin offers in this study a fine-grained and original approach to the study of censuses in Guadalajara, Mexico. Her work illuminates the centrality of demography to understanding the intersections of family and household, mobility, and identity during a formative period of Mexican history. -- Laura M. Shelton, Franklin & Marshall College
Through her quantitative examination of individual household (both persisting and transient) data, Monica L. Hardin demonstrates that mobility was the norm for nearly all households in Guadalajara, Mexico between 1821 and 1822. Convincingly, she challengesand often disprovesprevious conclusions based upon the aggregate that supported household stability. This study is an important work that will be of value to scholars of Latin American social history. -- H. Micheal Tarver, Arkansas Tech University
This book presents a rich analysis of the Guadalajara censuses of the late colonial and early republican eras. Monica L. Hardin applies an impressive array of analytic techniques along with careful attention to social details, and the results are eye-opening. The study reveals a remarkable degree of residential mobility by people from across the spectra of social status and ethnicity. Individuals moved frequently among houses and households. Households themselvesthat is, the people who made them upmoved frequently among neighborhoods. This is a surprisingly dynamic picture, with important implications for understandings of migration and family structure in Mexico and in Latin America more generally. -- Catherine Komisaruk, University of Texas at San Antonio
This study sheds light on Guadalajaras significance to family history in nineteenth-century Mexico. -- Claudia Rivas Jimnez, University of Guadalajara

Author Bio

Monica L. Hardin is associate professor and department chair for history at Liberty University.