Honor, Status, and Law in Modern Latin America

Sueann Caulfield is Associate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. She is the author of In Defense of Honor: Sexual Morality, Modernity, and Nation in Early Twentieth-century Brazil, also published by Duke University Press.Sarah C. Chambers is Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of From Subjects to Citizens: Honor, Gender, and Politics in Arequipa, Peru, 1780–1854.Lara Putnam is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of The Company They Kept: Migrants and the Politics of Gender in Caribbean Costa Rica, 1870–1960.

“Honor, Status, and Law in Modern Latin America makes an important contribution to the historical understanding of ‘honor’ by examining its relationship to state formation, the law, sexuality, and racial mores. The creative and interesting essays, from scholars based both in Latin America and elsewhere, show the interplay of national and regional culture in how honor was understood and used in day-to-day social relations.”-Jeffrey Lesser, Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil “This book will change how we view the long nineteenth century in Latin America, as it allows the reader to weave into the same cloth the two strands that ran through, respectively, the liberal state and postcolonial society, namely, the drive to form citizens and the desire to maintain status hierarchies.”-Teresita MartÍnez-Vergne, author of Shaping the Discourse on Space: Charity and Its Wards in Nineteenth-Century San Juan, Puerto Rico “[T]he volume offers a wealth of historical and ethnographic detail. . . . The strength of the book lies in the drawing together of studies from different parts of Latin America. . . . [T]he volume is further enriched by the inclusion of what is, for historians, an unusual but promising approach: that of including a (historical) analysis of literary works. . . . [T]he collection offers an effective yet insightful introduction to the theme of honour, and, more especially, the interplay between honour and the law.” - Tanja Christiansen (Journal of Latin American Studies) “This fine collection of essays will definitely be of interest not only to historians of modern Latin American but also to those scholars of the human sciences who work on cognate issues of gender, honor, law, and the social construction of citizenship in other areas of the world.” - Eric Van Young (American Historical Review) “This is a fine anthology of essays focusing on struggles over status or honor in different historical settings and regions through Latin America. . . . All in all, this is a very readable anthology highly recommendable for use in anthropology, history, and sociology courses concerning modern Latin America, even more so if such courses have a comparative emphasis. It is also valuable for courses on women studies. Both research and general libraries alike must add it to their collections.” - Victor M. Uribe-Uran (The Americas) "The editors have crafted a volume that is intellectually rigorous, lucid in argumentation, and timely in the application of scholarly ideas. Even better, the arguments of these essays run together to a degree that is rar in edited collections. . . . The result is a textual unity that makes for a satisfying read." - Joshua Rosenthal (History: Reviews of New Books)

• Acknowledgments viiIntroduction: Transformations in Honor, Status, and Law over the Long Nineteenth Century / Lara Putnam, Sarah C. Chambers, and Sueann Caulfield 1I. Liberalism, Status, and Citizenship Private crimes, public order: honor, gender, and the law in early republican Peru / Sarah C. Chambers 27Community service, liberal law, and local custom in indigenous villages: Oaxaca, 1750–1850 / Peter Guardino 50The “spirit” of Bolivian law: citizenship, patriarchy, and infamy / Rossanna Barragan 66Interpreting Machado de Assis: paternalism, slavery, and the free womb law / Sidney Chalhoub 87Slavery, liberalism, and civil law: definitions of status and citizenship in the elaboration of the Brazilian civil code (1855–1916) / Keila Grinberg 109Trading insults: honor, violence, and the gendered culture of commerce in Cochabamba, Boliva, 1870s–1950s / Laura Gotkowitz 131Sex and standing in the streets of Port Limon, Costa Rica, 1890–1910 / Lara Putnam 155Slandering citizens: insults, class, and social legitimacy in Rio de Janeiro’s criminal courts / Brodwyn Fischer 176Courtroom tales of sex and honor: rapto and rape in late nineteenth-century Puerto Rico / Eileen J. Findlay 201The changing politics of freedom and virginity in Rio de Janeiro, 1920–1940 / Sueann Caulfield 223III. The Policing of Public Space The plena’s dissonant melodies: leisure, racial policing, and nation in Puerto Rico, 1900–1930s / Jose Amador de Jesus 249Prostitutes and the law: the uses of court cases over pandering in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the twentieth century / Cristianna Schettini Pereira 271The stigmas of dishonor: criminal records, civil rights, and forensic identification in Rio de Janeiro, 1903–1940 / Olivia Maria Gomes da Cunha 295Contributors 317Index 321