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"Associative Life, Urban Citizenship, and Democratic Practice in the Mexican Capital, 1867-1920"

Lance Ingwersen, Ph.D. Student, Department of History

This presentation previews my dissertation research which analyzes intersections of associative life, citizenship, urban growth, and democratic practice in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Mexico City. I argue that participation in philanthropic groups, social and recreational clubs, religious associations, and mutual aid societies provided avenues for political reconciliation following the tumultuous conflicts of the mid-nineteenth century, which included a war with the U.S. (1846-48), a civil war (1855-61), and a French occupation (1862-67). Participation in these groups encouraged the formation of influential networks and offered access to politics during a period (the Porfiriato, 1876-1910) in which more formal activities such as voting and elections were by most accounts farcical. At the same time, in dictating the terms through which individuals could—and could not—participate, voluntary associations helped establish parameters for citizenship and inclusion in urban and national life.