Riot!: Tobacco, Reform & Violence in Eighteenth-Century Papantla, Mexico

An exploration of the Totonac native community of Papantla, Veracruz, during the last half of the eighteenth century. Told through the lens of violent revolt, this is the first book-length study devoted to Papantla during the colonial era. The book tells the story of a native community confronting significant disruption of its agricultural tradition, and the violence that change provoked. Papantlas story is told in the form of an investigation into the political, social, and ethnic experience of an agrarian community. The Bourbon monopolisation of tobacco in 1764 disturbed a fragile balance, and pushed long-term native frustrations to the point of violence. Through the stories of four uprisings, Jake Frederick examines the Totonacs increasingly difficult economic environment, their view of justice, and their political tactics. Riot! argues that for the native community of Papantla, the nature of colonial rule was, even in the waning decades of the colonial era, a process of negotiation rather than subjugation. The second half of the eighteenth century saw an increase in collective violence across the Spanish American colonies as communities reacted to the strains imposed by the various Bourbon reforms. Riot! provides a much needed exploration of what the colony-wide policy reforms of Bourbon Spain meant on the ground in rural communities in New Spain. The narrative of each uprising draws the reader into the crisis as it unfolds, providing an entree into an analysis of the event. The focus on the community provides a new understanding of the demographics of this rural community, including an account of the as yet unexamined black population of Papantla.