Duke University Press
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  • Piety, Power, and Politics: Religion and Nation Formation in Guatemala, 1821–1871
Piety, Power, and Politics: Religion and Nation Formation in Guatemala, 1821–1871. By Douglass Sullivan-González. Pitt Latin American Series. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998. Maps. Tables. Figures. Notes. Bibliography. Index. xiii, 182 pp. Cloth, $45.00.

This study is a welcome contribution to Guatemalan historiography, particularly for the Rafael Carrera years, 1837–65. Lorenzo Montúfar called this a period of obscurantismo—an interpretation that has colored Guatemalan historiography up to the present day. Sullivan-González has challenged this negative appraisal, instead seeing these years as ones of the birth of nationhood, impacted by the religious notion of a covenant between God and his people. In Piety, Power, and Politics, the author examines continuity and discontinuity within the institutional church, the response of indigenous and ladino communities in eastern and western highland regions to the 1837 and 1857 cholera epidemics, “cemetery rebellions,” the resurgence of the church, and clerical notions of nationalism.

Contrary to widely held “liberal” views, Sullivan-González finds church-state relations under Carrera to have been more complex than often perceived. For example, there was no overwhelming clerical support of rebellions during the cholera epidemics. Neither was the church always in close alliance with Carrera, whose meddling in church affairs it resented. In fact, religious leaders favored separation of church and state. For his part, Carrera was not adverse to implementing the liberal reforms that the church often opposed, nor did he restore ecclesiastical property expropriated by liberal governments. It was an uneasy alliance with mutual benefits.

Sullivan-González makes excellent use of government, church, and private depositories. Particularly commendable is his use of clerical sermons that are housed in the archdiocesan archives to develop his thesis of the birth of nation-building during the Carrera years. Archbishop Próspero Penados del Barrio deserves special credit for opening these archives to scholars, who in the past were granted only limited access. These are an indispensable resource for writing more balanced accounts of church-state relations. Also cited by Sullivan-González are Latin American holdings at the University of Texas, University of Kansas, and Tulane University, as well as the extensive Mormon microfilm collection. Finally, the author’s extensive utilization of printed primary sources and secondary literature makes for a solidly documented work. [End Page 567]

Also highly commendable is the writer’s use of anecdotes to offer insights into the mindset of rural ladino and indigenous peoples—an approach that proves very effective in the study of burial customs and rebellions during cholera epidemics. Nuances gained through these stories are not always forthcoming from the written record. The anecdotal approach helps clarify complex issues, especially for readers not well acquainted with local traditions. At the same time, by citing similar practices in other parts of Latin America, Sullivan-González keeps the reader aware that the customs he mentions are not always unique to Guatemala.

There are other aspects of the edition that are helpful to the reader. One is the author’s utilization of maps and conveniently located figures and tables, all of which provide telling proof for conclusions reached in the narrative. Another is the graphic representation of a chronology of the period studied, which is of benefit to readers, particularly those unacquainted with the years between 1821 and 1885.

Although Sullivan-González sees some historical continuity between the Carrera period and the present—for example in Archbishop Penados del Barrio’s Independence Day speech of September 15, 1991—he also admits of much discontinuity. Today’s homilies reflect the aspirations of liberation theology for peace and justice, and not the vision of a nation’s covenant with God. Furthermore, present-day church leaders exercise a more independent voice than those of the past. For a more telling case of historical continuity, I suggest the presidency of Jorge Ubico (1931–44), who, like Carrera, sought strategic accommodations with the church. In both situations the relationship between church and state was one of mutual benefit, as well as of mistrust. Yet with the fall of these caudillos, the church inherited the stigma of having maintained close ties to fallen regimes, thereby suffering strained relations with the new government.

The failure to treat historical continuity during the Ubico years does not lessen the value of this fine study, which goes a long way toward rectifying an imbalance in previous treatments of nineteenth-century Guatemalan conservatism. Both scholars and students of Latin American history will benefit greatly from this study, which should be acquired by university libraries.

Hubert J. Miller
University of Texas-Pan American

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