Propriety and Permissiveness in Bourbon Mexico (review)

At a time when new trendy approaches to history such as the so-called subaltern studies claim to represent the cutting edge of social history, true quality social history stands out. The volume reviewed here is a fine example of how to write good social history. The book was first published in 1987 by the Fondo de Cultura Economica, and the English version was translated by Sonya Lipsett-Rivera and Sergio Rivera Ayala.

The main title of the book, Propriety and Permissiveness in Bourbon Mexico, is a little misleading. The main thrust of the book is the variety of popular diversions in Mexico City in the late colonial period, and the efforts by enlightened Bourbon reformers to reform and regulate these popular diversions. This fit into a larger program of urban reform designed to bring urban planning to Mexico City that included the widening of paseos (streets) and the reorganization of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions. Reform also entailed establishing fixed points where the common people could engage in diversion with oversight, such as the location of pulquerias, bull rings, and theaters.

The author discusses a variety of popular diversions, and efforts to regulate these activities. These include bull fighting, theaters where the regulation of the actors combined with control over the content of plays presented, formal and informal religious celebrations including carnival, street performers, the late colonial game pelota (tennis) introduced towards the end of the eighteenth-century by Basque merchants, and drinking venues. Pulque, an alcoholic drink fermented from maguey juice (also used to distill tequila) was the most popular drink of the masses, and the regulation of the pulque trade and pulquerias provided the government with the greatest challenge. On the one hand royal officials were always concerned that drinking and the massing of common people in one place could potentially lead to trouble. On the other hand officials had to balance the preoccupation over social control with the considerable tax revenues derived from pulque and the economic interests of the influential owners of rural estates who produced the beverage. Ultimately, the colonial regime opted to closely regulate and supervise the pulquerias.

This book adeptly explores important issues in the social history of late colonial Mexico City in clear and concise terms, and is a pleasure to read. It is free of the tedious post-modernist verbaje (verbiage) that so often makes potentially interesting studies a burdensome chore to read. Viqueira Alban has produced an important book that is well worth the reading now that it is available in English translation.