In this Book

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While much has been written about national history and citizenship, anthropologist Trevor Stack focuses on the history and citizenship of towns and cities. Basing his inquiry on fieldwork in west Mexican towns near Guadalajara, Stack begins by observing that people talked (and wrote) of their towns’ history and not just of Mexico’s.

Key to Stack’s study is the insight that knowing history can give someone public status or authority. It can make someone stand out as a good or eminent citizen. What is it about history that makes this so? What is involved in knowing history and who is good at it? And what do they gain from being eminent citizens, whether of towns or nations?

As well as academic historians, Stack interviewed people from all walks of life—bricklayers, priests, teachers, politicians, peasant farmers, lawyers, and migrants. Resisting the idea that history is intrinsically interesting or valuable—that one simply must know the past in order to understand the present—he explores the very idea of “the past” and asks why it is valued by so many people.

While much has been written about national history and citizenship, anthropologist Trevor Stack focuses on the history and citizenship of towns and cities. Basing his inquiry on fieldwork in west Mexican towns near Guadalajara, Stack begins by observing that people talked (and wrote) of their towns’ history and not just of Mexico’s.

Key to Stack’s study is the insight that knowing history can give someone public status or authority. It can make someone stand out as a good or eminent citizen. What is it about history that makes this so? What is involved in knowing history and who is good at it? And what do they gain from being eminent citizens, whether of towns or nations?

As well as academic historians, Stack interviewed people from all walks of life—bricklayers, priests, teachers, politicians, peasant farmers, lawyers, and migrants. Resisting the idea that history is intrinsically interesting or valuable—that one simply must know the past in order to understand the present—he explores the very idea of “the past” and asks why it is valued by so many people.

Table of Contents

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  1. Front Cover
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  1. Title Page
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  1. Copyright
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  1. Contents
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  1. Maps, Illustrations, and Figures
  2. pp. vii-x
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  1. Introduction
  2. pp. xi-xvi
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  1. PART ONE: THE TRUTH OF HISTORY: An Anthropological Approach to History as Public Knowledge
  1. 1: What Is Historia?: From Oral History and Memory Studies to the Anthropology of History
  2. pp. 3-18
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  1. 2: The Past of History: Valuing a Public Kind of Truth
  2. pp. 19-30
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  1. PART TWO: KNOWING HISTORY, BEING CITIZENS OF TOWNS
  1. 3: Knowing History, Having Cultura, Being Citizens
  2. pp. 33-46
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  1. 4: Skewing of History: Who Could Know History?
  2. pp. 47-60
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  1. 5: Juggling Rooting and Cultura: Cosmopolitan Citizens
  2. pp. 61-78
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  1. PART THREE: OTHER HISTORIES: National History and the History of Virgins
  1. 6: Towns and Nations: Different Histories, Different Citizenships
  2. pp. 81-93
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  1. 7: Histories of the Virgin: The Higher Ground of Secular History
  2. pp. 94-108
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  1. PART FOUR: HISTORIES OF HISTORY: Tracing History and Histories Back in Time
  1. 8: Shifts in History: How a History Changes over Time
  2. pp. 111-124
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  1. 9: A Successful History: What Did Not Change
  2. pp. 125-134
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  1. 10: The Success of History: How a Genre Prospers
  2. pp. 135-146
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  1. Epilogue: Citizenship Beyond the State?
  2. pp. 147-150
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  1. References
  2. pp. 151-160
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 161-168
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  1. Back Cover
  2. p. 169
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