In the years that immediately followed the victory of the rebel forces in 1959, the new leaders of the Cuban Revolution seemed to approach the task of revolutionary governance as a continuation of the guerrilla campaign in the sierra. The leadership's empirical management of the Revolution in power betrayed its guerrilla roots, and resulted in an inchoate political system headed by charismatic guerrilleros. By the end of the first decade, however, it seemed that the Revolution's guerrilla past had been all but forgotten, as it established closer ties with the Soviet Union and subsequently underwent a process of 'institutionalisation'. Since that time, many Western scholars of Cuba have commented on the increased role of the military in the revolutionary leadership, and in other aspects of the Revolution which would normally be considered to be beyond the remit of most armed forces. These scholars have concluded that the pervasive presence of the military is evidence of the 'militarisation' of the Cuban Revolution. This thesis calls into question this notion of a 'militarised' Revolution by arguing that such a perspective overlooks the guerrilla origins of both the Cuban armed forces and the Revolution more broadly, in addition to the signs and symbols that point to an on-going legacy of these origins in revolutionary Cuba. Using evidence derived from an analysis of the hegemonic discourse of the Revolution at different stages in its trajectory, this study demonstrates that the lived experience of guerrilla warfare has shaped the beliefs and values that have underpinned the Revolution since 1959. Together, these beliefs and values comprise a unique political culture in which the figure of the guerrillero is revered, and in which the guerrilla campaigns of the Cuban historical narrative are presented as unfinished struggles. The thesis argues that the active cultivation of this political culture has contributed to legitimising the long-standing presence of former guerrilleros in the revolutionary leadership, and has helped to gamer the support of civilians for the revolutionary project. In addition to challenging the idea of a 'militarised' Revolution, this study also undermines the widely accepted notion that the Revolution was thoroughly 'Sovietised' during its second decade. An examination of the hegemonic discourse of the 1970s reveals that, while the Revolution transformed structurally during those years, the guerrilla ethos which had buttressed the revolutionary project in the 1960s remained unchanged.

This study explores slave agency and slave abolitionism during amelioration in Jamaica. The amelioration period was chosen because it offered the slave opportunities to acquire their freedom and improve their condition. Therefore, slave agency and abolitionism occurred more frequently after the start of amelioration, which officially began in Jamaica in 1797 when the planters embarked on a programme designed to improve slavery and prolong its existence. Amelioration continued until the British Parliament voted to abolish slavery in 1833.

During the eighteenth century, the Chocó became an area of great importance to the Viceroyalty of New Granada. The region's sources of precious metal not only contributed to the economic recovery of the neighbouring cities of the Cauca Valley, but also enriched immensely the individual owners of the Chocô's mines and slaves gangs, the merchants who traded with them, and the royal officials and priests who served there. Despite the region's economic importance, it remained badly underdeveloped: a combination of climate and terrain discouraged Spanish settlement. While Spaniards were not attracted to the Chocô f or the purpose of settlement, slaves were nevertheless introduced in large numbers to exploit its gold deposits, and these were supported by the labour of the region's native inhabitants. This thesis will show, however, that it took the Spaniards nearly 300 years effectively to bring the Chocó under Crown control. Although the region had been known since the earliest days of conquest - Balboa, Almagro, and Pizarro had been among the first to explore the area - Indian resistance prevented the Spaniards from establishing a firm and lasting foothold in Indian territory until the 1660s. By the 1670s, a Franciscan mission had been established for the purpose of converting the Indians of the Chocô to the Christian Faith. Even at this stage, however, Spanish control was far from secure. By the 1680s, one of the Indian groups inhabiting the region - the Citarâ - had rebelled against the colonists and their increasing demands, and massacred as many Spaniards as they were able to surprise. It was the defeat of the rebel leaders which marked a turning point in the fortunes of the Chocó peoples. After the region had been finally pacified, Spaniards began to settle the area in growing numbers, the size of the slave population grew at a rapid rate, and the exploitation of gold deposits began in earnest. But while the Spaniards had undoubtedly established control of the native peoples by the beginning of the eighteenth century, the latter continued to resist both resettlement and conversion by fleeing from their settlements and refusing to accept the teaching of Christian Doctrine. Their continuing resistance was facilitated by the ineffective methods of administration introduced in the Chocó, controlled by corrupt tenientes, corregidores, secular priests, and Franciscan missionaries. These are the main themes that will be taken up in this study.

This thesis examines the experiences of the inhabitants of St. Vincent during the first fifty years of freedom. It examines social changes, work opportunities and areas of conflicts that developed during the period. It also details the effects of the declining economy on the islanders. The main subjects of the thesis are the agricultural labourers who were freed from slavery. It investigates their working lives, their attempts to achieve independent status as freeholders and their family and religious experiences. It also examines the changing attitudes towards them that were held by the planter class, the clergy and colonial officials, and how these views influenced the formation of a free society. In particular, the thesis investigates how perspectives of race, class and gender differed within the island, and how these divergencies created hostilities between different social groups often leading to unrest. While the main focus of the thesis is St. Vincent, it also compares conditions in St. Vincent with other Caribbean islands and Britain. This has helped illustrate how some local conditions, such as the lack of available land, ineffective plantation management and economic factors, reduced the opportunities for the freed people of St. Vincent. However, it also illustrates a commonality of experiences among the poor in both the Caribbean and Britain. It illustrates how the lives of the poor in the Caribbean were often restricted by the same class and gender biases experienced in Britain, as well as by racial prejudices held by the ruling authorities. The thesis relies on a variety of source material. Most of the primary sources were official Colonial Office dispatches, newspapers and Wesleyan missionary letters and reports. Throughout the thesis, I have questioned the motivations of the writers of these documents and interpreted the discourses they employed. I have also attempted to place the findings of my research within current debates among Caribbean historians of the postemancipation period to illustrate the importance of further gender analysis and research.

This study provides a first approach to the economic and social history of the Valley of Tulancingo in the late colonial period. In examining the development of this agricultural area of central Mexico, the author discusses the broader transformations that affected the country as a whole during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: population growth, migration, urbanization, and the commercialization of agriculture. On this score, the study participates in the current debate on the best way to characterize the Mexican agricultural sector at the end of the colonial rule. Most modern historiography tends to emphasize that demographic growth transformed the traditional balance between population and resources and was a major cause of economic and social disruption in the countryside. The author combines new evidence with recent findings from the specialist literature, to argue that Tulancingo fully participated in the roster of economic and social changes of the period. The work begins with a description of Tulancingo's population trends and an analysis of the spatial distribution of the population. It goes on with an analysis of the Valley's agricultural economy, describing the complementary rural elements of Indian communities and haciendas, and examining a series of related transformations in landholding, marketing, and social relations. This study will be of interest to anyone concerned with Mexican economic and social history, or the history of agriculture.

This research was prompted by the questions 'What is being Chilean?, Who are tile Chileans? Do all those born in the country feel the same about their nationality and about their fellow nationals? A large number of Chileans will describe their country as culturally and ethnically homogenous, probably because they do not include the native peoples in their description; least of all would they acknowledge that mestizo blood runs in their veins. Therefore, my objective has been to deconstruct the myth homogeneity in the Chilean identity. Moreover, this research, which started as an exploration into tile complex terrain of tile Chilean identity, finally turned into a rather painful soul-searching process. It is obvious that having been born in Chile, it was impossible for me not to become involved, not to feel touched more than once, not to feel guilty more than once. The identities of the indigenous peoples and the descendants of Spanish colonisers have been profoundly transformed during 500 years of social, cultural and political change. Tile rise of the nations states and tile construction of national identities after the wars of Independence were key moments for Latin America, but although no longer tinder colonial rule, the social and cultural differences between 'Indians' and Spaniards continued into the republic, based on the imagined superiority of the Spanish culture, language and religion. Currently Chile, where in recent times - and in the past as well - the military played a crucial role, is in a process of globalisation and reconstruction of the national identity. The research was framed by the understanding that the imagined community of the nation is formed by 'us' and 'them', and a distinction which does not indicate a binary opposition but a complex articulation which both supports and fractures tile nation. In the imagined community of tile Chilean nation identities are multiple and cultures are multiple too. They are constituted in relation to dimensions such as history, place and culture. Geography, in Chile, is also a defining marker of national identity that does not imply inert geography, but an essential dimension in the cultural and social dynamics of tile nation. I challenge the view, long sustained by many Chileans that their country is culturally and ethnically homogeneous. In order to achieve this end I explore the 'skeleton in the cupboard' of the Chilean identity, that is to say, their mestizo origin. With that objective in mind, this research was conceived as a contribution to make Chileans come to terms with the fact that they have some amount of 'Indian' blood in their veins. Only when they are able to take that step, will they be able to appreciate and take pride in the ancient cultures they descend from because in that way they will shed light into that dark comer of their identity. National communities are not only in people's heads or in the imagination of a nation of citizens, but are projected and articulated through channels like the media and educational practice; they are also embodied and practised. From the moment that identity is conceived, not as a fixed ethos formed in a remote past, but as a future project, Chileans great challenge now is to define what they want to be. There may be different projects, alternative proposals and different versions of national identity that will lead on to different roads, but they must include a notion of collective identity that is open to alterity, invention and transgression and also a diversity that Chileans have so far refused to accept.

This study examines what effect the presence of the Chinese in the West Indies had on understandings of belonging in terms of nation. It examines the construction of the category "Chinese" across different modes, particularly literary texts, from the nineteenth century to the present, and from the positions of colonial, creole and Chinese spaces. The results of this research challenge the common view that the Chinese have had a marginal impact on the perception of nationhood in the West Indies. Instead, images of the Chinese were, and continue to be, a key means of exploring the ambiguities, potentialities and limitations of nation as it developed in the West Indies. In particular, they reveal that neither "nation" nor "belonging" are static positions; rather, they signify continuing renegotiations of power relationships and cultural identities. Several factors impact on representations of the Chinese. In the nineteenth century, such images were molded by the specific aims of colonial enterprises, entangled at the intersection of the discursive constructs of "East" and "West" during a period of mass migrations and the peculiar tensions of post-emancipation West Indian societies. In the twentieth century, "the Chinese" have been created in response to a need to assert ownership of what was once colonised space and to perform nation before a global audience. Of late, Chinese West Indians have taken a more visibly active role in the construction and dissemination of images of themselves and their communities. In the process they have sometimes radically redefined the imaginative nation space of the West Indies and, in the process, challenge established boundaries of belonging, and contest "belonging" itself.

This study is primarily concerned with making an assessment of the social and economic policies pursued by the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) of Grenada between 1979 to 1983. It is the first sociological study of the Grenadian revolution, and is longer and more detailed than any other study that has been written on the subject. The thesis mainly examines developments inside Grenada. It therefore breaks entirely new ground since most of the existing literature views the revolution from the perspective of international relations. The principal methods of investigation used were library research in London and the Caribbean; and six months of field work in Grenada, Barbados and Jamaica, where I attended important political events and conducted interviews with politicians, businessmen, government officials and representatives' of international agencies. The thesis is divided into ten chapters. Chapter one sets the scene for the study by providing information on the culture, geography, history, sociology and economy of Grenada, and traces the events that led to the revolutionary seizure of power in 1979. Chapter two discusses the main theoretical issues raised by the revolution, and chapter three analyses the institutions of popular power established by the PRG. Chapters four to eight examine the principal features of the economic strategy of the revolutionary government, and chapter nine seeks to explain the factors that led to the downfall of the revolution. The concluding chapter contains a very brief summary of the main findings of the study. The central argument put forward in the thesis is that the. revolutionary ideology which guided the PRG was highly authoritarian in character, and led to the implementation of policies that were not suited to Grenadian society. The ultimate downfall of the revolution was caused by the authoritarian practices of the PRG which resulted in a vicious power struggle in which the Prime Minister and over 100 of his supporters lost their lives. This implosion of the post-revolutionary regime gave the United States' government an adequate pretext to invade Grenada and dismantle the institutions of the revolution.

This thesis studies Spain’s failure to halt the revolution which led to Colombia’s independence in 1822. After Napoleon’s occupation of the Spanish peninsula in 1808, most of Spain’s South American colonies removed themselves from European control and functioned as sovereign states. The thesis explores, first, the activities of royalists in the Viceroyalty of New Granada during this period. It then turns to events after 1815. In that year, following the defeat of Napoleon, Spain’s restored monarchy despatched a substantial army to Venezuela and New Granada, in an effort to return the viceroyalty to Spanish control. This expedition, while initially successful, failed ignominiously in its task. The thesis examines the reasons for Spain’s defeat, which was more the result of Spanish error than Colombian patriotism. To begin with, Spain’s policies for solving the American problem suffered from several fundamental defects. All attempts at ending the American insurgencies were based on an inadequate understanding of American realities. Moreover, the only policy to which Spain committed itself wholeheartedly, namely military reconquest, was seen by many as merely exacerbating the problem, and was further restricted by financial considerations. Spain thus lacked a coherent policy for counter-revolution, and failed to carry through those plans it succeeded in putting into operation. New Granada saw the effects of this non-policy. Colonial officials there, like officials in Spain, disagreed profoundly in their proposed cures for the insurgency. Furthermore, mutual distrust between members of the civil administration and the royalist army at times overshadowed efforts to defeat the insurgents. Disagreement over policy was but one strand of the royalist crisis in New Granada. Equally serious was the chronic shortage of money suffered by both the army and the civilian administration. Their continual demands for food, funding and supplies wore away Neogranadans’ initial support for Spain’s reconquest, as did the arrogant and offensive behaviour of royalist troops. Perennially short of cash, the army and the administration relied on forced loans and confiscation to keep afloat. These proved an unstable base for a re­imposition of Spanish control. The effect was that the inhabitants of New Granada, most of whom had welcomed the royalist army in 1816, by 1819 gave enthusiastic support to Simón Bolivar’s campaign against Spain’s General Morillo. The thesis examines these issues, setting them in the context of Spain’s effort to restore its authority in New Granada. It then charts the consequent collapse of royal government from 1819 to 1822. It concludes with an assessment of the Spanish response to the loss of the American colonies.

This thesis examines the paradox of the Chile-Peru border, and specifically the Chilean border city of Arica, between 1925 and 2015. Through an eclectic mixed method ‘collage’, primarily relying on archival research and extended interviews, the richness of the lived experience of the border comes to the fore. Arica has been a space of violence since it was appropriated from Peru by Chile in the War of the Pacific (1879-1883) and I am interested in how this violence has lingered and manifested itself in various ways since Arica officially became Chilean territory in the 1920s. This violence often stems from a performance of Chilean machismo at the border. Arica is a space of contradiction. A space of extreme nationalism but also of rejection of the Chilean state, of being central to the Chilean nation but also of being peripheral and abandoned. Over five ‘border moments’ over ninety years Arica oscillates between centrality and marginality dependent on threats to Chilean sovereignty at the border. Through a chronological and multi-disciplinary arc the history of violence in Arica can be better understood. The thesis begins in 1925 when the United States became involved in the dispute over the Chile-Peru border that hadn’t been settled since the War of the Pacific. Violence permeated the region and made an attempted plebiscite impossible and although the border was demarcated through other means in 1929, Arica soon became ignored by the Chilean state. A state of abandonment remained until the 1950s when economic initiatives enacted at the regional level succeeded in raising the prospects and spirits of Arica, purging the area of violence, until the 1970s when General Pinochet’s new economic plan reversed Arica’s progress. Arica instead became a military space in this decade as tensions arose between Pinochet and Peruvian dictator General Velasco and international violence returned. This international level is then contrasted with violence at the corporeal level in Arica in the 1980s when HIV/AIDS and abortion both became increasingly pertinent at the border. The thesis closes with how violence remains present in Arica today, particularly as seen through the 2014 maritime border dispute.