After our class discussion of Laveaga's Jungle Laboratories, I reflected more on the issues/topics we addressed in class in relation to my primary critique of the book's lack of focus on female Mexican peasants--sadly, I find my thoughts always seem clearer *after* class.
In the epilogue, Laveaga states "Just as the white lab coat became a global symbol of the pristine spaces occupied by doctors, scientists, and researchers, the mythical lab coat of progress linked to barbasco became in rural Mexico an emblem for potential rural metamorphosis." [228] She goes on to say that, "By incorporating phrases, chemical terms, and actions reserved for the educated elite, root-picking peasants subverted their traditional social role." [230] Essentially, because of barbasco's viability in the production of hormones and its subsequent global demand, rural farmers who knew where to find the yam were elevated above a social class they would otherwise have been stuck in seemingly permanently. It is no wonder that even forty or fifty years later, barbasceros (men) still reminisce fondly about the "good old days" while giving Laveaga their testimonies. But hold on a moment, where are the voices of the women? They are being literally silenced by their husbands (the barbasceros), and because these oral reports form the basis of Laveaga's research, by the historian herself. I find this somewhat unforgivable given Laveaga's status as a female historian of Latin America. I think she played it safe by more or less consciously sidestepping this issue, but the result is a book that makes a facile point--that rural Mexicans could organize themselves without the help of meddling outsiders--while ignoring something more compelling.
As far as peasant agency, Laveaga states, "we learn that regardless of presidential mandates the deeply entrenched rural social networks determined who learned the true nature of barbasco and who did not." [231] Again, we are left wondering, who *did* learn the true nature of barbasco? Was it Mexican peasant women who may or may not have known that the purpose of their efforts and the efforts of their husbands was to render unto science a natural resource with abortive/contraceptive properties? Were Mexican women ignorant, unwilling, coerced? Or were they forced to keep quiet for the greater good of their husbands and their families?
Second thoughts can be very useful. I'm glad you posted this. Some of my second thoughts have to do with "the deeply entrenched social networks who learned the true nature of barbasco and who did not" (231) from your post. Study for my paper has impressed upon me that middlemen in indigenous communities existed from the beginning of colonial times. When we think about Aztec and Mayan culture it is good to remember that it was not egalitarian. Aztec elites had better ways to adapt and subversively counteract Spanish colonials than did the majority of the people.
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