1. Mining Water for the Revolution: Marte R. Gómez and the Business of Agrarian Reform in "La Laguna," Mexico, 1920s to 1960s
- Author:
- Mikael Wolfe
- Publication Date:
- 07-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- In this paper I examine the little explored historical relationship between advances in “ecotechnical” knowledge of Mexico's scarce and fragile water resources and the state developmental imperatives of agrarian reform from the 1920s to the 1960s. In particular, I focus on how this relationship played out in the Comarca Lagunera of north-central Mexico, which was the emblematic region of Cardenista agrarian reform in the 1930s. Drawing on primary documentation, technical journals, newspapers, and secondary sources, I argue that the key actor in this history, hydraulic engineer-agronomist and Secretary of Agriculture Marte R.Gómez, epitomized the contradictions among advances in scientific understanding of Mexico's hydrology, agricultural development, and business. I further contend that these contradictions were at the heart of Mexican agrarian reform and its long-term ecological as well as social and economic unsustainability.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Economics, and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- Latin America and Mexico