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Mexican Banditry and Discourses of Class: The Case of Chucho el Roto

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Amy Robinson
Amy Robinson*
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University
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Abstract

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Scholarly literature has often characterized the popular bandit Chucho el Roto (1835?–1885) in terms of his legend as Mexico's urban Robin Hood, yet no study has attempted to discern how this legend took root and changed over time. This investigation brings together historical documents and literary texts about Chucho el Roto from the 1880s to the 1920s to analyze changing cultural perceptions of social class tensions in Mexico. It finds that Chucho provided a vehicle for both lower and upper classes to critically reflect on the morality of dominant society and to unite behind the resiliency and dignity of the oppressed working class. While the earliest literary text from 1889 criticizes Chucho for refusing to submit to dominant social norms and accept his place in the socioeconomic hierarchy, two post-1910 novels celebrate Chucho's banditry as a socialist-inspired political rebellion that resists assimilation into dominant political paradigms, including that of revolution.

Resumo

Resumo

La literatura académica ha caracterizado el bandido popular Chucho el Roto (1835?–1885) en términos de su leyenda como el Robin Hood urbano de México, sin embargo, ningún estudio ha intentado discernir cómo esa leyenda se fundó y cómo se transformó históricamente. Esta investigación junta documentos históricos y textos literarios sobre Chucho el Roto de los años 1880 a los años 1920 para analizar cómo han cambiado las percepciones culturales sobre las tensiones entre las clases sociales en México. Determina que Chucho proveía un vehículo para que las clases bajas y altas pudieran reflexionar críticamente sobre la moralidad de la sociedad dominante y unirse detrás de la perseverancia y la dignidad de las clases trabajadoras oprimidas. Mientras el texto literario más temprano de 1889 critica a Chucho por no someterse a las normas sociales dominantes y por no aceptar su lugar en la jerarquía socioeconómica, dos novelas escritas después de 1910 celebran el bandolerismo de Chucho como una rebelión política con rasgos socialistas que resiste asimilarse en paradigmas políticos dominantes, incluyendo el de revolución.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , 2009 , pp. 5 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

*

I am thankful to Bowling Green State University for supporting this investigation through the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society's Scholar in Residence Fellowship (fall 2007) and Faculty Research Incentive Grant (summer 2006). I was able to locate essential materials in Mexico for this analysis as a graduate student thanks to a Fulbright-García Robles Fellowship with invaluable institutional support from the Universidad Autónoma de México (2002–2003) and a research grant from the University of Minnesota's Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies (fall 2001). The librarians and archivists at the Biblioteca Nacional, Hemeroteca Nacional, Archivo General de la Nación, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, and the University of Texas at Austin's Benson Collection were always helpful and informative as I gathered resources. I am indebted to many readers at various stages of the writing process (including writing and research groups hosted by BGSU's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology and Institute for the Study of Culture and Society) as well as the LARR reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions. I finally wish to thank Amílcar Challú for his companionship, expertise, and advice in key phases of investigating and articulating this project.

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