Abstract

FLORES LOPEZ, José Manuel. The Political Construction of the Bandit in the 19th Century. Secuencia [online]. 2018, n.102, pp.100-126. ISSN 2395-8464.  https://doi.org/10.18234/secuencia.v0i102.1429.

This article seeks to argue that in the 19th century, but particularly in the years from the Reform War to the Restored Republic (1857-1876), the rhetoric about banditry consisted mainly of a political discourse to talk about the enemy and the war. This language is regarded as a process of political construction, implemented in both the press, the laws against robbers and plagiarists and legal practice. The process suggests understanding the production of discourses on banditry as a code, which symbolically represented the adversary, fighting and ideological contradictions between political actors. The text also seeks to provide a critical review of the concept of “bandit”, as proposed by Paul J. Vanderwood.

Keywords : banditry; political construction; 19th century; Mexico.