Irrigation and the Politics of Chaos in Sonora‟S Mayo Valley
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Rio Revuelto: Irrigation and the Politics of Chaos in Sonora's Mayo Valley Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Banister, Jeffrey Milton Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 03/10/2021 20:50:01 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/193831 1 RIO REVUELTO: IRRIGATION AND THE POLITICS OF CHAOS IN SONORA‟S MAYO VALLEY by Jeffrey M. Banister ____________________ Copyright © Jeffrey M. Banister A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY AND DEVELOPMENT In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2010 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Jeffrey M. Banister entitled Río Revuelto: Irrigation and the Politics of Chaos in Sonora‟s Mayo Valley and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _________________________________________________________Date: 2/12/2010 Sallie Marston _________________________________________________________Date: 2/12/2010 Margaret Wilder _________________________________________________________Date: 2/12/2010 Marvin Waterstone _________________________________________________________Date: 2/12/2010 William Beezley _________________________________________________________Date: 2/12/2010 Diana Liverman _________________________________________________________Date: 2/12/2010 Christopher Scott Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate‟s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. _________________________________________________________ Date: 2/12/2010 Dissertation Director: Sallie Marston 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. Signed: Jeffrey M. Banister 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation comes at the end of a long haul, and with many debts that I will never be able to repay. Sallie Marston, a superb mentor, has given me the latitude to pursue my own path, while providing encouragement and insights at precisely the right moments. My (many) committee members—Margaret Wilder, Marvin Waterstone, Diana Liverman, Christopher Scott, and William Beezley—have given generously of their time, and guided me along in my professional and intellectual development. Without their support and friendship, this work would not have been possible. Likewise, I would never have made it this far without the patient urging and kindness of Joseph Wilder, director of the Southwest Center, editor-in-chief of Journal of the Southwest, and my boss for the past diez y pico years. Indeed, thanks to everyone at the Southwest Center—Tom Sheridan, Gary Nabhan, David Yetman, Lupita Cruz, Maribel Alvarez, David Siebert, and John Messina—for your unwavering encouragement, and, most of all, exquisite humor. The University of Arizona School of Geography and Development has been a wonderfully supportive and always stimulating environment. I am indebted to Ignacio Almada, José Luis Moreno, and Nicolás Pineda, of the Colegio de Sonora, for their graciousness, hospitality, and wisdom. Thanks, also, to my gran amigos of “El Gallinero.” The archivists at the Archivo General del Estado de Sonora and the Archivo Histórico del Agua gave generously of their time. William Beezley invited me to participate in the 2003 Oaxaca Field Seminar, where by day I took part in lectures that vastly deepened my understanding of Mexican history. By night, I partied like a rock star—mostly at the Bar Escándalo—taking years off of my life, and making friendships that I will always cherish (ya saben quienes son). A generous Fulbright Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad grant made the field investigation (including archival work) possible. From Nogales to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and points between, I have been lucky enough to accompany David Yetman on several explorations to study the ecology and human geography of Mexico. Dave has taught me more about that beautiful land and its peoples than anyone I know….except, perhaps, for Ken and Maggie, Dessain, with whom I spent three of some of the best years of my life, working, living, and playing on the edge of the Sea of Cortéz. David, Ken and Maggie, and the people of Navopatia—Joaquín, Lupita, and all of Los Mendívil—I will never forget those times and your friendship. To my friends in Alamos—Toña Hurtado, Jennifer and Dave Mackay, and many others—my heartfelt gratitude. To Heidi Hausermann, my unflagging loyalty and friendship. The same goes for Lucylu and Lola, too! Tom and Nathan Spangler, Karyn and Kim Fox, Brian Powell, Leza Carter, Katie Meehan, Amanda López, Elena and J.C. Albarrán, Aurea Toxqui, Karin Friederic, David Burckhalter, María Muñóz, Ageeth Sluis, Michael Matthews, Steven Neufeld, Ryan Kashanipour: I love you guys! Finally, I could never have made it this far without the love and understanding of my brother, Justin, my nieces, Emily and Abigail, and, of course, my mom and dad, Sharon and Dennis—ay, mis queridos! 5 DEDICATION To Rubén Mendívil. Te fuiste, amigo. We will never forget you. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS…………………………………………………………….10 ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………...11 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….13 Agrarian Populism is Too Dry………………………………………………………...18 “Water Relations” and Territoriality…………………………………………………..25 Decentering the State: Power, Hegemony, and the “Hydraulic Subject………………35 “Epochs”: On Organization, Narrative Structure, and Method……………………….40 CHAPTER 1. THE FLOW OF GEOHISTORY ON THE LOWER RIO MAYO……...47 Can a Bureaucracy Dismantle Itself?.............................................................................60 CHAPTER 2. EPOCA ONE—VIOLENCE, CARTOGRAPHY, AND NEW WAYS OF SEEING (1870s TO EARLY 1900s)………………………………………………...74 New Ways of Seeing…………………………………………………………………..76 Violence and Cartography…………………………………………………………….78 The New Experts………………………………………………………………………85 “Heads of Household” and the Valley‟s First True Land Reform…………………….89 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...103 CHAPTER 3. EPOCA TWO—THE BOLD AND THE BANAL: SCIENCE, FREEDOM, AND SMOOTH SPACE (EARLY 1880s TO REVOLUTION)…………108 Bureaucracy Creeps in: Irrigation Companies, Water Concessions, and Peritos Hidráulicos…………………………………………………………………………...114 Water and the Disorderly Politics of Progress……………………………………….120 The Politics of Water Monopoly……………………………………………………..129 Hydrocracy and the Clash of Agricultural Titans……………………………………135 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS — Continued Water and Porfirian Legerdemain……………………………………………………138 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...143 CHAPTER 4. EPOCA THREE—“PATRIA FUGAZ”: OLIGARCHS, INDIANS, AND THE TROUBLED BIRTH OF HYDRAULIC POPULISM (REVOLUTION TO MID- 1930s)…………………………………………………………………………………...153 Constitutionalists, River Federalization, and the Beginning of the End for Private Irrigation……………………………………………………………………………..157 The New Revolutionary Order?...................................................................................166 The Many Lives of Sonora‟s Oligarchs: Ersatz Agrarianism and the Elusive “Zona Federal”………………………………………………………………………………172 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...188 CHAPTER 5. EPOCA FOUR—REACHING THE APEX OF HYDRAULIC POPULISM……………………………………………………………………………..198 Cardenista Reforms and the Antinomies of Irrigation Development………………..205 Counter Revolution and the Dam Experts…………………………………………...221 When a Network becomes a Federal “System”: Enter the SRH……………………..232 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...237 CHAPTER 6. EPOCA FIVE—GO-GO AND DECLINE: FROM AGRARIAN POPULISM TO HYDRAULIC PARTICULARISM (1950s TO 1970s)……………...243 A “Horizon of Social Justice”: Land Invasion, Campesino Leagues, and Party Politics……………………………………………………………………………….246 Drought, Decaying Infrastructure, and the Weakening Links between Political Patronage and Irrigation……………………………………………………………..258 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...266 CHAPTER 7. EPOCA SIX—TOWARDS A “NEW CULTURE OF WATER”?.........275 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS — Continued FCIR and the New Autonomous Movement………………………………………...277 PLHINO, “Pueblos Cachorreros” and the Reconstitution of Space…………………281 The “Secret Pact,” Bad Religion, and Precarismo…………………………………...289 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...297 CHAPTER 8. RIO REVUELTO……………………………………………………....304 Transferencia in the Mayo Valley……………………………………………………307 The Modulation of Hydraulic Politics……………………………………………….313 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...328 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………332