REGIONAL HISTORY: CONCEPT, IMPORTANCE IN MEXICO, PERU, VENEZUELA - HISTORY - 2024

The regional history is a humanistic discipline whose function is to reconstruct the past events of a community for the purpose of explaining the development of the nation. This branch arose when the researchers stated that it was essential to analyze the concrete facts to understand the evolution of the country.

However, it is necessary to ask: what is meant by region? The definition that is usually used is that the region is a space determined by the geographical limits, as well as by the customs and languages ​​that the inhabitants share. Therefore, it does not only refer to small territories, but to large cities.

Regional history encompasses the cultural and social elements of the different territories. Source: pixabay.com

Although his study focuses on specific places, regional history should not be confused with local; While the first focuses on examining municipal events, the second studies the features and elements that make up the parishes.

Nor does it have to be linked to microhistory, since it is characterized by seeking and describing those particular and peripheral events that cause some emotion. Instead, territorial analyzes are identified as being impartial. For this reason, the authors resort to newspaper archives and civil registries in order to justify their hypotheses.

Origin

It was at the end of the 19th century that Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch established a new way of investigating and writing history. These French writers argued that the existence of humanity was not limited only to political events, but that it was necessary to analyze each area of ​​life.

However, the most important thing was to give prominence to the common man, the one who did not perform any heroic feat; but that transformed everyday life with his actions. Following that ideal, they founded the Annales institution in 1929, a school that was fundamental for North American anthropologists.

In the mid-1930s, these specialists began examining the ruins of remote and poorly studied communities in the United States in order to find vestiges that would explain the nation's past. This is how a new discipline emerged, which they called regional history.

This scientific current entered Latin America in 1940. On this continent, historians focused on territorial research to portray the union between the different castes and the struggles for emancipation. In addition, they tried to analyze ancient events in order to expose what the future would be like.

Concept

Regional history does not have a specific definition, it can even be stated that some researchers consider it an ambiguous matter. This is because its object of study has been confused or related to other humanistic chairs, such as ethnohistory, geohistory and local historiography.

Even so, it is possible to express that this territorial discipline is characterized by describing folklore. Historians reflect on the traditions of the various communities and seek to observe their infrastructures. That is, it focuses on the union of man, time and space.

In this way it is perceived that regional history is a social and human science that examines the economic, political, demographic and cultural aspects of a specific area. The objective is to understand how the states were formed and what was the role they had in the development of the nation.

In this sense, specialists seek to analyze the past in order to highlight the role that societies that were made invisible have had. They try to emphasize that history is not constituted by general events, but by concrete facts.

Importance

Over the last few years, this subject has played an essential role because it shows that it is essential that children know both the history and geography of their countries. By understanding the events of the past, individuals learn to value their customs and avoid making the mistakes of old in the present.

Due to its objective nature, this discipline is important since its purpose is didactic. Its purpose is to expose how identity has been forged and the way in which a sense of belonging is cultivated through local features.

Besides, it reveals which are the subjects that have been scarcely studied and must be reviewed from various perspectives. The work of this social science is to instruct people to perceive history as a dynamic reality and link regional facts with universal ones.

Regional history in Mexico

Starting in the 1960s, Mexico began to produce works that sought to portray another vision of national history. The idea was to fragment the revolutionary and capitalist project that had been highlighted so far.

It was Luis González y González who brought the regional current to the country when he published Pueblo en vilo (1968). This work tells how the town of San José de García was created during the colonial era and the way in which its landscape changed in the 20th century. Another fundamental aspect was the inauguration of the history faculties in the main Mexican metropolises.

These events caused the researchers to recognize a new field of study, which is why they focused on analyzing the events that occurred in the unnoticed territories. The topics that are generally investigated are:

-The formation of the ranches.

-The formation of states and their connection with ethnic groups.

-The function of the vicariate in the municipality of Cojumatlán.

-Illiteracy in Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca.

-The patriarchal configuration.

-The family unit, compadrazgo and patronage.

In Mexico, regional history has focused on aspects such as family unity, compadrazgo, and patronage. Source: pixabay.com

Regional history in Peru

Regional history in Peru has not been so studied. It began to develop in the 1970s thanks to a program established by the government to disseminate articles that established national sentiment in the population. In this way, it is perceived that the first territorial analyzes were political vehicles.

Besides, the difficult access to universities meant that few Peruvians dedicated themselves to the field of historical research. For this reason the first texts were written by foreign authors. The topics that stood out were:

-The migration of the aborigines who lived in Cusco.

-The origin and evolution of the Quechua language.

-The Andean areas as cultural spaces.

However, these inquiries ceased because terrorism was increasing more and more in the South American state, therefore, the investigators had to return to their countries; But in 2015, the director of the Academy stated that they would re-publish works of regional historiography, being sponsored by the Central Reserve Bank of Peru.

Those books were exposed at the end of 2017. The most studied theses will be presented below:

In Venezuela

As in Mexico, in Venezuela texts of regional history began to be written with the objective of displacing the heroic ideal and the redemptive cult that existed towards the military. The aim was to change the collective imagination. For this reason, the writers focused on exalting the value of the terroir, those territories that contributed to the progress of society.

The purpose was for people to appreciate the traits that identified them. Now it is necessary to mention the three reasons that drove the development of this discipline. The first was the construction of the School of Anthropology at the University of Caracas, a department that projected another notion on the work of historiography.

The second was the restructuring of the Research Center, an institution that incorporated new documents into its records, which allowed researchers to expand their knowledge. The third aspect consisted in promoting the idea that the country had its own culture, that is why the European or North American traditions should not be followed.

So, this methodology has had a relevant role in the construction of ideology. Among the theories elaborated are:

In Argentina

Argentine researchers state that on certain occasions the veracity of events is altered to transmit new ideals that are adjusted to the interests of politicians. This project causes the concepts of nationality, tradition and identity to be modified, which is why they recommend exposing the events without conditioning the inhabitants.

For these specialists, history is the science that narrates the origin of man and states. That is why it should not be used as a governmental or moralizing means. Hence the relevance of the works that continued the regional trend, an analysis that began in 1980 and whose main purpose was to break down the facts to faithfully reconstruct them.

In order to test their hypotheses, they were based on the examination of local and microhistorical historiography. They sought to observe particular events to understand the general story.

It is convenient to point out that the regionalist studies have been written in the universities of the provinces, these are:

References

1. Evans, M. (2008). Regional history, a national approach. Retrieved on December 13, 2019 from Faculty of History: history.osu.edu
2. Hawk, B. (2010). Historical currents and their challenges. Retrieved on December 12, 2019 from Johns Hopkins University: jhu.edu.
3. Kindgard, A. (2003). Argentine regional history and the projections of its object. Retrieved on December 13, 2019 from Cuadernos Historia: Bibliotecadigital.uns.edu.ar
4. Martínez, C. (2005). The challenges of regional history. Retrieved on December 12, 2019 from the Institute of History: csic.es
5. Medina, A. (2012). Theory, sources and method in regional history. Retrieved on December 12, 2019 from the Central University of Venezuela: ucv.ve
6. Pérez, H. (2007). The regional and local history of the Colombian-Venezuelan plains. Retrieved on December 12, 2019 from the International University Foundation of the American Tropics: unitropico.edu
7. White, L. (2011). Microhistory and regional history. Retrieved on December 13, 2019 from the Department of History: history.stanford.edu