In the past two decades, the interdisciplinary push to denaturalise the concept of society has historicised the very object of social history. In this paper, I propose a way of studying the social history of education that eludes the presupposition of the social as a transcendental or pre-discursive object. My central claim is that it is possible…

Background/Context: This article is part of a broader investigation of the sociocultural history of rural education in Mexico that focuses on federally financed "social experiments," the main purpose of which was to find "effective" methods to educate and "civilize" the rural population, especially Indigenous people.…

The reflections presented in this article include the process of incorporating women teachers into schools during the post-revolutionary period in Mexico. From one standpoint, women teachers lived in a state of ambiguity throughout this period because they were seen as symbols of national reconstruction following a war that left more than one…

The relationship between the authoritarian state and higher education in Mexico is examined in this case study. Focus is on the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) since it receives 40 percent of the federal budget for higher education, which makes it a prime example of autonomy within an authoritarian political system. Using three…

The function of qualitative research in education is examined, taking into account the curriculum development of one institution, the Escuela Normal Veracruzana, Jalapa (Mexico), which is one of the oldest teacher training colleges (dating from 1886) still functioning in Mexico. Although this academic institution never traditionally promoted the…