The Redemptive Work

Professor Kim Clark explores a time period and country for which little has been published in English. By studying the dimensions of politics and culture as one, Professor Clark argues that the local railroad case served as a demonstration of some of the problems that were most important during the liberal period.

At the turn of the century, diverse political, economic, and social conditions divided Ecuador. During the construction of the Guayaquil-Quito Railway, the people of Ecuador faced the challenge of working together. The Redemptive Work: Railway and Nation in Ecuador, 1895D1930 examines local, regional, and national perspectives on the building of the railway and analyzes the contradictory processes of national incorporation.

Rather than examining the formation of Ecuador's national identity, Professor Clark analyzes the methods of two groups working on the same project but with opposing goals. The elite landowners of the highlands were concerned with the transportation of their agricultural products to the coast, while the agro-export elite of the coast were more interested in forming a labor market. Because the underlying objectives were contradictory, only a partial consensus was reached on the nature of national development. This tense agreement channeled the conflicting opinions but did not eliminate them. The Redemptive Work is the first text to deal with these complex issues in Ecuador's history.

The Redemptive Work is useful for undergraduate and graduate courses in Latin American history, social history, anthropology, political science, and nation and state formation.