State, local communities and elementary schools at the Lima department, Perú (1821-1905)

Authors

  • G. Antonio Espinoza Departamento de Historia, Virginia Commonwealth University

Abstract

This article shows that from Independence up to the early twentieth century, regional, provincial and district elites in Lima used the growing educational apparatus to achieve and maintain political hegemony, and that patronage was a key mechanism in this pattern. Many of the alleged and real deficiencies of primary education were directly linked to the search for political power and material resources.

Keywords:

Primary education, Teachers, State-Building, Patronage, Centralism and decentralization