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This dissertation is a study of Lima's artisans and their role in the process of nation-building and class formation during the mid-nineteenth century. While artisans lost the political battles against economic liberalism during the early decades of the republic, they continued to participate socially and politically in the construction of a postcolonial polity. Situated between the elites and the urban poor, artisans formed part of the middle sectors with a high proportion of mestizos (people of mixed race), blacks and Indians. The middle sectors actively sought a place for themselves within a society where racial prejudices persisted despite the formal elimination of complex colonial race divions. Artisans sought recognition as honest and industrious citizens.
Despite the defeat of artisan protectionism, artisans established an institutional presence within the emerging liberal polity of the 1850s and 60s. A complex relationship developed between artisans and liberal reformers. On the one hand, artisans participated in many of the social institutions considered by liberals as building blocks for a progressive and modern nation—these included artisan schools and voluntary associations such as mutual aid societies. On the other hand, artisans continued to identify as a sector with its own set of interests, and used mutual aid societies to maintain social and political links to elites. While liberals promoted a vision of a society of individuals whose pursuit of their interests would further the common good, artisans continued to see themselves as a special interest group especially valuable to the nation, and deserving protection and promotion by the state. In this sense, artisans challenged the liberal model of the polity.
An economic downturn, which followed the depletion of guano revenues and excessive government indebtedness during the 1870s, led artisans to become more vocal. Lima's printers played a crucial role in an emerging artisan press, which began to equate the plight of artisans with that of other workers. By the end of the period studied, artisans had begun to formulate a new identity as part of a working class with clear political rights—a further challenge to the liberal view of the nation.