Capelo, Joaquín (1852–1928)

Joaquín Capelo, born in Lima, was a Peruvian intellectual involved in diverse pursuits, including politics and sociology. As an engineer, he headed Fomento, a development organization during the second presidency (1895–1899) of Nicolás de Piérola. He understood the need for a better trans-Andean transportation system and worked on the construction of a central highway from the central highlands to the coast. His study of the project was published as La vía central del Perú (1895–1896). Later he represented Junín in the senate. He was also interested in worker and indigenous rights, and as a professor at San Marcos University in Lima did important though somewhat forgotten work in the field of sociology. During the 1870s he co-founded the Amantes del Saber organization with the noted Puerto Rican essayist and sociologist Eugenio Maria de Hostos. He also became active in Pedro Zulen's Asociación Pro-Indígena.

Among his heterogeneous works, his Sociología de Lima (1895–1902) stands out, along with Los menguados (1912). Unlike latter-day sociologists, Capelo imparts a multidimensional framework to understanding Lima, discussing sociological, physical, historical, economic, institutional, and moral attributes. He dedicates a good deal of attention to associations and the role they play in the positive development of society. Capelo, like other early Latin American sociologists (as in the 1909 study Pueblo enfermo by the Bolivian Alcides Arguedas), approached the city as a diseased organism that could be cured with the proper treatment. Following the life path of many other Latin American intellectuals, Capelo ended up in Paris, where he died.

See alsoArguedas, Alcides; Hostos y Bonilla, Eugenio María de; Indigenismo; Piérola, Nicolás de; Zulen, Pedro S., [and] Dora Mayer de Zulen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Joseph, Gilbert M., and Mark D. Szuchman, eds. I Saw a City Invincible: Urban Portraits of Latin America. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1996.

Kapsoli, Wilfredo, ed. El pensamiento de la Asociación Pro-Indígena. Cuzco, Peru: Centro de Las Casas, 1980.

Morse, Richard M. "The Lima of Joaquin Capelo: A Latin American Archetype." Journal of Contemporary History 4, no. 3, "Urbanism" (1969): 95-110.

                                         Thomas Ward