Son of philosopher
Jacques Chevalier, Chevalier was a student of geography at the
University of Grenoble (1933–36) and alumnus of the
École des chartes (1936–40). He became a doctoral student of French historian
Marc Bloch and developed interests in accord with the
Annales School. During
World War II, Chevalier was resident in
Madrid at the
Casa de Velázquez, with the aid of anthropologist
Paul Rivet. In Spain, Chevalier began pursuing his interest in the
agrarian history of Mexico using the
Archivo General de Indias in
Seville. Between 1946 and 1949 he was a fellow of the in Mexico City. During this period he developed his theory concerning the formation of the great landed estates (
haciendas) in Mexico. This subject was developed in his doctoral dissertation, directed by Marc Bloch, which he completed in 1949. It was revised for publication in French by the in Paris (1952). Its publication was a major contribution to colonial Mexican history, but with some lacunae. It was translated to Spanish and published in Mexico in 1956. It was edited and translated to English by Alvin Eustin, with an introduction by
Lesley Byrd Simpson and published in 1963 as
Land and Society in Colonial Mexico: The Great Hacienda. One reviewer faults this English edition for its many omissions of the original French text and that the English translation is not faithful to the French original.
Eric Van Young took Chevalier's work as a point of departure for a lengthy discussion of hacienda studies in Mexico. Chevalier spent considerable time in Mexico. He had contacts with Mexican historians including José Miranda, , , and Moreno as well as intellectuals visiting Mexico, including
Woodrow Borah,
Marcel Bataillon, , and Claude Dumas. While in Mexico, Chevalier worked in the
Archivo general de la Nación and in regional archives in Guadalajara, Zacatecas, Monterrey, and Puebla. He and his wife Josèphe Chevalier frequently hosted meals and parties for friends and visitors. In a festschrift for Chevalier, an article is devoted to this aspect of his personal life. He traveled extensively in Mexico, with some journeys on a
Harley Davidson motorcycle that he rode in a suit and tie. He visited the
isthmus of Tehuantepec, coast of
Michoacan, and the highlands of Jalisco, as well as Veracruz, Puebla, Nayarit, and Aguascalientes. During his travels and researches, he accumulated a huge personal archive of photos and notes, which became the basis for his book
Viajes y Pasiones. He returned to France in 1962, where at the time there was little interest in
Latin America. With the help of
Hispanist , the Spanish literature department at the
University of Bordeaux hired Chevalier. He taught courses on Mexico from the prehispanic period to the
Mexican Revolution, especially emphasizing issues of land tenure. Between 1962 and 1966, he directed the Institut français des Études andines, traveling to the Andean countries frequently and he collected material for his personal archive-library. In 1969 he had a position at the University of Paris 1, Pantheon-Sorbonne, where he remained until his retirement in 1983. He had accumulated a huge personal library and archive of materials from Mexico and the Andes, which he donated in his 90s to the Centre de recherches d'histoire de l'Amérique latine et du Monde ibérique (CRALMI) de la
Université de Paris I (Panthéon- Sorbonne). A published inventory of the archival materials, photos, and documents appears in the 2005 festschrift. He died in Paris on 6 June 2012. ==Impact of Chevalier's work==