Hall of Mirrors Power, Witchcraft, and Caste in Colonial Mexico
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Laura A. Lewis is Associate Professor of Anthropology at James Madison University.
Hall of Mirrors Power, Witchcraft, and Caste in Colonial Mexico
“A smart, sophisticated analysis of the cultural politics of caste, gender, and power in colonial Mexico, <i>Hall of Mirrors</i> is built upon a foundation of strong archival work with fascinating sources from the Mexican Inquisition.”-Orin Starn, author of <i>Nightwatch: The Politics of Protest in the Andes</i> “Here is a fine example of well-researched, ‘thick’ ethnographic description at the service of a fuller understanding of ‘caste as a system of values, practices, and meanings in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Mexico.’ <i>Hall of Mirrors </i>offers memorable cases from Inquisition files nestled in an unusually probing and synoptic analysis.”-William Taylor, author of <i>Magistrates of the Sacred: Priests and Parishioners in Eighteenth-Century Mexico</i>
Using judicial records from a variety of colonial courts, Lewis highlights the ethnographic details of legal proceedings as she demonstrates how Indians, in particular, came to be the masters of witchcraft, a domain of power that drew on gendered and hegemonic caste distinctions to complicate the colonial hierarchy. She also reveals the ways in which blacks, mulattoes, and mestizos mediated between Spaniards and Indians, alternatively reinforcing Spanish authority and challenging it through alliances with Indians. Bringing to life colonial subjects as they testified about their experiences, Hall of Mirrors discloses a series of contradictions that complicate easy distinctions between subalterns and elites, resistance and power.
Note on Sources xiii
Introduction 1
1. Forging a Colonial Landscape: Caste in Context 15
2. The Roads Are Harsh: Spaniards and Indians in the Sanctioned Domain 46
3. La Mala Yerba: Putting Difference to Work 67
4. From Animosities to Allegiances: A Segue into the World of Witchcraft 95
5. Authority Reversed: Indians Ascending 103
6. Mapping Unsanctioned Power 132
7. Hall of Mirrors 167
Notes 185
Works Cited 235
Index 255
“A smart, sophisticated analysis of the cultural politics of caste, gender, and power in colonial Mexico, <i>Hall of Mirrors</i> is built upon a foundation of strong archival work with fascinating sources from the Mexican Inquisition.”-Orin Starn, author of <i>Nightwatch: The Politics of Protest in the Andes</i> “Here is a fine example of well-researched, ‘thick’ ethnographic description at the service of a fuller understanding of ‘caste as a system of values, practices, and meanings in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Mexico.’ <i>Hall of Mirrors </i>offers memorable cases from Inquisition files nestled in an unusually probing and synoptic analysis.”-William Taylor, author of <i>Magistrates of the Sacred: Priests and Parishioners in Eighteenth-Century Mexico</i>
Using judicial records from a variety of colonial courts, Lewis highlights the ethnographic details of legal proceedings as she demonstrates how Indians, in particular, came to be the masters of witchcraft, a domain of power that drew on gendered and hegemonic caste distinctions to complicate the colonial hierarchy. She also reveals the ways in which blacks, mulattoes, and mestizos mediated between Spaniards and Indians, alternatively reinforcing Spanish authority and challenging it through alliances with Indians. Bringing to life colonial subjects as they testified about their experiences, Hall of Mirrors discloses a series of contradictions that complicate easy distinctions between subalterns and elites, resistance and power.
Note on Sources xiii
Introduction 1
1. Forging a Colonial Landscape: Caste in Context 15
2. The Roads Are Harsh: Spaniards and Indians in the Sanctioned Domain 46
3. La Mala Yerba: Putting Difference to Work 67
4. From Animosities to Allegiances: A Segue into the World of Witchcraft 95
5. Authority Reversed: Indians Ascending 103
6. Mapping Unsanctioned Power 132
7. Hall of Mirrors 167
Notes 185
Works Cited 235
Index 255
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Laura A. Lewis is Associate Professor of Anthropology at James Madison University.