Lisa Sousa

The Woman Who Turned Into a Jaguar, and Other Narratives of Native Women in Archives of Colonial Mexico (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

This book is an ambitious and wide-ranging social and cultural history of gender relations among indigenous peoples of New Spain, from the Spanish conquest through the first half of the eighteenth century. In this expansive account, Lisa Sousa focuses on four native groups in highland Mexico-the Nahua, Mixtec, Zapotec, and Mixe-and traces cross-cultural similarities and differences in the roles and status attributed to women in prehispanic and colonial Mesoamerica.

Sousa intricately renders the full complexity of women's life experiences in the household and community, from the significance of their names, age, and social standing, to their identities, ethnicities, family, dress, work, roles, sexuality, acts of resistance, and relationships with men and other women. Drawing on a rich collection of archival, textual, and pictorial sources, she traces the shifts in women's economic, political, and social standing to evaluate the influence of Spanish ideologies on native attitudes and practices around sex and gender in the first several generations after contact. Though catastrophic depopulation, economic pressures, and the imposition of Christianity slowly eroded indigenous women's status following the Spanish conquest, Sousa argues that gender relations nevertheless remained more complementary than patriarchal, with women maintaining a unique position across the first two centuries of colonial rule.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 424
• Erscheinungstermin: 11. Januar 2017
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781503601116
• Artikelnr.: 48418898

Autorenporträt

Lisa Sousa is Professor of History at Occidental College.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
1Introduction
chapter abstract
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to major themes of the study and to the
historical background of the indigenous groups of central Mexico and
Oaxaca-the Nahua, Ñudzahui (Mixtec), Bènizàa (Zapotec), and Ayuk (Mixe)
peoples-that are the focus of the book. The chapter lays out the dramatic
changes that took place in native communities in the decades following the
Spanish conquest (1519-21), including depopulation, sociopolitical
reorganization, imposition of Christianity, and economic reorientation.
Chapter 1 provides a general overview of social structure and gender
relations in the post-classic and colonial periods. The Introduction places
the work and its contributions in the context of the scholarship on
colonial Mexican ethnohistory and Latin American women's history, and
discusses the sources and methods used in the study.
2Gender and the Body
chapter abstract
Chapter 2 draws on theories of the body, gender performativity, and dress,
to show how gender was inscribed on the body to create the appearance of
difference, which, in turn, shaped all social relations. The chapter
analyzes aspects of indigenous gender ideology and concepts of the body as
expressed in life-cycle rituals, native-language metaphors and terminology,
and beliefs pertaining to the calendar, tonalism, and nahualism. The
chapter argues that concepts concerning the fluidity of the body and gender
identity undermined essentializing ideologies. The work examines the
construction of gender through labor, drawing on Nahua and Bènizàa rituals
as two central case studies. The chapter also considers clothing and
adornment and speech and behavior, which served as mechanisms to stabilize
the body and impose identity. Chapter 2 concludes with a discussion of
cross-gendering which occurred when individuals adopted the dress, labor
roles, and mannerisms of the "opposite sex."
3Marriage Encounters
chapter abstract
Chapter 3 considers the encounter between traditional indigenous practices
and Christian marriage in colonial highland Mexico. The first section
examines differing nuptial concepts and ceremonies of indigenous groups and
Spaniards, and considers ecclesiastics' attempts to promote indissoluble,
monogamous Christian marriage as a cornerstone of the broader
evangelization project. Special attention is given to how Spanish efforts
to eradicate native practices of serial monogamy, polygyny, and divorce
altered indigenous concepts and customs. The second part of the chapter
examines how marriages were arranged and celebrated. It reconstructs
indigenous weddings and traces the development of local native-Christian
ceremonies, which incorporated some aspects of traditional rituals but
significantly altered others. The chapter considers how the marriage
encounter in colonial Mexico engendered conflict, compromise, and the
creation of new practices.
4Marital Relations
chapter abstract
Chapter 4 examines marital relations in indigenous communities of highland
Mexico. The first part of the chapter reveals the social, political, and
economic significance of marriage to shed light on marital expectations and
obligations. The chapter also considers informal unions, and the
circumstances that gave rise to these types of arrangements. The second
section of the chapter examines marital conflicts and domestic violence
that developed in failed relationships. Formal and informal attempts to
resolve disputes illustrate cultural expectations and attitudes about one's
rights within a relationship. The study reveals a complex process of
negotiation among husbands and wives, their households, and local native
officials, in which women sometimes aired their grievances before the
community. Chapter 4 argues that the criminal prosecution of wife-beating
suggests that domestic violence, especially when it was deemed excessive,
was not condoned in indigenous communities.
5Sexual Attitudes and Concepts
chapter abstract
Chapter 5 examines indigenous sexual ideology and attitudes based on the
analysis of Mesoamerican metaphors and symbols that were used to discuss
and represent sexual matters. The chapter shows that the principal concern
in these texts was the necessity for moderation in sexual relations.
Excessive intercourse, adulterous relations, and the use of aphrodisiacs
could all lead to impotence, illness, and violence. Flowers, food,
feathers, speech, and sight were invoked in metaphors and as symbols to
represent sexuality in alphabetic and pictorial texts. They continued to
resonate in the narratives and actions of indigenous people in colonial
times. Chapter 5 considers how Spanish friars adopted some indigenous
concepts in their efforts to promote Christian morality, and in turn how
Spanish mores, Christian teaching, and colonial law affected native
sexuality. The chapter argues, however, that Spanish Christian values
regarding morality and sexuality influenced, but did not completely change,
indigenous attitudes and practices.
6Sexual Crimes
chapter abstract
Chapter 6 studies sexual attitudes and crimes, including adultery and rape,
and their prosecution in preconquest and colonial times. Indigenous peoples
themselves, not strictly friars, enforced a moral code of sexual behavior
by gossiping about local scandals, reporting crimes to indigenous and
Spanish magistrates, testifying in criminal trials about alleged
transgressions, and in more extreme cases, resorting to violence, often
with the help of relatives and friends, to punish misconduct. The chapter
considers the ways in which indigenous and Spanish attitudes converged,
especially in the importance placed on marriage as an institution that
regulates sexuality and the strong condemnation of rape and adultery.
Chapter 6 examines the relationship between sexual infidelity and violence
in the household and community. Finally this chapter shows how Spanish
attitudes regarding virginity and honor influenced, but did not alter
entirely, indigenous gender ideology after the sixteenth century.
7Duties and Responsibilities
chapter abstract
Chapter 7 addresses the gendered division of labor at the household and
community levels. The chapter examines women's roles as weavers,
craftpersons, producers of food and beverages, midwives and healers,
community leaders, merchants, and agriculturalists. Chapter 7 challenges
the gendering of "public" and "private" space that is implied in
prescriptive texts by showing that women's duties took them out of the
household on a daily basis, and that men, especially craftsmen, frequently
worked within the home. It also considers how increasing Spanish demands
for labor and tribute and the development of a money economy shaped women's
roles and status. The chapter argues that, in examining various facets of
women's work, it becomes evident that Spanish policies contributed to the
slow erosion in women's status overtime. But Spanish pressures did not
fully succeed, for underlying concepts of gender parallelism and
complementarity were at the core of social organization and household
relations.
8Household and Community
chapter abstract
Chapter 8 investigates relations within the household, focusing on family
organization, ritual kinship, and residence patterns. Members of the
household, whether blood relatives or not, formed a family, who were united
by their collective experiences of working and living together. Marriage
and ritual kinship formalized ties between households, while informal
arrangements were sustained by mutual support, collaborative labor, and
shared resources. The chapter explores the economic, social, moral,
spiritual, and political dimensions of the household. Chapter 8 argues that
household and community were two interrelated spheres, and that women were
often at the center of social, economic, and political interaction. The
chapter also examines how ritual kinship created multidimensional webs of
relations among households and provided important social networks for
women.
9Rebellious Women
chapter abstract
Chapter 9 studies women's participation in public protests and acts of
civil disobedience, including riots. It shows how threats to the integrity
of the household and community, such as increased demands for tribute and
labor, disputes over land and natural resources, and Spanish attempts to
remove local officials from office, led men and women to seek legal
redress, to protest, and at times to rebel against colonial authorities.
The chapter traces women's efforts to organize acts of resistance, such as
the refusal to pay tribute, and their leadership roles in local riots.
While women did not hold political office, they were aware of controversies
over lands, resources, and legal suits to protect these assets. Chapter 9
argues that women's participation in efforts to defend their homes,
communities, and allies reveals a broader consciousness that has been
overlooked or underestimated in previous studies.
10Conclusion
chapter abstract
The concluding chapter reiterates the book's major arguments and places the
study's contributions within the context of the existing scholarship on
Mesoamerican ethnohistory and women's history. The chapter considers the
evidence for both major changes and continuities in indigenous social and
gender relations in rural communities of central Mexico and Oaxaca between
1520 to 1750. The chapter argues that many factors over time contributed to
the erosion of native women's status. Nevertheless, women responded to the
many challenges that they faced to defend their interests, as well as those
of their households and communities.