Hall of Mirrors - Power, Witchcraft, and Caste in Colonial Mexico

Relations between Blacks and Indigenous people in Colonial Mexico as seen through a study of witchcraft accusations in inquisition records.

List of contents

Acknowledgments xi

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

About the author

Laura A. Lewis is Associate Professor of Anthropology at James Madison University.

Summary

Through an examination of caste in sixteenth - and seventeenth-century Mexico, this book explores the construction of hierarchy and difference in a Spanish colonial setting. It shows how the cultural politics of caste produced a system of fluid and relational designations that simultaneously facilitated and undermined Spanish governance.

Product details

• Authors: Laura a. Lewis, Lewis, Laura A Lewis, Laura A. Lewis
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 05.09.2003
• EAN: 9780822331117
• ISBN: 978-0-8223-3111-7
• No. of pages: 280
• Weight: 490 g
• Illustrations: 1 map
• Series: Latin America Otherwise; Latin America Otherwise: Langu; Latin America Otherwise
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Ethnology > Ethnology; Anthropologie, Mexiko, 17. Jahrhundert (1600 bis 1699 n. Chr.), Amerikanische Geschichte, 16. Jahrhundert (1500 bis 1599 n. Chr.), Geschichte allgemein und Weltgeschichte