Counter-Hispanization in the Colonial Philippines - Literature, Law, Religion, and Native Custom

In Counter-Hispanization in the Colonial Philippines, the author analyzes the literature and politics of "spiritual conquest" in order to demonstrate how it reflected the contribution of religious ministers to a protracted period of social anomie throughout the mission provinces between the 16th-18th centuries. By tracking the prose of spiritual conquest with the history of the mission in official documents, religious correspondence, and public controversies, the author shows how, contrary to the general consensus in Philippine historiography, the literature and pastoral politics of spiritual conquest reinforced the frontier character of the religious provinces outside Manila in the Americas as well as the Philippines, by supplanting the (absence of) law in the name of supplementing or completing it. This frontier character accounts for the modern reinvention of native custom as well as the birth of literature and theater in the Tagalog vernacular.

List of contents

List of illustrations, Acknowledgements, Introduction: Towards a Counter-History of the Mission Pueblo, 1 The War of Peace and Legacy of Social Anomie, 2 Monastic Rule and the Mission As Frontier(ization) Institution, 3 Stagings of Spiritual Conquest, 4 Miracles and Monsters in the Consolidation of Mission-Towns, 5 Our Lady of Contingency, 6 Reversions to Native Custom in Fr. Antonio de Borja's Barlaam At Josaphat and Gaspar Aquino de Belen's Mahal na Pasion, 7 Colonial Racism and the Moro-Moro As Dueling Proxies of Law, Conclusion: The Promise of Law, Bibliography, Index

About the author

John D. (Jody) Blanco is the author of Frontier Constitutions. He teaches early modern and modern Hispanophone and Philippine literature and culture. He also translated Julio Ramos's book Divergent Modernities of Latin America into English. He is the Director of Latin American Studies at UC San Diego.

Product details

• Authors: John Blanco
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 01.12.2025
• EAN: 9781041177654
• ISBN: 978-1-041-17765-4
• No. of pages: 356
• Series: Connected Histories in the Early Modern World
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography; HISTORY / Asia / Southeast Asia, LITERARY CRITICISM / Subjects & Themes / Religion, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 17th Century, South East Asia, Regional Studies, Literary studies: general, Regional / International studies, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, History and Archaeology, colonialism;religion;christianity;philippines