Description
In colonial Latin America, social identity did not correlate neatly with fixed categories of race and ethnicity. As Imperial Subjects demonstrates, from the early years of Spanish and Portuguese rule, understandings of race and ethnicity were fluid. In this collection, historians offer nuanced interpretations of identity as they investigate how Iberian settlers, African slaves, Native Americans, and their multi-ethnic progeny understood who they were as individuals, as members of various communities, and as imperial subjects. The contributors' explorations of the relationship between colonial ideologies of difference and the identities historical actors presented span the entire colonial period and beyond: from early contact to the legacy of colonial identities in the new republics of the nineteenth century. The volume includes essays on the major colonial centers of Mexico, Peru, and Brazil, as well as the Caribbean basin and the imperial borderlands.
Historical investigations into how Iberian settlers, African slaves, Native Americans, and their multiethnic progeny understood their identities in colonial Latin America
About the Author
Reviews
"The essays . . . offer important insights into the complicated processes of social formation in the colonies. . . . [H]istorians, as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students, will find much to think about in this provocative work." - Karen B. Graubart, Catholic Historical Review
"This is a pioneering study of the constructions of socio-cultural identities in colonial Latin America. . . . [An] innovative collection of essays." - David J. Robinson, Journal of Latin American Geography
"While scholarly in content, these short essays are readable and could be included in an undergraduate syllabus. The volume is crisply edited; many of the essays refer to each other. I highly recommend the volume for college and graduate courses. The essays invite comparison of different regions, in addition to offering intriguing lessons about the multiple ways that identities evolved in the colonial era." - Deborah Kanter, The Americas
"This volume presents a superb collection of essays covering the muddled, confused, overlapping, and changing dimensions of identity-making in the Hispanic colonial empires of the New World. . . . The authors of these essays expose us to all these intensely real aspects of life in the Spanish and Portuguese empires of the Western Hemisphere. This volume should be required reading for those trying to understand how people related to one another, government, and institutions in these colonial empires." - Sheldon Avenius, History: Reviews of New Books
"It is imperative that historians incorporate a number of perspectives to enhance our understanding of this unique period, especially within the studies on race and identity. Imperial Subjects does just that. The respective authors approach the subject through a variety of perspectives, incorporating unique themes, all of which are backed by a solid archival research." - Larry V. Larrichio, Colonial Latin American Historical Review
"[T]his volume provides an excellent collection of well-researched and well-argued essays. Together they represent the most recent and cutting-edge scholarship on this topic. . . . The diversity in time period and geography make the collection highly useful to those researchers and scholars interested in comparative studies of race and ethnicity. The manageable length of each essay, in addition to the excellent introduction and conclusion, make this work an ideal text for introducing students to current research. Overall, the high calibre and diversity of research presented by Imperial Subjects make it a notable addition to the literature." - Robert Schwaller and Matthew Restall, Social History
"Grounded in solid archival research and informed by sound, up-to-date theoretical approaches, these essays break substantial new ground in showing how 'ordinary' people experienced living in the Spanish and Portuguese empires. Anyone wishing to sample the best in recent scholarship on colonial Latin America should begin with this book."-Cheryl English Martin, author of Governance and Society in Colonial Mexico: Chihuahua in the Eighteenth Century
"This excellent and necessary collection brings together some of the most important scholarship on race in colonial Latin America. Importantly, the contributors do not assume racial and ethnic identities to be static, nor do they take hybridity as a given. Rather, they examine the social identities that emerged from 'contact points' between institutions and individuals."-Pete Sigal, author of From Moon Goddesses to Virgins: The Colonization of Yucatecan Maya Sexual Desire
"The introduction to Imperial Subjects should be required reading for graduate students entering the field of colonial Latin American history." -- Nicole von Germeten * Latin American Research Review *
"This volume provides an excellent collection of well-researched and well-argued essays. Together they represent the most recent and cutting-edge scholarship on this topic. . . . The diversity in time period and geography make the collection highly useful to those researchers and scholars interested in comparative studies of race and ethnicity. The manageable length of each essay, in addition to the excellent introduction and conclusion, make this work an ideal text for introducing students to current research. Overall, the high calibre and diversity of research presented by Imperial Subjects make it a notable addition to the literature." -- Robert Schwaller and Matthew Restall * Social History *
"It is imperative that historians incorporate a number of perspectives to enhance our understanding of this unique period, especially within the studies on race and identity. Imperial Subjects does just that. The respective authors approach the subject through a variety of perspectives, incorporating unique themes, all of which are backed by a solid archival research." -- Larry V. Larrichio * Colonial Latin American Historical Review *
"The essays . . . offer important insights into the complicated processes of social formation in the colonies. . . . [H]istorians, as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students, will find much to think about in this provocative work." -- Karen B. Graubart * Catholic Historical Review *
"This is a pioneering study of the constructions of socio-cultural identities in colonial Latin America. . . . [An] innovative collection of essays." -- David J. Robinson * Journal of Latin American Geography *
"This volume presents a superb collection of essays covering the muddled, confused, overlapping, and changing dimensions of identity-making in the Hispanic colonial empires of the New World. . . . The authors of these essays expose us to all these intensely real aspects of life in the Spanish and Portuguese empires of the Western Hemisphere. This volume should be required reading for those trying to understand how people related to one another, government, and institutions in these colonial empires." -- Sheldon Avenius * History: Reviews of New Books *
"While scholarly in content, these short essays are readable and could be included in an undergraduate syllabus. The volume is crisply edited; many of the essays refer to each other. I highly recommend the volume for college and graduate courses. The essays invite comparison of different regions, in addition to offering intriguing lessons about the multiple ways that identities evolved in the colonial era." -- Deborah Kanter * The Americas *
Book Information
ISBN 9780822344209
Author Matthew D. O'Hara
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 445g
Whether analyzing cases in which the Inquisition found that the individuals before it were "legally" Indians and thus exempt from prosecution, or considering late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century petitions for declarations of whiteness that entitled the mixed-race recipients to the legal and social benefits enjoyed by whites, the book's contributors approach the question of identity by examining interactions between imperial subjects and colonial institutions. Colonial mandates, rulings, and legislation worked in conjunction with the exercise and negotiation of power between individual officials and an array of social actors engaged in countless brief interactions. Identities emerged out of the interplay between internalized understandings of self and group association and externalized social norms and categories.
Contributors. Karen D. Caplan, R. Douglas Cope, Mariana L. R. Dantas, Maria Elena Diaz, Andrew B. Fisher, Jane Mangan, Jeremy Ravi Mumford, Matthew D. O'Hara, Cynthia Radding, Sergio Serulnikov, Irene Silverblatt, David Tavarez, Ann Twinam
Historical investigations into how Iberian settlers, African slaves, Native Americans, and their multiethnic progeny understood their identities in colonial Latin America
About the Author
Andrew B. Fisher is an Assistant Professor of History at Carleton College.
Matthew D. O'Hara is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Reviews
"The essays . . . offer important insights into the complicated processes of social formation in the colonies. . . . [H]istorians, as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students, will find much to think about in this provocative work." - Karen B. Graubart, Catholic Historical Review
"This is a pioneering study of the constructions of socio-cultural identities in colonial Latin America. . . . [An] innovative collection of essays." - David J. Robinson, Journal of Latin American Geography
"While scholarly in content, these short essays are readable and could be included in an undergraduate syllabus. The volume is crisply edited; many of the essays refer to each other. I highly recommend the volume for college and graduate courses. The essays invite comparison of different regions, in addition to offering intriguing lessons about the multiple ways that identities evolved in the colonial era." - Deborah Kanter, The Americas
"This volume presents a superb collection of essays covering the muddled, confused, overlapping, and changing dimensions of identity-making in the Hispanic colonial empires of the New World. . . . The authors of these essays expose us to all these intensely real aspects of life in the Spanish and Portuguese empires of the Western Hemisphere. This volume should be required reading for those trying to understand how people related to one another, government, and institutions in these colonial empires." - Sheldon Avenius, History: Reviews of New Books
"It is imperative that historians incorporate a number of perspectives to enhance our understanding of this unique period, especially within the studies on race and identity. Imperial Subjects does just that. The respective authors approach the subject through a variety of perspectives, incorporating unique themes, all of which are backed by a solid archival research." - Larry V. Larrichio, Colonial Latin American Historical Review
"[T]his volume provides an excellent collection of well-researched and well-argued essays. Together they represent the most recent and cutting-edge scholarship on this topic. . . . The diversity in time period and geography make the collection highly useful to those researchers and scholars interested in comparative studies of race and ethnicity. The manageable length of each essay, in addition to the excellent introduction and conclusion, make this work an ideal text for introducing students to current research. Overall, the high calibre and diversity of research presented by Imperial Subjects make it a notable addition to the literature." - Robert Schwaller and Matthew Restall, Social History
"Grounded in solid archival research and informed by sound, up-to-date theoretical approaches, these essays break substantial new ground in showing how 'ordinary' people experienced living in the Spanish and Portuguese empires. Anyone wishing to sample the best in recent scholarship on colonial Latin America should begin with this book."-Cheryl English Martin, author of Governance and Society in Colonial Mexico: Chihuahua in the Eighteenth Century
"This excellent and necessary collection brings together some of the most important scholarship on race in colonial Latin America. Importantly, the contributors do not assume racial and ethnic identities to be static, nor do they take hybridity as a given. Rather, they examine the social identities that emerged from 'contact points' between institutions and individuals."-Pete Sigal, author of From Moon Goddesses to Virgins: The Colonization of Yucatecan Maya Sexual Desire
"The introduction to Imperial Subjects should be required reading for graduate students entering the field of colonial Latin American history." -- Nicole von Germeten * Latin American Research Review *
"This volume provides an excellent collection of well-researched and well-argued essays. Together they represent the most recent and cutting-edge scholarship on this topic. . . . The diversity in time period and geography make the collection highly useful to those researchers and scholars interested in comparative studies of race and ethnicity. The manageable length of each essay, in addition to the excellent introduction and conclusion, make this work an ideal text for introducing students to current research. Overall, the high calibre and diversity of research presented by Imperial Subjects make it a notable addition to the literature." -- Robert Schwaller and Matthew Restall * Social History *
"It is imperative that historians incorporate a number of perspectives to enhance our understanding of this unique period, especially within the studies on race and identity. Imperial Subjects does just that. The respective authors approach the subject through a variety of perspectives, incorporating unique themes, all of which are backed by a solid archival research." -- Larry V. Larrichio * Colonial Latin American Historical Review *
"The essays . . . offer important insights into the complicated processes of social formation in the colonies. . . . [H]istorians, as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students, will find much to think about in this provocative work." -- Karen B. Graubart * Catholic Historical Review *
"This is a pioneering study of the constructions of socio-cultural identities in colonial Latin America. . . . [An] innovative collection of essays." -- David J. Robinson * Journal of Latin American Geography *
"This volume presents a superb collection of essays covering the muddled, confused, overlapping, and changing dimensions of identity-making in the Hispanic colonial empires of the New World. . . . The authors of these essays expose us to all these intensely real aspects of life in the Spanish and Portuguese empires of the Western Hemisphere. This volume should be required reading for those trying to understand how people related to one another, government, and institutions in these colonial empires." -- Sheldon Avenius * History: Reviews of New Books *
"While scholarly in content, these short essays are readable and could be included in an undergraduate syllabus. The volume is crisply edited; many of the essays refer to each other. I highly recommend the volume for college and graduate courses. The essays invite comparison of different regions, in addition to offering intriguing lessons about the multiple ways that identities evolved in the colonial era." -- Deborah Kanter * The Americas *
Book Information
ISBN 9780822344209
Author Matthew D. O'Hara
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 445g
