Category: Review

Luis Gerónimo de Oré: The World of an Andean Franciscan from the Frontiers to the Centers of Power (Review)

In 1586, a 32-year-old Franciscan friar named Luis Gerónimo de Oré began his first job in an Indigenous parish in the Colca Valley in the Peruvian Andes as an “outsider and perhaps more alone among the ‘others’ than he had been at any time in his life” (p. 91). When he left the valley nine years later, he carried with him a set of religious manuals, dictionaries, and grammars that he had written and translated into Quechua and Aymara, that would reshape the Catholic Church’s missionary efforts in the Americas.… Read More Luis Gerónimo de Oré: The World of an Andean Franciscan from the Frontiers to the Centers of Power (Review)

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Mastering the Law: Slavery and Freedom in the Legal Ecology of the Spanish Empire (Review)

In 1629, Catalina Angola and Domingo Angola, two African-born captives enslaved near what is today the northern Colombian city of Cartagena, learned that Catalina’s enslaver was moving her to the city. Fearing their separation, the couple petitioned their parish priest for marriage, hoping the Catholic Church’s respect for the sacrament of matrimony would help them resist the move. Catlina’s enslaver, however, quickly uncovered the stratagem and did everything he could to prevent their union. While unable to intervene legally, he beat Catalina violently and shipped her downriver to separate the two. By the end of the next year, however, it was the enslaver who found himself excommunicated, publicly shamed, and forced to pay hefty fees and fines for his actions. In a society generally viewed as hostile to enslaved Africans, why did Catalina and Domingo win, and what does this tell us about slavery as an institution in the early colonial period?… Read More Mastering the Law: Slavery and Freedom in the Legal Ecology of the Spanish Empire (Review)

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The Tupac Amaru Rebellion: Charles Walker

Charles Walker left few stones unturned in The Tupac Amaru Rebellion, an impressive analysis of Spain’s largest colonial rebellion. This essay briefly examines two original arguments and two secondary claims made by Walker that help shape our understanding of an uprising that ultimately reached levels of total violence rarely seen in human history. Walker’s “seemingly… Read More The Tupac Amaru Rebellion: Charles Walker

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Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorians Facing the Twenty-First Century: Marc Becker

A collection of essays on the construction and emergence of ethnic identities in the Ecuadorian Andes, edited by Marc Becker. The authors of the volume examine Afro-Ecuadorians and indigenous communities through the lens of politics, culture, religion, gender, and the environment to better understand the array of social problems facing the country. French sociologist Manuela… Read More Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorians Facing the Twenty-First Century: Marc Becker

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