
Colonial Kinship
Guarani, Spaniards, and Africans in Paraguay
Shawn Michael Austin(Author)
University of New Mexico Press
Published on 30. December 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
382 pages
978-0-8263-6440-1 (ISBN)
Description
Winner of the 2021 Bandelier/Lavrin Book Prize from the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies
2021 Ermine Wheeler-Voegelin Award Honorable Mention from the American Society for Ethnohistory
In Colonial Kinship: Guarani, Spaniards, and Africans in Paraguay, historian Shawn Michael Austin traces the history of conquest and colonization in Paraguay during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Emphasizing the social and cultural agency of Guarani--one of the primary indigenous peoples of Paraguay--not only in Jesuit missions but also in colonial settlements and Indian pueblos scattered in and around the Spanish city of Asuncion, Austin argues that interethnic relations and cultural change in Paraguay can only be properly understood through the Guarani logic of kinship. In the colonial backwater of Paraguay, conquistadors were forced to marry into Guarani families in order to acquire indigenous tributaries, thereby becoming "brothers-in-law" (tovaja) to Guarani chieftains. This pattern of interethnic exchange infused colonial relations and institutions with Guarani social meanings and expectations of reciprocity that forever changed Spaniards, African slaves, and their descendants. Austin demonstrates that Guarani of diverse social and political positions actively shaped colonial society along indigenous lines.
2021 Ermine Wheeler-Voegelin Award Honorable Mention from the American Society for Ethnohistory
In Colonial Kinship: Guarani, Spaniards, and Africans in Paraguay, historian Shawn Michael Austin traces the history of conquest and colonization in Paraguay during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Emphasizing the social and cultural agency of Guarani--one of the primary indigenous peoples of Paraguay--not only in Jesuit missions but also in colonial settlements and Indian pueblos scattered in and around the Spanish city of Asuncion, Austin argues that interethnic relations and cultural change in Paraguay can only be properly understood through the Guarani logic of kinship. In the colonial backwater of Paraguay, conquistadors were forced to marry into Guarani families in order to acquire indigenous tributaries, thereby becoming "brothers-in-law" (tovaja) to Guarani chieftains. This pattern of interethnic exchange infused colonial relations and institutions with Guarani social meanings and expectations of reciprocity that forever changed Spaniards, African slaves, and their descendants. Austin demonstrates that Guarani of diverse social and political positions actively shaped colonial society along indigenous lines.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Albuquerque, NM
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
3 drawings, 4 halftones, 4 maps, 8 tables
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
363 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8263-6440-1 (9780826364401)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Shawn Michael Austin is an assistant professor of history at the University of Arkansas.
Content
List of Illustrations
Glossary
Introduction
Part One. Beginnings
Chapter One. Cunadasgo and Conquistador Polygamists, 1530s-1550s
Chapter Two. Institutionalizing Kinship: The Encomienda and Franciscan Reducciones, 1550s-1640s
Chapter Three. Embodied Borders: Conflict and Convergence in Guaira, 1570s-1630s
Part Two. Challenges
Chapter Four. Resplendent Prophets and Vengeful Warriors: Guarani Rejection of Colonial Rule
Chapter Five. Indios Fronterizos and the Spanish-Guarani Militias
Part Three. Communities
Chapter Six. Beyond the Missions: Guarani Reducciones in Asuncion's Orbit
Chapter Seven. The Other Reduccion: Asuncion's Indios
Chapter Eight. Beyond Mestizos: Afro-Guarani Relations
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Glossary
Introduction
Part One. Beginnings
Chapter One. Cunadasgo and Conquistador Polygamists, 1530s-1550s
Chapter Two. Institutionalizing Kinship: The Encomienda and Franciscan Reducciones, 1550s-1640s
Chapter Three. Embodied Borders: Conflict and Convergence in Guaira, 1570s-1630s
Part Two. Challenges
Chapter Four. Resplendent Prophets and Vengeful Warriors: Guarani Rejection of Colonial Rule
Chapter Five. Indios Fronterizos and the Spanish-Guarani Militias
Part Three. Communities
Chapter Six. Beyond the Missions: Guarani Reducciones in Asuncion's Orbit
Chapter Seven. The Other Reduccion: Asuncion's Indios
Chapter Eight. Beyond Mestizos: Afro-Guarani Relations
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index