Promiscuous Power
An Unorthodox History of New Spain
1st Edition
Published on 1. July 2018
277 pages
978-1-4773-1585-9 (ISBN)
Description
Scholars have written reams on the conquest of Mexico, from the grand designs of kings, viceroys, conquistadors, and inquisitors to the myriad ways that indigenous peoples contested imperial authority. But the actual work of establishing the Spanish empire in Mexico fell to a host of local agents-magistrates, bureaucrats, parish priests, ranchers, miners, sugar producers, and many others-who knew little and cared less about the goals of their superiors in Mexico City and Madrid. Through a case study of the province of Michoacan in western Mexico, Promiscuous Power focuses on the prosaic agents of colonialism to offer a paradigm-shifting view of the complexities of making empire at the ground level.
Presenting rowdy, raunchy, and violent life histories from the archives, Martin Austin Nesvig reveals that the local colonizers of Michoacan were primarily motivated by personal gain, emboldened by the lack of oversight from the upper echelons of power, and thoroughly committed to their own corporate memberships. His findings challenge some of the most deeply held views of the Spanish colonization of Mexico, including the Black Legend, which asserts that the royal state and the institutional church colluded to produce a powerful Catholicism that crushed heterodoxy, punished cultural difference, and ruined indigenous worlds. Instead, Nesvig finds that Michoacan-typical of many frontier provinces of the empire-became a region of refuge from imperial and juridical control and formal Catholicism, where the ordinary rules of law, jurisprudence, and royal oversight collapsed in the entropy of decentralized rule.
Presenting rowdy, raunchy, and violent life histories from the archives, Martin Austin Nesvig reveals that the local colonizers of Michoacan were primarily motivated by personal gain, emboldened by the lack of oversight from the upper echelons of power, and thoroughly committed to their own corporate memberships. His findings challenge some of the most deeply held views of the Spanish colonization of Mexico, including the Black Legend, which asserts that the royal state and the institutional church colluded to produce a powerful Catholicism that crushed heterodoxy, punished cultural difference, and ruined indigenous worlds. Instead, Nesvig finds that Michoacan-typical of many frontier provinces of the empire-became a region of refuge from imperial and juridical control and formal Catholicism, where the ordinary rules of law, jurisprudence, and royal oversight collapsed in the entropy of decentralized rule.
Reviews / Votes
"New World historians and others have long recognized disparities between what was decreed by the Spanish Crown and what was actually carried out on the ground. In this book Nesvig substantiates what many of us have long suspected: distance and time allowed for some pretty nefarious characters to operate under the proverbial radar." (SMRC Revista) "Aptly Rabelaisian, dense, and intellectually rigorous...[Promiscuous Power] recontextualizes so many classics of New Spanish history, that this reader will never teach the history of the sixteenth century in the same way again." (Estudious Interdisciplinarios de America Latina y el Caribe) "Rarely does the nature of the sources match the voice of an author as it does in Nesvig's Promiscuous Power...I found Nesvig's stylistic and historiographical irreverence both refreshing and powerful." (Not Even Past) "Nesvig shows great knowledge of the literature and sources. The cleverly arranged book illuminates a whole array of-primarily religious-agents and factors that determined local rule [in New Spain]...[Promiscuous Power is a] well-written book which not only contains genuinely entertaining stories but also very important insights into the quotidian colonial struggle for power and survival." (Journal of Social History) "A welcome addition to the scholarship on colonial Mexico...The author's careful and detailed research reveals a debilitating rivalry between secular clerics and the religious orders, an Inquisition that fails to frighten most residents in the region, rural towns that sheltered convicted felons, and even priests who behaved more like caudillos than pious community leaders." (American Historical Review) "[Promiscuous Power] is a significant entry in the historiography dedicated to undoing the mythic imagery of a monolithic, overly centralized Spanish empire...this is an important book that makes the overtly optimistic see just how brutal, personal, and petty power can be...In our own era of decentralization and personalized expressions of power, Promiscuous Power is a book that resonates and disturbs." (Sixteenth Century Journal) "[Promiscuous Power] brings sixteenth-century Michoacan to life in a way that few others have done...Promiscuous Power succeeds in cramming a lot of lust, murder and ambition into its 200-odd pages. Part serious colonial history, part bodice-ripper, part paean to its geographical setting, it lays out a rich spread of colonial life that delights the reader on every page." (Journal of Latin American Studies)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-1-4773-1585-9 (9781477315859)
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
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
07/2018
University of Texas Press
€64.64
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Content
Acknowledgments
Cast of Characters
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Conquest of Michoacan, Paradise's Lost and Found
Chapter 2: Burning Down the House, in Which the Spiritual Conquistadors Go to War with Each Other
Chapter 3: "I Shit on You, Sir"; or, A Rather Unorthodox Lot of Catholics Who Didn't Fear the Inquisition
Chapter 4: The Inquisition That Wasn't There, in Which the Locals Removed the Inquisition's Agent from Office and the Inquisition Gave Up
Chapter 5: The Crown's Man: An "Incorrigible Delinquent," in Which a Bunch of Sketchy and Murderous Dudes Wrought Havoc in Colima
Chapter 6: Caudillo Priests, in Which the Locals Triumphed and Trampled the Crown
Conclusion
Notes
Index
Cast of Characters
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Conquest of Michoacan, Paradise's Lost and Found
Chapter 2: Burning Down the House, in Which the Spiritual Conquistadors Go to War with Each Other
Chapter 3: "I Shit on You, Sir"; or, A Rather Unorthodox Lot of Catholics Who Didn't Fear the Inquisition
Chapter 4: The Inquisition That Wasn't There, in Which the Locals Removed the Inquisition's Agent from Office and the Inquisition Gave Up
Chapter 5: The Crown's Man: An "Incorrigible Delinquent," in Which a Bunch of Sketchy and Murderous Dudes Wrought Havoc in Colima
Chapter 6: Caudillo Priests, in Which the Locals Triumphed and Trampled the Crown
Conclusion
Notes
Index
