Dissertation Information for Robinson Antonio Herrera NAME: - Robinson Antonio Herrera
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (1997)
ADVISORS: - James Lockhart
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Geoffrey W. Symcox - Jeanette Favrot Peterson
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: The people of Santiago: Early colonial Guatemala, 1538-1587
Abstract: This work is a social study of the post-conquest secular population of Guatemala, concentrating on the country's capital city, Santiago, and the middle and lower part of the social scale. Much attention is given to the interaction of the elements of Santiago's population, consisting of indigenous people (members of Maya groups but with a notable number of Nahuas and Mixtecs), Europeans (mainly Spaniards but also many Portuguese, Italians, and French), Africans (slave and free), and people of mixed racial descent (mestizos and mulattos). The research is done within early Latin American history but relates to African Diaspora Studies and Anthropology.
A social historical methodology is employed. Seeking the patterns in individual careers and family histories permits in-depth analysis of such diverse themes as: the desire of local merchants to import goods directly from Spain; the development of an intricate credit structure; the roles of lower ranking European and racially mixed individuals; the positions occupied by Africans; the absorption of Spanish culture by indigenous people, and the parts played by women within all ethnic groups studied.
The study is based on nearly two thousand archival Spanish-language documents, dating from 1538 to 1594, that I found in the archives of Guatemala and Spain. The sources constitute twenty genres of documents. The diverse nature of the manuscripts and their quantity permit the study of traditionally neglected segments of Santiago's population, such as manumitted slaves and indigenous wage laborers. This is the first study of the region to make extensive use of notarial records in combination with local litigation.
The five core chapters of the work are each dedicated to a segment of Santiago's inhabitants. Each chapter refines the profile of the group studied within the larger context. The study challenges assumptions about the development of indigenous sociopolitical units in the immediate hinterland of Santiago, the supposed stagnation of the region's economy, and the cultural submission of the indigenous population within the colonial order.
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calculated 2008-10-14 17:39:20
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