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The Revival of Spanish Colonial Arts, 1924–1936

Charles Montgomery

in The Spanish Redemption: Heritage, Power, and Loss on New Mexico's Upper Rio Grande

This chapter investigates how manual arts were seen, rather quixotically, as a means of both preserving the folk from modern America and integrating them into a regional economy. The cachet of ... More

This chapter investigates how manual arts were seen, rather quixotically, as a means of both preserving the folk from modern America and integrating them into a regional economy. The cachet of “Spanish colonial arts” attracted writers, philanthropists, and tourists in numbers that “Mexican crafts” could not have matched. If the Fiesta presented los paisanos as a premodern folk culture, the arts revival demonstrated why that culture had to remain marginal to modern New Mexico. Frank Applegate's notion of Spanish colonial arts was premised on a highly selective and stylized story of efflorescence and decline. The Spanish arts revival was peculiar to northern New Mexico. As Santa Fe reveled in its Fiesta and art enthusiasts paid tribute to melancholy santos, poets and novelists were hard at work recasting the “Mexican” of long-standing literary repute into the salvation of a standardized America.Less

Mission Architecture and Colonial Civility, 1904–1920

Charles Montgomery

in The Spanish Redemption: Heritage, Power, and Loss on New Mexico's Upper Rio Grande

This chapter reviews the rise of Spanish colonial imagery in architectural design. Indians in the 1880s were ready to be observed, studied, and even glorified. Supported by the railroad, tourism in ... More

This chapter reviews the rise of Spanish colonial imagery in architectural design. Indians in the 1880s were ready to be observed, studied, and even glorified. Supported by the railroad, tourism in turn-of-the-century New Mexico was transformed from a haphazard excursion among curio shops into a well-orchestrated encounter with Native American cultures. The connection between the railroad and a Spanish heritage was indirect: the line of influence ran first to southern California. The source of New Mexico's architectural inspiration was the railroad. Amid the claims and counterclaims, New Mexicans dedicated the Museum of Fine Arts. The Museum of New Mexico was devoted principally to the study of Native American archaeology and culture. The rejection presented indicated the racial inequality lurking behind perorations on a Spanish colonial civilization.Less

Conclusion: The Coronado Cuarto Centennial and the Depletion of Spanish Heritage

Charles Montgomery

in The Spanish Redemption: Heritage, Power, and Loss on New Mexico's Upper Rio Grande

The Cuarto Centennial paid tribute to multiple strands of the upper Rio Grande's modern Spanish heritage. As the summer of 1940 approached, Spanish colonial art and architecture, village folkways, ... More

The Cuarto Centennial paid tribute to multiple strands of the upper Rio Grande's modern Spanish heritage. As the summer of 1940 approached, Spanish colonial art and architecture, village folkways, and the Santa Fe Fiesta were all brought into the promotional spotlight. The image of Coronado as noble civilizer quickly spread beyond the inner circle of exposition organizers. Coronado's memorable quest for gold was incidental to interests of Anglo cattle ranchers, farm, railroad, and mine owners, and real estate developers. As the failure of the Coronado Cuarto Centennial Exposition makes plain, Spanish colonial symbolism may have intrigued the occasional traveler and big city critic, but its potency was limited to the upper Rio Grande. Just as the racial and cultural character of los paisanos has always divided Hispano New Mexico from the modern American nation, it was the Spanish revival that helped to close the gap.Less

The Ch′orti′ Maya of Eastern Guatemala under Imperial Spain

Stewart Brewer

in The Ch′orti′ Maya Area: Past and Present

This chapter examines the history of Ch'orti' Maya in eastern Guatemala under Imperial Spain. It suggests that throughout the eighteenth century, the Ch'orti' suffered in a variety of ways, including ... More

This chapter examines the history of Ch'orti' Maya in eastern Guatemala under Imperial Spain. It suggests that throughout the eighteenth century, the Ch'orti' suffered in a variety of ways, including from abuse and mistreatment, droughts, fires, epidemics, and pestilence. However, despite these challenges, the general population of Chiquimula continued to grow during the 1700s and 1800s. For the Ch'orti', the colonial period was a time of cultural, linguistic, economic and religious hegemony, as the Spanish colonial system dominated most aspects of their lives.Less

Introduction

Brianna Leavitt-Alcántara

in Alone at the Altar: Single Women and Devotion in Guatemala, 1670-1870

This chapter introduces the book’s methodology, arguments, and scholarly significance. Most works on women and early modern religion focus on nuns, holy women, or religious “deviants,” and emphasize ... More

This chapter introduces the book’s methodology, arguments, and scholarly significance. Most works on women and early modern religion focus on nuns, holy women, or religious “deviants,” and emphasize rising hostility toward female autonomy as officials moved to enclose unmarried women and intensive female religiosity (e.g. mysticism, asceticism). This book takes a different approach and examines ordinary laywomen, particularly the broad population of non-elite women who frequently lived outside of both marriage and convent in colonial Spanish American cities. Through an analysis of approximately 550 wills, as well as a variety of other source materials such as hagiographies, religious chronicles, and ecclesiastical records, this study argues that the complex alliances forged between non-elite single women and the Catholic Church shaped local religion and the spiritual economy, late colonial reform efforts, and post-Independence politics in Guatemala’s capital.Less

Science, Medicine, and Technology in Colonial Spanish America: New Interpretations, New Approaches

David Goodman

in Science in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires, 1500-1800

This chapter discusses a surge of publication on science, medicine, and technology that occurred in colonial Spanish America. It argues that empirical studies of these publications resulted in new ... More

This chapter discusses a surge of publication on science, medicine, and technology that occurred in colonial Spanish America. It argues that empirical studies of these publications resulted in new interpretations and that new interpretations derived from radically new approaches to Ibero-American history increased. This chapter attempts to illustrate and assess these trends by critical discussion of a selection of important publications.Less

Selling the Santuario

Brett Hendrickson

in The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó: America's Miraculous Church

This chapter begins with a nineteenth-century attempt by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to obtain the privately owned Santuario. It then turns to the 1929 sale, which was orchestrated by Anglo artists ... More

This chapter begins with a nineteenth-century attempt by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to obtain the privately owned Santuario. It then turns to the 1929 sale, which was orchestrated by Anglo artists and intellectuals in the newly formed Spanish Colonial Arts Society. The ostensible goal of buying the church was to preserve it for the Hispano population as well as its priceless Hispanic folk art, but the Spanish Colonial Arts Society immediately turned the deed over to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, then under the leadership of Archbishop Daeger. The chapter provides an analysis of the racially charged decisions that were made concerning the ownership and fate of the Santuario. Key figures in the Spanish Colonial Arts Society who are discussed in the chapter include Mary Austin and John Gaw Meem.Less

Colonial Settlements on Indigenous Land

Lisbeth Haas

in Saints and Citizens: Indigenous Histories of Colonial Missions and Mexican California

Chapter 1 examines the specific histories of colonization among Chumash, Luiseño, and Yokuts peoples. The chapter presents two indigenous territories where six missions and, in Chumash territory, a ... More

Chapter 1 examines the specific histories of colonization among Chumash, Luiseño, and Yokuts peoples. The chapter presents two indigenous territories where six missions and, in Chumash territory, a presidio settled. It incorporates the independent tribes that existed on the boundaries of settlement into this understanding of colonial geography. The chapter argues that the missions became sites of native authority and of indigenous memory, identity, and historical narration. They were also sites of colonial relocation, disease, and high numbers of deaths. Each mission developed its own character, because of the indigenous societies and geography they were part of. They developed their own identities and practices. Indigenous elders frequently translated Spanish catechism and prayer, and kin played the role of godparents, creating indigenous reflections on and interpretations of the ideas encountered therein. Indigenous translators rendered the Catholicism taught, and elders passed down historical accounts of the era of colonization that differed from Spanish historical imaginaries. The Yokuts remained independent of Spanish colonization, and yet they established long-term relationships between specific villages and particular missions. Yokuts territory also became a place of exile for Christian Indians, and the villages all possessed horses from the missions. This chapter situates Yokuts history within the circuit of violent relations that began with colonization and characterized northern Mexico.Less

Becoming Indian in Colonial California

Lisbeth Haas

in Saints and Citizens: Indigenous Histories of Colonial Missions and Mexican California

Indian did not convey a single status in Mexico but varied, depending on place and circumstance. This chapter investigates what it meant to become Indian in colonial California and argues that, ... More

Indian did not convey a single status in Mexico but varied, depending on place and circumstance. This chapter investigates what it meant to become Indian in colonial California and argues that, despite their status as indio, indigenous people found ways to access power and find “redress” at the missions. The identity of Indians emerged within a colonial society already shaped by indigenous histories and peoples. But the meaning of those indigenous pasts had been erased in casta identities, including indio. In California, attempts to erase involved new forms of dress and standards governing time, language, work, and behavior. Textile production placed artisans and workers in a similar status as bound labor in Mexico. In their attempt to erase and reinscribe indigenous thought and practice, the missionaries regularly denied the legitimacy of indigenous authority figures and knowledge. Indigenous sources focus without equivocation on native authority, knowledge, and power. While dressing reinforced status, “redressing” formed one way that indigenous people could transform conditions. The aesthetics of dress and the body involved systems of representation and knowledge. Dance restored dignity, well-being, and authority. Dancers could produce knowledge and rectify and transform conditions through dance. In dressing, translation, and dance, indigenous cultures often incorporated colonial and Spanish things, which then acquired meanings that helped the indigenous communities at the missions survive.Less

Colonial Realities and Population Decline

Linda A. Newson

in Conquest and Pestilence in the Early Spanish Philippines

This chapter explains how the conquest and establishment of Spanish colonial rule led to a population decline in the Philippines. Once Spain had established a permanent foothold in the islands, their ... More

This chapter explains how the conquest and establishment of Spanish colonial rule led to a population decline in the Philippines. Once Spain had established a permanent foothold in the islands, their retention of the colony continued to depend on Filipino tribute and labor. Native tribute constituted one of the two main sources of Crown revenue in the Philippines, the other being taxes derived from the galleon trade. This chapter first provides an overview of Spanish bureaucracy in the Philippines before discussing the system of tribute payments and vandalas introduced to the islands, along with the polo that required Filipinos to work as forced laborers. It then considers the acquisition of land by the missionary orders, Spain's hostility toward Islam in the Philippines, and the demographic impact of the Hispano-Dutch War. It also examines how climatic change may have contributed to depopulation in the seventeenth century. It argues that the Spanish empire's dependence on the native population for the survival of the colony often led to exploitation, continuing conflict, and population decline.Less

Interpreting the Evidence

Linda A. Newson

in Conquest and Pestilence in the Early Spanish Philippines

This chapter examines the evidence that can shed light on the demographic impact of Spanish colonial rule on the Philippines and allow comparisons between population trends in the islands with other ... More

This chapter examines the evidence that can shed light on the demographic impact of Spanish colonial rule on the Philippines and allow comparisons between population trends in the islands with other parts of the Southeast Asian archipelago. Focusing on demographic trends for each major island and region in Luzon and the Visayas, the chapter shows that Spanish conquest and early colonial rule in the Philippines resulted in significant population decline that was more pervasive and prolonged than generally assumed, but varied regionally. The evidence includes early Spanish colonial sources such as letters and memorials written by the first explorers, conquistadors, and priests; civil records like fiscal accounts and censuses; ecclesiastical records; and corroborative evidence derived from records of native traditions and from archaeology. The chapter also discusses some of the problems associated with the use of early Spanish colonial sources for demographic analysis and the role of racial mixing in population losses. Finally, it considers a regional approach for evaluating the early demographic history of the Spanish Philippines.Less

Moro, Muslim, or Filipino? Cultural Citizenship as Practice and Process

Lanfranco Blanchetti-Revelli

in Cultural Citizenship in Island Southeast Asia: Nation and Belonging in the Hinterlands

This chapter explores the changing relations of the state and Muslim Filipinos by taking a long historical view, analyzing the historical vicissitudes of the meanings of the term Moro over the more ... More

This chapter explores the changing relations of the state and Muslim Filipinos by taking a long historical view, analyzing the historical vicissitudes of the meanings of the term Moro over the more than four centuries from the Spanish colonial period to the present-day militant and separatist MNLF. In large part as a result of the Spanish colonial period (1565–1898), the Philippines has been divided into three distinct social formations: The dominant Christian lowland population of the northern islands, the marginal pagan upland groups throughout the islands, and the oppositional Muslim groups of the southern islands. Employing a designation used during the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish colonists called Muslims in the Philippines “Moros,” a pejorative term, and the Muslims appear to have called themselves Islam.Less

Introduction

in The Power of Song: Music and Dance in the Mission Communities of Northern New Spain, 1590–1810

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about sacred music in mission communities throughout northern New Spain from the founding of the northern missions in the late ... More

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about sacred music in mission communities throughout northern New Spain from the founding of the northern missions in the late sixteenth century until the end of Spanish colonial rule. This volume is divided into three main sections. The first section examines pre-Hispanic indigenous and European liturgical music cultures prior to the cultural encounters between the groups, the second part studies the way in which the varied musical cultures came into contact within the context of evangelization in mission communities, and the final section looks thematically at the role of music and dance in reshaping time and space in northern New Spain.Less

Power and Resilience: Flooding and Occupation in a Late-Nineteenth-Century Philippine Town

Grace Barretto-Tesoro and Vito Hernandez

in Frontiers of Colonialism

The old town (Pinagbayanan) of San Juan in Batangas, Philippines was established along the coast of Tayabas Bay in the 1840s during the late Spanish Colonial Period. Popular history recounts its ... More

The old town (Pinagbayanan) of San Juan in Batangas, Philippines was established along the coast of Tayabas Bay in the 1840s during the late Spanish Colonial Period. Popular history recounts its relocation 7 km inland to its current location in 1890 because of seasonal flooding. Geoarchaeological landscape data from two stone houses and the old church complex are used alongside ethnohistorical accounts to explore this period further. Archival documents document the conflict between the priest and the residents in transferring the town. By integrating these data, this chapter explores the power of the church and resilience of the townspeople. This argument analyzes how two prominent groups responded to the same flooding event in the context of local resilience and resistance to Spanish demands. The results are tied to the larger context of Spanish colonial occupation of the Philippines.Less