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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of the Liberal Arts DEFINING DIFFERENCE IN EARLY NEW SPAIN A Dissertation in History by Robert C. Schwaller ©2010 Robert C. Schwaller Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2010 The dissertation of Robert C. Schwaller was reviewed and approved* by the following: Matthew Restall Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Colonial Latin American History, Anthropology and Women's Studies Director of Latin American Studies Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee K. Russell Lohse Assistant Professor of History Anthony Kaye Associate Professor of History Kenneth G. Hirth Professor of Archaeological Anthropology A. G. Roeber Professor of Early Modern History and Religious Studies Head of the Department of History *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the language of difference developed in New Spain during the sixteenth century. In particular, this work takes as its focus the terminology used to define individuals of mixed ancestry born from the unions of Africans, Native Americans, and Europeans. Using a wide variety of documentation including Inquisition cases, bureaucratic reports, royal decrees, ecclesiastical correspondence, and criminal cases, I argue that a number of socio-racial labels were developed within the colonial context. These labels collectively called ‗generos de gente‘ were first used and gained currency among colonists and settlers. For these colonial subjects, specific categories such as ‗mestizo‘ and ‗mulato‘ served to define and circumscribe individuals of mixed ancestry within society. As these terms gained currency in the colony, the royal bureaucracy came to enshrine these categories of difference into the legal system. Nevertheless, these terms were never explicitly defined in law. Consequently, ascription of género labels remained tied to social perception and subject to the vagaries of individual opinion. The dissertation examines these issues along two major axes. The first part of the dissertation examines the intellectual and political history of these labels. The opening two chapters study the intellectual underpinnings of Iberian notions of difference and then track the ways in which Old World antecedents shaped the development of categories of difference in early Spanish America. The third chapter focuses on how royal policy helped shape, and was influenced by, evolving understandings of ethnic difference in the Americas. The second part, divided into four chapters, shifts the focus from elite, European constructions of difference to quotidian lived experience. Chapters four and five examine the term ‗mestizo.‘ I explore the unique place of individuals I have termed ‗elite mestizos‘ and how in the first several decades of the colonial period the children of conquistadors and early settlers avoided the stigmatizing label of mestizo. I then examine the place of individuals specifically labeled ‗mestizo‘ and their ability to succeed economically and socially despite the application of a casta label. The sixth and seventh chapters explore the very wide range of individuals who could be termed mulatos. I argue that mulato was a catch-all term used to describe anyone with some perceived African ancestry and was used for both individuals of Afro-indigenous and Afro-Hispanic descent. Moreover, mulatos represented a highly exogamous group. Over the course of the colonial period, these interethnic unions would help forge a society so diverse that the limited terminology of racial difference could no longer be applied in a coherent manner. In the seventh chapter, I demonstrate that the Afro-indigenous mulatos probably represented the majority of individuals so named. In so doing, I highlight a lacuna in current scholarship and argue that the predominance of these individuals necessitates a re-evaluation of the analytical value of the term mulato in historical investigations and a greater emphasis on the interactions between Africans, their descendents and indigenous groups. Ultimately, this dissertation expands our understanding of the initial development of racial terminology in sixteenth century Mexico as well as furthering our understanding of race in the broader Atlantic World. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables vi List of Figures vii Acknowledgments viii Introduction 1 Part 1 29 Chapter 1 - Defining Difference in Early Modern Iberia 30 Socio-Economic Terms 32 Ethno-religious Terms 38 Ethno-geographic Terms 44 Conclusion 48 Chapter 2 - Defining Difference in Early New Spain 51 Generos de Gente 51 Español 57 Negro 70 Indio 85 People in the Middle: Loro, Mulato, Zambaigo, Mestizo 97 Conclusion 105 Chapter 3 - Shaping Society 108 Inter-Ethnic Marriages 115 16th Century Slave Policy 121 Hijos de españoles e indias 132 Hijos de negros e indias y españoles y negras 137 General Policies Defining the Socio-Racial Order 141 Conclusion 150 Part 2 152 Chapter 4 153 Elite Mestizos 153 Hijos de los conquistadores 155 Caciques y Gobernadores 170 Conclusion 173 Chapter 5 179 Mestizos 179 Mestizo Marriages and Marriageable Mestizas 185 The Place of the Mestizo 206 The Rise of Castizos 217 Conclusion 223 Chapter 6 - Mulatos 225 Birthplaces and Parentage 227 Mulato Occupations 230 Mulato Marriages 249 Conclusion 273 Chapter 7 - Afro-Indigenous Mulatos 275 The Early Colonial Crucible 279 Cultural Fluency 294 Multi-generational African-Indigenous Families 305 Conclusion 309 Conclusion 313 Works Cited 330 LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 ―Elite Mestizos of the 16th c.‖ 156 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1, ―Iberian Categories of Difference‖ 32 Figure 2.1, ―Schema of Generos de Gente‖ 57 Figure 5.1, ―Use of ‗Mestizo‘ Label‖ 183 Figure 5.2, ―Spouses of Mestizos by Género, 1561-1600‖ 189 Figure 5.3, ―Relative Change in Subsequent Spouse's Género” 191 Figure 5.4, ―Mestizo Marriage Patterns, Mexico City, 1694-1696‖ 202 Figure 5.5, ―Mestizo Marriage Patterns, Antequera, 1693-1700‖ 203 Figure 5.6, ―Mestizo Marriage Patterns, Antequera, 1793-1797‖ 203 Figure 5.7, ―Mestizo Occupations, 1561-1600‖ 207 Figure 6.1, ―Mulato Occupations, 1555-1599‖ 231 Figure 6.2, ―Mulato Marriages, 1555-1599‖ 251 Figure 6.3, ―Mulata Marriages, 1555-1599‖ 252 Figure 6.4, ―Mulato Marriage Partners By Gender, 1555-1599‖ 259 Figure 6.5, ―Mulato Marriage Partners, 1555-1599‖ 259 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS No work of scholarship can come to fruition without the support of friends, colleagues, and family. While researching and writing this thesis, I have benefitted from those who have been there for me in the classroom, in the archive, in the home, and occasionally over tapas. I must thank the History Department at The Pennsylvania State University for nurturing my academic development. I am also deeply thankful for the excellent support, advice, and encourgament that my committee members have given me over the years. It is thanks to many dedicated hours of counsel and conversations with Matthew Restall, Russell Lohse, Anthony Kay, and Kenneth Hirth that this dissertation has finally reached its conclusion. I must also thank Ben Vinson III for opening my eyes to the complex history of race in colonial Mexico; his advice and guidance has profoundly shaped this work. I am greatful to all of those institutions who have supported my research. For my time in Mexico I thank, the Conference on Latin American History for awarding me a James Scobie Pre-Dissertation Award, the Department of History at PSU for a Sparks Dissertation Fellowship, and the Institute of Arts and Humanities at PSU for a Dissertation Release. For my time in Sevilla, I am grateful for being a recipient of a Fulbright Research Fellowship. Finally, for supporting the writing of this dissertation, I must thank the PSU Department of History for granting me a Departmental Disseration Release. This project has evolved over the years thanks to converstations with many friends and collegues. For their help in making PSU a wonderful environment and being there to listen to my thoughts, I thank Matthew Adams, Jana Byars, Mark Christensen, Margret Cohen, Spencer Delbridge, Mary Faulkner, Jake Fredrick, Matthew Padron, and Jeff Rop. For sharing the cellblock of galeria cuatro with me, I thank Richard Conway, Mark Lentz, Jemima Mieville, and Jon Truitt. I am deeply grateful to Brad Benton, John Chuchiak, Magdalena Díaz, Ann Eller, Michael Francis, Kris Lane, Juan José Ponce- Vásquez, Allyson Poska, Elena Schnieder, and David Wheat for sharing their café con leche with me at the Rayuela. Jeff, Irene, and Manu thank you for welcoming me into your homes. Special thanks must be given to Francisco Morales, José Hernández Palomo, and María-Antónia Colomar. Thank you for not only being excellent collegues and lifelong friends but also for welcoming me into your families. Thank you to the staffs of the Archivo General de la Nación and the Archivo General de Indias for their professionalism and their aid in all of my requests. Finally, I must thank those who have been with me the longest and have allowed me to reach this point. I am grateful for my parents John and Anne. They have supported every choice I have made. In my time at PSU and abroad they have been endlessly helpful and tirelessly nurturing. For my brother Will I am thankful for an open ear and humorous spirit which can brighten any day. I am deeply thankful for my grandparents Henry and Juliette without whom this project would never even have begun. I am very thankful for Bramts and all the questions that I would never have thought of myself. Finally, I must thank Rachel Beckley for being there for me during this process and in the years to come. Her kind heart, thoughtful mind, and nurturing spirit have helped me keep my focus and bring this dissertation into being. For Henry and Juliette Schwaller, Dueños de la Villa de Flores, Whose love for Mexico has inspired two generations of scholarship. Introduction …está claro que esta tierra está llena de mestizos y salen de muy mala inclinación; está llena de negros y negras que salen los esclavos; que está llena de negros que se casan con la indias de donde proceden los mulatos; está llena de mestizos que se casan con las indias donde proceden una casta diversa sin numero.