social sciences $€ £ ¥ Article The Indians and Major Studies in New Spain: Monarchical Politics, Debates, and Results Rodolfo Aguirre Instituto de Investigaciones sobre la Universidad y la Educación, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México 04510, Mexico;
[email protected] Abstract: This article studies some stages and debates about the access of New Spain’s Indians to major studies: The discussion about their mental capacity in the 16th century, the impulse of Carlos II to the indigenous nobility in the 17th century, or the reticence in the Royal University of Mexico and the Church to their acceptance in the 18th century. It also analyzes the responses given by the Crown to the interest of the Indians elites in superior studies, degrees and public positions, protected by their rights as free vassals of the kingdom and as nobles, comparable to the Spanish nobility. Despite the insistent resistance of sectors of the colonial government and society to the rise of Indians, they firmly defended, in the 18th century, the rights and privileges granted to them by the monarchy since the beginning of New Spain, thereby achieving their entry into the university, colleges, and clergy. Keywords: Indians; higher studies; New Spain; monarchical politics; university degrees; clergy 1. Introduction Citation: Aguirre, Rodolfo. 2021. In the historiography of the 20th century the issue of access of the Indians of colonial The Indians and Major Studies in Spanish America to major studies was addressed as somewhat anecdotal or exceptional New Spain: Monarchical Politics, (Cuevas 1922, pp. 453–57; Cuevas 1924, p. 110; Ricard 2013, p. 289; Gonzalbo 1990, p.