Disorderly Love: Illicit Friendships, Violence, and Law in a Slave Society at War, Popayán-Colombia, 1809-1830 by Ángela Pérez-Villa A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History and Women’s Studies) in the University of Michigan 2017 Doctoral Committee: Professor Sueann Caulfield, Chair Professor Rosario Ceballo Lecturer IV Raymond McDaniel Assistant Professor, Edgardo Pérez Morales, University of Southern California Professor Rebecca J. Scott Ángela Pérez-Villa [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1799-7997 © Ángela Pérez-Villa 2017 DEDICATION To my grandmother, Rosa Arabia ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While the completion of this dissertation represents the beginning of a new chapter in my professional career, it is also the culmination of my long journey as an immigrant student in the United States. I entered the American public education system in NYC as an undocumented, English-learner teenage immigrant from Colombia. My family gained legal permanent status through an employment-based sponsorship program soon after I graduated from The International High School at LaGuardia Community College in Queens. As a high school student, I was able to take college credits through CUNY’s Early College Program, graduating both with a high school diploma and an Associate’s Degree. A green card holder, I transferred to The City College of New York (CCNY), where the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF) helped prepare me for graduate school. I became a naturalized citizen of this country a year before I successfully advanced to candidacy in the joint Ph.D. program in History and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. Becoming a citizen allowed me, in part, to leave the U.S. for an extended period of time to conduct the research that sustains this dissertation. In light of recent political actions in the U.S., sharing this part of my story seems more critical than ever. I do not wish to praise my own trajectory, but rather make visible how a path to citizenship has allowed immigrant students like me to maximize our potential through a commitment to education and inclusion. I would like to acknowledge all DREAMers and allies, especially those in NYC, who have persistently mobilized for immigrant and education rights in iii this country ever since the DREAM Act was first introduced in Congress in 2001. Your camaraderie and example have influenced the way I think about my role as an educator, my engagement in discussions about access to higher education, and how I cultivate relationships with others. I especially would like to thank activists Carly Fox and Ana María Archila in NYC for offering me and my immigrant friends the guidance to think through these issues at such a young age and for empowering us to advocate for ourselves and our communities. The awareness and commitment to social justice that I developed as a youth activist in Queens has remained with me through the years and has grown deeper at every academic institution that has opened its doors to me, including the University of Michigan. My time as a doctoral student at U of M was filled with unique and enriching experiences. I had the fortune of working with excellent dissertation committee members, who expressed interest in my perspective, helped expand my ideas, and patiently read my work. I thank my advisor Sueann Caulfield for her unwavering support and guidance. She encouraged me to think critically, motivated me to trust in my pedagogical skills, and challenged me to strive for intellectual precision in my academic writing. I thank Rebecca J. Scott for her valuable mentorship. Her enthusiasm for teaching and for building collaborative networks have shaped my presence in the classroom and my interest in working with others. I am also grateful to Rosario Ceballo whose class on “Feminist Scholarship on Women of Color” exposed me to important theoretical works that redirected my intellectual interests in exciting ways. I thank Edgardo Pérez Morales for being a wonderful friend and mentor. His advice and encouragement substantially helped my archival research process and my approach to writing Colombian history. Raymond McDaniel listened to my unstructured ideas, read my rough drafts, and provided constructive feedback. I thank him for always reminding me to “have faith.” iv I would also like to thank professors Teresa Satterfield, Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, Victoria Langland, Nadine Naber, and Lisa Disch for their interest in my work at various points during my time at U of M. I am particularly grateful to Professor Paulina Alberto, whose class on Afro- Latin America introduced me to a body of literature that greatly shaped my thinking on questions about race and the writing of history. I also thank Professor Liz Wingrove for her sharp insights and suggestions to improve my work at the 2016 Community of Scholars Program. As a participant, I made substantial progress on my dissertation and received thoughtful feedback from my seminar peers, particularly from Josh Morrison, Kyera Singleton, and Chris Sargent. At U of M, I benefited tremendously from Rackham’s Program on Public Scholarship. I thank Professor Matthew Countryman for his leadership and his commitment to students in the program. Similarly, I am grateful to Dr. Denise Galarza Sepulveda and Becca Pickus, who followed my progress in the Engaged Pedagogy Initiative (EPI) and made time to meet with me individually to address pedagogical concerns and to contribute to my future course planning. Along these lines, I would like to recognize the work of the consultants at the U of M Center for Research on Teaching and Learning (CRLT), particularly Ariana Orozco. Ariana worked closely with me during my first year as a Graduate Student Instructor. Her feedback helped increase my confidence and encouraged me to be alert to my students’ interests and concerns. Teaching was a life-changing experience for me and I felt invigorated by my students’ dedication and talents. I thank my former students, in particular Martín Rivera, Elizabeth Batista, and Patrick Mullen- Coyoy, for sharing their stories with me and helping me understand why this work excites me the most. Pa’lante muchachxs. I thank Laura Schram and Emma Flores-Scott at the Rackham School of Graduate Studies for organizing activities and workshops that contributed to my professional development. Laura v connected me to career coach Sally Schmall, who helped me identify and value all the different skills I developed as a doctoral student. Emma and her team organized wonderful WRITEin sessions in which I found a community of writers with whom I enjoyed free meals each month. Rackham’s Dissertation Writing Intensive Program also allowed me to meet Melanie Sobocinski, from whom I learned useful writing habits and academic planning strategies. In that program I also met American Culture graduate student, Joo Young Kim. I thank Joo Young for becoming a reliable, flexible, and supportive daily writing partner and friend. The Sweetland Center for Writing played a fundamental role in my success as a doctoral student. I received help and encouragement from faculty consultants Ray McDaniel, Simone Sessolo, Louis Cicciarelli, and Paul Barron. I worked with each of them at various stages of my writing process: one-on-one writing workshops, small dissertation writing groups, advanced writing courses, and at the 2017 Spring Dissertation Writing Institute. Participating at DWI during my term of defense was a true blessing. Having a comfortable office space, a printing quota, and a nice group of peers provided all the support I needed to complete several pieces of this project. I am grateful to them for making themselves available to read and discuss my work. § This project benefited from generous funding provided by the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education and the SSRC-Mellon Mays Graduate Initiatives Program. At the University of Michigan, I am grateful for the financial support provided by the Rackham Merit Fellowship, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies through the Gutiérrez Family Fellowship, the International Institute, the History Department, the Women’s Studies Department, and the Race, Law, and History Program. I specially would like thank the directors and the staff that made vi possible the 2015 Race, Law, and History Program. The guest commentator for that year, Professor Mitra Sharafi, provided incisive comments at the program’s pro-seminar that helped me rethink the first chapter I wrote, giving me a new sense of direction. I also thank Emad Ansari, one of the fellows in the program who in a brief, but substantive conversation in a hallway encouraged me not to neglect reading for pleasure during the dissertation writing process. I remember expressing some hesitation to Emad’s idea, but later realized I was a much happier person when I made time to read poetry and short stories during this process. I conducted research for this dissertation in several archives in and out of the U.S. In Colombia, I thank Lucy Valencia, Sebastián Martínez Botero, and Sebastián Gómez González, who kindly shared valuable information about regional archives and more. In Popayán, I am particularly grateful to Juan José Lora Valencia, Ademir Gutiérrez, and Natalia Cruz Gómez, who assisted me with archival material from the Archivo Central del Cauca. I also thank historian Yesenia Barragan, with whom I coincided in Popayán, for her enthusiasm and collaborative spirit. In Spain, I thank the staff of the Archivo General de Indias and the fellow historians I met while conducting research there, especially Ernesto Mercado and Leonardo Moreno. I am also grateful to Rosemary and Antonio for their hospitality in Seville. In the U.S., I thank Professor Kathryn Burns, who talked to me about the Popayán Papers Collection at UNC and shared some of her own archival findings.