Wandering Peoples: Colonialism, Ethnic Spaces, and Ecological Frontiers in Northwestern Mexico, 1700–1850

Cynthia Radding

Published by Duke University Press 1997

Wandering Peoples

Colonialism, Ethnic Spaces, and Ecological Frontiers in Northwestern Mexico, 1700–1850

Cynthia Radding

In the series Latin America otherwise : languages, empires, nations

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822398943

Overview
Contents

About this book

Wandering Peoples is a chronicle of cultural resiliency, colonial relations, and trespassed frontiers in the borderlands of a changing Spanish empire. Focusing on the native subjects of Sonora in Northwestern Mexico, Cynthia Radding explores the social process of peasant class formation and the cultural persistence of Indian communities during the long transitional period between Spanish colonialism and Mexican national rule. Throughout this anthropological history, Radding presents multilayered meanings of culture, community, and ecology, and discusses both the colonial policies to which peasant communities were subjected and the responses they developed to adapt and resist them.
Radding describes this colonial mission not merely as an instance of Iberian expansion but as a site of cultural and political confrontation. This alternative vision of colonialism emphasizes the economic links between mission communities and Spanish mercantilist policies, the biological consequences of the Spanish policy of forced congregación, and the cultural and ecological displacements set in motion by the practices of discipline and surveillance established by the religious orders. Addressing wider issues pertaining to ethnic identities and to ecological and cultural borders, Radding’s analysis also underscores the parallel production of colonial and subaltern texts during the course of a 150-year struggle for power and survival.

Author / Editor information

Cynthia Radding is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Reviews

“Wandering Peoples is an example of regional history at its best. Cynthia Radding is one of the finest practitioners in the emerging field of Latin American ecological history; indeed, she is playing a major role in shaping the field. This book is an important and innovative contribution to colonial Mexican studies and will resonate with scholars working on any part of the globe who are engaged with its key themes.”—Ann Wightman, Wesleyan University

“Here, for the first time, we get an extensive treatment of the ‘ordinary’ men and women who populated the missions, presidios, mining camps, and other settlements of Sonora—they have names, identities, agendas, and complex strategies for coping with the multiple demands they face. Those specializing in other geographical areas—not just Latin Americanists—would do well to consider the concrete grounding of this working model.”—Cheryl Martin, The University of Texas, El Paso

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
About the Series Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xxi
Introduction: The Social Ecology of the Sonoran Frontier Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART ONE. Los Sonoras and the Iberian Invasion of Northwestern Mexico
1. Ethnic Frontiers in the Sonoran Desert Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
2. Amerindian Economy in Sonora Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
3. Native Livelihood and the Colonial Economy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
PART Two. The Intimate Sphere of Ethnicity: Household and Community
4. Sexuality, Marriage, and Family Formation in Sonora Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
5 "Gypseys" and Villagers: Shifting Communities and Changing Ethnic Identities in Highland Sonora Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
PART THREE. Rival Proprietors and Changing Forms of Land Tenure
6. Land and the Indian Comlin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
7. Peasants, Hacendados, and Merchants: The Cultural Differentiation of Sonoran Society Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
PART FOUR. Ethnogenesis and Resistant Adaptation
8. Cultural Endurance and Accommodation to Spanish Rule Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
9. Patterns of Mobilization Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	268
Conclusions: Contested Space Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	306
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	315
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	361
Select Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	367
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	395

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Pages
- Main content: 432
Illustrations
- Other: 6 illustrations, 5 maps, 4 graphs

eBook

Published: April 30, 1997
ISBN: 9780822398943