Paper short abstract:

The objective of this paper is to analyze the way in which a new frontier was developed in the territories of the Isthmus of Panamá, and to explore tensions between Spaniards and Indians to focus on how negotiation or hostility shaped the new frontier urban society in Central America.

Paper long abstract:

After the first 20 years of Spanish colonization in the Caribbean the model of exploitation seemed exhausted. Constant effort was made by the Crown to take advantage of the resources of the land specially using Indian work force, but after that time new territories of expansion seemed necessary. The objective of this paper is to analyze the way in which a new frontier was developed in the territories of the Isthmus of Panamá, to explore tensions between Spaniards and Indians and also within the very Spanish expeditions.

The colonization of the territory known as Castilla del Oro was carried out through the building of new towns; some of which remained and others did not. However, all of them represented the interest of the Crown in establishing its authority and signified the necessity of taking control of both Spanish and Indian population. For this paper I will focus on the relations between Spaniards and Indians in a moment of deep tension since the new policies of the Spanish government forbid mistreatment of Indian population but the colonizers still wanted to take advantage of them as either slaves or servants. The process of negotiation or plain hostility is a good ground to analyze how a new society was being built. For this I will compare theoretical approaches that appear in the laws with the chronicles in which we can read how those theories were or were not implemented.

Paper short abstract:

This contribution aims to analize the question posed to the Spanish monarchy by the last Inkas resistence since 1532 to 1572, in the peruvian viceroyalty. It's focused on the way the Spanish Crown tried to face this question and the failure of the peace negotiations due to culturals misunderstandings.

Paper long abstract:

This contribution aims to analize the question posed to the Spanish monarchy by the last Inkas resistence since 1532 to 1572, in the peruvian viceroyalty. It's focused on the way the Spanish Crown tried to face this question and the failure of the peace negotiations due to culturals misunderstandings. The Spanish Crown tried in several moment to negotiate peace in order to avoid the risk that the Inka resistence was creating to the control of that difficult area. The Diego Rodriguez de Figueroa mission (in 1565) was the most satisfactory attempt in that direction, and led to a formal peace treaty (called Urubamba treaty), neverthless, the peace settled by the treaty didn't resist too much. We analize both the reasons of this failure and the difficulty of reaching an agreement, founded also, but not only, in cultural reasons.

Paper short abstract:

Even though the permeability of social frontiers allowed the development of optimizations tactics related to the status, many of them triggered confrontations within communities. The conciliations of these disputes constituted common practices that are analyzed in this article.

Paper long abstract:

"Soy un pobre artesano, pero tengo honor". This phrase was said by Diego Escobar, an artisan living in Santiago de Chile in 1819, in an injury trial. It expressed the development of the concept of honor through the last colonial century. This notion had left to be a unique cultural code and exclusive patrimony of the elite and became a common representation used in various social environments. This article covers the circulation of cultural models through social frontiers in Santiago de Chile -located at the meridional borders of the Spanish Empire in America- through the analysis of the new notions of honor built by "bodegoneros", "pulperas", "peones", low level soldiers and servants.

Notwithstanding that social borders allowed the development of status optimization tactics, the action margins were not absolute and many of these strategies caused confrontations that placed tension to social relationships. Thus, conciliation was a common practice for settling the referred disputes. We herewith analyze the role that mediators displayed in this practice, passing through social and cultural frontiers in Santiago de Chile at the XVIII century.

Paper short abstract:

New Spain's Inquisition persecuted sorcerer Martín Ocelotl for trading divinations for gifts with powerful Indians. Their failed attempt to sell his property thwarted their appropriation of his influence, resulting in the trial of another Ocelotl.

Paper long abstract:

In 1537 the Apostolic Inquisition of New Spain charged an Indian sorcerer named Martín Ocelotl with sorcery, divination, and dogmatizing against the faith. Ocelotl had allegedly predicated against Christianity along Spanish communication and trade routes. There, he had influenced Indian leaders by exchanging his prognostications for gifts, which he then re-distributed among other important Indians. These transactions created a symbolic economy in which all of the Indians knew and feared Ocelotl. The Inquisition publicly humiliated and exiled the powerful Indian as they had others, but rather than confiscating or destroying his belongings—a common outcome of "muerte civil" under Roman law—they made the unusual decision to publicly auction them. By selling the sorcerer's property to the Indians, I argue that the Inquisition tried to harness his system of influence to their advantage rather than destroying it. The Inquisitors hoped that the Indians who purchased Ocelotl's property would acknowledge them and enter the Spanish economy. They offered his belongings for any amount of gold yet three consecutive auctions ended without any takers. The Inquisition thus concluded that the sorcerer's property still remaining in Indian hands presented a great obstacle to their objective. As they learned about the missing items, they broadened the category of "property" that they demanded the Indians surrender. Ultimately, I argue that the Inquisition's failure to collect and sell Ocelotl's things thwarted their attempt to appropriate his influence and resulted in the subsequent trial of Andrés Mixcoatl, who would claim that he himself was Martín Ocelotl.

Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the indigenous’ negotiation of their integration into Jesuit missions in the Chaco region. It aims at enriching the lines of historiographic research that emphasize the porous and dynamic nature of Early Modern Latin American frontiers.

Paper long abstract:

The study of the activity of the Society of Jesus in the Chaco region during the Early Modern period allows us to advance our understanding of the cultural interactions and exchanges that distinguished the frontiers of the European empires.

This paper focuses on the ability of indigenous peoples from the Chaco region to negotiate their integration into Jesuit missions and to recurrently renegotiate these conditions when conflicts aroused. Some of these conflicts, besides, were due to the difficulties deriving from the frequent cohabitation in the reducciones of various peoples or ethnic groups with no previous relation, which adds complexity to the process of cultural hybridization that characterized these missions.

By analyzing the process that led to the settlement of the indigenous in the missions and the way conflicts were solved, this papers aims at enriching the new lines of historiographic research that emphasize the porous and dynamic aspects of frontiers as opposed to the more traditional interpretations that stressed the rigidity of frontier and their function to separate or divide territories and peoples.

Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the difficulties and possibilities of cultural translation in the mapuche frontier (southern Chile), specifically in the context of the fight against sorcery and witchcraft. The aim is debating about the frontier concept applied to contexts of exchange and religious semiosis.

Paper long abstract:

It is know that the "justicia ordinaria" in the hispanoamerican colonial societies, and specifically in Chile, were usually confronted to issues beyond their area of expertise. Conformed by members of the local "corregidores" and "capitanes", these lesser tribunals had to face crimes of "fuero mixto" (mixed jurisdiction) like "maleficio" and "brujería" (witchcraft), without the knowledge of specialized ecclesiastical tribunals. The "justicias" confronted the judicial process appealed to a mixed background of stories, texts (read and heard), and the oral tradition of their own local community, which we called "matrices of comprehension". Our previous works evinced that these matrices were capable of contain and organize most of the information provided by witnesses and defendants into coherent structures, being intelligible for most of them.

Although these matrices provide some epistemic consensus between the different members of the community, there were signs of incomprehension, signs of misunderstanding, registered in the processes but consigned to oblivion. Signs that express the boundaries of understanding between the hispanic justice and a core of indigenous religiosity. In this proposal, we will approach to the possibilities of the cultural translation through the analysis of a set of judicial documents from eighteen century. Specifically, we will focus on a witchcraft case conducted in the city of Concepción (Chile) in the year 1693, against a group of non-Spanish-speakers mapuche from the inland (tierra adentro). We expect this work could discuss some ideas about this complex idea of frontier: the physical or discursive frontier of Bio-Bio (southern Chile) and the epistemic frontiers of the justice comprehension matrices.

Paper short abstract:

This paper is a comparative analysis of banditry archetypes in Spanish border both peninsular and colonial territories in late 18th century, in order to revisit the historiographical debate with new evidences.

Paper long abstract:

This paper deals with the analysis of banditry archetypes at the end of the 18th century. By taking into account the research done about New mexico (S. Ortelli) Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata (R. Fradkin) and my current research about the case of Northern Spain, this article deals with a comparative analysis in order to underline similarities and contrasts of these phenomena . The objective is to propose new approaches on the debate sustained by  E. Hobsbawm and A. Blok. I will stress  the social meanings and context of banditry with a particular focus on  border societies framework.