Scorned Subjects in Colonial Objects

Focusing on colonial Spanish America, we explore scorned subjects - indigenous things that were identified as vital, sentient subjects by the people who made and used them but reclassified as "objects" by European friars, priests and settlers. Attending to key examples of scorned subjects...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Dean, Carolyn 1957- (Author) ; Leibsohn, Dana (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis [2017]
In: Material religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 13, Issue: 4, Pages: 414-436
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Mexico / Andean highlands / Indigenous peoples / Religion / Sacred object / Exclusion / Mission (international law / Colonialism
IxTheo Classification:AG Religious life; material religion
KBR Latin America
RJ Mission; missiology
Further subjects:B Inca
B Andes
B Aztec
B Mexico
B Iconoclasm
B Idolatry
B Peru
B Spanish America
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:Focusing on colonial Spanish America, we explore scorned subjects - indigenous things that were identified as vital, sentient subjects by the people who made and used them but reclassified as "objects" by European friars, priests and settlers. Attending to key examples of scorned subjects in central Mexico and the Andes, we consider how European ontology and epistemology, manifested in the actions of colonial-era missionaries and persisting in present scholarship, shade our interpretations of sacred indigenous things. Of particular concern is how perceptions of the indigenous sacred shifted under changing colonial conditions. Our research suggests that rather than stubbornly requiring traditional pre-Hispanic materials to provide a physical presence, the indigenous sacred was often more supple than colonial authorities supposed. The implications of this arrangement, we find, open new questions about the relationships among materiality, colonial history and the indigenous sacred in the Americas.
Item Description:Heft: Special issue of "Material Religion". Special issue is dedicated to Latin America, and really to Las Américas …
ISSN:1751-8342
Contains:Enthalten in: Material religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/17432200.2017.1379377