Deviant and Useful Citizens explores the conditions of women and perceptions of the female body in the eighteenth century throughout the Viceroyalty of Peru, which until 1776 comprised modern-day Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Author Mariselle Meléndez introduces the reader to a female rebel, Micaela Bastidas, whose brutal punishment became a particularly harsh example of state response to women who challenged the system. She explores the cultural representation of women depicted as economically productive and vital to the health of the culture at large. The role of women in religious orders provides still another window into the vital need to sustain the image of women as loyal and devout—and to deal with women who refused to comply.
The book focuses on the different ways male authorities, as well as female subjects, conceived the female body as deeply connected to notions of what constituted a useful or deviant citizen within the Viceroyalty. Using eighteenth-century legal documents, illustrated chronicles, religious texts, and newspapers, Meléndez explores in depth the representation of the female body in periods of political, economic, and religious transformation to determine how it was conceived within certain contexts.
Deviant and Useful Citizens presents a highly complex society that relied on representations of utility and productivity to understand the female body, as it reveals the surprisingly large stake that colonial authorities had in defining the status of women during a crucial time in South American history.
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Extrait
Deviant and Useful Citizens The Cultural Production of the Female Body in EighteenthCentury Peru
Mariselle Meléndez
Deviant and Useful Citizens
Deviant and Useful Citizens
he Cultural Production of te Female Body in Eigteent-Century Peru Mariselle Meléndez
his book is printed on acid-free paper made from 30% post-consumer recycled content. Manufactured in te United States of America
Publication of tis book as been supported by a generous subsidy from te Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and United States Universities.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meléndez, Mariselle, 1964– Deviant and useful citizens : te cultural production of te female body in eigteent-century Peru / Mariselle Meléndez. p. cm. Includes bibliograpical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8265-1768-5 (clot edition : alk. paper) 1. Women—Peru—Social conditions. 2. Body image in women—Peru—History—18t century. 3. Sex roles—Peru— History—18t century. I. Title. HQ1572.M45 2011 306.4—dc22 2010040504
List of Figures
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
. Micaela Bastidas’s Legible Body: Public Spectacle, Violence, and Fear in Túpac Amaru’s Insurrection
. Visualizing and Commodifying Female Bodies inTruxillo del Perú: From Colonial Order to Economic Productivity
. Patriotic Bodies and Corporeal RHetorics: Sor María Josefa de la Santísima Trinidad’s Historia de la Fundación del Monasterio de Trinitarias Descalzas de Lima(1783)
vii
ix
1
11
41
83
. he Nation and Its Congenital Deformations: he Medicalized Female Body in tHe Mercurio Peruano, 1791–1795127
Epilogue: Prescribing Bodies
Notes
Works Cited
Index
171
175
209
223
List of Figures
. “Estado que demuestra el numero de Abitantes del Obpdo” . “E: Española con solo bolador” . “E: Española con mantilla y bolador” . “E: Yndia de lamas con trage de Iglesia” . “E: Yndia de montaña ynfiel” . “E: Yndia de sierra en trage ordinario” . “E: Yndia de lamas con trage ordinario” . “E: Negra” . “E: Quarterona de mestiza” . “E: Mestiza” . “E: Española con trage a lo antiguo” . “E: Mulata” . “E: Españolas de luto” . “E: Españoles merendando en el campo” . “E: Yndias de Valle a Cavallo” . “E: Yndia de Hivito con carga, y su ijito a las espaldas” . “E: Yndia de Moiobamba cargando platanos” . “E: Yndia pastora pariendo” . “E: Yndio pastor de ovejas” . “E: Yndia de Valles ilando en catre” . “E: Yndia de Valles texiendo” . “E: Yndias escarmenando lana” . “E: Mestizas de Cacapoyas cosiendo rengos” . “E: Mestiza de Moiobamba trabajando en su errería” . “E: Yndias ilando a torno” . “E: Yndia de Lamas ilando a torno” . “E: Yndias colando cica y despumandola”
vii
52 53 53 55 55 57 57 57 58 58 59 61 64 65 66
67 67 68 68 69 69 70
70
71 71 72 73
. “E: Yndio con Viruelas” . “E: Mestizo picado de Uta” . “E: Yndio en agonia” . “E: Leprosa bañándose” . “E: Yndio de Montaña Infiel” . “E: Padron de los Domingos en Huairona” . Eigteent-century map sowing te Monasterio de Trinitarias Descalzas close to te center of Lima . “Monstre” . “Retrato verdadero de una criatura que nació en de marzo del año corriente” .Desvios de la naturaleza o Tratado de el origen de los monstros. “Jumelles attaceés par les reins” . A case of a female cild born wit wite stria
viii
74 74 75 76 77 79
131
133
134 135 144
Acknowledgments
ompleting a book always brings a sense of fulfillment, appiness, andC relief. It represents a point in time wen one realizes tat te conclusion as been possible tanks to te collaboration and influence of people wo directly or indirectly impacted our researc and daily tinking in multiple ways. his book is te result of many years of continuous dialogue and support wit scolars and close friends wo ave strengtened my approac to a topic tat as proven to be a productive tool to read and understand society: te body. I would like to express my gratitude for te generosity of tose wo ave made tis book possible. Maureen Aern, Santa Arias, Magali M. Carrera, Jennifer L. Eic, Rut Hill, Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel, Katryn McKnigt, Eyda Merediz, Katleen Myers,LuisFernandoRestrepo,StaceySclau,KarenStolley,GustavoVerdesio,Carles F. Walker, and Jerry Williams are among a remarkable group of scolars in te field of colonial studies wose researc and conversations ave elped sarpen my arguments and prompted me to tink arder about many of te subjects dis-cussed in te book. Oter scolars in te field wose work is cited in te notes and bibliograpy ave also been very influential in my critical approac. Among all tese colleagues, I offer my most special appreciation to Santa Arias (University of Kansas), wose valuable friendsip, sense of umor, and intellectual collaboration ave been invaluable from te beginning troug te final stages of tis book. My deepest appreciation to Karen Stolley (Emory University), wose pioneering work in Spanis American eigteent-century literary studies as ad a major impact on te field. Santa and Karen ave been instrumental in te conception of tis study, and I would like to express my sincere tanks to bot of tem. I am indebted to my former professors at te University of Wisconsin, Madi-son, and in particular Margarita Zamora, for te solid academic training I received as a scolar and for teir time spent listening to my ideas and offering suggestions. Margarita’s intellectual integrity and discipline ave guided my own academic work. My writing and my researc ave been marked by wat I learned wit all of tem, and for tat I am forever grateful. At te beginning of tis project I ad te intellectual support of my former colleague Marcia Stepenson (Purdue University), wose understanding of critical