1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910829143803321

Autore

Few Martha <1964->

Titolo

Women who live evil lives : gender, religion, and the politics of power in colonial Guatemala / / by Martha Few

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Austin, : University of Texas Press, 2002

ISBN

0-292-79872-5

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (203 p.)

Disciplina

305.42/097281

Soggetti

Women - Guatemala - Antigua - Social conditions - 17th century

Women - Guatemala - Antigua - Social conditions - 18th century

Women healers - Guatemala - Antigua - History - 17th century

Women healers - Guatemala - Antigua - History - 18th century

Wizards - Guatemala - Antigua - History - 17th century

Wizards - Guatemala - Antigua - History - 18th century

Inquisition - Guatemala - Antigua

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [165]-184) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1 Contested Powers: Gender, Culture, and the Process of Colonial Rule -- Chapter 2 Society and Colonial Authority in Santiago de Guatemala -- Chapter 3 Magical Violence and the Body -- Chapter 4 Illness, Healing, and the Supernatural World -- Chapter 5 Female Sorcery, Material Life, and Urban Community Formation -- Chapter 6 Conclusion -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Women Who Live Evil Lives documents the lives and practices of mixed-race, Black, Spanish, and Maya women sorcerers, spell-casters, magical healers, and midwives in the social relations of power in Santiago de Guatemala, the capital of colonial Central America. Men and women from all sectors of society consulted them to intervene in sexual and familial relations and disputes between neighbors and rival shop owners; to counter abusive colonial officials, employers, or husbands; and in cases of inexplicable illness. Applying historical, anthropological, and gender studies analysis, Martha Few argues that women's local practices of magic, curing, and religion revealed



opportunities for women's cultural authority and power in colonial Guatemala. Few draws on archival research conducted in Guatemala, Mexico, and Spain to shed new light on women's critical public roles in Santiago, the cultural and social connections between the capital city and the countryside, and the gender dynamics of power in the ethnic and cultural contestation of Spanish colonial rule in daily life.