HIST/LAS 3401W: Study Guide for documents related to Andean religion
Before reading the documents, be sure to read Chapter 6 in Andrien’s Andean Worlds and Mills’ introduction to the document of Witness Francisco Poma for the context on extirpation campaigns in Peru.
Father Pablo Joseph de Arriaga (1564-1622), a Spanish Jesuit, arrived in Peru in 1585 where he primarily worked as a teacher until he was sent out to "extirpate" Andean religion around 1615. The indigenous population was not subject to the regular Inquisition, but rather to specially appointed extirpators or "visitors". He wrote this handbook in 1621 as a guide for the best methods of eradicating Native religions. Since this is a primary document, you should be particularly aware of the author's biases and context as you read.
1. To what degree do the interrogation questions and prohibitions seem to reflect Arriaga’s knowledge of Andean religion (based upon what you know from Andrien and Mills) and to what degree do they reflect a European, Christian bias?
2. What methods does Arriaga propose for "extirpating idolatry" and to what degree do you thnk they may have been successful (again based on what you know from Andrien and Mills)?
3. Are activities prohibited by Arriaga cultural, spiritual or both?
Mills provides an excellent introduction to the confession of Francisco Poma.
1. Identify practices confessed by Poma that are both identified in and absent from Arriaga’s regulations.
2. What does the confession reveal about social relations and dynamics in Andean society (e.g. role of kurakas, gender, conflicts as well as solidarity among Native Andeans etc.)?
3. What can you surmise about the motives and goals of native spiritual practices from Poma’s confession?
4. What specific powers does Poma attribute to native huacas, malquis and spiritual practioners (“sorcerers”)?
5. Judging from Poma’s confession, what are the successes and failures of Spanish attempts to “extirpate” native religion and spread Christianity?
6. To what degree do you think Native Andeans like Poma and his acquaintances are mixing Andean and Christian spiritual practices or keeping them separate?
7. Do you think the spiritual practices identified by Poma constitute resistance? Why or why not?
HIST/LAS 3401W: Study Guide for documents related to the Virgin of Guadalupe (Mexico)
The first Virgin of Guadalupe to make a miraculous appearance was in Extremadura, Spain, and the elements of her miracle are similar to the later appaearance in Mexico. There is much scholarly debate about the authorship and dates of the first accounts of the miraculous appearance of the Virgin Mary (Guadalupe) in Tepeyac, Mexico. The Catholic Church has sainted Juan Diego, the humble indigenous man who reportedly witnessed the miracle, and Catholics accept the version that she appeared in 1531. As the popularity of the cult of Guadalupe grew in Mexico in the 17th century (1600s), a Spanish account was published in 1648 and a version in Nahuatl in 1649 (see the introduction to the English excerpt) by the chaplain of the shrine. The 1649 version claims to be based upon a Nahua account dating from the 1550s, the Nican Mopohua, allegedly written by Antonio Valeriano, an indigenous nobleman educated by Spanish friars. (The Nican Mopohua is the basis for the Spanish version assigned in class.) However, there is controversy over whether the Nican Mopohua in fact dates from the 16th century and over who was the author. What is not in doubt is that the devotion to the Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe began to grow in the area of Mexico City in the second half of the 16th century and then to spread throughout New Spain in the 17th century and came to be seen as the Patron Saint of Mexico by the era of independence (early 19th century). She was and is revered by Mexicans of all ethnicities.
The selections for class are both based on translations from Nahuatl. Unlike in most European contexts, in Nahua society referring to someone in the diminutive (e.g. “my youngest child, my daughter”) was actually a term of respect. The English version translated from the 1649 edition and the Spanish version translated from the disputed Nican Mopohua.
1. Although we cannot fully appreciate the Nahuatl originals, compare the account of the Virgin of Guadalupe to passages in the Florentine Codex/Broken Spears (e.g. pp. 29-30 in the first English excerpt and 109 and 133 in the second; pp. 137-8 in the Spanish version) and try to note various linguistic and stylistic characteristics of Nahuatl.
2. How does the account represent relations between Native Mexicans and the Spanish Catholic authorities?
3. Imagine a Nahua speaker listening to this account in a Catholic Church, circa 1650. What might have appealed to him or her in the story?
Please tear off this page and return to your T.A. when you have finished the readings:
EVALUATION OF ARRIAGA, EXTIRPATION OF IDOLATRY IN PERU
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EVALUATION OF CONFESSION OF THE WITNESS FRANCISCO POMA
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EVALUATION OF EXCERPT FROM THE NAHUATL STORY OF THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE
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