Women Who Live Evil Lives : : Gender, Religion, and the Politics of Power in Colonial Guatemala / / Martha Few.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Few, Martha,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021]; ©2002
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (202 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Introduction -- Part I. The Mexica: 1325–1521 -- 2. Tenochtitlán: 1325–1521 -- 3. Mesoamerican Resonance -- Part II. New Spain: 1521–1821 -- 4. Colonial Mexico: 1521–1821 -- 5. Colonial Resonance -- Part III. The New Nation: 1821–1910 -- 6. The First Century of Independence: 1821–1910 -- 7. Nineteenth-Century Resonance -- Part IV. The Revolution: 1910–1921 -- 8. Revolutionary Mexico: 1910–1921 -- 9. Revolutionary Resonance -- Part V. Modern Mexico: 1921–1968 -- 10. Bolero and Danzón during the Postrevolutionary Era -- 11. Bolero and Danzón Today -- 12. Classical Nationalism 12 during the Postrevolutionary Era -- 13. Classical Nationalism Today -- 14. Ranchera during the 14 Postrevolutionary Era and at Mid-Century -- 15. Ranchera Today -- Part VI. Contemporary Mexico: 1968– 2002 -- 16. Popular Music Today -- 17. Conclusion -- Appendix 1. Theory and Methodology -- Ap 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