Description
Book SynopsisThis title is a detailed examination of social interaction in the city of Chihuahua, a major silver mining center of colonial Mexico. Founded at the beginning of the 18th century, the city attracted people from all over New Spain, all summoned by the voices of the mines of Chihuahua.
Trade Review"This extremely important study makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the social history of colonial Mexico. The author's focus on the social, cultural, and political dynamics of Chihuahua provides a superb lens through which to view social interaction on a daily basis among individuals distinguished by their gender, class, race, and occupation. The work also engages several wider issues ranging from the regional history of Mexico, to the social history of a community, to questions of hegemony, power, and governance in a peripheral area."—Susan Deans-Smith, University of Texas at Austin
"Martin's well-written social history . . . is packed with insights and observations that will be useful both to scholars interested in other Mexican regions and to those who study early modern social relations in other settings. . . . Immensely informative and interesting . . . this rich volume will undoubtedly be influential for years to come."—
American Historical Review"Extremely readable and impressively researched . . . this is an ambitious and deeply analytical study. . . . Among the work's many virtues are the clarity and unpretentiousness of its style, its insightfulness (without over-theorizing), and its sensitivity to its sources."—
Latin American Studies"Martin has given us a fine study of an eighteenth-century Mexican mining town. It is a work of painstaking sholarship, soft-spoken but with hard theoretical edges, written with clarity, economy, and grace."—
Canadian Journal of HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. The villa of San Felipe el Real de Chinhuahua; 2. The people of colonial Chinhuahua; 3. Labor relations; 4. The ethos of governance; 5. The rituals of governance; 6. Social etiquette in everyday life; 7. The ethos and practice of patriarchy; Conclusion; Appendix; Glossary; Notes; Bibliography; Index.
