The Women of Colonial Latin America

New Approaches to the Americas

by Susan Migden Socolow

This book presents an overview of the varied experiences of women in colonial Spanish and Portuguese America. Beginning with the cultures that would produce the Latin American world, the book traces the effects of conquest, colonization, and settlement on colonial women. The book also examines the expectations, responsibilities, and limitations facing women in their varied roles, stressing the ways in which race, social status, occupation, and space altered women's social and economic realities.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Latin American History, Read For School

264 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2000

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I assign this frequently to students and it stands up. Readable and interesting. It’s trying to do a lot all at once, but it’s short and covers a wide range of women. It looks at religion and economics and the 3 major ethnicities—African, European and American.

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book because it actually broke down all the difference of region, race, class, and time period. How did elite Spanish women live? What was it like to be a woman in a little village? What did daily life look like for a nun?

I learned many things that I'm not sure where else they would have appeared. On the topic of nuns, there were apparently 6K at the time of independence (p. 100). This was really interesting to me because when reading other books about colonial cities, authors place a great emphasis on the sheer number of monasteries. The author of this book reminded me that since colonial Latin America was overwhelming agricultural, cities were not the great population and economic centers that they are today - they were, above all, bastions of elite power. So nearly 10% of Mexico City's population being nuns - and 30% living in nunneries - is not that incredible, given that there are hardly any nuns anywhere else in the area.

In a similar way, I also learned about racial requirements for nuns (p. 112 - 113), how some nuns arranged almost a Go-FundMe to earn a "dowry" (p. 103), and how sometimes cofradías would provide women with dowries to get married or to join a nunnery.

The author covers the rather horrifying role of women as victims of crime. Apparently, rape was often seen as an offense against the closest man rather than the woman herself. Women who had to male patron were seen as "ownerless property, waiting to be claimed through male sexual prowess" , especially in rural areas (p. 163).

There's also quite an interesting bit about love potions (p. 168 - 170), and my personal favorite note comes from page 26 about an Andean deity:

“Chaupi Ñamaca used to travel around and have sex with other huacas.

But she never used to praise any male by saying “He is good!”"

This changed when she met Rucana Coto, whose large penis "satisfied her deliciously”

The author explores the lives of elite women, slaves and freedwomen, rural and city women, nuns, beatas, and the vast servant caste of the nunneries, work, witchcraft, rebellion, and education.

However, I must give this book 3 stars for 2 reasons:

1) Lack of citations. There are hardly any citations or footnotes in the book, meaning that the curious reader has nowhere to follow up. The most egregious example for me was about Teotihuacan:

". . . when clay figures were produced by hand, approximately 70% of these objects were made by women. As figurines began to be mass-produced using molds, 70% were made by men. These numbers imply that as the output of figurines become more industrialized and more economically important, women came to play a lesser role in their production." (p. 18)

That was fascinating! How did researchers infer the gender of figure-makers over time, in a city-state from over a millennium ago? Well, I'll never know, because there is no citation.

2) Typos. I noticed many typos throughout the book. Some are forgivable, but some are more egregious. For instance, an Ecuadorian place is described as both "Pichincha" and "Pinchincha" within the same paragraph. Which is it?

In conclusion, I enjoyed this book and learned a lot. If you want a readable overview of women in colonial Latin America, then go for this - but you will need to look on your own if you want to do any follow-up on the fascinating histories uncovered here.

[Ms.Caprioli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched, this book, like many others, focuses primarily on European women and white women born in the Americas. This is as much a result of the dearth of historical documents available about women of color as of the author’s reticence to engage with evidence beyond them: to truly tell the stories of all women in colonial Latin America, archeology and anthropology must be consulted as well. Some analysis and usage show this Eurocentric view as well. Even with these caveats, it is a very good survey of a large continent over a long period of time. The documents at the end are useful for those who, like me, are reading this book as preparation for a class on Latin America.

[Angelina Lambros · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is important to any study of Latin America or Atlantic history at large. Gain a detailed understanding of women's lives from the 16th to the 18th century in Iberian countries and in Latin America, before and after colonization. Learn about their relation to marriage and family, and the lives of elite women, women in convents, and slave woman. Learn about crime and deviance, as well as work that women performed. See the impact of the Enlightenment on ideas about women and their rights. Discover the ways in which women existed and made a living for themselves within a patriarchal society.

[Jason Holechko · Rating 4 out of 5]

fantastic overview. For the year it was created, especially progressive for its time. So many sources. While at times it seems like it is impossible to find sources but this book shows that it may be hard but you can find the sources, sometimes biased, but looking along the archival grain may help.
3.9/5 rounded.
pros:
progressive, lots of information, great overview to start.

cons:
can seem repetitive. some of the language being used not the best.

[Cory Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is pretty great for what it is. I’ve read history books that grew rather dull and this one never seemed to do that. Though it never grew dull it did grow repetitive as Socolow would make the same points many times in different chapters. This a good read for those interested in women’s history or the colonial period.

[Garret Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Argues that patriarchy was the biggest single factor determining the life-experience of colonial Latin American women. Also argues that race and class were second biggest influencers. Also shows how women worked within these social structures to exercise agency. I especially liked the chapter on religion and convents and the extra opportunities religious orders afforded to women.

[Violet · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounded up. read for wgst 2050: gender and sexuality in colonial latin america. i really didn’t appreciate the low density of citations, but socolow seemed to make a pretty valiant effort to discuss all(!) of the subclasses of women present in colonial latin america about whom she could find sources, which was nice.

[gabriella · Rating 3 out of 5]

costuma ser cabível aumentar a frequência dos lapsos que te lembram de introduzir a uma análise da américa latina colonial um componente de certa relevância da américa latina colonial. geralmente descrito como brasil. Costuma Ser interessante

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worthwhile intro

Serves as a good introduction to the subject. I found the documents appendix very interesting because women speak for themselves.

[Mikayla Oliver]

Read for a women's history class in university.

[Cullyn Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good analysis of a fascinating subject. However, it is bogged down by a few things:
- lack of citations : there are hardly any citations in the text, making sourcing anything difficult
- a lot of vague statements, the word “probably” is thrown around many times

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview that is organized by themes. It reminds me of Berkin's First Generations in style and format. I have found that this book works well in the classroom (particularly because the chapters can stand alone).

[Shannyn Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accessible and well-researched book that covers a variety of social distinctions separating the experiences of women in colonial Latin America. I was particularly interested in the ways that some social conditions in this era mirror class and racial hierarchies in other colonized regions.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars... Real review to follow...

[Chelsey M. Ortega · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love women's history, and until this book, I didn't know much about Latin America other than what is "pertinent" for U.S. History. I learned a lot, and plan to apply it as a history teacher.