Virtues of the Indian/Virtudes del indio

An Annotated Translation

Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza - Edited and translated by Nancy H. Fee - Introduction by Alejandro Cañeque

This important book is the first complete seventeenth-century treatise on Native Americans to be introduced, annotated, and translated into English. Presented in a parallel text translation, it brings the work of the controversial and powerful Bishop Juan de Palafox to non-Spanish speakers for the first time. A seminal document in the history of colonial Mexico and imperial Spain, Virtues of the Indian tells us as much about the Mexican natives as about the ideas, images, and representations upon which the Spanish Empire in America was built.

Taken as a whole, this book will raise questions about the Spanish empire and the governance of New Spain's Indians. Even more significantly, it will complicate the prevailing view of Spanish imperialism and colonial society as one dominated by a unified and coherent ruling elite with common goals. The deeply-informed introduction, biographical essay, and annotations that accompany this vivid translation further explore the thoughts and actions of the dynamic and complex Palafox, contributing to a better knowledge of a key figure in the history of Spanish colonialism in the New World.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 304 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-0-7425-4123-8 • Hardback • January 2009 • $142.00 • (£109.00)

978-0-7425-5707-9 • eBook • January 2009 • $134.50 • (£104.00)

Subjects: History / Latin America / Mexico, History / Native American, Social Science / Sociology / General, History / Social History

Virtues of the Indian/Virtudes del indio

An Annotated Translation

Hardback

eBook

Summary

This important book is the first complete seventeenth-century treatise on Native Americans to be introduced, annotated, and translated into English. Presented in a parallel text translation, it brings the work of the controversial and powerful Bishop Juan de Palafox to non-Spanish speakers for the first time. A seminal document in the history of colonial Mexico and imperial Spain, Virtues of the Indian tells us as much about the Mexican natives as about the ideas, images, and representations upon which the Spanish Empire in America was built.

Taken as a whole, this book will raise questions about the Spanish empire and the governance of New Spain's Indians. Even more significantly, it will complicate the prevailing view of Spanish imperialism and colonial society as one dominated by a unified and coherent ruling elite with common goals. The deeply-informed introduction, biographical essay, and annotations that accompany this vivid translation further explore the thoughts and actions of the dynamic and complex Palafox, contributing to a better knowledge of a key figure in the history of Spanish colonialism in the New World.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 304 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-0-7425-4123-8 • Hardback • January 2009 • $142.00 • (£109.00)

978-0-7425-5707-9 • eBook • January 2009 • $134.50 • (£104.00)

Subjects: History / Latin America / Mexico, History / Native American, Social Science / Sociology / General, History / Social History

Author

Juan de Palafox y Mendoza (1600–1659) was a reforming royal minister and priest whose titles included those of visitor-general of New Spain and bishop of Puebla de los Angeles, Mexico. Nancy H. Fee is an independent scholar based in California. Alejandro Cañeque is assistant professor in the department of history at the University of Maryland.

Table of Contents

General Introduction
Biographical Essay Part I: A Biographical Sketch of Palafox
Biographical Essay Part II: Paradoxical Politics, Virtue and Blood's Honor, and Tridentine Magnificence
Palafox and the Virtuous Indian: An Introduction to Virtues of the Indian
Las Virtudes del Indio
Virtues of the Indian
Annotations to Virtues of the Indian

Reviews

This is a fascinating work largely unknown except by specialists of the period. Fee has written a very complete bibliographical essay—a very good introduction to the text and period.
— The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History

Nancy Fee's translation of the bishop's treatise on Indians is timely and most welcome. . . . Missing from much of the scholarly literature is an assessment of Palafox y Mendoza's exercise of Episcopal power. To that end, Nancy Fee has edited a bilingual edition of what is perhaps the most important European account of Indians in central Mexico produced in the seventeenth century. . . . Fee provides readers with a competent biographical sketch of Palafox y Mendoza, drawing upon the relevant printed matter and archival sources that historians have used for years to reconstruct the life and career of the bishop.
— Colonial Latin American Historical Review

The volume is handsomely edited and elegantly translated. . . . This is a splendid volume that colonial Latin Americanists will appreciate. The work should be assigned to upper-division undergraduates and graduate students in Latin American history courses. . . . The combination of historical and biographical context with the richness of this source will provide plenty for hungry students to chew on.
— Hispanic American Historical Review

Superb. The nuanced translation provides a fascinating window into a major intellectual and policy maker of an often-neglected time period. Dr. Fee’s impressively researched introduction and biographical essay place Palafox and his work in historical and cultural context, allowing not only scholars but students to understand the important issues of seventeenth-century political and religious life. Essential reading for those interested in Latin American empires, colonialism, and ethnic relations.
— Linda A. Curcio-Nagy, University of Nevada, Reno

Features

The first English-language translation of any of Juan de Palafox's writings

An ideal supplement for courses in Spanish, Latin American, or Early Modern History

A valuable teaching tool for intermediate level undergraduate Spanish language and literature courses