Virtues of the Indian/Virtudes del indio
An Annotated Translation
By (author) Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza Introduction by Alejandro Cañeque Edited and translated by Nancy H. Fee
Publication date:
16 January 2009Length of book:
304 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9780742541238
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.
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.
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.