University of Texas Press
Women Who Live Evil Lives
About this book
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.
Author / Editor information
Martha Few is Professor of Latin American history and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State University.
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Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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Preface
ix -
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Chapter 1 Contested Powers: Gender, Culture, and the Process of Colonial Rule
1 -
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Chapter 2 Society and Colonial Authority in Santiago de Guatemala
13 -
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Chapter 3 Magical Violence and the Body
42 -
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Chapter 4 Illness, Healing, and the Supernatural World
69 -
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Chapter 5 Female Sorcery, Material Life, and Urban Community Formation
100 -
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Chapter 6 Conclusion
129 -
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Notes
133 -
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Glossary
161 -
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Bibliography
165 -
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Index
185
