Newberry Seminar on Religion and Culture in the Americas with Amanda Valdés Sánchez

Mary’s Grandsons: Marian Legitimacy and the Reinvention of Native Pasts Against Spanish Imperial Pressure

Amanda Valdés Sánchez, Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, Brown University

Through the analysis of diverse sources produced by Granada’s Morisco aristocracy and several native productions of the Tlaxcala-Puebla valley, this paper evidence how native elites exploited the symbolic power of Mary, reinventing local past to resist to the growing imperial pressure. My work shows how on both sides of the Atlantic, native elites facing the deterioration of their rights, economic power, and status, constructed a similar narrative of Marian protection, to legitimize their linages and territorial autonomy, portraying the Virgin as the guarantor of the inherent Christianity of the native population and proponent of local culture, language and religious identities.

Commentator: Neomi DeAnda, University of Dayton

This event is free, but all participants must register in advance. Space is limited, so please do not request a paper unless you plan to attend.