I, The Worst of All

This week in class, we have been watching, “I, The Worst of All”, a story I find so intriguing, yet heartbreaking. It is about Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz, a woman who was forced to chose between a life free from legal and Church oppression, yet void of the very things that mean the most to her, tools of learning, or a life that is constantly scrutinized by Church officials, yet having access to a world of scientific and literary resources. She chose the latter because it was the only way she would be able to live mostly independently and have access to books, scientific tools, and be free to write beautiful poetry, although it came at a price. It was heartbreaking to see her so lonely. Her close friends, the Viceroy and Vicereine left for Spain and her own confessor left her, leaving her extremely vulnerable against the strong male oppressors of the Catholic Church. They felt as if she was taking advantage of all the resources the Church made available to her, but she did not seem thankful to God for it. Another huge conflict between Juana and her love for writing and learning was that women were not supposed to learn things for themselves, but were told what to believe and do. She was seen as dangerous and suspicious and could not be trusted. I am interested to see the end of this movie. Surely the Church cannot kick her out of the convent and let her be free in society; she would certainly be more “dangerous” out there without the oversight of the church.

Women and The Church

This week’s class topic was about women and the Church in Colonial Latin America. We discussed prominent women figures to the Catholic Church, including the Virgin of Guadalupe, or the most important Mary in Latin America, and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, the most famous nun in Latin America. We also discussed the organization of the Catholic Church and it’s use as a financial institution. Another interesting topic was the differences between the white veil nuns and black veil nuns. I did not realize that even the nuns were subject to social and economic hierarchy. The black veil nuns did not take a vow of poverty and came from upper class families and spent most of their time studying and concentrating more on spiritual matters and less on physical. The white veil nuns were more like how we think of nuns today. They took a vow of poverty and bore the brunt of the labor. We also discussed the reasons why most females (especially those from prominent families) chose to become nuns instead of marrying and raising a family. The numbers of women who professed to convents were surprising; 77% of female from prominent families joined convents, while only 14% married. The reasons why these women chose this route were understandable. One major factor was education. The only way women could receive an education was through the Church. Another reason why a woman may choose this life was because of family and economic strategy. A daughter that chose to become a nun required a smaller dowry up front as opposed to one that got married. Lastly, a woman may rather live in autonomy without a man governing over her, so that she can devote her concentrations on God. It is also interesting, though not surprising, that women who did not join convents, beatas, were usually held suspect as immoral women.

These discussions about how women were involved in, and viewed by the Church were important, because during Colonial times in Latin America, the Church was mostly the center of the peoples’ lives, whether they liked it or not.

Sexual Witchcraft

This week, our studies focused on witchcraft in colonial Mexico after the Inquisition. Ruth Behar’s article about how women used sexual witchcraft describes the ways in which women used witchcraft and why they felt they needed to use it against others. She claims that the main reason why women used witchcraft was to reverse their subordination to men and gain some degree of control over their husbands or lovers. The belief of magical power these women held empowered them to question and challenge the structures of inequality. Behar notes that historians often overlook the significance of witchcraft in colonial Mexico. However, these studies reveal important insight into the lives of women and the struggles they went through that convinced them of the need for a magical solution that would punish their oppressor(s), often without them knowing.

One of the main ways women administered witchcraft to their husbands was by making them eat their witchcraft. This was considered to be the most effective and direct way to administer the spell. One of the interesting points Behar makes about this method of administering witchcraft was that it was a way for women to “penetrate” men, so to speak, by physically putting a spell into the man’s body, in a way of reversing presumed gender notions. Also, many men were careful not to mistreat their wives out of fear that they would “pollute” them by serving them food while they were menstruating or using witchcraft against them.

Spanish religious elite viewed witchcraft as a sign of ignorance, curable with instruction and punishment. Many women, after performing an act against their husbands would feel bad and confess to the priest.

Witchcraft did serve in breaking down class barriers between women. Midwives and curandenas (folkhealers) were the main women that provided women from all classes with the herbs and ingredients necessary for performing a spell. It seemed that there were women everywhere who were lurking about, waiting to hear a woman complaining about their husband or lover, ready to offer her a remedy to her problems.

Men were not these women’s only victims. Women used witchcraft against other women and slaves used it on their masters to “soften” them. These studies of witchcraft reveal a lot about the Spanish society, including their fears of women assuming power over men by means of whichcraft.

Homosexuality Cases in Colonial Latin America

This week we discussed cases of people caught practicing homosexuality. Many of these cases are intriguing, though exhausted with details. Many of the details discussed and examined in these cases included who was on top and bottom during sex, who ejaculated first into whom, their actions in public, specifically whether or not they quarreled with one another, and many other things to try and prove a couple suspected of practicing homosexuality guilty.

It is important to note that the main force used to implicate and charge these unlawful acts was the reliance on alcalde del barrio, a network of neighborhood surveillance “copycats”, who accused these people of committing these nefarious sins. So, in effect, snitching neighbors became the key force of enforcing sexual rule in the society. This is interesting, because these cases were almost always based on 100% circumstantial evidence of how the couple acted in public. What made it even harder for the accused was that there was an assumption of guilt by the court, instead of today, where the accused are always assumed innocent until proven guilty. So, essentially, if a scorned acquaintance wanted to convict someone of committing the sin of sodomy, and the accused did not have an acceptable excuse, they were guilty.

Also, in many cases, the accused were tortured until a confession was made. I support capital punishment as a deterrent to others and a penalty to one who has committed heinous crimes; I do not think anyone would advocate severe torture as means to obtain a confession. Any amount of logic would conclude that most confessions were proclaimed to stop the pain of being raised up by the hands while tied behind the back and other painful methods. For instance, Zeb Tortorici writes in his article of Sodomitical Subcultures about a case in which a baker named Francisco Capiche was accused of sodomy, which he flatly denied. However, when he was interrogated and instruments of torture were introduced, he admitted to the crime.

These two subjects are two examples of how I believe that these accused couples were wrongfully tried in court. Even though they very well may have been practicing these unlawful acts, the way they were tried and convicted just did not seem fair in my eyes.