Law and the Transformation of Aztec Culture, 1500-1700 - Paperback

by Susan Kellogg (Author)

In this book, Susan Kellogg explains how Spanish law served as an instrument of cultural transformation and adaptation in the lives of Nahuatl-speaking peoples during the years 1500-1700--the first two centuries of colonial rule. She shows that law had an impact on numerous aspects of daily life, especially gender relations, patterns of property ownership and transmission, and family and kinship organization.

Based on a wide array of local-level Spanish and Nahuatl documentation and an intensive analysis of seventy-three lawsuits over property involving Indians residing in colonial Mexico City (Tenochtitlán), this work reveals how legal documentation offers important clues to attitudes and perceptions.

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Based on a wide array of local-level Spanish and Nahuatl documentation and an intensive analysis of seventy-three lawsuits over property involving Indians resident in Tenochtitlan/Mexico City that were heard by the Real Audiencia between 1536 and 1700, this work clearly shows that legal documentation offers important clues to underlying cultural assumptions, attitudes and perceptions. While most colonial "Aztec" studies have focused on macro-level structural changes, this book brings a highly empirical focus to everyday life. This clearly written, even-handed treatment of the late pre-Hispanic and early colonial periods will be of interest to students of colonialism, law, gender, and social theory as well as to historical and anthropological specialists in pre-Hispanic and colonial Mesoamerica.