Colonial Spanish bureaucracy produced masses of 'autobiographical' texts ('relaciones de méritos and servicios') which forced/invited individuals to present themselves as perfect subjects of the King in order to be rewarded. Bureaucracy produced the officials of the colonial regime, and, at the same time, it provided individuals with the possibility of exploring the literary potential of writing one’s curriculum vitae. This book helps contextualize a body of often-used yet understudied historic sources; it indicates that the fabric of early modern society was held together by a pervasive economy of 'mercedes' (rewards); and it shows that the tension between state-induced production of autobiographical documents and the individual’s endeavor to outsmart this system is at the origin of modern forms of literature.
Author(s): Robert Folger
Series: The Medieval and Early Modern Iberian World, 44
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: 166
City: Leiden
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
1. Introduction
2. Strategic interpellation and tactical writing in colonial historiography (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries)
2.1. Introduction
2.2. 'Relaciones de Méritos y Servicios'
2.2.1. The Bureaucratic Dispositif: The Allocation of Offices and Privileges
2.2.2. The Archive: 'La Historiografía Indiana' and the Monopolization of Historiographical Discourse
3. Tactical Appropriations
3.1. Dorantes de Carranza: 'Memoria y Papeles'
3.2. The Arduous Work of Writing History: Alonso Borregán
3.3. Self and Archive: 'El Carnero' de Juan Rodríguez Freyle
Epilogue: The Hallucinatory World of Bureaucracy
Works Cited
Index
