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Abstract:
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This is the story of Spanish belonging in New Spain and the creation of New Spaniards . Tracing Spanish perceptions of place , the body , belonging , and Indian mortality , as well as constructions of “nativeness” and “Spanishness” from the conquest , this work does three things . First it examines the ideological constructs behind Spanish belonging , and the ideas that Spaniards brought with them about their bodies and their relationship to the environment . Second it follows the progression of these ideas through the first three generations of Spanish colonization , paying particular attention to the way that political rivalries , the exigencies of the crown , and Indian mortality affected discourse on belonging and identity . Finally , it captures a moment at the turn of the seventeenth century , when residents of New Spain began to re -imagine their belonging and their relationship to the land and its original inhabitants . |