To love, honor, and obey in colonial Mexico: Conflicts over marriage choice, 1574–1821
1
Book Reviews 161 ed, determined woman-not the mild heroine of a hor- rific war. Another woman of formidable talent was Molly Dewson. born in 1874. in Massachusetts, U.S.A. She became America’s first woman political boss. Thus, throughout the 1930s she was director of the Women’s Division of the Democratic National Committee and was active in winning places for women in politics and government during the New Deal. Her deep foghorn voice earned her the names “Queen Molly,” “The Gener- al” and, in a pun on her initials, “IMore Women Dewson.” Molly’s X-year relationship with Polly Porter, her “partner,” supported and sustained her in the public world of politics. She was dedicated to raising women’s issues within the context of the dominant political sys- tem and represents, claims Ware, a strand of mainstream feminism that links the women’s suffrage campaign to the revival of feminism in the 1960s. This impressive biography illustrates many of the complexities women encountered when entering the mainstream of male po- litical life during the first half of the 20th century. The subject of Porter’s highly readable book is Laris- sa Reisner (1895-1926), who during her short life gained fame as a writer as well as one of the “new Soviet wom- en” of the Russian Revolution. She joined the Bolshevik Party in 1918 and for the next two years sailed on the warships of the Red Navy, fighting on the front line of the Civl War. Strong, proud, liberated. and idealistic. Larissa (like many other Russian women of her time) sought to carve a new life for herself. a life no longer bound by tics of marriage and children. As a woman, she struggled against her patriarchal values that undcrpinncd both the old and new social orders. Yet she was ncvcr primarily an organiscr of wom- en; indeed. she distanced hcrsclf from those of her own sex making their own demands on the Revolution. Her life reveals many of the tensions that socialist feminists still face today. Thcsc books document. each in its own way. the problems that women faced when they entered the pub- lic world of men outside the home. The conflicts, doubts, frustrations, and compromises speak to us all. across time and across cultures. _ILJNE Portvis PORTSMOUTH POLYTECHNIC, ENGLAND To LOv&:. Ilo~o~. ANI) OHF.Y IN CotI)NtAt. MEXICO: CON- FIJLTS ovt:a MAHRIACK CIIOICE, 1574-1821, by Patricia Seed. 322 pages. Stanford University Press, Standford. 1988. US%39.50cloth. Patricia Seed’s well-researched book on marital choices in colonial Mexico brings fresh insight to the status of women in Hispanized Mexico. Of specific importance is her shattering of the commonplace that women were at all times regarded as chattel, having no individual rights. Unfortunately. her documentation records the eventual loss of those rights. Seed traces the ideological reversal from church-sup-’ ported marriages based on individual free will to the successful thwarting of proposed alliances due to a change in societal and ecclesiastic attitudes towards pa- rental authority. Throughout the period covered. from the 16th to the beginning of the 19th century, the church is the pivotal agency. It undergoes a gradual but steady decline in power from its post-Reconquest strength through a time of self-doubt and reassessment, evi- denced by its yielding of authority to the state’s court system. As a result of thorough research in the National Ar- chives of Mexico, Seed offers abundant documentation of contested marriages and analyzes convincingly the radical shift in the outcome of challenged cases. During the initial period, 1574-1689, the church was largely successful in blocking parental objections through such strategies as secret marriages and temporary custody of one of the partners. By the 18th century, however, major changes in attitudes, combined with fundamental re- thinking of church doctrine, placed the locus of power with the parents (particularly the father), relatives, or guardians of the young couple. Paralleling these transformations are reconsidera- tions of the notion of honor and race. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the concept of honor, the linchpin of Spanish society, was for the most part sexually based. Frequently, hasty marriages were arranged in order to restore the woman’s dignity following her loss of virgini- ty. Subsequently, however, honor was rooted in status, in the sense of wealth and social standing, leaving sexual relations as women’s burden with regard to reputation, in a classical representation of the double standard. Ra- cial considerations are shown to be similarly intertwined with financial matters, although there is a deplorable consistency in prejudice against African-Americans. A royal prohibition in 1778. for example. banned only in- terracial unions with blacks; Indian-Spanish marriages were vicwcd as uniting peers. At all times Seed dcmonstratcs full command of her material, providing, in addition to the case studies. am- ple documentation from other historical/sociological studies focused particularly on Mexico and Spain, with supplcmcntary material on other European societies for comparative purposes. She is also very familiar with peninsular litcraturc. frequently citing the works of Lope de Vega and Miguel de Cervantes, among others, in order to capture the prevailing attitudes toward love, honor, and free will with regard to marriage. The 64 pages of footnotes to support and illustrate her findings are a testament to the author’s scholarly rigor, In her otherwisr successful attempt to be thorough, Seed at times repeats information that a good reader will have retained. On occasion she presents, as if it were new material, findings or analysis presented in earlier chap- ters. Thus one reads twice about the semantic difference between omor and omores, and the influence of the Council of Trent combined with Thomistic teaching. Other reiterative examples are acknowledged by a refer- ral to another chapter. Seed should have more faith in her readers. They would respond appropriately to her basic argument without such reminders, as she presents her thesis convincingly, supports her contentions thor- oughly. and writes in a manner that is easy to follow. This book is a useful contribution to the understanding of Latin American culture and, more importantly. wom- en’s status within that culture, particularly with regard to the heritage of women’s marginalization. CAROL CLARK D’Luco CLARK UNIVERSITY, U.S.A.
-
Upload
carol-clark -
Category
Documents
-
view
212 -
download
0
Transcript of To love, honor, and obey in colonial Mexico: Conflicts over marriage choice, 1574–1821
Book Reviews 161
ed, determined woman-not the mild heroine of a hor- rific war.
Another woman of formidable talent was Molly
Dewson. born in 1874. in Massachusetts, U.S.A. She became America’s first woman political boss. Thus, throughout the 1930s she was director of the Women’s Division of the Democratic National Committee and was active in winning places for women in politics and government during the New Deal. Her deep foghorn voice earned her the names “Queen Molly,” “The Gener- al” and, in a pun on her initials, “IMore Women Dewson.”
Molly’s X-year relationship with Polly Porter, her “partner,” supported and sustained her in the public world of politics. She was dedicated to raising women’s issues within the context of the dominant political sys- tem and represents, claims Ware, a strand of mainstream feminism that links the women’s suffrage campaign to the revival of feminism in the 1960s. This impressive biography illustrates many of the complexities women encountered when entering the mainstream of male po- litical life during the first half of the 20th century.
The subject of Porter’s highly readable book is Laris- sa Reisner (1895-1926), who during her short life gained fame as a writer as well as one of the “new Soviet wom- en” of the Russian Revolution. She joined the Bolshevik Party in 1918 and for the next two years sailed on the warships of the Red Navy, fighting on the front line of the Civl War. Strong, proud, liberated. and idealistic. Larissa (like many other Russian women of her time) sought to carve a new life for herself. a life no longer bound by tics of marriage and children.
As a woman, she struggled against her patriarchal values that undcrpinncd both the old and new social orders. Yet she was ncvcr primarily an organiscr of wom- en; indeed. she distanced hcrsclf from those of her own sex making their own demands on the Revolution. Her life reveals many of the tensions that socialist feminists still face today.
Thcsc books document. each in its own way. the problems that women faced when they entered the pub- lic world of men outside the home. The conflicts, doubts, frustrations, and compromises speak to us all. across time and across cultures.
_ILJNE Portvis PORTSMOUTH POLYTECHNIC, ENGLAND
To LOv&:. Ilo~o~. ANI) OHF.Y IN CotI)NtAt. MEXICO: CON- FIJLTS ovt:a MAHRIACK CIIOICE, 1574-1821, by Patricia Seed. 322 pages. Stanford University Press, Standford. 1988. US%39.50cloth.
Patricia Seed’s well-researched book on marital choices in colonial Mexico brings fresh insight to the status of women in Hispanized Mexico. Of specific importance is her shattering of the commonplace that women were at all times regarded as chattel, having no individual rights. Unfortunately. her documentation records the eventual loss of those rights.
Seed traces the ideological reversal from church-sup-’ ported marriages based on individual free will to the successful thwarting of proposed alliances due to a change in societal and ecclesiastic attitudes towards pa- rental authority. Throughout the period covered. from
the 16th to the beginning of the 19th century, the church is the pivotal agency. It undergoes a gradual but steady decline in power from its post-Reconquest strength through a time of self-doubt and reassessment, evi- denced by its yielding of authority to the state’s court system.
As a result of thorough research in the National Ar- chives of Mexico, Seed offers abundant documentation of contested marriages and analyzes convincingly the radical shift in the outcome of challenged cases. During the initial period, 1574-1689, the church was largely successful in blocking parental objections through such strategies as secret marriages and temporary custody of one of the partners. By the 18th century, however, major changes in attitudes, combined with fundamental re- thinking of church doctrine, placed the locus of power with the parents (particularly the father), relatives, or guardians of the young couple.
Paralleling these transformations are reconsidera- tions of the notion of honor and race. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the concept of honor, the linchpin of Spanish society, was for the most part sexually based. Frequently, hasty marriages were arranged in order to restore the woman’s dignity following her loss of virgini- ty. Subsequently, however, honor was rooted in status, in the sense of wealth and social standing, leaving sexual relations as women’s burden with regard to reputation, in a classical representation of the double standard. Ra- cial considerations are shown to be similarly intertwined with financial matters, although there is a deplorable consistency in prejudice against African-Americans. A royal prohibition in 1778. for example. banned only in- terracial unions with blacks; Indian-Spanish marriages were vicwcd as uniting peers.
At all times Seed dcmonstratcs full command of her material, providing, in addition to the case studies. am- ple documentation from other historical/sociological studies focused particularly on Mexico and Spain, with supplcmcntary material on other European societies for comparative purposes. She is also very familiar with peninsular litcraturc. frequently citing the works of Lope de Vega and Miguel de Cervantes, among others, in order to capture the prevailing attitudes toward love, honor, and free will with regard to marriage. The 64 pages of footnotes to support and illustrate her findings are a testament to the author’s scholarly rigor,
In her otherwisr successful attempt to be thorough, Seed at times repeats information that a good reader will have retained. On occasion she presents, as if it were new
material, findings or analysis presented in earlier chap- ters. Thus one reads twice about the semantic difference between omor and omores, and the influence of the Council of Trent combined with Thomistic teaching. Other reiterative examples are acknowledged by a refer- ral to another chapter. Seed should have more faith in her readers. They would respond appropriately to her basic argument without such reminders, as she presents her thesis convincingly, supports her contentions thor- oughly. and writes in a manner that is easy to follow. This book is a useful contribution to the understanding of Latin American culture and, more importantly. wom- en’s status within that culture, particularly with regard to the heritage of women’s marginalization.
CAROL CLARK D’Luco CLARK UNIVERSITY, U.S.A.
