week 15

In this weeks reading Stern talks about the transition that the Andean people were making to keep up economically and culturally.  Some Andean people, majority the wealthy Andean population was part of a movement called Indian Hispanism. Indian Hispanism movement separated the poor from the wealthy and exploited the poor ayllu peasantry(175).  Stern shows how the Andean community were using the Spaniards economic system to become entrepreneurs despite the unfair treatmeant of the Andean peasants in the courts and economic framework.  This is another evidence that Stern challenges  The Black Legend. 

The anti-hispanic movement of 1613 where two catholic priest were killed and including one of their own chiefs, it started nativism (176).  This nativism movement called for the rejection of christianity, laws, and totally of Spanish culture; furthermore, the nativism urged the Andean community to not even communicate with the spaniards.  Stern shows that the Andean idealist knowing that they couldn't winning a rebellious war in the battle field, so this was an attempt to try to win back nativism from the their fellow Andean peasants that were integrating into spanish culture.  They were trying to wage a mental war against the Spaniards.  The Spaniards put down this rebellion and publicly whipped and even put some under a burning stake as a punishment for the rebellion.  The spanish were trying to erase all of the Andean culture and trying to indoctrinate the Andean peasants into the Spanish culture.  Stern show the brutality of the Spanish when it came to enforcing their unfair laws on the Andean peasants.  This is the closest Stern will come to somewhat agree with The Black Legend.  The Andean people had violent rebellion and idealist rebellion and by all means did not easily surrender to the Spanish conquest, and Stern emphasizes this point in an economically and realistic way.           

       

Week 15 blog post

In the last half of the book, Stern brings to light how the natives worked the system under the Toleden reforms. It was interesting to see how they used the Spanish laws to their advantage, or at least tried to, in order to continue self-sufficiency, to settle disputes between allyus, and to limit mita quota.

Stern's relationship to the Black Legend earlier in the book detailed how the Spaniards exploited the natives for labor and discussed the violence and dominance shown in order to gain these benefits. Although it supports the Black Legend, I don't think Stern actually believes the Spaniards to be these evil people victimizing the natives. The last half of the book dispels the myth that the natives were these victims of conquest. They were smart and tried to gain benefits for themselves and make life easier under the Spanish colonialism. The natives even incorporated Spanish culture into their lives to get ahead. Many natives were able to to raise enough funds to purchase or rent property (p.159).

Stern highlights the dependency between the Spaniards and the natives as well. The colonials needed the labor of the natives, who despised the mita system. This created other ways of exploiting labor from

them. The mita system never deteriorated but as there were shortages of laborers, others methods were the yanaconaje, wage labor agreements, asiento contracts, and the rise of slavery (p. 189).

While Stern depicts the Spaniards as dominating and exploitative, he also shows the natives as people who understood how this colonial society in Huamanga worked. Although they were unable to break free from this socioeconomic society, they did have some small success.  

Syncretism in Stern

Professor Bristol mentioned a concept recently that is well illustrated in Stern's writing and which I thought warranted further discussion: syncretism.

The religion of the Andes was ideal for incorporating the Spanish "pantheon" of saints and spirits. By bringing the victorious deities of Castile into the pantheon of Andean huacas the Natives intended to return balance and placate the victorious colonizing spirits. In Huamanga the idea of saints being patrons of specific domains must have been accepted readily, as the idea of human progenitors becoming deities was already part of the culture (as demonstrated by Stern in the first chapter).

Beyond that, even after conflict started among the colonists and the colonized, when the Taqui Onqoy movement began several of the "huacas" who possessed the Andeans took the form of Catholic saints. As Stern says, this demonstrates an ambivalence on the part of the natives. Even as they struggle to throw aside their Spanish conquistadors, they adopt the deities of Catholicism and fuse them with their own huacas. The fusion of the two religions was representative of a larger trend.

When the Spanish came to the Huamanga region, rather than supplant the existing ruling structure they co-opted it into being part of the colonial structure. The kurakas became partners of the Spanish, and the Spanish used the tributary system that the ayllus had built over years. In turn, as the colonial structure developed, the Andeans adopted the legal system that the Spanish had built. The two cultures began in the area of Huamanga to reflect one another as aspects of the two fused.

An image that stands out for one who is looking for this idea of syncretism is illustrated by Stern at the opening of chapter 7. A man dressed in Spanish finery has the features of a native Andean, and that fusion is the expression of two cultures which merged through their interactions, adapting themselves to one another and eventually becoming a new fusion of the two.

Week 15

Stern in his book mentions that Indians to some extent were integrating more in the legal system. There were also some improvements in cases that were considered abusive, especially in taxation. The author emphasizes that although the indigenous reaction was remarkable, the Spaniards were still acting, as they wanted. They even made unlawful practices in the legal field. These were recorded in much documentation. This originated the coexistence between both parties adapted especially in the case of indigenous peoples.

This group also suffered an “Europeanization,” leading to a new elite emergence. But far away from this phenomenon would result in an improvement, it led to a group transformation. The natives converted in elite took the role of the colonizers, which often become exploiters as well. Stern explains that despite the hardships endured by the Indigenous, they imitated the European customs. There were just a small number of them. Indigenous customs were denied and the foreign ones were accepted as the way forward. It created a discrepancy in both parties.  

The colonial consolidation after the initial period of overlap is also achieved in part by the native support. It is a complex, paradoxical and contradictory phenomenon. There was destruction, but also a creation. There was acculturation but at the same time assimilation. There was a syncretism especially in the religious aspect. There was an evolutionary phenomenon that could be applied to the rest of the colonized territories.

Final paper editing trade

Anyone need an editor? I would be willing to read yours if you read mine.

week 15

The last idea that Sterns talks about is the idea of a loss of native culture. After reading about all the history, this section helped tie in how the past can effect the present. Hispanic ideology and skills were pushed onto natives and the idea that Indians were able to succeed was “because they could” pick up this new identity is an important thought when thinking about colonization (188). That elites were a key target in getting, them to accept the Hispanic culture because they served as models showing all of the advantages that becoming a ladino brought was interesting (183). It showed how important it was, in a way, assimilate Indians. To succeed in this society natives had to show how Hispanic they were, dropping their culture in the process (187). They idea was to reward those who accepted the Hispanic culture and punish those who rejected it (182). In the end they bought into the “Hispanic-mestizo mold” forever changing this culture into what we see today (183). Now there are still some Indians who have kept their culture and language, nonetheless the majority of the population has dropped some of their native ancestry. I believe that this idea is one I will definitely keep in mind when considering whether or not this was a conquest.

Week 15

As the mita system slowly declined the increased demand of voluntary and cheap labor rose drastically in demand. The colonials’ demand of getting labor made them increase the average wage of the mitayo workers in order to secure workers for their mills, farms, mines, or plantations. Workers would sometimes enter into contracts with employers that would include not only wages but other items of sustenance and welfare to the individual working for the Spaniard. For example, if the worker ending up getting ill, the employer would use his resources in order to help the individual worker get better and be able to get back to work sooner (145).

This new system did not just benefit the natives due to the ability to have a better contract and increased wages; it also enabled the Spanish to be able to extend contracts of the workers. Many Spaniard employers’ would try to keep the worker on for a longer work period than stated in the contract by getting the individual indebted to them. Things such as the loss of the employers’ livestock, imposed debts, and other items would cause the contract between the two to be extended in order to pay the debts that the worker owed to his or her employer (145-146). By having the workers staying for a longer term period the employers’ could get even more work and energy out of the individual than they would have if the contract had been fulfilled if it was debt free. 

Thus this new system ended up benefiting both  parties because of increased pay and the demand of labor was fulfilled.

Stern's Difficulties with the Black Legend

The problem with speaking in absolutes is that there is always a percentage that proves the opposite to be true.  It is poor reporting to take the experiences of a small minority and apply their fate to the rest of the population.  The difficulty lies in determining the point at which these absolutes can be applied to the whole without being a fallacy.  Stern's mission is to eliminate the absolutes from the conversation of Spanish colonization.  Through analyzing the workings of the mita system, yanaconaje, the rising popularity of slavery in the Andes (as a labor source), and eventual introduction of contract workers on the labor market in the 1620s, Stern demonstrates how the natives and Spanish were both key players in the social and economic organization of the region. But by no means is he arguing that the Spanish did not establish an exploitative system that was denigrating to the native populations.  Overall, the natives were still worse off than before the Spanish arrived; however they were much more active in their own lives than popular history would have us believe.

The changes in labor sources show the level of influence ayllus had over the general make-up of the economy.  Under the Toledan reforms, it seems as if the natives developed even more methods to subvert the coercive labor relationships between the Spanish and the ayllus.  The elaborate rituals of fact-checking, accounting, and bribery surrounding the revisitas and the determination of legitimate deaths attest to the level of sophistication to which the Andean groups were able to manipulate the imported legal structure for their own gain (135). The fact that such a system existed to determine and re-assess the mita requirements shows just how faulty and unreliable the labor system became.  This is a small glimpse of the the Andean strategy to use Spanish political weapons against them.  In light of this, it is no wonder that despite the high costs African slavery became a popular substitute labor force in the 1600s (142).  By continually making mita labor difficult to enforce, either intentionally or as an unintended consequence of the Toledan reforms, colonists naturally turned to other more amenable sources, such as slavery and individual wage labor contracts (without the mita system actually being outlawed by the government).  In one sense, the Andeans soundly disprove the Black Legend, in that they were beating the Spanish at their own game in controlling the labor market.

The small victories of the Andeans came at greater cost to them in the long run.  The contract workers were still susceptible to exploitation by their overseers (146).  While it was somewhat more beneficial than the fate of the mitayos, native laborers were still treated poorly and kept at a distinct disadvantage to their overlords.  The constant bickering with the Spanish further divided the ayllus on distinct political lines and caused inevitable acceptance of and assimilation into the Spanish colonial structure.  By working within the system, they lost the "possibility of organizing a wider, more unified and independent on behalf of the peasantry"(135).  If the vulnerability and naivete of the natives as spelled out in the Black Legend applies at all, it is in that the natives tried to fight the Spanish on their own turf, where they had a home-team advantage in the colonial political institutions.  The small individual battles of the ayllus masked that in the long run, the Spanish won the war.  Despite their efforts, Stern laments that the natives were unsuccessful in launching a true, complete rejection of the colonists.

week 15: Stern reassessment

The reading from week 14 had me convinced that Stern's work supported the idea of the Black Legend.  After completing the reading for this week, however, I felt I needed to reassess how Stern sees the Black Legend.  This week's reading certainly did more to show how the Andean peoples were not simply helpless victims to Spanish oppression, but that they did many things to fight against Spanish oppression and even, in some cases, took actions which hurt their own people.

Peruvian natives were far from pushovers and continued to battle for their rights under Spanish colonial rule.  Indians used the Spanish judicial system to battle the colonial system.  Stern writes: "by the 1550's, they [Indians] were flooding the viceregal court...in Lima with petitions and suits" (115).  Natives became successful enough to make this strategy of legal action a viable form of struggle (119).  Though taking action through juridical means would never allow Peruvian Indians to gain a prominent position under colonial rule, they were able to defend some of their rights, and this system of action certainly provided them with some form resistance.  This shows an opposition to the ideas of the Black Legend.

Stern's work also shows that, in some cases, Natives were responsible for the exploitation of their own people.  In order to have success within the Spanish legal system, Natives needed to develop individualized interests and privileges.  One result of this was the development of dependence upon colonial authorities to gain benefits.  This, as described by Stern, "encouraged a native lord to work out private arrangements which accommodated the exploitative practice of local functionaries" (134).  Natives began to take advantage of their own people in order to put themselves in a better position with their European rulers.  Stern shows that the Spanish were not the only ones to oppress and exploit Indians, but in fact, Indians were guilty of exploiting themselves as well.  I was not able to determine this from last week's reading, but the week 15 reading made this aware to me.  I feel as though I now need to reassess my stance towards Stern's feelings about the Black Legend, as I now feel his work does not fully support the ideas of the myth.