Cultural Politics in Colonial Tehuantepec

Judith Francis Zeitlin is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is co-editor of Caciques and their People (1994).

• Contents Preface 1Tales of the "binni gulasa": Native History and the Zapotec Conquest of Tehuantepec000 2King and Community in Prehispanic Tehuantepec000 3The Social Fabric Is Torn: Political and Religious Change, 1521-1562000 4The Colonial Political Economy Takes Root: Archaeological and Documentary Evidence, 1563-1660000 5Confronting Colonial Authority in 1660000 6Community Opposition in Late Colonial Times000 7Historical Memory and Political Authority000 8Isthmus Zapotec Politics and the Trajectory of Colonial Change000 Notes000 Bibliography 000 Index000

"...an insightful and deeply researched work." - Itinerario "Cultural Politics in Colonial Tehuantepec represents a welcome addition to the regional ethnohistories that constitute an important genre in the history of early Mexico... The book is striking in detailing each historical period through as many types of sources as possible—archaeological remains, pictorial and alphabetic texts, linguistic data, and oral traditions—rather than, for example, using only archaeological data to describe the pre-Hispanic period, as one might expect. Zeitlin moves seamlessly among various disciplinary approaches, theoretical orientations, and source materials, with apparent ease and considerable elegance." - Hispanic American Historical Review "This book is rewarding in a number of ways. Zeitlin's careful and subtle historical reconstructions avoid undue speculation. The elegant writing style invites careful attention. Theoretical digressions and comparative comments are adroitly woven within the text so as not to disrupt the narrative." - Colonial Latin American Historical Review "[This] important contribution to the study of pre-Columbian and colonial Mexico advances our understanding of the remarkable historical fluidity and resilience of Isthmus Zapotec culture and identity." - The Americas "This is a first-rate study which merits attention from anyone interested in how colonialism shapes, and is shaped by, indigenous peoples under its rule." - H-Net Reviews