Hierarchy, Commerce and Fraud in Bourbon Spanish America

A Postal Inspector's Exposé

• Author(s): Ruth Hill,
• Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
• Pages: 396
• ISBN_10: 0826514928
  ISBN_13: 9780826514929
  
• Language: en
• Categories: History / Latin America / General , History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies) , History / Europe / Spain , Law / Criminal Law / General , Political Science / History & Theory , Political Science / Corruption & Misconduct , Social Science / Discrimination , Social Science / Gender Studies , Social Science / Social Classes & Economic Disparity ,

Description:... Using El lazarillo de ciegos caminantes (the "Guide for Blind Rovers" by Alonso Carrio de Lavandera, the best known work of the era) as a jumping off point for a sprawling discussion of 18th-century Spanish America, Ruth Hill argues for a richer, more nuanced understanding of the relationship between Spain and its western colonies. Armed with primary sources including literature, maps, census data, letters, and diaries, Hill reveals a rich world of intrigue and artifice, where identity is surprisingly fluid and always in question. More importantly, Hill crafts a complex argument for reassessing our understanding of race and class distinctions at the time, with enormous implications for how we view conceptions of race and class today.