Choice, persuasion, and coercion : social control on Spain's North American frontiers / edited by Jesús F. de la Teja and Ross Frank.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Teja, Jesús F. de la, 1956-

Frank, Ross, 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spaniards--North America--Politics and government.

Spaniards.

Social control--North America--History.

Social control.

Frontier and pioneer life--North America.

Frontier and pioneer life.

Ethnicity--North America--History.

Ethnicity.

Indians of North America--Government relations--To 1789.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--Government relations.

Indians of North America--Government relations--1789-1869.

Social conditions.

Ethnic relations.

History.

Politics and government.

North America--Ethnic relations.

North America.

North America--Social conditions.

Spain--Colonies--America.

Spain.

Colonies.

America.

North America--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.

Physical Description:

xxi, 338 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2005.

Summary:

Choice, Persuasion, and Coercion brings together twelve original essays on Spain's presence in North America to understand the circumstances and application of social control. Social control refers to the system of practices, norms, and strictures employed by dominant groups and institutions to obtain the behavior desired of individual members of society. Spain attempted to maintain control of vast areas through persuasion, coercion, or indoctrination to make subordinates accept colonial government and behave according to Spanish expectations.

This volume considers how Spain's monarchs faced competing economic, political, and racial interests. In the New World, others besides the rulers, authorities, and elites sought to effect social control. Ethnic groups and socio-economic classes within colonial communities also exercised control within their own circles. Institutions including the Church, schools, fraternal organizations, and families labored to teach their members to understand their place in society.

An examination of social control mechanisms shows how groups and individuals, including native peoples, formed and understood their options in response to colonial rule. These essays seek to understand how people negotiated their relationships with the Spanish state and institutions, and with each other, while conceiving of the frontier region as an incubator of cultural and economic interactions ranging from acceptance to rejection of European norms, often altering those norms in the process.

Contents:

Who controls the king? / Alfredo Jiménez

Social control on Spain's contested Florida frontier / Jane Landers

Spanish control over a multiethnic society : Louisiana, 1763-1803 / Gilbert C. Din

"They conceal a malice most refined" : controlling social and ethnic mobility in late colonial New Mexico / Ross Frank

Subverting the social order : gender, power, and magic in Nueva Vizcaya / Susan M. Deeds

Social control and native territoriality in northeastern New Spain / Cecilia Sheridan

Beyond their control : Spaniards in native Texas / Juliana Barr

The común, local governance, and defiance in colonial Sonora / Cynthia Radding

Racialized hierarchies of power in colonial Mexican society : the sistema de castas as a form of social control in Saltillo / José Cuello

Colonization and control : the case of Nuevo Santander / Patricia Osante

Social control within missionary frontier society : Alta California, 1769-1821 / James A. Sandos.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-320) and index.

ISBN:

0826336469

OCLC:

59360140