Marranos on the moradas : secret Jews and Penitentes in the southwestern United States, from 1590 to 1890 / Norman Simms.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Simms, Norman Toby.

Series:

Judaism and Jewish life.

Judaism and Jewish life

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Crypto-Jews--Southwest, New--History.

Crypto-Jews.

Jews--Southwest, New--History.

Jews.

Crypto-Jews--Religious life--Southwest, New.

Crypto-Jews--Southwest, New--Social life and customs.

Southwest, New--Religious life and customs.

Southwest, New.

Hermanos Penitentes--Southwest, New--History.

Hermanos Penitentes.

Hermanos Penitentes--Southwest, New--Religion.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (519 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Boston : Academic Studies Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Two groups were persecuted over the course of four hundred years in what is now the southwestern United States, each dissimulating and disguising who they truly were. Both now declare their true identities, yet raise hostility. The Penitentes are a lay Catholic brotherhood that practices bloody rites of self-flagellation and crucifixion, but claim this is a misrepresentation and that they are a community and a charitable organization. Marranos, an ambiguous and complicated population of Sephardic descendants, claim to be anousim. Both peoples have a complex, shared history. This book disentangles the web, redefines the terms, and creates new contexts in which these groups are viewed with respect and sympathy without idealizing or slandering them. Simms uses rabbinics, literary analyses, psychohistory, and cultural anthropology to consolidate a history of mentalities.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

Chapter I. What Did the Penitentes Really Do?

Chapter II. Marranos, Penitentes, and the Baroque Anamorphoses in Action

Chapter III. The Machinery of Secrets and the Machinations of Silence: Conspiracies, Contraptions and Ludibria

Chapter IV. Crosscurrents and Undercurrents

Chapter V. Penitentes and the Crazy Things They Do: Or, How to Be Jewish and Christian at the Same Time

Chapter VI. Festivals of Blood Here and Bloody Trials There: Playing Roles and Rolling Along

Chapter VII. Reaching Towards a Conclusion and Some New Questions

Chapter VIII. Epilogue

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-61811-032-2

OCLC:

769188627