Amsterdam University Press Indigenous and Black Confraternities in Colonial Latin America

Explore the complex social structures of colonial Spanish America and Brazil through this academic study from Amsterdam University Press. This volume examines the role of indigenous and black confraternities, or lay Catholic brotherhoods, from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. By using a transregional and interdisciplinary approach, the book looks at how subaltern subjects established these religious groups in both rural and urban settings. Readers will gain insight into how these groups functioned as a means for colonialized subjects to navigate the social domain. The research analyzes the relationship between central and peripheral areas of colonial society, revealing how religious practices served as a tool for negotiating status. This work is an essential resource for historians and students interested in the connected histories of the early modern world and the lived experiences of marginalized populations in Latin America.