Dissertation Fellow 2002-03
Lara Mancuso (History)
El Colegio de México
Religious Celebrations, Brotherhoods
and Ethno-Racial Identities:
A Comparative Analysis of Ouro Preto, Brazil and Zacatecas, New
Spain
My doctoral dissertation analyzes the construction
of ethno-racial identities in Ouro Preto, Brazil, and Zacatecas, New
Spain, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Specifically, I demonstrate
that this process took place primarily through participation in both
religious brotherhoods (cofradías) and celebrations. My project
develops three major points. First, in both regions brotherhoods selected
their members according to ethnic and racial criteria. Second, social
life was characterized by a multiplicity of religious celebrations.
Third, participation in brotherhoods and celebrations provided opportunities
for cooperation and conflict between different ethno-racial groups.
In conclusion, I argue that by structuring social interaction according
to ethnic and racial criteria, the religious brotherhoods and celebrations
thus created and reinforced social identities.
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