Mariselle Melendez studies the dynamics of colonial subject identity construction as elaborated in the exemplary eighteenth-century travel book, El lazarillo de ciegos caminantes (A Guide for Inexperienced Travelers ). She analyzes elements of race and gender to argue that they become essential parts of the colonialist project which the author articulates throughout his travel diary by means of the voices of his two narrators: the Spanish Visitador Alonso Carrio de la Vandera and his companion and amanuensis, Calixto Bustamente Carlos Inca. Melendez shows how racial and cultural hybridity constitute unstable elements for the colonialist agenda proposed by the author.

Raza, Género e Hibridez en El Lazarillo de ciegos caminantes (North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures, 264) (Spanish Edition)

Literature & Fiction

Meléndez, Mariselle

United States

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Romance Studies

Deviant and Useful Citizens explores the conditions of women and perceptions of the female body in the eighteenth century throughout the Viceroyalty of Peru, which until 1776 comprised modern-day Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Author Mariselle Meléndez introduces the reader to a female rebel, Micaela Bastidas, whose brutal punishment became a particularly harsh example of state response to women who challenged the system. She explores the cultural representation of women depicted as economically productive and vital to the health of the culture at large. The role of women in religious orders provides still another window into the vital need to sustain the image of women as loyal and devout--and to deal with women who refused to comply. The book focuses on the different ways male authorities, as well as female subjects, conceived the female body as deeply connected to notions of what constituted a useful or deviant citizen within the Viceroyalty. Using eighteenth-century legal documents, illustrated chronicles, religious texts, and newspapers, Meléndez explores in depth the representation of the female body in periods of political, economic, and religious transformation to determine how it was conceived within certain contexts. Deviant and Useful Citizens presents a highly complex society that relied on representations of utility and productivity to understand the female body, as it reveals the surprisingly large stake that colonial authorities had in defining the status of women during a crucial time in South American history.

Deviant and Useful Citizens: The Cultural Production of the Female Body in Eighteenth-Century Peru

History & Criticism

Vanderbilt Univ Pr

Deviant and Useful Citizens explores the conditions of women and perceptions of the female body in the eighteenth century throughout the Viceroyalty of Peru, which until 1776 comprised modern-day Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Mariselle Melendez introduces the reader to a female rebel, Micaela Bastidas, whose brutal punishment became a particularly harsh example of state response to women who challenged the system. She explores the cultural representation of women depicted as economically productive and vital to the health of the culture at large. The role of women in religious orders provides still another window into the vital need to sustain the image of women as loyal and devout -- and to deal with women who refused to comply.The book focuses on the different ways male authorities, as well as female subjects, conceived the female body as deeply connected to notions of what constituted a useful or deviant citizen within the Viceroyalty. Using eighteenth-century legal documents, illustrated chronicles, religious texts, and newspapers, Mariselle Melendez explores in depth the representation of the female body in periods of political, economic, and religious crisis to determine how it was conceived within certain contexts.Deviant and Useful Citizens presents a highly complex society that relied on representations of utility and productivity to understand the female body, as it reveals the surprisingly large stake that colonial authorities had in defining the status of women during a crucial time in South American history.

Vanderbilt University Press

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Books by Meléndez, Mariselle

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Meléndez, Mariselle. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Raza, Género e Hibridez en El Lazarillo de ciegos caminantes (North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures, 264) (Spanish Edition)

Deviant and Useful Citizens: The Cultural Production of the Female Body in Eighteenth-Century Peru

Deviant and Useful Citizens: The Cultural Production of the Female Body in Eighteenth-Century Peru