The Indigenous Archive: Religion and Education in Eighteenth-Century Mexico

This article argues that eighteenth-century native elites played a significant role in the larger intellectual scene of colonial Mexico by participating in the same debates as their creole and European counterparts. I contend that the documentation produced by native elites related to the indigenous schools (colegios), convents, and seminaries during the eighteenth century provides an important context for understanding the ways in which knowledge circulated between natives, creoles, and Europeans. In addition, when this "indigenous archive" is read in tandem with more traditional historiographical native sources, we can better appreciate the indigenous roots of the dominant narrative of Mexican nationalism. To illustrate the state of fragmentation of what I call an indigenous archive, I discuss the state of the archives of the Jesuit Colegio de San Gregorio and the Franciscan Convent of Corpus Christi.

This article argues that eighteenth-century native elites played a significant role in the larger intellectual scene of colonial Mexico by participating in the same debates as their creole and European counterparts. I contend that the documentation produced by native elites related to the indigenous schools (colegios), convents, and seminaries during the eighteenth century provides an important context for understanding the ways in which knowledge circulated between natives, creoles, and Europeans. In addition, when this "indigenous archive" is read in tandem with more traditional historiographical native sources, we can better appreciate the indigenous roots of the dominant narrative of Mexican nationalism. To illustrate the state of fragmentation of what I call an indigenous archive, I discuss the state of the archives of the Jesuit Colegio de San Gregorio and the Franciscan Convento de Corpus Christi.