The Women of Colonial Latin America (review)

The Women of Colonial Latin America. By SUSAN MIGDEN SOCOLOW. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Illustrations. Index. xiii, 237 pp. Cloth $49.95. Paper, $15.95.

Susan Socolow's new book is an excellent synthesis of the literature on colonial Latin American women. The author's goal is to "understand women in their time and their society, without judging them by the standards of our political or social agendas" (pp. 3-4). In this she is successful. Contrary to some previous works, she does not present colonial women as mostly empowered or mostly victimized by their culture, but instead carefully delineates the diversity of experience of women of different classes, races, or regions. In fact, the greatest strength of the book lies precisely in its description of how race and especially class affected the condition of women's lives.

The book studies women within the patriarchal culture that enveloped them and created roles and expectations for them. Because women from three ethnic groups and three cultures came together in the colonial experience, Socolow starts out by examining the gender ideology in the original three cultures, Iberian, Indian, and African. Conquest and enslavement meant the imposition of a new gender ideology on the peoples of America and Africa, and Socolow deftly portrays the effect of these changes on Indian and African women. She presents a balanced review of both the benefits and disadvantages of the new society for Iberian and Indian women and dedicates a chapter to women under slavery.

Socolow covers the many different aspects of women's lives: sexuality, marriage, and the family; religious vocations; work; social deviance. She clearly presents the options women of different races or classes had, and also the limitations that were imposed on them, showing that the most independent women belonged to either the wealthiest class or the poorest. Class and race are an integral part of the explanation of why so many colonial women did not marry, remaining spinsters or entering consensual unions. Elite status gave women many advantages but also limitations. A few elite women wielded direct power, others did so behind the scenes, but all had their freedom to choose a husband curtailed by family priorities.

The book concludes with eleven translated documents that convey with immediacy the thoughts and experiences of several colonial women. There is also a list of suggested readings for every chapter, which readers will find useful, though it is not exhaustive.

The book will be welcomed by Brazilianists because it is truly about all of Latin America, including Brazil. The suggested readings include books and articles about colonial Brazil and the author is careful to differentiate information that applies only to Spanish America from that which applies only to Portuguese America. Sometimes, however, she establishes a difference when it does not exist. For instance, it is not only in Spain and Spanish America that children took the surname of both parents (p. 9) but also in Portuguese America, though the order in which they were placed differed. Furthermore, some of the legal changes in the Enlightenment, such as those in the Real Pragmática, also took place in Brazil. But these are minor objections that do not detract from the value of the book.

Socolow's book provides a nuanced, well-balanced overview of all kinds of colonial Latin American women and every facet of their lives. It is not a book for the specialist, but it will appeal to historians in general and the general public and it should be very successful in undergraduate classes on Latin American women.

MURIEL NAZZARI, Indiana University

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