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Ethnohistory 49.4 (2002) 893-896



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The Virgin, the King, and the Royal Slaves of El Cobre: Negotiating Freedom in Colonial Cuba, 1670–1780. By María Elena Díaz. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000. xviii + 440 pp., preamble, introduction, epilogue, maps, appendixes, bibliography, index. $49.50 cloth.)

In a single book, María Elena Díaz radically alters our current understanding of what slavery could mean for peoples of African descent in the New World. Using the fascinating case of the Cuban mining village of El Cobre, she redefines the meaning of bondage by exploring the limits of slavery's freedom(s). Rather than passively accepting Orlando Patterson's theory that slavery meant "social death," Díaz reconstructs the dynamic life of a slave community that possessed a panoply of liberties, including access to the means of self-governance, the ability to own land and property, access to local and regional markets, and most important, the right to transform their town into a corporate community (pueblo). This latter development [End Page 893] was of particular significance in the colonial Spanish world because corporate identity and corporate life represented the highest form of freedom. The accomplishment was even more striking for slaves, since possessing a public identity as a corporate community threatened to rupture the traditional bond of the master/slave relationship. Few blacks anywhere in the Spanish dominions, slave or free, could claim residence in such a township. Part of the reason why the experience of El Cobre's slaves (cobreros) was so different from that of others was that by the 1680s the cobreros became royal slaves, owned and utilized by the Crown itself. Díaz's book is one of the first to tackle this dimension of New World slavery in significant detail.

The structural approach Díaz employs is rather unique. Although the book can be read sequentially, each individual chapter stands alone as a coherent, independent unit. The reader is left to decide how he or she prefers to navigate the material. Chapters 1 through 3 provide the best overall understanding of the early years of El Cobre's development (1600–80s). Here, through exploring the concept of "creolization," we are able to understand the demographic transformation of this mining jurisdiction, evolving from a village of African slaves into a town of enslaved Creoles. The 1670s and 1680s marked a watershed in El Cobre's history. The mining jurisdiction was deprivatized and placed under Crown control. Slavery became redefined from being private slavery to royal slavery. Chapters 2 and 3 carefully trace the ramifications of these developments into the early eighteenth century. It was at this time when the cobreros themselves began to reimagine slavery's meaning. They felt that they possessed certain entitlements under the employ of the king, including the right to land, family, and subsistence. As mining productivity decreased, as well as the level of supervision over the slaves' work regimen, the cobreros' ability to negotiate privileges and build tactical alliances with other powerful colonial authorities, such as the church, increased.

Chapters 4 and 5 examine the religious life of the village and the evolution of the Marian cult of the Virgin of Charity. Indeed, El Cobre is best known as being the center of one of the most powerful religious icons on the island. In the twentieth century, the Virgin of Charity even became the official patroness of Cuba and a symbol of the multiracial composition of the island's population. Díaz traces this cult's early history as it evolved from being a minor shrine to being a regionally important force with devotees that included prominent governors and clergymen. Díaz engages the critical theme of social memory in her analysis, underscoring its shifting and relational character. As the cult gained a following in the eighteenth century, the cobreros used their shrine's influence to their advantage. Strategically, they participated in altering the story of the Virgin's apparition, [End Page 894] continually enhancing their role in finding and housing...

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