In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

8 Cultural Assimilation in the Native World Although each of the movements studied here was exterminatory in terms of their millennially inspired objective of eliminating the Hispanic presence in their lands, the rebels had assimilated, to differing degrees, elements of the culture that they were seeking to eliminate. While this appears contradictory , such assimilation is not at all unusual in such movements generally, and that which was assimilated was generally oriented to that which would support the survival and reproduction of the natives or increase their comfort over the long term.1 Rebels and Hispanic Assimilation in New Mexico Despite the efforts of the Pueblo rebel leaders, through their actions and edicts, to eliminate the Hispanic in®uence in the Pueblo world, they were only partially successful. We have seen how the Indians had long assimilated horses into their culture and how many Indians had continued to cultivate crops introduced by the Hispanics. The rebels were also eager to appropriate the weapons of their enemies. Exemplary of this tendency was when the Indians began to mass on Santa Fe in 1680: the Indian Juan went to tell Otermín that he and the Hispanics could ®ee or die, and the rebel appeared “on horseback, wearing a sash of red taffeta which was recognized as being from the missal of the convent of Galisteo, and with harquebus, sword, dagger, leather jacket, and [other] . . . arms of the Spaniards.”2 We have also seen how Hispanic women were forced into the native society as captive concubines. It appears that paternity was important in determining ethnicity, as the offspring of these unions were not killed but assimilated into the society of the independent Indians before many Hispanic women and their children were rescued by Vargas in 1692.3 Often what the leaders demanded of their subjects they themselves did not adhere to. For example, Popé moved into the governor’s house in Santa Fe and used his coach to travel around town. When he visited other villages, he insisted on being received in the manner of his Spanish predecessors. He also at least once presided over a feast where he and Alonso Catiti played the roles of the Spanish governor and the custodian.4 During the 1681 entrada, Hispanic forces under Juan Domínguez de Mendoza found extensive collections of Hispanic articles in Santo Domingo, Alameda, Puaray, and San Felipe.5 In addition, some Indians may have secretly retained their Catholic faith, or perhaps their belief in the ef¤cacy of Catholic ceremonies, during the period of Indian independence. During the entrada in 1681, in the sacristan’s house in Alameda, the Hispanics found the holy oils and some bells that had been buried by Christian Indians to prevent them from falling into rebel hands. They also found some chickens there, originally brought by the Spanish.6 During the same entrada, in Senecú the Hispanics found crosses in some of the houses, “all of which were standing and without a sign of being burned.”7 While this may suggest that they were not apostates, it is also very possible that they left these articles as a symbolic means to discourage the Hispanics from looting or razing the pueblo. Assimilation in the Andes Unlike in New Mexico where there was a concerted effort to eliminate almost all vestiges of Catholic in®uence, 100 years later in Upper Peru the focus was more on rede¤ning Catholicism to suit native ends than on its outright rejection. This rede¤nition re®ected the success of the missionary endeavor in Peru and Upper Peru, but it also re®ected the native belief that while the Christian god was still powerful, it was then being eclipsed by the resurgent power of native deities. This resurgence was tied to the pachacuti, which was, in rebel eyes, then reordering the native universe.8 This process of reformulation illustrates and partially explains the differing ways in which Catholicism and its ministers were treated during the rebellion. The in®uence that clerics had at the beginning of the rebellion, which they successfully used to prevent or forestall rebel attacks on civilians in Ocuri, Pintatora, and San Pedro de Buenavista, soon declined to the point where many priests became victims of the rebellion.9 That not all Indians wholly rejected Christianity is shown by the extensive assimilation of Catholicism by Túpac Amaru and Túpac Catari and by the fact that when Father Menéndez absolved the rebels outside of Oruro, many kneeled...

Share