The conquest of the Indies was a process that was accompanied by the evangelisation of the new human groups that inhabited them. This evangelising enterprise was assigned to the church which, under its different religious orders, implemented models of evangelisation according to the peoples for whom they were intended. This was a process in which there were both permanence and change, because elements of the ancient religions of the New World also had to be incorporated. In this case, Pedro de Calatayud formulated the principles of Catholic womanhood to which Guaraní women had to adhere. This is a reconfiguration of the conquered society and its adaptation to the conquistador. The new social models were contradictory to the native ones. For example, the nuclear family was imposed instead of the extended family, so that households had to include only parents and children. Likewise, attempts were made to eradicate practices such as excessive alcohol consumption, polygamy and free liaisons. In short, the prototype of the Catholic family was imposed, whose bond of union was only contemplated under canonical marriage. This often led to a clash between the two worldviews of women. In general, women’s participation in Guaraní society was more active and involved many more places than the Catholic prototype, which required them to stay at home and focus on pleasing their husbands and fulfilling their duties as housewives. It is striking that the vices that are criticised seem to come from the peninsular context, where women’s idleness was frowned upon and criticised in almost all the educational plans of the time.
Collection: Texts
Chronology: XVIII
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Link: https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/52710/1/Revista-Historia-Moderna_33.pdf
Resource type: Historical source
Source: Calatayud, Pedro de SJ: Doctrinas prácticas que solía explicar en sus misiones, Doctrina VI, Parte II, Tratado X, t. III, 1797, pp. 416-417.
Language: Spanish
Date: 1797
Owner: Djebril Bouzidi (Modernalia)
Identifier: Calatayud, Pedro de SJ: Doctrinas prácticas que solía explicar en sus misiones, Doctrina VI, Parte II, Tratado X, t. III, 1797, pp. 416-417.
Abstract: Fragment of a text by Pedro de Calatayud in which he instructs Guarani women on the new prototype of Catholic woman to which they should ascribe
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