Abstract

SMIETNIANSKY, Silvina. Celebrating the Social Order, Disturbing the Ritual One: A Ritual Key Analysis about Uses, Confrontations and Conflicts of Interests during a Juicio de Residencia in Colonial Tucumán). Andes [online]. 2010, vol.21, n.2, pp.187-221. ISSN 1668-8090.

Starting from the perspective that the juicios de residencia can be conceptualized as institutional rituals that were celebrated periodically in the colonial society, the aim of this article is to analyze two dimensions of that practice - variability and conflict- through the study of the impeachment proceeding to the Tucumán governor don Manuel Fernández Campero, in the middle of the XVIIIth century. This article intends to understand the meanings and motivations that underlay conflict in the 'residencia' ritual order, as well as the different forms it took in practice -without underestimating the efficacy of this proceeding as a way of exercising royal power and contributing to the maintenance of the social order. We argue that this double aspect of the juicio de residencia -as a way of exercising royal power and as a confrontation arena- must be understood in a political context characterized by constant processes of conflict and negotiation between local powers and the royal power, as well as between the different colonial elite factions.

Keywords : Juicio de Residencia; Ritual; Conflict; Variability; Colonial Tucumán.

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