Abstract

PRESTA, Ana María  and  NOACK, Karoline. Introduction to the dossier: What are we talking about when we refer to "family" in the colonial Andes?. Andes [online]. 2018, vol.29, n.1, pp.00-00. ISSN 1668-8090.

The Spanish conquest of the Andes was a male enterprise which, definitely, influenced the socio parental entity called "family". The colonial Andean family was grounded on different foundations if compared with the Mediterranean or the Indigenous counterpart, regardless their respect of Tridentine marriage laws. No doubt "family" is a subject on debate which should take in account local, regional, urban, and rural differences and contexts without leaving aside issues such as mestizaje and cultural and religious diversity immersed within the "colonial fait" and its multiple actors. This dossier questions the very existence of an "Andean colonial family" and calls the attention on a mixed biological and cultural colonial universe of practices that enclosed and reproduced, melted and stressed, rejected or negotiated, favored or avoided Christian marriage that Indians, Spaniards, and other European immigrants combined with transgressions and mestizajes.  The following articles are remarkable contributions to the complex colonial family relations and allow to unveiling domestic unit formations at rural and urban milieus.  Along both settings, statistic data and, especially, qualitative sources can show different constructions and the average of single or multiple unions, the ages and reproduction ratio to detect social and territorial networks, the reinforcement of alliances and all sorts of transgressions to monogamy and the mandatory unique and indissoluble bond between spouses as well.

Keywords : Family; Colonial Andes; Marriage; Transgression.

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