Author: Dr. Shrout

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

For this topic, I wrote on the difference in roles between African women and African-American women who were enslaved. It was much more difficult to find sources for the African women, however, it was fairly easy to find sources for African-American women. There are many depictions of slave women in the form of images, and a few in text form.

“Slave Woman,” Antebellum South, Photograph, University of Georgia Libraries through New Georgia Encyclopedia

This depicts a slave woman doing a traditionally female role, which is washing the clothing. It shows female slaves did a multitude of roles, including more traditional gender roles.

Source

“Slave Women Cultivating A Village Garden,” Central Africa, Print, University of Virginia Library

This depicts women working in Africa doing similar roles to those they did in the Americas. It also only depicts women, and it depicts them in their more traditional African attire.

Source

“Inspection Roll of Negroes Book No. 1,” 4/23/1793 – 9/1793, National Archives Catalog

This depicts an inspection roll of Africans who were forced into slavery. It discusses men as well as women, however, it makes notes of each woman’s physical attributes. It shows how female slaves were valued, and why they were valued that way.

Source

Pierre Havens, “Slave Family,” 1850’s, Photograph, New York Historical Society through New Georgia Encyclopedia

This depicts a slave family picking cotton outside of Savannah. It includes the whole family, and shows both young girls and their mother working alongside men.

Source

Henry Byam Martin, “Slave Market,” 1833, Pen and Ink Drawing, Library and Archives Canada through New Georgia Encyclopedia

This depicts a slave market in Charleston South Carolina in 1833. The text depicts “‘The land of the free & home of the brave.”

Source

“Slave Women in a Cotton Field,” Antebellum South, Print, Digital Library of Georgia through New Georgia Encyclopedia

This depicts slave women working in a field, without the overwhelming presence of men. It also shows young girls working as well alongside older women.

Source

Harriet Jacobs, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” 1861

This is a memoir written by Harriet Jacobs, herself a slave, about her experiences with slavery. It explores the struggles that she, as well as other female slaves, had to deal with as female slaves on plantations. It is one of the only written memoirs by a female slave about her experiences.

Source

…read more

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

In Caterina Pizzigoni’s work The Life Within: Local Indigenous Society in Mexico’s Toluca Valley, 1650-1800 the social structure and customs of the Toluca valley residents are described. The first pages of Ch. 5 set out to illustrate the importance of agriculture in this community. In the first few pages we are introduced to examples of maguey (this is apparently some type of agave) being willed away like property would be today, there are also examples of this involving livestock like pigs and oxen. I agree with my peer Diana that oxen seemed important to the people of the valley because they were used for food, agriculture and rarely collateral for loans. While some indications of egalitarianism are found in the culture of the valley, it seems to be drowned out by the influence of Spanish culture and the desire for monetary wealth.

The emphasis this book puts on the economy of a specific region has a lot of similarities with previous works we have read this semester. Some examples include Mangan’s work on Potosi and how the city existed solely for the purpose of economic gain. A better example may be the Murder on the saltwater frontier article which kinda describes how imperialistic ideas changed how people of different regions traded and operated.

…read more

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

Chapter 5 of Caterina Pizzigoni’s, “The Life Within,” highlights the important details and semantics related to indigenous Mexican society and practices that separate those populations from normative European colonial traditions. Maguey was a plant that presented new opportunities for an indigenous group who previously relied on maize for sustenance. The fact that Maguey was a symbol of equal representation between genders demonstrates an objective look at intercommunal working in central Mexico in the early 18^th century. Pizzigoni’s work demonstrates how colonial intervention affected the consumption and production of Maguey based liquor consumption. Those reactions not only sahped steroty[e pf indigenous people, but constructed legislation and oppression of a minority voice. Individual accounts of women capable of capitalizing on the labor andproductivity are shown in the readings nad demonstrate lentjs officials would go through to maintain hegemonic control. Maguey presented new elements of economic representation that posed problems for a sydtematically controlled economy with a Eurocentric empshasis . Taxation is theft. Don’t tread on me. Free Mumia. Free all political prisoners. Salute all comrades involved in the October revolution. Diana was correct when she said, “Their day usually consists of maguey cultivation and exploitation, raising livestock and domestic animals, trading in land, hocking and moneylending.”

…read more

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

Caterina Pizzigoni writes about the the people of the Toluca Valley and how trade was the center of their lives. Maize cultivation was the main occupation for the people in Toluca Valley (Pizzigoni, 143). Also, maguey, a type of plant that was of importance to the indigenous people of the Toluca Valley, was used almost like currency. It could be bought, sold, traded, grown on property, or passed along to children. Maguey was also used in alcoholic beverages. The idea of culture clash comes up when talking about drinking alcoholic beverages in the Toluca Valley because while it was a normal activity of the indigenous people, the church and the Spanish had a negative view on the matter and tried to suppress tons of drinking.

Pizzigoni brings up the idea that maize and livestock was left for the men to deal with while the women dealt with maguey cultivation (Pizzigoni, 146). Fathers tended to give the oxen to their sons since the men cultivated the land while he would then give his daughters cows, or animals not needed for the lands. The idea of buying maguey for their children, depending on their standing in the family rather than gender, is interesting. It also looks like women had economic opportunities in the Toluca Valley, where they were able to buy and sell maguey. I agree with Diana Tran that maguey cultivation was a central role in women’s lives. There are evidence of culture change taking place in the Toluca Valley with their names. Pizzigoni looks at the lives of individual’s with names like Don Juan and Rosa Maria which shows how strong Spanish influence was in that region.

Whether it was maize, livestock, maguey, or clearing land, it seems like life in the Toluca Valley was centered around trading goods and skills among one another in order to better their lives for their families.

…read more

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

Caterina Pizzigoni describes the important economic factors of indigenous Central Mexico in the most boring way imaginable. It seems that by scouring wills, funeral practices, lawsuits, and estate documentation belonging to the inhabitants of the Toluca Valley during the colonial period, Pizzigoni has unraveled the economic pursuits and resources of the typical Central Mexican household of the time. In chapter 5, she highlights the integral role indigenous women played in the economic activities of maguey cultivation, pulque manufacture, and even money lending, once again proving that society and situation dictate responses to circumstance, as I alluded to in my last post. Additionally, she categorizes the commodities of maguey, pigs, land, and currency as factors of trade, the basic activity that brought colonial-era households together in the pursuit of profit, and opened the Toluca Valley to the Atlantic scene. (Pizzigoni, 163) As a result, Spanish influence infiltrated indigenous households, establishing its mark on the economy. According to Pizzigoni, Spanish influence is most apparent in the matters of hocking, selling, and renting, ideas not necessarily new to colonial Mexico, but changed by the inevitable encroachment of Iberian domination. (Pizzigoni, 163)

As Diana points out, the day-to-day activities of raising livestock (a Spanish gift) and trading in clothing were additional income producing enterprises in the Toluca Valley. They allowed for some independence and individuality among the indigenous people during Spanish colonization. Moreover, the cultivation of the maguey and manufacture of pulque afforded them a little break from reality every so often despite the additional tax placed on alcoholic beverages by the Spanish. Speaking of booze, I need a drink after reading this chapter. Wow. No words.

…read more

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

Local indigenous society in the Toluca Valley, Mexico, is viewed as an unfortunate, disproportionable group of peoples trying to pay off debts to the local landlords. Caterina Pizzigoni emphasizes on the household factors that contributed to how Toluca folk dealt with daily life out in public and in the economic sphere of this location. Cultivations of maize and maguey were essential to making these towns develop sufficiently. The maguey plant could be used up to a variety of either food or material fuel. The maguey upheld its ecological advantages among the Toluca peoples to help pay off those who controlled their well-being with low-wage rental housing and unequal debts.

In accordance with what my colleague Diana Tran was stating, what’s interesting if not apparent enough in chapter 5 of The Life Within is that the majority of individuals who may have possibly profited well from maguey cultivation were in fact women. “Gender affects maguey cultivation, but not in the same way as with house and distant land” (pg. 146). It was easy to own the product, but not the vicinity of where it developed from. But unless you were a male client, it was slightly the opposite. Men concentrated more on maize and livestock shares than just the plant alone.

The ancestral connections drawn out between the peoples mentioned in this reading show us how the maguey served a financial purpose, as well as localized vocabulary techniques when producing the source. When they discovered how to extract pulque juice from the capone maguey (already cut), the process was done in some particular way that resembled the way they “castrate” a rooster. This allowed them to modify their vocabulary with whatever they happened to have been innovating at the time, since capone comes from the Spanish word capar meaning “to castrate”. Pulquerias were established for both festivals and market consumption of maguey for young Toluca customers seeking to make ends meet among the product themselves.

…read more

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

…read more

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

Within Toluca Valley, the indigenous population was involved in agricultural and economic activities that benefited their communities. Maguey cultivation was central to the Valley, since it could be used as food or clothing to sell on the market to pay off debts. While it was men who owned larger crops of maguey, it was women who often claimed ownership over the plant on their lands. Women such as Maria Josefina Maria owned maguey crops and often willed them to their children, hoping to pass on property down the family line (Pizzigoni, 145). In terms of livestock, more men willed their animals to their heirs (Pizzigoni, 151). Large animals such as oxen were considered valuable in harvesting land, or they could also be used to establish trade with interested clients. Lucas Damian was involved in trading and selling pigs with various customers, generating a profit in order to sustain his household. Testators sold clothing and utensils to cover burial costs, or gave them to their children to be used (Pizzigoni, 155). Buying and selling land was a common activity in Toluca Valley, as well as harvesting crops on various territories. Citizens would offer parcels of land to pay for their leases, or rented out land for personal interest as long as they paid the required sum (Pizzigoni, 157). The people of Toluca Valley also hocked objects for money, and were involved in giving it to those who desperately needed it (Pizzigoni, 159, 162). Indigenous peoples’ agricultural and economic spaces in Toluca Valley were part of an important system. They worked to support their families and their communities even after their deaths, ensuring that their successes and traditions would be passed on to future generations.

Caterina Pizzigoni’s mention of women’s involvement in the community reminded me of Mary Beth Norton’s article. While the women featured were of difference races, they both contributed to the growth of their social and economic structures. Indigenous women supported their families with goods they produced or sold, and white women helped their children grow spiritually (Norton, 608). As Danny Alvarez has said, indigenous women were the main cultivators of maguey crops and made significant amounts of money off of it. I agree that this allowed them to pay off their debts.

…read more