Date of Award
8-18-2023
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Type
Dissertation
Abstract
This dissertation explores the experiences of non-noble and secular women from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicities in colonial Latin America and the early modern Atlantic, highlighting their access to the legal world through information exchanges within the Spanish Empire. Using historical source materials from colonial archives in Mexico, Peru, and Spain, I analyze the relationship between women’s mobility, their engagement with the law, and the creation of gendered narratives in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By examining various and unique legal documents written by women, such as lawsuits, letters, testaments, and royal decrees, I demonstrate their agency through storytelling and the strategic incorporation of emotion in their narratives. Drawing on the works of Sara Ahmed, Peter Adey, and Diana Taylor, I analyze the impact of mobility on women’s relationships with their environments, showcasing how women across different ethnicities represent their affective movements in their narratives to enhance their agency and authority. These narrated mobilities offer unique insights into women’s subjectivity and rhetorical strategies to navigate legal and economic systems to their advantage.
Language
English (en)
Chair and Committee
Stephanie Kirk
Recommended Citation
Ramírez Velázquez, Juan Manuel, "Transgressive Mobilities: Women, Gender, and Affective Economies in the Ibero-Atlantic World, 1521-1650" (2023). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3132.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/3132