¹ de Alcalá, Fray Jerónimo, La Relacion de Michoacán, edición de Francisco, Miranda (Morelia: FIMAS, 1980): 6.Google Scholar This is the most recent edition of the Relación de Michoacán, and it benefits from Francisco Miranda’s command of the original document and subsequent copies of the Relación, as well as his sensitivity towards Michoacán’s indigenous languages. Craine, Eugene R. and Reindorp, Reginald C., ed. and trans., The Chronicles of Michoacán (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970)Google Scholar may prove useful to the English language reader, although it is seriously limited in certain regards. For a complete survey and critique of the manuscript forms and various published editions of the Relación de Michoacán, as well as the estimated dates of compilation, see Francisco Miranda, “Estudio Preliminar,” xix–xlv.

² A considerable amont of scholarly effort has been expended to determine who wrote the Relación de Michoacán. Fray Jerónimo de Alcalá is the most plausible candidate, for a variety of reasons, although limitations in the existing evidence prevent his authorship from being established beyond a shadow of a doubt. Nevertheless, the series of illustrations which accompanied the original manuscript clearly indicate that the missionary presenting the text to the Viceroy was a Franciscan. See Warren, J. Benedict, “Fray Jerónimo de Alcalá: Author of the Relación de Michoacán?,” The Americas, XXVII no. 3 (Jan. 1971): 307–326 Google Scholar; Miranda, Francisco, “Estudio preliminar,” in Relación de Michoacán, XXIII–XXV.Google Scholar

³ This type of approach (searching for intelligible patterns in a text), as well as the tentative nature of such an enterprise, is suggested by the work of Roland Barthes. For examples, see Barthes, Roland, “Historical Discourse,” trans. Wexler, Peter, Social Science Information (International Social Science Council) 6, no. 1 (August 1967): 145–155 Google Scholar and “What is Criticism?” in Criticai Essays, trans. Howard, Richard (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1972), 255–260.Google Scholar A useful overview of the broad trends in twentieth-century literary criticism is Eagleton, Terry, Literary Theory: An Introduction (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983).Google Scholar For an argument suggesting that our understanding of works not traditionally considered as “literature,” such as the Relación de Michoacán, can benefit from literary criticism, see 194–222.

⁴ For example, Beltrán, Ulises, “Estado y Sociedad Tarascos,” in La sociedad indigena en el centro y occidente de México, Pedro Carrasco, et al. (Zamora: El Colegio de Michoacán, 1986), 45–62;Google Scholar Carrasco, Pedro, “Economia y politica en el reino tarasco,” in La sociedad indigena…, 63–102.Google Scholar The tendency to rely solely on the Relación de Michoacán as a source of “prehispanic” information is stronger in older literature, for example Ugarte, José Bravo, Historia sucinta de Michoacán, vol. 1 (Mexico: Editorial Jus, 1962), esp. 49–108.Google Scholar For an article which argues against attributing a dominant position to the region’s Tarascan or Purépecha peoples far into the prehispanic past, based on their regional dominance as presented in the Relación de Michoacán, see Schondube, Otto B., “Las exploraciones arqueológicas en el area tarasca,” in La cultura purhé: II Coloquio de Antropologia e Historia Regionales, coord. Miranda, Francisco (Zamora: FONAPAS Michoacán, 1981), 16–22,Google Scholar through 30 for dissenting comments and reply. For a detailed analysis of prehispanic settlement in the Lake Pátzcuaro basin, see Gorenstein, Shirley and Pollard, Helen Perlstein, The Tarascan Civilization: A Late Prehispanic Cultural System, Vanderbilt University Publications in Anthropology, no. 28 (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1983).Google Scholar

⁵ Warren, J. Benedict, The Conquest of Michoacán (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985), 24–41.Google Scholar In this article, I employ the term “Purépecha” to refer collectively to the indigenous peoples whose history is recorded in the Relación de Michoacán. In adopting this usage and spelling, I accept Miranda’s argument that “purépecha” is an appropriate designation for this population in prehispanic and colonial, as well as more contemporary times (see “Estudio Preliminar,” xxxii-xxxv). Miranda’s claim that the term “purépecha” had broader connotations than simply “common people,” which is the most frequent definition found in early colonial dictionaries, remains controversial. Readers should be aware that this population has generally been referred to as “tarascos” or Tarascan, particularly in the academic literature. Nevertheless, it is clear that this term was a colonial creation, and not a self-designation of the indigenous population. For the purposes of this article, I have chosen to designate the cultural group as “Purépecha,” because I view this as the most appropriate choice among limited and imperfect alternatives. Nevertheless, to avoid any possible linguistic contradiction, I will employ the term “indigenous elite,” as opposed to “Purépecha elite,” when referring to the social strata prominently featured in the Relación de Michoacán.

⁶ The significance of the conditions under which a text is produced, as well as the intended audience, in shaping the overall content of a particular work is noted in Chartier, Roger, “Texts, Printings, Readings,” in The New Cultural History, ed. Hunt, Lynn (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 154–175.Google Scholar In addition, Hunt, Lynn, “Introduction: History, Culture and Texts,” in The New Cultural History, 1–24,Google Scholar provides a useful overview of recent trends in historical approaches to the interpretation of culture.

⁷ Some important works in the historiograpy of the Franciscans, and the role of missionaries in “New World” colonization process more generally, include the following: Borges, Pedro, Métodos misionales en la cristianización de América (Madrid: Departamento De Misionologia Española, 1958);Google Scholar Clen-dinnen, Inga, Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatán, 1517–1570 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987);Google Scholar MacCormack, Sabine, “The Heart Has Its Reasons: Predicaments of Missionary Christianity in Early Colonial Peru,” Hispanic American Historical Review 67 (1985): 443-66;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Phelan, John Leddy, The Millennial Kingdom of the Franciscans in the New World (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1956).Google Scholar

⁸ Relación De Michoacán, 4. All quotations have been translated into English. However, in certain instances where it was not possible to entirely capture the meaning in English, I have included the original Spanish.

⁹ Ibid., 5.

¹⁰ Ibid., 4-5. This appeal to higher values resonates with some of the broader elements of what has been termed “missionary discourse.” As products of the sixteenth century, perhaps influenced by Renaissance ideals, the missionaries generally conceived of Christianity as the perfection of human beings. Thus, their powerful desire to see people move from “less perfect” states of existence to “more perfect,” conceived of in terms of Christianity. Borges, Pedro, Métodos misionales…, 204.Google Scholar Of course, the social implementation of this ideal often produced less than perfect results.

¹¹ Relación de Michoacán, 335. Ricard, Robert, The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966,Google Scholar orig. 1933), 79, states that Michoacán indigenous peoples actually drove the Franciscans out of Michoacán twice during their first years in the region.

¹² Relación de Michoacán, 5.

¹³ Ibid., 6.

¹⁴ Warren, , “Fray Jerónimo de Alcalá: Author of the Relación de Michoacán,” 307 Google Scholar; Francisco Miranda, “Estudio preliminar,” xxv; Ricard, , The Spiritual Conquest…, 58.Google Scholar Warren suggests that his section of the text may have been destroyed during the same campaign which suppressed the work of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, a campaign which Ricard links to the dying off of the initial missionary generation.

¹⁵ Warren, , The Conquest of Michoacán, 287.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Relación de Michoacán, 353.

¹⁷ Warren, , The Conquest of Michoacán, 287.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Scholes, France V. and Adams, Eleanor B., eds. Proceso contra Tzintzincha Tangaxoan el Calt-zontzin, formado por Ñuño de Guzmán, año de 1530 (Mexico: Porrua y Obregon, 1952), esp. 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 26, 33, 39, 41, 45, 46.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Mirand, “Estudio preliminar,” xxiii. Warren, , “Fray Jerónimo de Alcalá: Author of the Relación de Michoacán?, 309.Google Scholar

²⁰ Relación de Michoacán, 339–356. esp. 353. Warren, , “Fray Jerónimo de Alcalá: Author of the Relación de Michoacán!,” 307.Google Scholar

²¹ Relación de Michoacán, 351–2.

²² Warren, , The Conquest of Michoacán, 86.Google Scholar

²³ Borges, , Métodos misionales…, 94–98.Google Scholar Ricard, , The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, 52.Google Scholar

²⁴ Warren, , The Conquest of Michoacán, 51.Google Scholar Ricard, , The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, 37.Google Scholar It is revealing that the Relación de Michoacán contains descriptions of this initial contact with Spanards, although it does not describe the activity of Fray Martin de la Coruna, or indeed any missionary activity, outside of a few very limited comments. Perhaps these descriptions were lost when the first section was destroyed, or maybe our missionary author did not feel compelled to probe the missionary past. See Relación de Michoacán, 307–311.

²⁵ Relación de Michoacán, 335.

²⁶ Ibid., 349.

²⁷ Ricard, , The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, 135–144.Google Scholar

²⁸ Beltrán, , “Estado y sociedad tarascos,” 49–54;Google Scholar Beals, Ralph L., “The Tarascans.” In The Handbook of Middle American Indians 8, no. 2 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1969): 727;Google Scholar Carrasco, Pedro, “Economia politica en el reino tarasco,” 94–96.Google Scholar An interesting comparative article which notes the fragile and contested nature of “convergences” between Spanish colonizers and native populations, even within a shared Christian discourse, is MacCormack, Sabine, “Pachacuti: Miracles, Punishments, and Last Judgements: Visionary Past and Prophetic Future in Early Colonial Peru,” American Historical Review 93, no. 4 (Oct. 1988): 960–1006.Google Scholar

²⁹ Relación de Michoacán, 148.

³⁰ To a twentieth-century reader, influenced by archaeology, this transition is also important since the text notes that Hiripan and Tangaxoan began to practice sedentary agriculture in a place called Naranjan, giving up the semi-nomadic existence of Tariacuri. Thus, they established the trait which distinguished the Purépecha peoples from their “Chichimeca” neighbors to the north. Ibid., 154.

³¹ Ibid., 213–14, 307–310.

³² There are forty-four illustrations which accompanied the original manuscript. According to Francisco Miranda, these illustrations are a treasure of the “pictografía indigena,” thus indicating that they were drawn by the Purépecha immediately after the Conquest. Miranda, , “Estudio preliminar,” 9, xli.Google Scholar

³³ On Spanish notions of social order, see Morse, Richard, “The Heritage of Latin America,” in Hartz, Louis et al., The Founding of New Societies (New York, 1964): 123–177;Google Scholar and “Towards a Theory of Spanish American Government,” Journal of the History of Ideas, 15, no. 1 (Jan. 1954): 71–93. On missionary conversion strategies see Borges, , Métodos misionales…, 377–381;Google Scholar Ricard, , The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, 135–142.Google Scholar

³⁴ Miranda, “Estudio preliminar,” xxxvii-xxxvii.

³⁵ Gutiérrez, Ramón, “Honor Ideology, Marriage Negotiation, and Class-Gender Domination in New Mexico, 1690–1846,” Latin American Perspectives 44, 12:1 (Winter, 1985): 81, 91–92.Google Scholar

³⁶ Relación de Michoacán, 260, 260–273 for discussion of marriage.

³⁷ Ibid., 261.

³⁸ lbid., 261.

³⁹ Ibid., 267. For an additional, although fragmentary, missionary viewpoint on Purépecha sexual practices, see the document reprinted in Carrasco, Pedro, “Parentesco y regulación del matrimonio entre los indios del antiguo Michoacán, Mexico,” Revista española de antropología Americana 4 (1969): 219–222.Google Scholar For an examination of the penalties for adulterous behavior prior to and during the Conquest period, in Michoacán and other regions, see de la Orden, José Tudela, “La Pena de adulterio en los pueblos precortesianos,” Revista de Indias 31, no. 123–124 Google Scholar (Enero-Julio, 1971): 377–388, esp. 380–385.

⁴⁰ For an interesting comparative article on the clash of cultures within an unequal colonial context, and how this detracted from missionary efforts, see MacCormack, , “The Heart Has Its Reasons: Predicaments of Missionary Christianity in Early Colonial Peru,” esp. 454–458.Google Scholar

⁴¹ I need not dwell on this point, since the missionary-conquistador rivalry is well known in the scholarly literature. For examples, see Borges, , Métodos misionales…; Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests, esp. 54–92;Google Scholar Phelan, , The Millennial Kingdom of the Franciscans, esp. 76–87;Google Scholar Ricard, , The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, esp. 239–264.Google Scholar

⁴² Relación de Michoacán, 326.

⁴³ Scott, Joan Wallach, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” in Gender and the Politics of History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 48.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Warren, , The Conquest of Michoacán, 136–137.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Relación de Michoacán, 344–45, (entire dialogue).

⁴⁶ Ibid., 350–352.

⁴⁷ Ibid., 344–345, Gutierrez, “Honor Ideology…,” 86–89.

⁴⁸ Relación de Michoacán, 353.

⁴⁹ Ibid., 324.

⁵⁰ Ibid., 251.

⁵¹ Ibid., 90.

⁵² Ibid., 112.

⁵³ Warren, , The Conquest of Michoacán, 42.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ For a thoughtful, not unsympathetic retrospective on how missionary inability to extricate Christianity from a European “cultural, sociological, and even political framework” prevented the building of more secure bridges between the missionary and indigenous communities, see MacCormack, , “The Heart Has Its Reasons,” 450–459,Google Scholar esp. 454, 458 (quote). MacCormack notes, for the example of Peru, how missionary participation in campaigns of “reducciones” inextricably linked the missionaries to the colonial state.

⁵⁵ Relación de Michoacán, 335; Ricard, , The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, 79.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Phelan, , The Millennial Kingdom of the Franciscans, 58;Google Scholar Clendinnen, , Ambivalent Conquests, 45–56.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ A recent overview of interest concerning the new scholarship on texts in history is provided in Lynn Hunt, ed., The New Cultural History.

⁵⁸ Relación de Michoacán, 112.

⁵⁹ MacCormack, “Pachacuti: Miracles, Punishments, and Last Judgements: Visionary Past and Prophetic Future in Early Colonial Peru,” 960. For an example of conflict which leads to the intense repression of an indigenous population, the Maya, by missionaries, see Clendinnen, , Ambivalent Conquests, esp. 72–92.Google Scholar