European University Institute Library

Tepotzotlán, la institucionalización de un colegio jesuita en la frontera chichimeca de la Nueva España (1580-1618), Pablo Abascal Sherwell Raull

eng

Why write another thesis about a Jesuit college? Much has already been written, but generally about colleges divorced from their environment, isolated from the society, geography, cultural and political landscape to which they belong. The current thesis instead looks at how a Jesuit college was shaped by, and, indeed, shaped its environment. The case study, set at a time when early modern Catholicism and colonial empires were making inroads into overseas territories, looks at the early modern Jesuit college of Tepotzotlán, a town situated in a non-European context in what is today central Mexico. This dissertation explores the different factors influencing what might be called the institutionalization of the Jesuit college of Tepotzotlán, between 1580 and 1618. The timeline starts with the Jesuits' arrival in the town, and finishes with the acquisition of the doctrina of Tepotzotlán, this being the moment when the Jesuits acquired the spiritual monopoly of the town. Beginning with the school's initial aims, the thesis studies how it evolved over time, and how this evolution was influenced by geographical, political, historical, and social factors. The geographical factor is crucial; indeed, I analyze the geographical particularities that led the Jesuits to choose the town of Tepotzotlán to open this particular school. It is, for example, clear that the Jesuits chose Tepotzotlán precisely because it bordered on two different cultural areas, with two different Indian social groups (Mexican and Otomí), as well as other groups such as Spaniards and black slaves. This geographical particularity allowed the Jesuits to work with all the groups at one time. Moreover, the Jesuits also used the town as a bridge in order to ease its expansion into the north of the Viceroyalty. Besides geographical, there were, as mentioned, also political, historical and social factors. The thesis explores political institutions' role in institutionalizing the school, both inside and outside New Spain, and the tensions among them. It examines different actors and voices that were engaged in the configuration of the project in the foundation of Tepotzotlán, thus going beyond the local context and putting the evolution of the institutionalization of the college into a wider perspective

Includes bibliographical references (p. 379-411)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--European University Institute (HEC), 2015.

no index present

non fiction

Tepotzotlán

theses

933295244

Defence date: 21 September 2015

Pablo Abascal Sherwell Raull

EUI PhD thesesEUI theses

la institucionalización de un colegio jesuita en la frontera chichimeca de la Nueva España (1580-1618)