Witchcraft, gender and inquisition in Nueva Vizcaya

Abstract

Some researchers have suggested that in ethnic terms the colonial society of northern Mexico was less hierarchical than that of other regions of New Spain; however, it was also more rigid in the patriarchal sense. This article considers cases of witchcraft in Nueva Vizcaya in which women of different ethnic groups and classes defied this patriarchal order and reversed the hierarchy of gender occupying certain liminal sectors. They used magic to protect themselves or become powerful; some even went so far as to make pacts with the devil to gain strength or safety in their relations with the men of those northern regions during the 17th and 18th centuries. This study examines how their activities were received by the Holy Inquisition.