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3 - Captive Souls

Nuns and Slaves in the Convents of Puebla

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 April 2018

Pablo Miguel Sierra Silva
Affiliation:
University of Rochester, New York
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Summary

In Chapter 3 I argue that the convent represented a distinctive space of enslavement in Puebla. This chapter suggests that nunneries were not immune to urban slaveownership because nuns' families were often slaveholders of the highest degree. By focusing on the notarial documents produced by nuns and novices, I demonstrate that slavery was a cultural expectation among black-veiled nuns and aspiring novices whose families owned sugar plantations, textile mills or elite residences. In Puebla, the Limpia Concepción, San Jerónimo, Santísima Trinidad, and Santa Catalina de Sena convents concentrated the largest number of enslaves servants among female religious institutions. Other more austere orders, such as the Discalced Carmelites, also held enslaved domestics, but considerably fewer in number. The age and gender of the enslaved was of paramount importance in these spaces. Boys and girls could remain in the convent until the age of 7, but male children were gradually forced out. Despite these gendered restrictions, convents (as slaveholding corporations) and their attendant families attempted to retain male and female slaves for their wage labor well into the early 18th century.
Type
Chapter
Information
Urban Slavery in Colonial Mexico
Puebla de los Ángeles, 1531–1706
, pp. 76 - 106
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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  • Captive Souls
  • Pablo Miguel Sierra Silva, University of Rochester, New York
  • Book: Urban Slavery in Colonial Mexico
  • Online publication: 03 April 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108304245.004
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  • Captive Souls
  • Pablo Miguel Sierra Silva, University of Rochester, New York
  • Book: Urban Slavery in Colonial Mexico
  • Online publication: 03 April 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108304245.004
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Captive Souls
  • Pablo Miguel Sierra Silva, University of Rochester, New York
  • Book: Urban Slavery in Colonial Mexico
  • Online publication: 03 April 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108304245.004
Available formats
×