Relations between Blacks and Indigenous people in Colonial Mexico as seen through a study of witchcraft accusations in inquisition records.

Through an examination of caste in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Mexico, "Hall of Mirrors" explores the construction of hierarchy and difference in a Spanish colonial setting. Laura A. Lewis describes how the meanings attached to the categories of Spanish, Indian, black, mulatto, and mestizo were generated within that setting, as she shows how the cultural politics of caste produced a system of fluid and relational designations that simultaneously facilitated and undermined Spanish governance.

Using judicial records from a variety of colonial courts, Lewis highlights the ethnographic...

Located on Mexico's Pacific coast in a historically black part of the Costa Chica region, the town of San Nicolas has been identified as a center of Afromexican culture by Mexican cultural authorities, journalists, activists, and foreign anthropologists. The majority of the town's residents, however, call themselves "morenos" (black Indians). In "Chocolate and Corn Flour," Laura A. Lewis explores the history and contemporary culture of San Nicolas, focusing on the ways that local inhabitants experience and understand race, blackness, and indigeneity, as well as on the cultural values that...

Located on Mexico's Pacific coast in a historically black part of the Costa Chica region, the town of San Nicolas has been identified as a center of Afromexican culture by Mexican cultural authorities, journalists, activists, and foreign anthropologists. The majority of the town's residents, however, call themselves "morenos" (black Indians). In "Chocolate and Corn Flour," Laura A. Lewis explores the history and contemporary culture of San Nicolas, focusing on the ways that local inhabitants experience and understand race, blackness, and indigeneity, as well as on the cultural values that...