R151 Final paper prep - Prof Nasser Zakeriya PDF

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Prof Nasser Zakeriya...

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Explain why in post-conquest Mesoamerica Europeans felt they were justified in enslaving the Indians. Discuss the response of Las Casa to the treatment of native peoples. Do you think Las Casas’ desire to convert those love and tutelage were fundamentally different from those who advocated conversion through force and enslavement? Why? Las Casas’ rhetoric did not match his actions at all, and his behavior tellingly reveals that the love, guidance, and persuasion he claims to wish for the indians constitute nothing more than a cover for his true concerns about the Spanish power, the Christian faith, and his role in converting all people into devout Christians. Justification for enslaving - economic, personal, spiritual - Among themselves: greed - want to get rich quickly by exploiting the available land and bodies, having made the decision to travel away from home on an uncertain journey to stay at a foreign land, especially those who want to rise to a higher station - “Pretext under which the vicims were parcelled out in this way was that their new masters who then be in a postion to teach them the truths of the Christian faith” (24) but in reality the men were sent to mines with appealling conditions to look for gold, women to work on the fields - Ordinances and decrees list the conversion of men and saving of souls as the first priority, but it was used as an excuse to justify military action upon them (32) - LC exposes this as nonsensical and absurd - Christ, he points out, would never approve the confiscation of property, the taking of lives, and stripping of freedom merely because of people show reluctance to convert immediately to a religion they had no knowledge of or no allegiance to (32-33) - Inspire fear and terror in the people (45) - “stage a bloody massacre of the most public possible kind in order to terrorize those meek and gentle peoples” (pattern of invasion)

LC’s love and tutelage - “Action is both urgent and necessary if God is to continue to watch over the Crown of Castile and ensure its future well-being and prosperity, both spiritual and temporal” (7-8)

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religiou s appeal to the king - concern about the reputation of God and the crown or the people? - LC recounts an example of a captured local lord, cacique in Cuba, who refused to convert to the Christianity when told that good Christians go to Heavan right as he was tied to the stake, ready to burnt alive. LC takes his as an example to show how the reputation and honour of God and the Christian faith have been tained becuase of the actions of “Christian men” (29) Again, te preoccupation is not with the natives but with the faith. - “I do not wish to see my country destroyed as a divine punishment for sins againast the honour of God and true Faith” “I therefore concluded that it would constitute a criminal neglect of my duty to remain silent about the enormous loss of life as well as the infinite number of human souls despatched to Hell in the course of such ‘conquests’, and so resolved to publish an account of a few such outrages” (6) - Appear to be concerned about the natives’ lives Description of the natives are colored by their assumptions and confirm their expectations: weak, impoverished, naked, uncivilized, but open to being indoctrinated (10) - “least robust of human beings” “poorest people on the face of the earth” “as a result they are neither ambitious or greedy, and are totally uninterested in worldly power” - “They are innocant and pure in mind and have a lively intelligence, all of which makes them particularly receptive to learning and understanding the truths of our Catholic faith and to be instructed in virtue; indeed God has invested them with fewer impediments in this regard than any other on earth” (10) - The one virtue of the indians worth noting is the one that align with the goals and aims of conquistadors and their company - it is pure love and true appreciation for their ability to learn, or yet another confirmation of their expectation that new world people may be converted? - In addition, LC lauds that the natives are pure and good, but makes it very clear that Christianity would make them “the

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most blessed people on earth” (11). This is akin to conditional love - I will devote my time and energies to you as long as you give up your ways follow my faith > this is a form of love that come with __ Whereas the men LC is criticizing preyed on these gentle, unassuming creates like animals, murdered them and shrunk their population drastically “They have had as little concern fo their souls as for their bodies, all the millions that have perished having gone to their deaths with no knowledge of God and without the benefit of the Sacrments” (13) repeats thi s throughout the short account

Even though he seems to advocate for free and consensual conversion -

Law No. 35 - no encomienda granted to anyone, when present holders of land die their Indians will revert to the crown (new laws in response to LC’s book) Sepulveda debated LC at Valladolid 1550 LC argued that indians needed to be guided through persuasion and example and allowed to choose freely

Seen as the “aposolic prototype of loev, a noble protector of the Indians, or as some have called him, “the father of America” (4) - “Vocifeous activism surrounding the treatment of his praxis, there is little mention of the fact that his praxis seldom resulted in improving the lives of the natives, and often his main accomplishment was to keep himself in the poltiical and social limelight” (5) (new laws in response to his book) - “Although he claimed to act for the oppressed, he rarely acted with them, and there is no evidence that at any time he worked with the natives to transform them from passive objects into active subjects responsible for transforming their own fate” (5) - Reinterpretation of LC must move beyond the mythical dimensions and need to define him in light of his participation in the reality of the new world constructed on the ruins of another - We only have LC’s own texts to use to examine his and the significance of his work (5) - Only way to understand is to dissect and deconstruct his own written work and recorded deeds against the background of established historical events

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The main souce of information about LC is from LC himself (5) BUT close-reading his text and plea reveals that... Accomplishments that LC’s admirers claim were either unimplemented or ended in failure LC’s overriding concern to convert the natives to Christianity is often overlooked (6) - If discussed, his efforts to convert were praised as virtuous instead of imperialism (6) - Did not advocate the overt subjugation, but did leave open the way for the possessors of the doctrine of faith to justify territorial usurpation and the exploitation of the inhabitants of the occupied territory in order to produce ‘as a reasonable fruit the very best of men’ (7) - Recognized himself to have a salvific role” (7) - Converted under the guise of teaching in “the manner required by the natural condition of men” - “LC considers that the only thing that can justify the presence of Christians in the Indies is the announcement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That it, as long as the Spaniards intened to preach the Christian Gospel among hte indigenous infidels, then their presence should be tolerated and welcomed” (7) LC’s disagreements with others were more concerned with form; advocating peaceful versus forceful conversation (8) - different form of implementing the same goal of conquering the natives to attain the ultimate objective of the colonization of consciousness (8) Only a more benevolent form of ecclestical imperialism Unique in that his imperialism was tempered by calls for reform in defense of the rights of the natives, at least on paper (8) - “Neverthelss, this defense seems to have ensued from the forms that domination assumed, rather than from a wholehearted opposition to the motives behind the practice. Nor did his defense seem to come from a feeling of sympathy or empathy with the natives but from a preoccupation to implement a more humane form of exploitation. In effect, given his active and willing participation in the imperialist venture, the friar was little more than another member of the occupying forces” (8) - Only different in his willingness to reach out to offer temporary succor to those victimized so that they may be

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benevolently, peacfully converted and exploited and incorporated as a member of the colony (paraphrased -8) Most important contribution of LC: providing an ongoing record of the events of the first half century of Spanish domination Ignorance of native languages forced LC to rely on intermediaries to communicate with the natives, rendering him impotent to reduce the cultural gap between his people and the natives LC’s quest to improve conditions of the natives contributed to the consolidation of the crown’s control over both colonists and natives > rarely acknowledged Most celebrated deed of LC - participation in debates of Valladolid in 15501551 LC himself wrote of his conviction in that the word of Christ will spread and touch every perso of all geographies, races, languages (7) - Not thinking about the indians are humans who do not deserve the treatment, but focusing on the fact that the treatment is not achieving the goal of conversion the reforms he proposed also show that “the liberty he envisioned by the natives was little more than a liberty conditioned by the economic and political needs of the motherland” (8) “refrained from calling for the abolition of the practice of assigning grants of tribute-paying Indians to a conquistador as a reward for services rendered to the crown, the encomienda. He limited himself to call for the amelioration of the tasks imposed on the natives” (9) When the possibility of Spaniard renunciation of new world possessions was raised, LC suggested that the crown take over the encomiendas, suggesting a change of masters from the priavte encomenderos to the state, instead of returning the land to its rightful owners, the natives (11)

Te natives already had strong theological beliefs of their own It was not a secret that the natives had religious beliefs and practices of their own, LC was not blind to that. And the only explanation for his behavior is his belief in the innate superiority of Christianity over the religions od the natives Another indication that Las Casas did not truly care for the well-being of the natives can be found in the fact that he appealed to the king and his advisors rather than directly confronting the colonists in the new world. If LC was aware of the ineffectiveness of laws and decrees in controllin gand reingning nin the

atrocities committed, as he seems to be in his writing, what did he expect toresult in his plea. The effort spent on persuading the monarch thus seems suspect. Indeed at least one of the motives of LC’s constant expression toward the conquistadores was encouraged by the crown (10). The king wanted his centralized government to be defnded against the fearistocrats who threatened his power to be publicly denounced and shamed. LC was the perfect person to do so. The king encouraged him to do this “at every possible turn” (10) It is recounted that Las Casas remained in te Spanish court because that was in his view the best and most effective setting in which he could advocate for the natives and influence of the political landscapr. “It was there where he could be more visible have direct access to the monarch, and be ostensibly morre effective in his work” (10) This is again suspect

His contact with the obejcts he was so keen to protect, the natives, was minimal He did not take an interest in learning the language of the indians. He thus needed to rely on intermediaries to communicate with them. Thid deficiency prevented him from overcoming the incommensurability with regards to religion, culure and customs. (11) He could have acted as a bridge between the voracious conquistadors and the natives, doing the ground work that is the prerequesite to dissolving the tensions and making way for th peaceful conversion and assimilation that he seemed to so badly want, but he showed no initiative to effect change beyond his pleas on paper.

“In almost every respect LC’s work with and for the indians is more paternalistic than paternal, more sympathtic We must not onfused paternity - which implied profound responisbility and a dislogical relationship with the more one-sided quality of paternalism, where the dichotonmy protector-victim acquires primacy He did contribute to the scholarly canon of infomration about Indoamerica as well as the legisalation he managed to influence, but ultimately the fate of natives were not improved and the reality that he was unwilling and thus unable to get close and understood te natives beyond the self-appointed, abstract role of providential protector of the colonized...