This is the first academic effort to present the problem of the history and identity of cacicas as a whole in a single volume, looking at them from various angles. Therein lies the great contribution of this publication which, it should be noted, is not a special project with a shared focus, but rather a set of personal contributions around the experiences of specific cacicas in various parts of Spanish America throughout the entire colonial period.
Vicuña Guengerich makes the interesting claim to be guided by the concept of “purposeful historical subjects” that Michel-Rolph Trouillot proposed in 1995; in reality she is the only one who mentions and follows it in her chapter as a tool to reassess cacicas' role as leaders who, in the search for their social and political goals, become “fully historical beings” (10–11, 25). Other authors do not even mention this approach, including Margarita Ochoa and Mónica Díaz, co-editor and author of the conclusions, respectively. In another place, the editors considered “microhistorical” the methodological approach of the contributions (26), perhaps confusing this form of understanding historical facts with short and specific studies. Although the book is far from being a comparative history, the cases presented serve to establish the possible differences and affinities around the cacicas and thus expand our knowledge and comprehension of such an important topic.
The history of the cacicas is very rich in nuances that this compilation seeks to discover with specific and well-documented studies to “disambiguate the term cacica” (32). The book finds significant examples of cacicas, early and late, urban and rural, small and large, in order to establish the differences between them. Many contributions are based on specific cases in which the participation of cacicas (along with their lawyers) is reflected, especially in legal disputes for assets (land) and the inheritance of the office. This approach should facilitate our comprehension of the character of the power that the cacicas came to have in the social, economic, political, and symbolic spheres vis-à-vis the place that their male counterparts had in supporting (or questioning) the social and colonial domination in Spanish America. In particular, important discussions bring forward the place of cacicas during the conquest and period of Bourbon reformism to appreciate the mechanisms they used to maintain their authority and power in crucial historical circumstances.
Like most compilations, the book is uneven, due to both the specialties of the authors and the variety of situations under study. Cacicas had very different conditions for access to power and its exercise in a vast geography of Spanish America, and I want to highlight only some of the cases. Among early colonial cases, Bradley Benton considers Teotihuacan women who inherited the position of tlatoque (cacica) despite the opposition from potential male heirs, although lacking pre-Hispanic experience (50). In two remarkable essays. Liliana Pérez and Renzo Honores share their experiences in the study of colonial women and legal history, respectively, to show how cacicas defended their titles and their lands in the courts of justice thanks to the flexibility of Castilian law (206). Karen Graubart once again demonstrates her expertise on the Peruvian native population by discussing the efforts of northern cacicas to gain access to the cacicazgo by inheritance in the seventeenth century, when the power of the Andean elites was already in decline and the term was more honorific than real (156).
For the eighteenth century, two cases studied by Margarita R. Ochoa and Catherine Komisaruk are similarly interesting because both follow the destiny of an institution that went through major changes with the Bourbon reforms as well as with popular and indigenous rebellions. The cacicas of Bourbon Mexico City are difficult to recognize as such due to their nonpolitical role and their communal functions, which often complemented the work of male caciques, since they were primarily dedicated to mitigating and resolving domestic problems in the neighborhood. In actuality, the colonial regime left the institution with almost no functions (at least in its female version) in the city (89, 93 and 105). The fragility of the cacicas´ status is also observed in the case of macehualization in Guatemala, due to the systematic substitution in the eighteenth century of the hereditary nobility by common indigenous people, and even persons belonging to other castes (114). The same phenomenon was common to other parts of Spanish America and affected both male and female caciques.
The only clear case of a cacica with great political, economic, and social power is that of Teresa Choquehuanca, who is studied here by Vicuña Guengerich. Choquehuanca was the ruler of a rich and populated jurisdiction that was crucial in defeating the great rebellion of 1780 in the southern Andes, and a decade later confronted what the author calls the caciques principales. According to the author, Choquehuanca's principales and commoners used gender arguments to prevent the ratification of her title by the colonial authorities. However, according to the quotes provided in the text, it seems that the author mistakenly considers feelings of affection as gender manifestations. In fact, love could developed between a king and a vassal. The positions of lord and servant implied reciprocal obligations, under both European and Andean standards (216, 227–229).
The book is very valuable for the attention it pays to newly emerging Spanish American historical actors, both in its contribution as a whole and in individual essays. All the chapters are of interest and could be discussed in graduate classes to great advantage.
