The University of Wisconsin Press

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History / Latin American Studies

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The Limits of Racial Domination Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660–1720 R. Douglas Cope Winner of the 1995 Herbert Eugene Bolton Award "A superb book, of obvious interest not only to Latin Americanists but also to those who study race relations in a hemispheric context."—Frederick P. Bowser, Stanford University In this distinguished contribution to Latin American colonial history, Douglas Cope draws upon a wide variety of sources-including Inquisition and court cases, notarial records and parish registers—to challenge the traditional view of castas (members of the caste system created by Spanish overlords) as rootless, alienated, and dominated by a desire to improve their racial status. On the contrary, the castas, Cope shows, were neither passive nor ruled by feelings of racial inferiority; indeed, they often modified or even rejected elite racial ideology. Castas also sought ways to manipulate their social "superiors" through astute use of the legal system. Cope shows that social control by the Spaniards rested less on institutions than on patron-client networks linking individual patricians and plebeians, which enabled the elite class to co-opt the more successful castas. The book concludes with the most thorough account yet published of the Mexico City riot of 1692. This account illuminates both the shortcomings and strengths of the patron-client system. Spurred by a corn shortage and subsequent famine, a plebeian mob laid waste much of the central city. Cope demonstrates that the political situation was not substantially altered, however; the patronage system continued to control employment and plebeians were largely left to bargain and adapt, as before. A revealing look at the economic lives of the urban poor in the colonial era, The Limits of Racial Domination examines a period in which critical social changes were occurring. The book should interest historians and ethnohistorians alike. R. Douglas Cope is assistant professor of history at Brown University. Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)

April 1994 LC: 93-23344 F 224 pp.  6 x 9 The cloth edition, ISBN 0-299-14040-7, is out of print. Paper $19.95 x ISBN 978-0-299-14044-1 ADD TO CART

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