Blog 4: Greg's thought on The Church

 

                  Today the class had a lecture in front of the Iglesia de Santo Domingo. When first arriving in Oaxaca on the first day, walking only a few blocks around the Zocolo to get to know the area, I noticed at least 4 churches all within a couple of blocks of one another. I thought this may be because Oaxaca might have been a very religious community but did not realize till today’s lecture how much power these churches had during the Colonial period.  From today’s lecture I learned that the church and religion not only played a major role in education but also acted as a major land owner and played a major role in the economy of Mexico.  Through religion, the Spaniards where able to justify their conquest of Mexico as they were “civilizing and bringing the true religion” to uncivilized people. In the history text Born in Blood and Fire: Colonial Crucible, by John Charles Chasteen, states “Religion offers one of the clearest examples of cultural hegemony. When enslaved Africans and indigenous people accepted the Europeans’ ‘’true religion,’’ they accepted, by the same token, their own status as newcomers to the truth.” It seems as though the Spanish attacked the lives of these indigenous people by all sides in order to completely dominate them in their conquest.

                  Although back home in my medium sized town we have multiple churches (about 5), none of them compare to the amazing churches of Oaxaca. In Oaxaca a church can be seen from every church. However in my town this is not the case. This seems to be representative of the United States separation of church and state in which the church has very little to no power in the role of government. However, in Oaxaca one can see the overall power of the church as they are omnipresent within the city.

                  Within the economy the Spanish Enconmienda systems lead to a rigid higherarchial system which eventually led to a Patronage system, yet another form of hegemony. This patronage system brought many layers to government and everyday life which caused a great deal of corruption leaving a political system which no one could trust. John Charles Chasteen later states, “Another hegemonic force—and inescapable—was patriarchy, the general principle that fathers rule. Fathers ruled heaven and earth, cities and families.” Although the Spanish Conquest of Mexico brought problems to the indigenous people it seems as though it may of helped to bring the people together as one, which may not have been possible without outside influence. If the citizens of the over 180 languages which were spoken by the inhabitants of Mexico, had not eventually come together as one to rebel, it seems as though Mexico would still be under the grasp of the Spanish Crown or some other nation. 

-Greg-