Substances of the idolatry: the medicines that inebriate the Indians of Mexico and Peru from histories of the 16th and 17th centuries

Author(s)

Alexandre Camera Varella

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2008-06-25

Examining board members

Henrique Soares Carneiro; Ana Raquel Marques da Cunha Martins Portugal; Janice Theodoro da Silva

• Advisor: Henrique Soares Carneiro

Abstract

From a cultural history point of view, we analyze perceptions and policies over indigenous relation to psycho-actives (alcoholic beverages, stimulants and hallucinogens), based on treatises written from the middle of the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century at the Spanish-American world. They are histories about the anciant Mexicans and Peruvians, as well as about their descendents from the vice royalties of New Spain and Peru. In such works, the habits related to psycho-actives were believed to be essential elements of the idolatry (the indigenous false religion); besides being used in ceremonies and sorcery, some plants and potions were also worshipped as divinities. We organize the chapters according to the contexts and groups of document sources/authors: (i) for the general context of the Spanish empire consolidation in America, we analyze the Dominican Bartolomé de las Casas and the Jesuit Joseph de Acosta; (ii) for the New Spain mendicant missionaries times in the 16th century, the Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún and the Dominican Diego Durán; (iii) from the extirpation of idolatry strongest period in the 17th century, the vicars Hernando Ruiz de Alarcón and Jacinto de la Serna; and (iv) from the turning of the 16th to the 17th century, the Peruvian Indian chronicler Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala. Other document sources were also consulted, in particular treatises covering indigenous medicines, like those written by the Spanish physicians Nicolas Monardes, Francisco Hernández and Juan de Cárdenas, and also by an Indian doctor from Mexico, Martín de la Cruz. The main subjects we discuss in the work are: the views of benefits from the medicines that inebriate; the meanings of vice associated to substances, from a non-natural habit to a passport for sins; the notion of going out of mind as a natural consequence of inebriation, but which opens the possibility of demonic intrusion; usage representations in sacrifices, communions, witchcraft, and the idolatry of plants and potions. All those issues are analyzed bearing in mind that idolatry tell us not only about the stereotype and the pathways of habits forbiddance, but also distinguishes the local knowledge and powers, and its vitality, all taking place in an environment of political and cultural clashes, negotiations and accommodations. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 05/58667-4 - Substances of the idolatry: the medicines that inebriate the Indians of Mexico and Peru from histories of the 16th and 17th centuries
• Grantee: Alexandre Camera Varella
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master