Social and Cultural Change on the Jesuit Missions of Paraguay and the Chiquitos Mission Frontier
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Year:
- 2012
- Journal Title:
- Middle Ground Journal
- Issue:
- 5
- Language:
- Abstract:
This essay examines the similar process of social and cultural change and religious conversion on the Jesuit missions of Paraguay and the Chiquitos frontier of what today is eastern Bolivia, in the Province of Paraguay. It also considers the limitations to the missionary programs on the frontier. One of the most difficult tasks in assessing social and cultural change is identifying the level of religious conversion, of the persistence of traditional religious beliefs, or the parallel process of religious syncretism or the blending of old and new religious beliefs. However, there are tantalizing clues in the documentation, and the reported behavior of the natives themselves. This essay also considers shifts in material culture, the transformation of the native clan structure in the missions, and the political organization of the mission communities. The discussion of this final issue takes into consideration the political/military organization of the Paraguay missions that evolved on a contested colonial frontier in the Rio de la Plata region. The organization and mobilization of the mission militia from the Paraguay missions contributed to the evolution of a hybrid political system on the missions, and to the growth of a collective identity among the Guarani mission residents similar to that of Chiriguano residents on the Franciscan missions that Langer documents. The first topic is religious conversion.
- What (Subjects):
- Where (Locations):
- When (Centuries):
- Publisher URL:
- Page Range:
- 1–39
- ISSN:
- 2155-1103