Based on extensive archival research, The Power of Huacas is the first book to take account of the reciprocal effects of religious colonization as they impacted Andean populations and, simultaneously, dramatically changed the culture and beliefs of Spanish Christians. Winner, Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the category of Historical Studies, American Academy of Religion, 2015 The role of the religious specialist in Andean cultures of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries was a complicated one, balanced between local traditions and the culture of the Spanish. In The Power of Huacas, Claudia Brosseder reconstructs the dynamic interaction between religious specialists and the colonial world that unfolded around them, considering how the discourse about religion shifted on both sides of the Spanish and Andean relationship in complex and unexpected ways. In The Power of Huacas, Brosseder examines evidence of transcultural exchange through religious history, anthropology, and cultural studies. Taking Andean religious specialists—or hechizeros (sorcerers) in colonial Spanish terminology—as a starting point, she considers the different ways in which Andeans and Spaniards thought about key cultural and religious concepts. Unlike previous studies, this important book fully outlines both sides of the colonial relationship; Brosseder uses extensive archival research in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Spain, Italy, and the United States, as well as careful analysis of archaeological and art historical objects, to present the Andean religious worldview of the period on equal footing with that of the Spanish. Throughout the colonial period, she argues, Andean religious specialists retained their own unique logic, which encompassed specific ideas about holiness, nature, sickness, and social harmony. The Power of Huacas deepens our understanding of the complexities of assimilation, showing that, within the maelstrom of transcultural exchange in the Spanish Americas, European paradigms ultimately changed more than Andean ones.

Esta publicación pretende recopilar en un solo volumen, 9 documentos raros(fuentes primarias impresas) de difícil acceso y ayudar a promover el estudio histórico en este campo. Los documentos han sido preservados íntegros como fueron publicados originalmente. Entendemos que la historia económica de Puerto Rico en el siglo XIX no ha sido estudiada lo suficiente por los historiadores. Sin embargo entendemos que existen más estudios de historia económica de Puerto Rico del siglo XX, pero por otro lado, a su vez tenemos la certeza que esta compilación de documentos podría redundar en investigaciones futuras. Estos 9 documentos subrayan un denominador común: las dificultades enfrentadas en el comercio, en la agricultura y sus efectos sociales en nuestra Isla. Ello nos presenta un cuadro que nos permite entender de primera mano la situación económica en el último cuarto del siglo XIX en Puerto Rico.