Shamanism, Catholicism, and Gender Relations in Colonial Philippines, 1521-1685In this study, Carolyn Brewer explores the cultural clash that ensued when Hispanic Catholicism and Filipino Animism came into contact in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In so doing, she demonstrates the connections between religion, ideology and power, the evidence mounting with cumulative force to support her argument. Brewer highlights references to women who fleetingly appear in records of Magellan's voyage, and sets the scene for the arrival of Legaspi and the colonial enterprise. She explores the way indigenous women were represented in various early modern sources and delves into the processes by which dichotomous notions of 'good' and 'bad' women were introduced by successive waves of Spanish friars. role of female shamans and the manner in which these women were revalued from the prestigious and wealthy baylan to the reviled and banished bruha or witch and their roles eventually usurped by Catholic priests. Brewer also explores the ways in which asog (men who dressed as women) were converted to Catholicism. Finally, using inquisition documents, Brewer presents a case study from the town of Bolinao in Zambales Province. She reconstructs indigenous gender relationships, in the process of being fractured by inquisitorial processes, in which high class Zambal men and boys collaborated with the Spaniards to banish the shaman women and eradicate their influence. A meticulously researched book, Shamanism, Catholicism and Gender Relations constitutes a sustained examination of how contact with Christianity re-shaped gender roles in the early modern Philippines. |
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Aduarte Alcina Animist Animist practice Animist ritual Animist tradition Anito Annual Letter Antonio de Morga Arcega Archbishop archipelago Augustinian Recollects babaylan baptism barangay baylan Blancas Bolinao manuscript Calinog Carvallo catalonan Catholic Catholicism Cebu Cebuano century Chirino Christ Christian church colonial confession Cruz cultural Declaracion Dominicans father female Fereyra Filipinas Filipinas Islands Foucault Francisco gender Hispanic Hispanic Catholicism husband Ibid idolatry indigenous women indios Inquisition inquisitorial instrumentos investigation Islas Filipinas Jerónima Jesuit José Juan Legaspi Loarca London Magellan male shamans Manila manuscript marriage Mary missionaries Morga mother myth narrative natives Pardo Pedro Phelan Philipinas Philippine History Philippine Islands Pigafetta Plasencia priestesses priests Primo viaggio Provincia Quezon City Relación Relation relationships religion religious Repetti role Salazar Santissimo Rosario Santo sermons sex/gender sexual shamans sixteenth Society of Jesus Southeast Spaniards Spanish spiritual suggests Tagalog trans University Press Vila Virgin Visayan voyage witch woman Zambales Province