Latin Radicals: Polemics by Spaniards and native authors in early colonial Mexico

The seminar, rooted in an ongoing research project on Cristóbal Cabrera, the first poet in the Americas, has a broader compass, incorporating texts by Cabrera’s influential contemporaries and associates which contain inflammatory criticism of the conduct of the Spaniards in the Indies. The classes will also introduce writings by indigenous Mexican rulers who took advantage of their humanist education to write Latin, challenging aspects of the colonial status quo and advancing the interests of their local communities.