Abstract

SANCHEZ, Ramon. Polemic of Privilege: Cabeza de Vaca’s 1542 Relación and Mota Padilla’s 1742 Historia, Capítulo XV. Rev. hist. Am. [online]. 2019, n.157, pp.45-69.  Epub Feb 28, 2022. ISSN 2663-371X.  https://doi.org/10.35424/rha.157.2019.69.

The Spanish neo-feudal conceptof privilege continued rooted in the colonizing discourse several centuries after the conquest. Utilizing Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the superaddressee, my discursive study compares Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s 1542 La Relación and Capítulo XV in Matías de la Mota Padilla’s 1742 Historia. Although two centuries separate Cabeza de Vaca’s La Relación and Capítulo XV in Mota Padilla’s Historia, the narratives use the notion of privilege to justify “their” social, political, and economic rights derived from the conquest. The paper consists of three sections: narrative background, economic context, and textual analysis.

Keywords : Neo-feudal; peregrino; cristiano; superaddressees; discursive; privilege.