Nicole von Germeten

The 1789 Dongo Murders and How They Shaped the History of a Nation

Death in Old Mexico

Early Law Enforcement in Mexico City

Enlightened Patrolman

"This book recounts four centuries of the history of women labeled public women, whores, and prostitutes in New Spain's archival records and works of literature from Spain and Mexico. Performing conventional gender roles, women resisted the archival inscription of these labels, so this complex story of multi-layered viceregal sex work acknowledges the ambiguities and limitations of documenting the history of sexuality via written sources. The elusive, ever-changing terminology for prosecuted women in the early modern Iberian world, voiced by kings, jurists, magistrates, inquisitors, and bishops, as well as disgruntled husbands and neighbors, foreshadows the increasing regulation, criminalization, and polarizing politics of modern global transactional sex. Key themes include: the history of the word "prostitute/prostitution," narratives presented by women in a court setting, the creation of a victim narrative by defendants and prosecutors, legal history, and the importance of the economic and familial context in shaping sexual transactionality. Sources used come from the archives of police, church, and inquisitorial investigations. Interpretations are shaped by archival and sex work activism theories"--Provided by publisher.

Transactional Sex in Colonial Mexico

Profit and Passion

""This work is an intensive examination of honor, race, violence, and sexuality in Cartegna during the era of Spanish rule."--Provided by publisher"--

Sex, Race, & Honor in Colonial Cartagena de Indias

Violent Delights, Violent Ends

This study of sexuality in seventeenth-century Latin America takes the reader beneath the surface of daily life in a colonial city. Cartagena was an important Spanish port and the site of an Inquisition high court, a slave market, a leper colony, a military base, and a prison colony—colonial institutions that imposed order by enforcing Catholicism, cultural and religious boundaries, and prevailing race and gender hierarchies. The city was also simmering with illegal activity, from contraband trade to prostitution to heretical religious practices. Nicole von Germeten’s research uncovers scandalous stories drawn from archival research in Inquisition cases, criminal records, wills, and other legal documents. The stories focus largely on sexual agency and honor: an insult directed at a married woman causes a deadly street battle; a young doña uses sex to manipulate a lustful, corrupt inquisitor. Scandals like these illustrate the central thesis of this book: women in colonial Cartagena de Indias took control of their own sex lives and used sex and rhetoric connected to sexuality to plead their cases when they had to negotiate with colonial bureaucrats.

Nicole von Germeten

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