Shamanism, Catholicism, and Gender Relations in Colonial Philippines, 1521-1685

In Shamanism, Catholicism and Gender Relations in Colonial Philippines, 1521–1685, Carolyn Brewer explores the cultural clash that ensued when Hispanic Catholicism came into contact with Filipino Animism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Brewer explores the way indigenous women were represented in various early modern sources. She writes the female shamans back into the history of the Philippines and elucidates the processes by which the Christian missionaries reviled and then supplanted them. Finally, using inquisition documents, she reconstructs indigenous gender relationships, showing how high class Zambal men and boys collaborated with the Spaniards to banish the shaman women and eradicate their influence. Brewer demonstrates the connections between religion, ideology and power. A meticulously researched book, Shamanism, Catholicism, and Gender Relations constitutes a sustained examination of how contact with Christianity reshaped gender roles in the early modern Philippines.