Gender Dynamics in New Spain: Inside the Colonial Home of the Third Count of Sierra Gorda, Mariano Timoteo Escandón y Llera

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

To investigate gender dynamics in the late Viceroyalty of New Spain, Salgado examined the 1814 will of Mariano Timoteo Escandón y Llera, the third Count of Sierra Gorda, who resided in present-day Morelia, Mexico. An earlier transcription of this document details the property where Don Mariano lived from 1775 to 1814, including the objects within it. By contextualizing the historical events in the Old World that influenced space distribution within the homes of the elite in New Spain, this study provides a foundation for investigating gender relations during the late colonial period. These events led elite homes to evolve into single-family residences, resulting in a new spatial distribution that intensified the hierarchization of power in social relations and justified class, race, and gender distinctions. Traversing through this dwelling, the main living room and the “estrado,” a space exclusively for female use for over two centuries, became mixed-use in the early 19th century. The transformation into a space for the socialization of reason allowed women to participate in intellectual conversations. Research presented here demonstrates the significance of studying Colonial wills to understand how domestic space functions as an epistemic regime shaping gender systems.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51859