Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Under the guidance of Mary: “Moriscos” and “Indios” against the expansion of the Spanish Empire and the politics of Marian devotion.

Project description

Moriscos, Indios, and the politics of Marian devotion in the Spanish Empire

In the 15th century, the Spanish Empire's expansion led to the suppression of native populations known as "Indios" and "Moriscos." The Virgin Mary played a critical role in their evangelisation and the construction of colonial society. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the UGM project will focus on the political implications of Marian devotion in the Early Modern Spanish Empire, analysing its role in the colonial management of Moriscos and Indios and the articulation of native responses against imperial pressure. The project will conduct a comparative study that will reveal how the evolution of Marian devotion, on both sides of the Atlantic, reflected changes in the collective perception and agency of native communities and a shared use by native elites of Mary as a political tool to promote an "inclusive" conception of the Spanish Empire.

Objective

The focus of my research project is the political implications of Marian devotion in the Early Modern Iberian World and its role in the colonial management of “native” communities of “Moriscos” and “Indios,” subdued since the end of the 15th century by the expansion of the Spanish Empire. In this sense, my study proposes a “political” reading of the development of Marian devotion in the Iberian Peninsula and its American colonies, analysing how its particular characteristics and evolution reflected the progressive transformation of the Spanish imperial project and encoded diverse and changing conceptions of the role of these “native” communities in the imperial fabric. Through the comparative study of the representation of “Indios” and “Moriscos” in the collective imagery, official documentation and religious literature, my research tries to question the role of the Virgin and her imagined relationship with these communities in the debate over the ability of “native” populations to integrate themselves into the colonial regime as “faithful subjects” and “good Christians”, and the place of their culture and religious sensibility in the configuration of the emerging colonial culture. Through the analysis of the intellectual and artistic products commissioned by “Christianized” Morisco and Mesoamerican elites, my project tries to elucidate how “native” communities and especially subaltern elites, facing the progressive erosion of their rights and privileges, used Marian devotion to prove the value of their cultural heritage, lineage and memory and to reclaim their place in the colonial society. Similarly, my research seeks to understand how “native” communities transformed the Virgin into a “political” symbol, through which they could legitimise their understanding of Christianity and o promote an alternative and more “inclusive” conception of the Spanish Empire against the growing acculturating and homogenising pressure of the Empire and the Reformed Church.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 261 380,64
Address
CALLE SERRANO 117
28006 MADRID
Spain

See on map

Region
Comunidad de Madrid Comunidad de Madrid Madrid
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Partners (1)

My booklet 0 0