Essay Example on In When Jesus Came the Corn Mothers

In When Jesus Came the Corn Mothers Went Away Marriage Sexuality and Power in New Mexico 1500 1846 Ramón A Gutiérrez argues that the Spanish Franciscans used marriage as a way to structure racial and gender inequalities among the Pueblo Indians Throughout his book Gutiérrez displays his research and explains how it contributes to proving thesis His detailed inquiry into how Spanish colonization affected Pueblo society should be highly regarded not only for its extensiveness but also for its insight into the native perspective Gutiérrez investigates how the Franciscans ideology changed Pueblo women s social status through the institution of marriage He approaches and analyzes his evidence through a sociological and anthropological lens When Jesus Came the Corn Mothers Went Away is organized into three main sections The first section concentrates on Pueblo life before European interference Here Gutiérrez focuses on sexuality He goes on to theorize that women held a lot sexual power due to the acceptance of women having freedom to make their own sexual choices It was common for both men and women to practice polygamy monogamy homosexuality bisexuality and recreational sex in general The second section recounts the Spanish colonization of the Pueblo people while focusing on how Franciscan missionaries impacted the erasure of Pueblo culture The third section lists the effects of colonization on 

While explaining his reasoning for this claim he explains the title of the book Corn Mothers were a part of a Pueblos origin myth that explained that women created life When Christian ideology was integrated by force the concept of a male origin led to the Corn Mothers being forgotten He cites The Origins of the Family Private Property and the State a book that includes various pieces of evidence that claim that colonization played a large part in how women s roles in native culture has changed Throughout the book Gutiérrez uses a plethora of sources to back his claims It is obvious after reading the book that he conducted extensive research and obtained heaps of information relating to his topic When Jesus Came the Corn Mothers Went Away uses a variety of different source types including Pueblo myths religious documents archaeological studies colonist journals Spanish records and oral histories He also uses statistics to support his arguments Section three alone informs the reader about the average age Pueblo women married average age difference in marriage forced marriage interracial marriage and foreign tribal marriage