Writing as Poaching: Interpellation and Self-Fashioning in colonial __relaciones de méritos y servicios__

Colonial Spanish bureaucracy produced masses of 'autobiographical' texts ('relaciones de méritos and servicios') which forced/invited individuals to present themselves as perfect subjects of the King in order to be rewarded. Bureaucracy produced the officials of the colonial regime, and, at the same time, it provided individuals with the possibility of exploring the literary potential of writing one’s curriculum vitae. This book helps contextualize a body of often-used yet understudied historic sources; it indicates that the fabric of early modern society was held together by a pervasive economy of 'mercedes' (rewards); and it shows that the tension between state-induced production of autobiographical documents and the individual’s endeavor to outsmart this system is at the origin of modern forms of literature. Acknowledgements List of Figures 1. Introduction 2. Strategic interpellation and tactical writing in colonial historiography (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) 2.1. Introduction 2.2. 'Relaciones de Méritos y Servicios' 2.2.1. The Bureaucratic Dispositif: The Allocation of Offices and Privileges 2.2.2. The Archive: 'La Historiografía Indiana' and the Monopolization of Historiographical Discourse 3. Tactical Appropriations 3.1. Dorantes de Carranza: 'Memoria y Papeles' 3.2. The Arduous Work of Writing History: Alonso Borregán 3.3. Self and Archive: 'El Carnero' de Juan Rodríguez Freyle Epilogue: The Hallucinatory World of Bureaucracy Works Cited Index Reconstructing the workings of colonial Spanish bureaucracy in the production of reports on individuals' achievements, this book explores the interrelation of state-induced curricula vitae and individuals' endeavor to outsmart this system in the genesis of modern forms of literature.