Poder pastoral, acomodo y territorialidad en las Cartas Annuas jesuitas de Quito

Abstract

The article looks at the Jesuit Annual Letters concerning the Audiencia of Quito between 1586 and 1660. This virtually unexplored source is employed to analyze the conversion strategies and sacramental regime of the Jesuits in Quito. The article contends that the Jesuit conversion strategies shifted from an early engagement with native religion that included an interest in native myths, and extirpation of idolatry to a tabula rasa approach centered on the administration of sacraments. The article attributes this shift to the transfer of the Colegio de Quito from the Jesuit province of Peru to that of the New Kingdom (New Granada). The article contextualizes the Jesuit engagement with native culture in Quito and the operation of the administration of sacraments with reference to Juan Carlos Estenssoro’s notion of the two conversions as well as with reference to Michel Foucault’s category of pastoral power and he concept of confessionalization drawn from early modern European historiography.