Idolatry, Punitive Projects, and Incipient Modernity in New Spain

This paper presents an overview of confessional, disciplinary, and punitive tactics employed by ecclesiastical and civil idolatry extirpation projects in the colonial dioceses of Mexico and Oaxaca in New Spain. By focusing on several important landmark processes in the emergence of these projects--the multitudinous entry of parish priests in the early seventeenth century into the field of idolatry extirpation, the management of a perpetual prison for the most "dangerous" idolaters in Oaxaca City between the 1690s and 1750s, and the orchestration of the most successful anti-idolatry campaign in New Spain in 1704-05--this paper traces the trajectory of idolatry eradication efforts. Two transitional moments are proposed here: a shift into the empirical investigation of indigenous ritual practices, and a contested and incomplete transition into modes of social control, such as collective confessions and permanent incarceration, that may be interpreted as incipient forms of modern punitive projects.