Conflict in Colonial Sonora - by David Yetman (Paperback)

About the Book

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries northwestern Mexico was the scene of ongoing conflict among three distinct social groups--Indians, religious orders of priests, and settlers. In this study, Yetman examines seven separate instances of such conflict, each of which reveals a different perspective on this complicated world.

Book Synopsis

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries northwestern Mexico was the scene of ongoing conflict among three distinct social groups--Indians, religious orders of priests, and settlers. In this study, Yetman examines seven separate instances of such conflict, each of which reveals a different perspective on this complicated world.

Review Quotes

David Yetman's deep familiarity with the ethnobotany, culture and history of Sonora--especially the area that came to be known as the Opatería--serves him well as a storyteller. He offers imaginatively detailed and colloquial renderings of conflicts among colonizers of different stripes and indigenous groups.--Susan M. Deeds, author of Defiance and Deference in Mexico's Colonial North: Indians Under Spanish Rule in Nueva Vizcaya

Yetman has unearthed valuable archival materials that provide us with a new understanding of indigenous-Spanish relations during Sonora's overlooked early colonial period. His work offers valuable insights into the intersections of environmental degradation, resistance, and brutal competition to govern and control scarce resources on Mexico's northern periphery.--Laura Shelton, author of For Tranquility and Order: Family and Community on Mexico's Northern Frontier, 1800-1850

About the Author

David Yetman is a research social scientist at the University of Arizona's Southwest Center and the host of the PBS documentary television series In the Americas with David Yetman. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.