Colonial Habits Summary

Kathryn Burn’s book, Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco, Peru, provides an indepth look at colonial society throughout three centuries through the inner workings of a convent. The author is able to skillfully guide the reader through an analysis of the colonization of Cuzco, the most important Andean city in Southern Peru, from the insides of a convent of cloistered women. In the colonization of the Americas the nuns were in no way isolated from the outside world. In fact, the nuns were involved in a very complex “spiritual economy,” a term coined by the author to describe the intricate weave of exchanges with the rest of society that involved not only prayers but also negotiations of loans, inter-elite alliances, and the education of essentially but not exclusively young elite women. Through her study Cuzco’s convents, Burn attempts to explain the formation of a regional elite and how the nuns play a key role in that. Kathryn Burn applies gender as an analytical tool to investigate the politics involved in the foundation of the convents in the newly colonized Cuzco and in the distribution of family owned encomiendas. This standpoint yielded many interesting findings. Her account of the foundation of Cuzco's first convent leads to an enlightening analysis of mestizaje and the changing ways in which ethnic differences were understood and acted upon in the early years of the Spanish …show more content…
Burn comprehensively researched the topic, in both Spanish and Peruvian archives, and provided a meticulous,well organized argument in her book. Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco, Peru should be of interest to any student or teacher in the pursuit of knowledge of colonial history, early modern history, comparative cultural history, women's studies, and