Articles by Nathan Gordon
An article on the meaning and symbolism of the name Sab in Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda's Sab.
Bulletin of the Comediantes
On September 10, 1601, a Spanish Jeronymite by the name of Diego de Ocaña, from the monastery Ext... more On September 10, 1601, a Spanish Jeronymite by the name of Diego de Ocaña, from the monastery Extremeño de Guadalupe, stood in Potosí Bolivia’s plaza 10 de Noviembre. He watched his own play titled Comedia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe y sus milagros be performed for the first time in front of thousands of Spaniards, creoles, mestizos, and indigenous peoples. The play, which incorporated one of Ocaña’s Virgin of Guadalupe paintings, highlighted the historical and miraculous moments of the original painting in various individual scenes. Modern critics have tried to explain the play’s meaning and symbolism, as well as Ocaña’s personal interests and intentions. Over time, Comedia de Nuestra Señora has generally and briefly been recognized as a propagandistic play fueled by Ocaña’s economic motives. This article aims to avoid generalities by providing examples that demonstrate how Ocaña employed persuasive methods to obtain religious donations. Some of the ways he achieved his goal were by utilizing varied poetic verses, exemplary characters, and promises of divine assistance. Similarly, he took advantage of the preestablished celebratory and religious ambience, described in Viaje por el Nuevo Mundo, which consequently allowed theatrical spaces to enter religious spaces. This confused the two, making the theatrical more believable and “real.” Finally, Ocaña knew that his performance would take place in Potosí, where reciprocity was an active political and social tradition. Every kind gesture and offering he made to the Potosí residents would have required compensation. I argue that these tactics were used by Ocaña in order to guarantee that participants and spectators would make donations to the Jeronymite monastery and never forget the importance and divine power of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Book Reviews by Nathan Gordon
Translations by Nathan Gordon
The southern frontier could be a cruel and unforgiving place during the early eighteenth century.... more The southern frontier could be a cruel and unforgiving place during the early eighteenth century. The British colony of South Carolina was in proximity and traded with several Native American groups. The economic and military relationships between the colonialists and natives were always filled with tension but the Good Friday 1715 uprising surprised Carolinians by its swift brutality. Larry E. Ivers examines the ensuing lengthy war in This Torrent of Indians. Named for the Yamasee Indians because they were the first to strike, the war persisted for thirteen years and powerfully influenced colonial American history.
While Ivers examines the reasons offered by recent scholars for the outbreak of the war--indebtedness to Anglo-American traders, fear of enslavement, and pernicious land grabbing--he concentrates on the military history of this long war and its impact on all inhabitants of the region: Spanish and British Europeans, African Americans, and most of all, the numerous Indian groups and their allies. Eventually defeated, the Indian tribes withdrew from South Carolina or made peace treaties that left the region ripe for colonial exploitation.
Ivers's detailed narrative and analyses demonstrates the horror and cruelty of a war of survival. The organization, equipment, and tactics used by South Carolinians and Indians were influenced by the differing customs but both sides acted with savage determination to extinguish their foes. Ultimately, it was the individuals behind the tactics that determined the outcomes. Ivers shares stories from both sides of the battlefield--tales of the courageous, faint of heart, inept, and the upstanding. He also includes a detailed account of black and Indian slave soldiers serving with distinction alongside white soldiers in combat. Ivers gives us an original and fresh, ground-level account of that critical period, 1715 to 1728, when the southern frontier was a very dangerous place.
Conference Presentations by Nathan Gordon
This paper seeks to establish a taxonomy of problems in the transcription of colonial Latin Ameri... more This paper seeks to establish a taxonomy of problems in the transcription of colonial Latin American manuscripts. Taking as a point of departure my experiences transcribing sections of the colonial chronicle Ophir de España (1642) by Fernando de Montesinos, I seek to identify obstacles common to work on the vast array of colonial-era texts that remain today unedited in archives around the world. These challenges include the multi-lingual nature of colonial texts, the presence of various hands and of non-textual information, the linguistic and orthographic variability of Spanish in the period. I will consider as well the problems inherent in working from digital images of such documents.
On September 10, 1601 a Spanish Jeronymite by the name of Diego de Ocaña, from the Jeronymite mon... more On September 10, 1601 a Spanish Jeronymite by the name of Diego de Ocaña, from the Jeronymite monastery Extremeño de Guadalupe, stood in Potosí Bolivia’s plaza 10 de Noviembre. He watched his own play titled Comedia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe y sus milagros be performed for the first time in front of thousands of Spaniards, creoles, mestizos and indigenous peoples. The play, which incorporated one of Ocaña’s Virgin of Guadalupe paintings, highlighted the historical and miraculous moments of the original painting in various individual scenes. Since the plays introduction and latter publications, modern critics have tried to explain its meaning and symbolism as well as Ocaña’s personal interests and intentions. Overtime, Comedia de Nuestra Señora has generally and briefly been recognized as a propagandistic play fueled by Ocaña’s economic motives. This study aims to avoid generalities by providing convincing, extensive and concrete examples that demonstrate how Ocaña employed persuasive methods to obtain religious donations through the script and presentation of his play. Some of the ways he achieved his goal was by utilizing varied poetic verses, exemplary characters and promises of Guadalupean divine assistance. Similarly, he took advantage of the pre-established celebratory and religious ambience, described in Viaje por el Nuevo Mundo, which consequently allowed theatrical spaces to bleed into religious spaces. This confused the two making the theatrical more believable and “real.” Finally, Ocaña knew his performance would take place in Potosí were reciprocity was an active political and social tradition. Every kind gesture and offering he made to the Potosí residents would have required compensation. I argue that all of these tactics were intentional used by Ocaña in order to guarantee that participants and spectators would make donations to the Jeronymite monastery Extremeño de Guadalupe and hopefully never forget the importance and divine power of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Talks by Nathan Gordon
This is NOT a publication by me. Hannah Sandorf wrote this online article about a talk I gave at ... more This is NOT a publication by me. Hannah Sandorf wrote this online article about a talk I gave at Brigham Young University.
The Daily Universe, 2017
This is NOT a publication by me. I am quoted in the article by Maurissa Ashby-Faulkner. It was an... more This is NOT a publication by me. I am quoted in the article by Maurissa Ashby-Faulkner. It was an interview.
Papers by Nathan Gordon
Uploads
Articles by Nathan Gordon
Book Reviews by Nathan Gordon
Translations by Nathan Gordon
While Ivers examines the reasons offered by recent scholars for the outbreak of the war--indebtedness to Anglo-American traders, fear of enslavement, and pernicious land grabbing--he concentrates on the military history of this long war and its impact on all inhabitants of the region: Spanish and British Europeans, African Americans, and most of all, the numerous Indian groups and their allies. Eventually defeated, the Indian tribes withdrew from South Carolina or made peace treaties that left the region ripe for colonial exploitation.
Ivers's detailed narrative and analyses demonstrates the horror and cruelty of a war of survival. The organization, equipment, and tactics used by South Carolinians and Indians were influenced by the differing customs but both sides acted with savage determination to extinguish their foes. Ultimately, it was the individuals behind the tactics that determined the outcomes. Ivers shares stories from both sides of the battlefield--tales of the courageous, faint of heart, inept, and the upstanding. He also includes a detailed account of black and Indian slave soldiers serving with distinction alongside white soldiers in combat. Ivers gives us an original and fresh, ground-level account of that critical period, 1715 to 1728, when the southern frontier was a very dangerous place.
Conference Presentations by Nathan Gordon
Talks by Nathan Gordon
Papers by Nathan Gordon
While Ivers examines the reasons offered by recent scholars for the outbreak of the war--indebtedness to Anglo-American traders, fear of enslavement, and pernicious land grabbing--he concentrates on the military history of this long war and its impact on all inhabitants of the region: Spanish and British Europeans, African Americans, and most of all, the numerous Indian groups and their allies. Eventually defeated, the Indian tribes withdrew from South Carolina or made peace treaties that left the region ripe for colonial exploitation.
Ivers's detailed narrative and analyses demonstrates the horror and cruelty of a war of survival. The organization, equipment, and tactics used by South Carolinians and Indians were influenced by the differing customs but both sides acted with savage determination to extinguish their foes. Ultimately, it was the individuals behind the tactics that determined the outcomes. Ivers shares stories from both sides of the battlefield--tales of the courageous, faint of heart, inept, and the upstanding. He also includes a detailed account of black and Indian slave soldiers serving with distinction alongside white soldiers in combat. Ivers gives us an original and fresh, ground-level account of that critical period, 1715 to 1728, when the southern frontier was a very dangerous place.