Life in Mexico: Reclaiming Frances Calderón de la Barca as a historian of the Conquest of Mexico

这个项目将探讨一部持久而有影响力的19世纪墨西哥征服史是如何融入当代欧洲对墨西哥土著文化的观察，这些观察有助于创造和延续关于“被征服”人民的有害思想，这些思想至今仍在继续。1842年，自独立以来第一位西班牙驻墨西哥大使的英国妻子弗朗西斯·卡尔德龙·德拉巴萨出版了《墨西哥生活：一系列用英语写的记录这些经历的信件。她的朋友、著名的历史学家威廉·H·普雷斯科特鼓励出版这本书，但也要求卡尔德龙为他的《墨西哥征服史》（1843年）寻找资料来源和联系人。7/24普雷斯科特的《历史》被认为是一部里程碑式的学术著作，在巩固欧洲文化优越性的观念方面是不可或缺的，这是征服者成功的关键。（Clendinnen，1991），这些想法仍然在现代流行的想象中普遍存在。尽管在英国，西班牙，美国和墨西哥非常流行并广泛出版，卡尔德龙的《墨西哥生活》被男性主导的历史景观所忽略。世纪女性的游记常常被同时代的人认为是琐碎的和非学术的（莱斯克，1999）。然而，旅行写作作为一个新兴的历史学领域，开辟了新的方法来体裁，与阿德里安娜门德斯Rodenas（2014）铺平了道路，特别是对女性跨大西洋叙事的检查。利用这种历史方法的转变，本项目将对弗朗西斯·卡尔德龙·德·拉·巴萨的信件和旅行日记（可在大英图书馆、英国国家档案馆和哈佛霍顿图书馆查阅）和普雷斯科特的《历史》进行密切的比较分析，研究卡尔德龙对叙事的影响;进一步追踪她对征服墨西哥的更广泛的史学的影响。该研究的目的是-探索历史叙事中女性声音的边缘化。评估卡尔德龙对十九世纪墨西哥人的观察在多大程度上促成了普雷斯科特对十六世纪征服期间土著人民的负面描述。研究这些叙述如何导致“被征服”人民的持续压迫，尽管他们显然独立于殖民“主人”。探索卡尔德龙的作用，使有害的想法，土著自卑和contextualisethem使用后殖民方法论，探讨十九世纪欧洲的焦虑aboutfailing帝国主义，促成了复苏的“征服narratives”。这些早期的历史仍然有助于种族主义tropes，如土著civilisationas“古老的外国人”在最近的流行媒体的介绍。试图质疑这些叙述往往会遭到“wokeness”甚至“重写历史”的指责，因为缺乏对历史是如何根据不断变化的政治格局而创造的广泛理解，以及它们可能对民族造成的损害。这个项目旨在解构这些概念，以帮助改变公众的看法，并通过与公众的文化和教育合作伙伴，如Mexicolore.co.uk和墨西哥研究中心，与我的监督团队合作，促进话语。第一年将专注于次要材料;探索出版的主要来源的集合，并计划第二年的研究旅行;第三年集中于重新起草和提交论文。

This project will explore how a lasting and impactful nineteenth century History of the Conquest ofMexico incorporated contemporary European observations of Indigenous Mexican culture that helped tocreate and perpetuate harmful ideas about 'conquered' peoples that endure today.In 1842, Frances Calderón de la Barca, British wife of the first Spanish ambassador to Mexico sinceIndependence, published Life in Mexico: a series of letters written in English documenting herexperiences. Her friend and famed historian, William H. Prescott, encouraged this publication, but alsorequested that Calderón procure sources and contacts for his History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843).7 / 24Considered a landmark work of scholarship, Prescott's History was integral in cementing notions ofEuropean cultural superiority as key to the conquistadors' success (Clendinnen, 1991), ideas which arestill pervasive in the modern popular imagination.Despite being incredibly popular and published widely in Britain, Spain, USA and Mexico, Calderón's Lifein Mexico has been omitted from the male-dominated historical landscape. Travel narratives by womenduring the nineteenth century were often considered trivial and unscholarly by contemporaries (Leask,1999). However, travel writing as an emerging field of historiography has opened up new approaches tothe genre, with Adriana Méndez Rodenas (2014) paving the way for the examination of femaletransatlantic narratives in particular. Capitalising on this shift in historical methodologies, this project willundertake a close comparative analysis of Frances Calderón de la Barca's letters and travel diaries(available in the British Library; National Archives UK and Harvard's Houghton Library) and Prescott'sHistory, examining the influence that Calderón had on the narrative; tracing her influence further into thewider historiography of the Conquest of Mexico. The research aims are- to explore the marginalisation of women's voices in historical narratives.- to assess how far Calderón's observations of nineteenth century Mexicans contributed to Prescott'snegative representation of sixteenth century Indigenous peoples during the Conquest.- to examine how these narratives contributed to the continued oppression of 'conquered' peoples,despite their apparent independence from their colonial 'masters'.- to explore Calderón's role in perpetuating harmful ideas about Native inferiority and to contextualisethem using postcolonial methodologies to explore the nineteenth century European anxieties aboutfailing imperialism that contributed to a resurgence in 'conquest narratives'.These early histories still contribute to racist tropes, such as the presentation of Indigenous civilisationsas 'ancient aliens' in recent popular media. Attempts to question these narratives are often met withaccusations of 'wokeness,' or even 're-writing history' due to a lack of widespread understanding abouthow histories are created according to changing political landscapes, and the damage they can cause tomarginalised peoples. This project aims to deconstruct these concepts to help change public perceptionsand facilitate discourse through collaboration with public-facing cultural and educational partners linkedto my supervisory team, such as Mexicolore.co.uk and the Centre for Mexican Studies.Year one will focus on secondary material; exploring published collections of primary sources, andplanning research trips for year two; with year three concentrating on re-drafting and submitting thethesis.