Colonial Latin America

Choose one of the following questions and write a 3-page essay, double-spaced, 12 pt font, 1 inch margins:

1. How did male power, authority, and privilege constrain the lives of women in colonial Latin America, and how did women find ways to exercise some control and power over their own lives?Be specific; make use of supporting evidence from the assigned reading, especially the primary sources in Colonial Lives.

2. How did women contribute to economic production and commerce in Spanish America?  Be specific; make use of supporting evidence from the assigned reading, especially the primary sources in Colonial Lives.

3. Choose a primary source from Colonial Lives, and discuss and evaluate what the source reveals about the limits of the moral authority of the Church in colonial Latin America.  Be specific and consider the appropriate readings in Colonial Latin America that provide background and context for exploring the primary sources.

Guidelines: You should draw on reading and lecture materials for your essays. Do not consult texts or websites that are not included in the material assigned in the class. Take the time to write carefully; avoid misspellings and typographical errors that might suggest your work also is intellectually sloppy.  You are free to discuss approaches to the questions as well as readings and other course materials with other students in the class, however, when it is time to put pen to paper, your words must be your own.  Avoid paraphrasing; direct quotations from the texts should be properly cited; you may use parenthetical citations for this first response paper (for example: Boyer and Spurling: 47).