Dr. Laura Matthew, associate professor of history in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, will present a talk titled “Two Bigamists in Tehuantepec,” on Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 4 p.m. in Marquette Hall 105 as part of the Humanities Research Colloquium.
The talk compares the itineraries of two men – one European, one Mesoamerican – who were both accused of bigamy at the turn of the seventeenth century.
The European’s travels enabled his manipulation of the Spanish Inquisition, while the Mesoamerican’s expanding social geography became his undoing.
Reading these two cases in tandem pushes us beyond their apparent similarities (a product of their framing by the Spanish Catholic legal system) and towards their profound incommensurability despite overlaps of time, place and circumstance.
Everyone is welcome to attend. The talk will be followed by discussion and light snacks will be provided.
