Children of the Father King: Youth, Authority, and Legal

Children of the Father King: Youth, Authority, and Legal Minority in Colonial Lima

In a pioneering study of childhood in colonial Spanish America, Bianca Premo examines the lives of youths in the homes, schools, and institutions of the capital city of Lima, Peru. Situating these young lives within the framework of law and intellectual history from 1650 to 1820, Premo brings to light the colonial politics of childhood and challenges readers to view patriarchy as a system of power based on age, caste, and social class as much as gender. Although Spanish laws endowed elite men with an authority over children that mirrored and reinforced the monarch's legitimacy as a colonial "Father King", Premo finds that, in practice, Lima's young often grew up in the care of adults--such as women and slaves--who were subject to the patriarchal authority of others. During the Bourbon Reforms, city inhabitants of all castes and classes began to practice a "new politics of the child", challenging men and masters by employing Enlightenment principles of childhood. Thus the social transformations and political dislocations of the late eighteenth century occurred not only in elite circles and royal palaces, Premo concludes, but also in the humble households of a colonial city.

Country	USA
Author	Bianca Premo
Binding	Paperback
Brand	Brand: The University of North Carolina Press
EAN	9780807856192
Edition	1
Feature	Used Book in Good Condition
ISBN	0807856193
Label	The University of North Carolina Press
Manufacturer	The University of North Carolina Press
MPN	3 illustrations, 9 figures, 2 tables, no
NumberOfItems	1
NumberOfPages	368
PartNumber	3 illustrations, 9 figures, 2 tables, no
PublicationDate	2005-09-05
Publisher	The University of North Carolina Press
ReleaseDate	2005-09-05
Studio	The University of North Carolina Press

Children of the Father King: Youth, Authority, and Legal Minority in Colonial Lima