Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570

This is really the first book I read in depth on the subject of the Maya. I have read substantial parts of other books, but this author's approach is remarkable in that she is able to delineate at all times between the religious and the historical which can be very much intertwined during this amazing period. It is clear that the histories of the Inca, Maya, and Aztec are very much different. You get from her account an almost novel type of reading experience as it becomes so lifelike. It is truly a remarkable book about a fascinating and extremely resilient and committed people. It was not easy for me to read in the sense that it so dense as far as the knowledge is concerned, and I was hurried. But it is extremely well documented and this helps a great deal in cementing one's understanding to the truth of what actually took place. It is truly a tragic period in human history presented in great clarity and compassion.

The Spanish Conquest of the Americas has primarily been discussed in militaristic terms. Cortes and his small band of Spaniards, along with several thousand disaffected native allies marched on the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan and in brilliant (some would say fortuitous) military maneuvering subjugated the New World. However, thanks to the efforts of historians like Dr. Inga Clendinnen, of La Trope University in Australia, zones of proximal development are reshaped. The Aztec were not the only ones conquered. Dr. Clendinnen's awarding winning work, Ambivalent Conquests, Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570, suggests that the Spanish not only went and conquered several New World cultures militarily, but spiritually as well. As the title suggests, the work focuses primarily on the Mayan culture in the Yucatan peninsula in the years following the military conquest. Clendinnen's meticulous research and easy conversational reading successfully argues that the Mayan developed a passive resistant syncretism to the spiritual conquest that was imposed upon them. The New World cultures accepted military defeat, but in an effort to keep some semblance of their former lives (in this case, the Maya) would pay lip service to the Spaniards' religion, but would still practice the hated idolatry in secret. While the conquerors were assimilating the Maya, the Maya were assimilating the conquerors' religion. This in turn necessitated the extension of the inquisition by the Spaniards to the New World in the paradox of Christianity at the time - convert or be killed. Clendinnen shows that the ambivalence was not how the New Worlders would come to know Christianity,rather, how the religious and the Old World settlers in their "competing visions" for what the Yucatan would eventually become. Dr. Inga Clendinnen deftly uses the historical brush to paint a picture of Mayan syncretism. The title is apropos; not only were the Indians of the New World conquered militarily, but spiritually as well.

Overall, Inga Clendinnen's book serves as a vivid illustration of history. The images from the text stick to memory, and specific events and people (Diego de Landa, Nachi Cocom, Francisco Hernandez, and Fray Francisco de Toral) from almost five hundred years ago, come alive. The book is divided in two parts: the Spaniards and Indians, where what happened in Yucatan between 1517 and 1570 is examined from two different perspectives. It almost seems like there are two books within a book, as there are two beginnings and two epilogues, yet the connection between the two parts is never lost. The structure of the book is not only interesting, but also appropriate to the message the author seeks to convey: it illustrates the idea of "confusion of tongues", the fact that the perceptions of the Maya and the Spaniard were almost irreconcilably different. The book is also thoroughly researched, employing both primary and secondary sources. I enjoyed Clendinnen's discussions of the books of Chilam Bilam, of Landa's Relacion de Las Cosas de Yucatan, and of the confessions that Landa extracted from the Indians in 1562. I also appreciated the fact that where information is unavailable, and deduction from what is known goes a little far, the author is not afraid to acknowledge it. I should also mention that the author makes an implicit assumption that the reader is Christian, and has a good understanding of Christian faith and practices. When explaining Mayan human sacrifice, for example, Clendinnen writes that "we have somehow to detach ourselves from our Christian-drenched notions of sacrifice..." In terms of evaluating the persuasiveness of the book, I should say that although in the beginning of the book, she raises the question about to what extent the information that Indians confessed under torture was exaggerated or true at all, toward the end of the book she seems to have accepted the assumption that there was at least some truth in the confessions - that human sacrifice and crucifixions did happen, and were not just a product of Landa's imagination, as she had previously suggested. So she never really proves that human sacrifice and crucifixions did happen, but kind of explores the possibilities of "what if they did" and "what if they didn't." Also, in the epilogue, the author makes a quick conclusion that the events of 1562 were significant because it was only after these events that the Maya finally accepted Christianity, or some Mayan version of it. It does make sense that the events of 1562 and the general intrusion of friars into the Maya spiritual domain would demonstrate to the natives that Spanish presence would not be temporary, that the Spanish were there to stay, and must be taken seriously. But this is in the political realm. As for the spiritual realm, it is unclear why the violence, the sufferings inflicted by the friars, and the destruction of Mayan idols would result in the Maya acceptance that "the time of the old Gods

Despite the difficulties related to a lack of historical sources, Clendinnen produces a convincing argument about the Mayan's resistance to colonial domination. She gives the natives a voice, bringing the Mayans to life, realistically showing their strength and autonomy from the Spanish. Inga Clendinnen's book about the Mayan-Spanish relationship during the Spanish conquest is as enthralling as it is informative.

Clendinnen's book is excellent and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in colonial Latin America. The book focuses on the Yucatan peninsula. Clendinnen looks at the Spanish side of things first, then at how the Maya understood--and resisted--their new rulers. A central figure in the book is the Franciscan Diego de Landa. Landa is portayed as both a man dedicated to God, and as a man with a sadistic streak. He strongly suspected that the Maya were continuing to practice idolotry rather than the Catholicism Landa wanted them to adopt. As a result, Landa brought the Spanish Inquisition to Yucatan. Landa also had a strong will to power; Clendinnen covers his battles, mostly victorious, with other Spanish officials. The second section of the book deals with the Mayan response to things Spanish. She attempts to sort out truth from fiction in the "confessions" wrung out of the Maya by the Spanish Inquisitors. One of the more interesting aspects of this is Clendinnen's discussion of how the Maya appear to have adopted certain elements of Christianity while retaining most of their own beliefs. Anyone interested in religious syncretism or retlations between conquerer and conquered would do well to pick up this book.