An Exposition of Jose De Acosta's "Historia Natural Y Moral De Las Indias", 1590: The Emergence of an Anthropological Vision of Colonial Latin America

by Gregory J. Shepherd

Shepherd, who is not identified, views Jesuit scholar Acosta's (1540-1600) texts holistically, exploring the colliding multiplicity of discursive threads to analyze the process by which he interprets America. He begins by reconstructing the trans-Atlantic context of the writings, extending from his native Spain to Peru where he eventually attained a position of high authority. He finds that the iHistoria/i, while containing a few chronologically-based narrations of the Indian past, primarily examines the physical and human aspects of America by oscillating the thesis and antithesis of selected questions to arrive at the truth. The text is double spaced. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

144 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2002