Cacicas: The Indigenous Women Leaders of Spanish America, 1492–1825 ed. by Margarita R. Ochoa and Sara Vicuña Guengerich

Cacicas: The Indigenous Women Leaders of Spanish America, 1492–1825 reveals the agency and leadership of Indigenous women during colonial rule, challenging narratives that depict them as oppressed or marginalized. Through extensive analysis of fragmentary sources—including chronicles, legal records, testaments, and account books from archives across Latin America and Spain—the editors, Margarita R. Ochoa and Sara Vicuña Guengerich, uncover the roles of cacicas (Indigenous female leaders) in negotiating power dynamics with both their communities and colonial authorities. The study spans North and Central America to South America, tracing shifts in Indigenous women's status from pre-Columbian nobility to the Bourbon period, while emphasizing their resilience and strategic navigation of legal pluralism within the Spanish Empire.

Błoch, A. (2022). Cacicas: The Indigenous Women Leaders of Spanish America, 1492–1825 ed. by Margarita R. Ochoa and Sara Vicuña Guengerich. Early American Literature, 57(2), 575–579. https://doi.org/10.1353/eal.2022.0045