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Negotiating Peace Within a Context of Violence: Native Strategies and Colonial Diplomacy in the Borderlands of Northwestern New Spain

Year: 2026
Type: dissertation
Abstract: My dissertation weaves a comparative perspective across several ethnic groups from the Greater Southwest, including the seafaring and desert-dwelling Comcáac (Seri), who interacted with Spanish colonial institutions such as the mission and presidio complexes (military garrisons) located beyond their homeland on the coastal desert, but within the range of their territory; the agricultural Nebomes and O’odham (Pima speakers), together with a subgroup known as the Sobaipuris, who settled in mission towns along or near their riparian homeland; and equestrian Apaches (Ndé) and Navahos (Diné) Athapascan bands, who settled near presidio complexes outside their territories, and became military allies of the Spaniards. The chronology of my work extends from the dawn of Spanish colonial expansion into this area in the late seventeenth century to its twilight during the late eighteenth century. I ask how Native groups reacted to colonial expansion and how they influenced and shaped colonial interactions through both violent and peaceful means. By examining often overlooked cultural adoptions and exchanges among Indigenous groups and colonizers during their diplomatic interactions, my work challenges the narrative that presents enlightened metropolitan policies as the main catalysts behind peaceful interactions. Native diplomacy was central to colonial expansion, and it was highly influenced by interethnic alliances and exchanges among diverse Indigenous societies and colonizers.
DOI: 10.17615/sb7f-gn85
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7162020281
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