Indigenous Globalism: Confraternity and Connectivity in Colonial Cuzco

Abstract

Abstract: This article places colonial Cuzco’s Nombre de Jesús confraternity within early modern global history. The Nombre de Jesús served as a focal point for collaboration between Indigenous elites and Jesuit proselytizers in the old Inca capital. An ambiguous archive and forgeries related to the confraternity have led to sensationalist narratives about the confraternity. While compelling from the perspective of archival and forgery studies, this discussion ultimately distracts from a more thoroughly-grounded history of a mixed European and Indigenous institution. This article draws on evidence outside the forgeries to show how Indigenous mission history was globally connective and collaborative rather than European-dominated.