New Mexico's Genizaro settlements were on the margins of the Spanish Colonial occupation of northern New Mexico. Individual communities, or poblaciones, were composed of dispersed buildings associated with households (ranchos), and... more
New Mexico's Genizaro settlements were on the margins of the Spanish Colonial occupation of northern New Mexico. Individual communities, or poblaciones, were composed of dispersed buildings associated with households (ranchos), and defensive plaza sites that also helped meet Spanish Colonial architectural requirements. This paper examines two Genizaro settlements: the plaza site and ranchos of La Canada on the Rio Chicquito north of the Pueblo de Cochiti and a plaza site and ranchos on the Abiquiu Land Grant. The differences between rancho and plaza architectures reveal the contrasting needs for subsistence and defense of the people on the frontier of New Spain.
...they were a people from the rural villages of New Mexico, who found their common origins in the Spanish colony’s slave trade with the nomadic tribes of the region. Silences have grown from their history because its historical and... more
...they were a people from the rural villages of New Mexico, who found their common origins in the Spanish colony’s slave trade with the nomadic tribes of the region. Silences have grown from their history because its historical and ethnic complexity does not fit into the narrative of the United States, and the trauma associated with the violent memories of human trafficking and servitude are not easily reconciled. Genízaro identity was created from marginalization. The aim of this essay is to locate the silenced Genízaro peoples in history and track the existence of their personal and collective identities as they struggled to survive throughout history and into the present.
