Costumbres en disputa. Los muiscas y el Imperio español en Ubaque, siglo XVI.
Santiago Muñoz Arbeláez’s work demonstrates convincingly that there is still much to be learned and written about the Spanish conquest of America. In his desire to deepen our understanding of a particular colonial society the author presents a detailed study of the institution of the encomienda in the Muisca valley of Ubaque in the Andes southeast of Santa Fé de Bogotá. This focused analysis allows him to comment upon the 16th century Spanish imperial project, and to compare that Hispanic context to other Atlantic systems, as he explores the interactions between particular native leaders caciques, the encomenderos who were granted access to tribute in the valley, and the colonial church and state. To achieve this, he focuses upon the colonial reorganization of geographic spaces and landscapes, the evolution of a colonial economy in the valley and its eventual integration into the Atlantic economy, the ways in which the Muisca used the colonial legal system, and the various identities that were created through the conversion project. In focusing on the 16th century and a particular institution and place he engages several literatures to contextualize the interdisciplinary methodologies and approaches he uses to reveal the cultural variables that exerted influence on the elaboration of early colonial society in Nueva Granada.

Concentrating upon the functioning of encomienda and using a broad range of cross-disciplinary methodologies and approaches the author also exposes the inner workings of Muisca social, political and economic structures. He argues that the early colonial period was a moment of hybridity and integration rather than imposition. Starting from the perspective of a spatial analysis grounded in historical geography and an ethnohistorical approach, the author plumbs early colonial legal testimonies to uncover the customs that shored up social mores and epistemologies. This tactic enables him to study the daily interaction between encomenderos, indigenous leaders, and their subjects. He concludes that the encomienda was a blended institution that functioned through a complex transcultural framework enmeshed with what the Spaniards called ‘cacicazgo’. The encomendero’s authority was intimately entwined with that of the cacique. This challenges the notion of a passive indigenous population and frames his conclusion that ‘colonial’ does not mean Hispanic imposition, but represents a complex process of rearranging-a process in which both indigenous and Spanish participated. He further argues that a Black Legend historiography which portrays the encomienda simply as a destructive force inhibits our understanding the dynamic functioning of the institution as a point of contact between indigenous and Spanish.

Along the way Muñoz Arbeláez’s elegant prose describes Muisca naming practices and their relationship to place, the role of physical geography in determining political categories, as well as the kinship relations that would perplex the Spanish and complicate their attempts to establish recognizable (for the Spanish) political frameworks. He pays particular attention to the practice known as biohote by the Muisca and The author demonstrates that the cultural practices- the ‘costumbres’ which were the foundation of cacique legitimacy- were the same customs being simultaneously and systematically disputed by the church and state. Importantly, the author demonstrates how different caciques responded to these challenges and in so doing he traces out the processes of transformation of colonial society through the 16th century.