bachelorThesis
Las tretas del cuerpo: acusados y acusadores en juicios de concubinato en Cuenca, 1783-1820
Fecha
2022-02-14Autor
Suárez Suárez, Julio David
Institución
Resumen
Concubinage, considered a practice that goes against the rules, has been subject to control by
the State, the Church, and society. In this sense, both the legislation and the public gaze
exercised control of the bodies before which men and women maintained different attitudes
and created arguments and strategies that allowed their behavior to be legitimized. This
research aims to study how the accusation and defense arguments are constructed in the
concubinage trials in Cuenca at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th
century by establishing differences between the accusation and defense arguments between
men and women. In addition, it seeks to differentiate the views of accusation and defense of
the State, the family, and the role of witnesses and how these speeches intervened in social
control. For this, 55 judicial files were analyzed through documentary observation and
exemplification to illustrate the different arguments that occurred in the concubinage trials
in the aforementioned period. The study showed how those involved saw concubinage
relationships, how they were seen by society, the family, and the State, and how this practice
was presented in the daily life of the city of Cuenca at the end of the colonial period. It is
accused of alluding to the lack of responsibility towards the nuclear family, also emphasizing
the care of honor and private space.