Abstract:
Illuminating Herstories: Women of the Pimería Alta in Spanish Colonial Missions follows a
loosely chronological organizational pattern in order to show how indigenous women navigated
the changing cultural, religious, and social landscapes of their homelands with the introduction
of Spanish colonization and missionization. Beginning with an overarching history of the lives of
indigenous women, pre-missionary era, of the three most prominent native American groups in
the Pimería Alta: The O’odham, the Yoeme (Yaqui), and the Nde (Apache), the work then
examines the introduction of Spain to the Pimería Alta and mission communities. In a discussion
of the roles, duties, and attitudes of and toward women during the period of colonization and
missionization, the thesis argues that native women played integral roles in negotiating power,
mediating acculturation, and resisting cultural erasure and genocide, ultimately acting as the
primary conservators of indigenous tradition and culture. Contrary to many historical narratives,
women were not merely silent extras in the development of Spanish missionary society. Rather,
native women in Pimería Alta missions had a dynamic impact on the world around them, and
they represented a highly influential force. They set cultural standards, resisted assimilation, and
preserved and disseminated their native heritage with the missionary community. O’odham,
Yoeme, and Nde women were active agents of history, and through their influence in Spanish
missions and in the hundreds of years after, molded the Pimería Alta, and the Southwest more
generally, into the diverse border region that many enjoy today.
