Ideologías y actitudes del clero de Antequera (Oaxaca, México) hacia los indios y sus lenguas a finales de la época colonial

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present and analyse the ideologies and attitudes of the clergy of the bishopric of Antequera towards the Indians and their languages at the end of the colonial period. The study was carried out based on the text of a Pastoral Visit of Bishop José Gregorio Ortigosa, a Pastoral of Bishop Antonio Bergosa y Jordán and the Questionnaire that the latter prelate ordered to be answered by all the parish priests of this diocese.

The analysis of the discourse of the aforementioned bishops and parish priests focuses on the beliefs and evaluations they projected about languages and their speakers, and in them they expressed the (dis)prestige of those who were evaluated. Underlying the statements are the ideologies with which the group in power legitimised and justified its dominance and sought to perpetuate it, and they show the collective mental representations of the time.