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Decadent Wealth, Degenerate Morality, Dominance, and Devotion: The Discordant Iconicity of the Rich Mountain of Potosi

Cornejo Happel, Claudia A
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404653562

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Spanish and Portuguese.
The rich mountain of Potosi, with its famed silver mines, has commanded the attention of Europeans, creoles (Americans of Spanish descent), and indigenous Andeans since the Spanish colonizers of Peru were made aware of its existence in 1545. Soon after its discovery, the rich mountain was represented in a variety of written and visual texts created by writers and artists from the Andes, Spain, and other parts of Europe. Independent of its physical form, in these representations the rich mountain assumed a discursive meaning, functioning as an icon that, depending on the context, represented abstract ideas of wealth, immorality, dominance, and spirituality. This dissertation brings together texts, images, and maps to discuss the multifaceted iconicity of Potosi and its cultural salience in these representations. Besides functioning as an icon that supported Spain's "official history;" a discourse that presented Spanish achievements as heroic and providential, other representations of the rich mountain supported alternative discourses regarding Spanish colonial history. To advance individual and nationalistic agendas, authors, artists, and mapmakers strove to control the meaning associated with the iconic rich mountain. My dissertation shows that for an early modern audience the mountain of Potosi was more than just a source of silver; it was also an icon that contributed to discourses negotiating issues of economy, morality, spatial and political dominance, and spiritual expression.
Lisa Voigt, Dr. (Advisor)
Lucia Costigan, Dr. (Committee Member)
Elizabeth Davis, Dr. (Committee Member)
245 p.
Art History; Cartography; Comparative Literature; Latin American History; Latin American Literature; Latin American Studies
Potosi, Bolivia, Peru, Cerro Rico, Colonial Latin America, silver mining, icon, iconicity, sixteenth century, seventeenth century, maps, Virgin of the Mountain, space, Black Legend, spirituality, treasure, indigenous voices

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Cornejo Happel, C. A. (2014). Decadent Wealth, Degenerate Morality, Dominance, and Devotion: The Discordant Iconicity of the Rich Mountain of Potosi [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404653562

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Cornejo Happel, Claudia. Decadent Wealth, Degenerate Morality, Dominance, and Devotion: The Discordant Iconicity of the Rich Mountain of Potosi. 2014. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404653562.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Cornejo Happel, Claudia. "Decadent Wealth, Degenerate Morality, Dominance, and Devotion: The Discordant Iconicity of the Rich Mountain of Potosi." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404653562

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1404653562
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© 2014, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Decadent Wealth, Degenerate Morality, Dominance, and Devotion: The Discordant Iconicity of the Rich Mountain of Potosi by Claudia A Cornejo Happel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.