Genealogies of Resilience: Family and Cultural Continuity in Colonial Mesoamerica

Dear Colleagues,

In Latin America, family and kinship have historically been regarded as safe havens and critical institutions for social stability. However, Latin American family historians, through an intensive review of the literature, have begun challenging many long-held assumptions about social realities during the colonial period. Their findings reveal that patterns of living, residence, adherence to patriarchal rule, and family norms were far more flexible and accommodating than previously believed. These studies have opened new avenues of inquiry, prompting significant revisions to our understanding of how subaltern groups lived and navigated their social realities. Recent research demonstrates that living conditions, marriage practices, and residential patterns were deeply influenced by economic instability, which often necessitated frequent migrations. The once-dominant model of a stable, patriarchal household has been thoroughly discredited, especially in contexts where both formal and informal unions frequently dissolved after only two or three years. Such circumstances often left families without a paterfamilias, further destabilizing traditional family structures, while inciting alternative lifestyles to marriage. 

The purpose of this special issue is to explore cultural transformations and changes in familial structures in Mesoamerica during the colonial period, while closely examining their diverse and far-reaching implications. Our goal is to achieve a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of how social, economic, and cultural factors influenced the varying familial arrangements and experiences across different social classes, genders, ethnic groups, and racial-cultural identities. We are particularly interested in compelling, in-depth case studies that cast light on varieties of familial cultural patterns and examine local realities across different sectors and groups, such as people of African descent, pre (Aztec) and post-Conquest Indigenous groups, and castas. These studies should enhance our understanding of how factors such as migration, theoretical aspects on indigenous family issues involving migration, cultural customs, and group-specific norms, e.g. child-rearing, marriage patterns, or, household fabric, influenced the preservation or transformation of familial structures and living arrangements. Through these studies, we aim to illuminate the full scope of familial settings throughout Mesoamerica and their transformations over the longue durée of the Spanish colonial period. Mesoamerica is a historical and cultural region in North America and Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico down through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Essentially, the region represents an ongoing process of cultural differentiation and maintenance, making it one of the most culturally complex areas in the world. It is known for being the area where many pre-Columbian societies—like the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec—flourished for thousands of years before the Spanish colonization. Diversity is maintained by varied environmental adaptations (from high mountain cloud forests to coastal lowlands) and continuous histories of resistance and political negotiation. Indigenous groups have maintained distinct cultural formations by strategically adapting their traditions, agricultural practices, and social structures in the face of colonial, national, and globalizing pressures, ensuring that their current-day cultural practices are vibrant and constantly evolving rather than being static relics of the past.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors (Email A) or to Genealogy editorial office (genealogy@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Dr. Amos Megged
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genealogy is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Mesoamerican familial patterns and structures
• cultural transformations
• changing patriarchal norms
• migration and instability
• Mesoamerican ethnic familial variations
• African/mixed bloods familial patterns in Mesoamerica