Conflict, negotiation and religiosity: relations between priests and ethnic authorities in the parish of Codpa, 1748

Abstract

In 1748, the Indians associated with the town of Socoroma, Parish of Codpa, Corregimiento of Arica, filed a complaint against their coadjutor priest Pedro Cáceres for several abuses and bad exercise of his pastoral work, before the Bishop of Arequipa. The contrast between the statements of those who supported the complaint (inhabitants of the northern sector of the parish) and those who defended the innocence of the accused (linked to the parish head and towns of the southern sector), allows us to analyze marked differences in the “colonial experience” lived within the parish. Both areas differed in their geographical characteristics, but also in their history, social structures, language, ways of practicing the Christian religion and degrees of assimilation of colonial dynamics. In addition, the extensive parish jurisdiction, which included a large territory with 17 towns distributed in coastal valleys, foothills and highlands, made it difficult for the priests to adequately carry out indoctrination and offer the sacraments in an equitable manner. We propose that behind this accusation lies the need to reestablish political forms of coexistence between the ecclesiastical authority and the affected Andean communities.