Polémica de privilegios, un estudio comparativo de los textos Relación (1542) de Cabeza de Vaca e Historia, Capítulo XV, (1742) de Mota Padilla

Abstract

The Spanish neo-feudal conceptof privilege continued rooted in the
colonizing discourse several centuries after the conquest. Utilizing Mikhail
Bakhtin’s concept of the superaddressee, my discursive study compares
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s 1542 La Relación and Capítulo XV in
Matías de la Mota Padilla’s 1742 Historia. Although two centuries separate
Cabeza de Vaca’s La Relación and Capítulo XV in Mota Padilla’s Historia,
the narratives use the notion of privilege to justify “their” social, political,
and economic rights derived from the conquest. The paper consists of three
sections: narrative background, economic context, and textual analysis.