MORISCOS, GENDER, AND THE POLITICS OF RELIGION IN 16TH AND 17TH-CENTURY SPAIN

Moriscos experienced a politics of religion in 16th and 17th-century Spain that both empowered and disempowered them. As Christian authorities increasingly used religious orthodoxy to define their newly emerging state, Moriscos withdrew into their homes where they preserved many practices of their Hispano-Muslim identity. Archival documents and writings of the period reveal the leading roles that many morisco women played in this domestic resistance.