He applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, Sins of Excess: The Spatial Politics of Idolatry and Magic in Colonial Mexico, and shared the following:
Open the book Sins of Excess to page 99 and you will find that it corresponds to the first page of Chapter 4 “Geography and Popular Magic in New Spain.” As such, page 99 provides an outline of the chapter’s main argument which states, “This chapter emphasizes the cultural composition of geography to advance the argument that Native topographies became excessive in the minds of Spanish colonizers when Indigenous and African descent peoples revered them using non-orthodox rituals.” The next paragraph defines the use of geography noting:Visit Anderson Hagler's website.Geography concerns the physical features of landscapes and the confluence of discourse with location.... Because labels used to describe Native landscapes and buildings were laden with ethnocentric understandings, the mere occupation of such spaces indicated wrongdoing. Consequently, Catholic priests and secular officials associated sophisticated non-orthodox rituals with Devil worship.Funnily enough, the Page 99 Test works well for Sins of Excess. Page 99 does indeed provide a solid overview for much of the book. The project as a whole addresses the concept of “excess” as used by Spanish clergy and secular officials and notes its many negative connotations. I maintain that the use of “excess” as a derogatory label expanded over the years to include a wide array of crimes in colonial New Spain, including murder, theft (Chapter 1), idolatry (Chapter 2), shapeshifting, non-orthodox methods of healing (Chapter 3), sodomy, and bestiality (Chapter 5). The fourth chapter, which encompasses page 99, delves into the negative value judgements made regarding landscapes like mountains, caves, and rivers when Indigenous and African descent peoples inhabited them and performed magical rituals. Doing so shows that a mountain was not simply an inanimate object made of minerals. The terms used to describe what people saw, e.g. alp, sierra, summit, were intwined with cultural meaning. In this way, the mere inhabitation of space seemingly manifested sin when Indigenous and African descent peoples performed non-orthodox rituals therein. As such, the study of geography cannot be value neutral as often presented in educational institutions. All branches of knowledge are imbued with value judgements, including ethnography, science, religion, and history. It is my hope that Sins of Excess will help to highlight this observation and combat negative stereotypes made against Native and African descent peoples in rural areas.
--Marshal Zeringue
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