What distinguishes Kris Lane’s Quito 1599 from other studies of the audiencia is that, unlike previous scholars, Lane does not treat the audiencia as a coherent, seamless entity, but as a multiseamed constellation of different regions with distinct historical trajectories. With the exception of chapter 3, “Tilling the Center,” Lane’s interests lie with the so-called margins, both geographically and thematically. Lane’s attempt to decenter the audiencia calls into question its existence as an articulated whole. There is as much incoherence in Lane’s treatment of the region as there is coherence—an emphasis on difference that correlates with the tenets of recent postmodern works.
The book is a series of six relatively unlinked explorations into the region traditionally known as the Audiencia of Quito. Chapter 1, “Castaways,” is a quintessential example of the “difference” that is heralded so often in the rest of the book. It chronicles the maroon colonies of Afro-Amerindians...
