This volume summarizes two centuries of contact and interaction between missionaries and the Pames and Jonaces, two Chichimeca groups in the Sierra Gorda, from the vantage of the new mission history and historical demography, fields in which Robert H. Jackson is a well-known specialist. I had hoped that the work would emphasize the indigenous populations, their strategies of resistance and adaptation to the missions, and the transformation of the sacred landscapes and native peoples' way of life, as well as the power relations among the agents of the colonization and the natives. However, Jackson's focus is on mission buildings, congregations' patterns, and their demographic consequences.
The book reviews the first Franciscan, Augustinian, and Dominican missions in central Mexico, particularly those of Michoacán and Oaxaca, and shows how missions and doctrines were established over pre-Hispanic political and administrative structures. The mission model used with sedentary populations did not work when applied...
