Between Walls and Writings: Literacy practices in the convents of women’s religious orders in Guadalajara (17th– 18th Centuries)

Abstract

This paper analyses the conventual literacy practices of the religious orders in Guadalajara during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A brief historical study is made of the five female orders that arrived for the purpose of evangelization, highlighting that, although Guadalajara was the capital of Nueva Galicia, it received fewer orders in comparison with other cities such as Puebla or
Mexico City.

It is highlighted how reading and writing were part of the life inside the convents, as they were obligatory practices for the religious institutions to which each order belonged, being directly related to spiritual and mystical aspects. However, through these reading-writing practices, the participation of nuns in a cultural and intellectual life was encouraged, highlighting various figures in writing.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of conventual
reading-writing practices, to investigate the particularities of these practices in the orders established in Guadalajara during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and to reflect on the reasons for their scarce historical documentation.