Las tretas del cuerpo: acusados y acusadores en juicios de concubinato en Cuenca, 1783-1820

Abstract

Concubinage, considered a practice that goes against the rules, has been subject to control by the State, the Church, and society. In this sense, both the legislation and the public gaze exercised control of the bodies before which men and women maintained different attitudes and created arguments and strategies that allowed their behavior to be legitimized. This research aims to study how the accusation and defense arguments are constructed in the concubinage trials in Cuenca at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century by establishing differences between the accusation and defense arguments between men and women. In addition, it seeks to differentiate the views of accusation and defense of the State, the family, and the role of witnesses and how these speeches intervened in social control. For this, 55 judicial files were analyzed through documentary observation and exemplification to illustrate the different arguments that occurred in the concubinage trials in the aforementioned period. The study showed how those involved saw concubinage relationships, how they were seen by society, the family, and the State, and how this practice was presented in the daily life of the city of Cuenca at the end of the colonial period. It is accused of alluding to the lack of responsibility towards the nuclear family, also emphasizing the care of honor and private space.