The Fabric of the Skies: Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and the Academia Mexicana

This case study discusses the role of the chair of mathematics and the status of celestial knowledge in the Real Universidad de México in late-seventeenth-century New Spain through the analysis of a chronicle of Marian festivities. Triumpho Parthenico (Mexico, 1683) was penned by Carlos de Sigüenza...

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Main Author: Nydia Pineda de Ávila
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Museo Galileo 2023-04-01
Series:Galilæana
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Online Access:https://gal-studies.museogalileo.it/index.php/galilaeana/article/view/5
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author Nydia Pineda de Ávila
author_facet Nydia Pineda de Ávila
author_sort Nydia Pineda de Ávila
collection DOAJ
description This case study discusses the role of the chair of mathematics and the status of celestial knowledge in the Real Universidad de México in late-seventeenth-century New Spain through the analysis of a chronicle of Marian festivities. Triumpho Parthenico (Mexico, 1683) was penned by Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645-1700), during his professorship in mathematics at the Mexican university. This Mexican-born author, known to Latin American scholars as a baroque polymath and prominent actor in the development of criollo identity, has been historically considered a defender of mathematical reasoning and a representative of a shift to modernity in New Spain. This essay argues that Sigüenza and his contemporaries’ understanding of celestial knowledge and science is not merely instrumental to local political struggles, but that it should be contextualized within the political, epistemic, and confessional discussions about the origin, mediation and purpose of knowledge in early modern Mexico.
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spelling doaj-art-cd97c331409a4d74ad5c82870417efba2025-08-20T04:03:18ZengMuseo GalileoGalilæana1825-39032023-04-0120110.57617/gal-5The Fabric of the Skies: Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and the Academia MexicanaNydia Pineda de Ávila0University of California, San Diego This case study discusses the role of the chair of mathematics and the status of celestial knowledge in the Real Universidad de México in late-seventeenth-century New Spain through the analysis of a chronicle of Marian festivities. Triumpho Parthenico (Mexico, 1683) was penned by Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645-1700), during his professorship in mathematics at the Mexican university. This Mexican-born author, known to Latin American scholars as a baroque polymath and prominent actor in the development of criollo identity, has been historically considered a defender of mathematical reasoning and a representative of a shift to modernity in New Spain. This essay argues that Sigüenza and his contemporaries’ understanding of celestial knowledge and science is not merely instrumental to local political struggles, but that it should be contextualized within the political, epistemic, and confessional discussions about the origin, mediation and purpose of knowledge in early modern Mexico. https://gal-studies.museogalileo.it/index.php/galilaeana/article/view/5Carlos de Sigüenza y GóngorauniversitypoliticsdevotionknowledgeRepublic of Letters
spellingShingle Nydia Pineda de Ávila
The Fabric of the Skies: Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and the Academia Mexicana
Galilæana
Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora
university
politics
devotion
knowledge
Republic of Letters
title The Fabric of the Skies: Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and the Academia Mexicana
title_full The Fabric of the Skies: Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and the Academia Mexicana
title_fullStr The Fabric of the Skies: Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and the Academia Mexicana
title_full_unstemmed The Fabric of the Skies: Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and the Academia Mexicana
title_short The Fabric of the Skies: Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and the Academia Mexicana
title_sort fabric of the skies carlos de siguenza y gongora and the academia mexicana
topic Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora
university
politics
devotion
knowledge
Republic of Letters
url https://gal-studies.museogalileo.it/index.php/galilaeana/article/view/5
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