Writing on the margins: the letters of doña Ana Zurita Ochoa in Cuenca from the 17th Century

Abstract

Doña Ana Zurita Ochoa was a Spanish woman who lived her life in Cuenca de las Indias in the first half of the 17th century. She belonged to the ethnic, social, and economic elite, thus occupying a “privileged” place in relation to the indigenous, black and mestizo people that were part of the city. During her everyday activities, she also established relationships with her equals, did business, lived, and defended herself from their insults. Her letters (unpublished manuscripts that rest in the National History Archive-Nucleus of Azuay) written to her husband, don Salvador de Poveda, are a testimony of her existence. In them, through writing, doña Ana constructs and projects images of herself as mother, wife, lover, and neighbor in Cuenca within a context of the Audience in Quito. She writes in and from the margin of the letter’s paper; thus, she uses this space as a “trick,” a way of reaffirming her centrality. In other words, she manifests her voice and makes herself known in the history of women.