Erasing the Past
The author, Zeb Tortorici, an assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese language and literature at New York University, traces the history, or lack thereof in New Spain throughout the 1500s to 1800s. This work, published by the Duke Press at Duke University, comments on the prosecution of heinous sexual acts of sodomy, bestiality, and the unnatural. Tortorici’s knowledge of Latin American history is extensive, enabling his analysis of the New Spain’s animal centered historical accounts to pertain to the eras in which the incidents occurred in various perspectives such as religion, humanity’s morals, and the “crimes against nature.” Along with his background in Latin American history, Tortorici’s background in human sexuality allows a contrast with what he points out to be “unnatural” (Duke University Press, 1). Tortorici’s commentary on the prosecution in these cases emphasizes the lack of consideration given to the animals. In all of the cases cited, the animals were burned, destroyed, and killed after the act was committed. The simple reason Tortorici believes that there is documentation of these cases is for the sake of humans rather than documenting the history of the animals. His points justified and his arguments are well-sustained, Tortorici does not fail to bring in many accounts of history and incidents that illuminate the approach of man to the level of the beast and the unnatural.
Throughout the reading the Tortorici was clear in his belief that humans are in constant threat of “descending into animality” he stated that the act of beastiality was a way in which humans are lowered to the level of animals. Due to this belief Tortorici argues that historians have attempted to erase cases of beastiality in Colonial New Spain in attempts to keep humans at their elevated status. History neglected these cases of beastiality through lack of documentation in court proceedings, loss of archives, or false transcription of testimonials. Additional Tortorici explained the severe punishments that the perpetrators received was due to the strong influence of Christianity at the time. The bible was referenced to justify the usual shaming and execution of a perpetrator. Lastly, it was noted that the the cases that were punished more severely were often the indigenous people, those who were poor and lived in rural areas with little education and religious connections. He noted that mostly poor rural farmers who lived in solitude were the ones committing these actions. Tortorici was very clear in his support of the argument that these has been an erasure of history through his evidence of loss of archives and neglect of documentation and recording during court trials.
In this work, Sins against Nature, Zeb Tortorici talks about how beastilality has been masked and covered up since its origins. Such an act makes exposing the lack of attention to animal rights that much harder in today’s society. However, the practice of beastilality is the not the only violation of animal rights that is covered up. Large food manufactures today have no regard to animal rights and only focus on optimizing the amount of product they can get out of one animal. Furthermore, DeGrazia portrays the gruesome methods that factory farms use to maximize produce, as well as profit, but factory farms are not the only businesses to be at fault. DeGrazia discuss how family farms, brand and dehorn cattle, castrate cattle and hogs, separate mothers from offspring, and treat animals roughly while in transport (DeGrazia, 77). The correlation between DeGrazia and Tortorici is that they both describe practices that are purposely kept hidden from the public and thus make the awareness of exposing animal rights harder to accomplish. More importantly, Tortorici explains that humans seek to document only specific aspects of animal history in attempt to protect themselves from being seen as creatures who lack reason. Ultimately, humans do not want to portrayed as beings with a lack of reason because then they will be compared to animals.
While this work focused on the accounts of the indigenous people of New Spain, Tortorici leaves the lingering thought of the rest of the world. These grotesque incidents leave in question human sexuality, morals, and the leave people to question the implications for the future and the state of these incidents in modern times.
Question for the Class:
Knowing that beastilality is legal in five states, why hasn’t there been legislation passed to make it illegal even though religion and society as a whole denounce the action?
Refer to these sources for the question above:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_bestiality_in_the_United_States
Citation:
Tortorici, Zeb. Sins against Nature: Sex and Archives in Colonial New Spain. Duke University Press, 2018.
Zeb Tortorici. “Sins against Nature.” Duke University Press, www.dukeupress.edu/sins-against-nature.