Macro Biography or Micro History?

After last week’s discussion on microhistory, I’m still trying to sort out in my mind what distinguishes a “microhistory” from a biography.  I think that maybe the blog question about “how looking at this history through a gendered lens changes how we look at certain people or events within the larger event of the Spanish conquest” might help with that differentiation. 

As the blog prompt suggests, Townsend’s book is a “look at history” through many lenses, including that of gender.  Rather than a look at Malintzin (which would characterize a biography), the book, as Townsend says, “is a book about contexts… more than the story of one woman’s life’ it is an exploration of indigenous experience in her era.”  (8).  Looking at history through the lenses of gender and culture, this book turns conventional history of the Spanish conquest on its head.  For example, when Townsend writes about human sacrifice, she argues, “The Mexica worshipped generous gods who had made all life possible; in return they asked occasionally for the ultimate gift that humans could give them” (15).  Here, Townsend analyzes the practice of human sacrifice from perspective of the Mexica.  Contrast this with Prescott’s preoccupation and condemnation of human sacrifice in The Conquest of Mexico. 

Looking at history through these lenses also changes how we look at the Europeans.  For example, Townsend uses the perspective of the Mexica to cast doubt on the historical trope of Cortes’ military genius.  For example, she writes, “the newcomers were extremely well armed…but they were ignorant and easily confused” (29).  She also argues, “A few hundred Spaniards became an unbeatable force only when combined with thousands of indigenous pouring in behind them.  Cortes and several other conquistadors willingly attest to this” (113).  By “asking big questions in small places,” then, Townsend does more than provide us with a new perspective on Malinztin.  Rather, beginning with an individual but moving beyond the realm of biography, Townsend provides new perspectives on the Spanish conquest in general.