G–2 GLOSSARY
broadly, merchants, fi nanciers, and industrial-
ists who dominated capitalist societies.Brujería Witchcraft, especially as practiced by
women of African and indigenous American
descent, whose knowledge of native cultural
traditions offered a refuge from, and served
as a source of resistance to, Spanish cultural
domination.
Buenas costumbres Literally “good manners,”
this term describes racist and patriarchal tradi-
tions that valued whiteness, obedience, and re-
spect for family, church, and country.
Bureaucratic authoritarianism A superfi cially
representative system of government that insti-
tutionalized an enduring, extremely brutal and
repressive, military dictatorship and effectively
excluded popular classes—that is, the poor,
peasants, workers, and their political represen-
tatives—from citizenship participation, thereby
facilitating restoration of a free market economy
that benefi ted what Guillermo O’Donnell calls
“a highly oligopolized and transnationalized
bourgeoisie.”
Caballero A cavalry soldier or, more generally, a
“gentleman” of high social rank in Spanish co-
lonial America.
Cabildo A municipal council in the Spanish
colonies.
Caboclo A term used in Brazil to describe poor,
usually landless, people of mixed indigenous
and European descent.
Cacique (1) An indigenous chief or local ruler.
(2) A tyrannical local boss.
Caciques apoderados Literally “empowered
chiefs,” this term describes indigenous rebel-
lions that swept across the Andean highlands
of Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia during the early
twentieth century.
Caesarist Drawing upon the historical model of
Julius Caesar, this term refers to a military dic-
tatorship characterized by charismatic person-
alist rule.
Café cantante Coffeehouses that featured Mexi-
can countercultural rock music and provided
a meeting place for rebellious youth culture in
the late 1960s and the 1970s.
Café con leche Literally “coffee with cream,”
this designation describes the mixed-race na-
ture of many Latin American societies com-
posed primarily of descendants of Africans and
Europeans.
Calpulli A kinship and territorial unit of social or-
ganization in ancient and colonial Mexico.
Campesinos Usually poor, politically powerless
rural residents, including farm workers, peas-
ants, sharecroppers, and small farmers.
Candomblé Popular among Afro-Brazilians, a
religious sect that worships Ogun, the African
god of birth and death, and preserves the cul-
tural traditions of Africa’s western Yorubaland,
home of many Africans enslaved by the Portu-
guese and sold to Brazilian fazendeiros.
Cangaceiros Landless, rootless bandits in Brazil’s
frontier regions, who defended their indepen-
dence from rural coroneis either by participating
in peasant rebellions or by selling their military
services to rival political bosses.
Capitalism A social system characterized by pri-
vate ownership of productive resources, invest-
ment, economic competition, and private profi t
produced by the employment of wage labor.
Capitão mor, pl. capitães môres The commander
in chief of the military forces of a province in co-
lonial Brazil.
Capitulación The contract between the Spanish
monarch and the leader of an expedition of con-
quest or discovery.
Carnival In Latin America’s Catholic culture,
this is a pre-Lenten period of wild public celebra-
tions of worldly pleasures that will be sacrifi ced
during solemn preparations for the holy season
of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Caudillo A powerful political boss whose author-
ity is unassailable.
Cédula A royal decree issued by the Spanish
crown.
Cédula de gracias al sacar The royal decree that
refl ected the socially contingent nature of race