In this chapter, the effects of the clergy’s movement along the Asia-bound religious itinerary on disputes over royal patronage in New Spain are examined. The chapter first explores how the route between Spain and Southeast Asia turned into a standardized itinerary. Attention is then shifted to disputes caused by the clergy’s movements along this route and the meaning the category of criollo acquired in them. Delving further into the uses of the logic of assessment, the chapter explores how the qualities of New Spain and its creole inhabitants were celebrated by clergymen with varying agendas. The chapter argues that the positive assessment of both from someone like the Spanish Augustinian Rodrigo Aganduru Moriz were the result of his efforts to defend the role of creole friars during the evangelization in Asia. Although Moriz’s celebrations mirrored those of creole clergymen, his aim of attracting friars to Asia actually collided with the interests of a considerable segment of the local clergy. Finally, the chapter uses the celebrations of Felipe de Jesús, one of the Nagasaki martyrs, to reconsider how the criollo identity was operationalized in struggles over the distribution of privileges and honors.

Chapter 1 spans the first decade of Cuban independence and explores the juxtaposition of “modern” concerns like hygiene and ancient concerns like honor and proper behavior. At the turn of the century, domestic workers’ physical bodies were subjects of scrutiny and avatars for early republican anxieties. Wet-nursing in particular was a hugely important topic as high infant mortality rates plagued the island. The Cuban government’s focus on literal hygiene and the figurative hygiene of the new republic regularly resulted in a hostile fixation on working-class women’s bodies and movements. The chapter examines the connections between domestic service and prostitution and uses court cases to demonstrate the physical vulnerability of African-descended women and girls both before and after slavery’s end in Cuba.