Between History, Memory, and Law: Courtroom Methods in Mexico

A deep reading of testimony delivered at the Spanish colonial court of the Audiencia uncovers distinctive speech formulas, nonverbal cues, and conceptual constructs that throw light on the intentions and goals, as well as the cultural predispositions, of communities and individuals. Historians can employ a similar methodology to derive patterns of “cognitive schemata” from testimony in other legal settings of the early modern era.