The Jesuit missions among the Guaraní Indians in Paraguay (1640s to 1767) have attracted attention for many centuries. At their peak in the early eighteenth century, the missions, numbering thirty at the time, encompassed around 140,000 people. They appeared to be virtually autonomous in their government, relying mostly on an internal economy only partially connected to the colonial economy. Owensby contributes to the study of these missions by placing them within a larger history of capitalism (which he calls “gain”). He argues that the Guaraní economy, based on what he calls “substantive mutuality,” offered an alternative to the European model’s increasing focus on mercantile endeavor and the exaltation of individual profit.
Owensby dives deeply into the history of Paraguay as a Spanish colony, from its beginnings when the Guaraní accepted the Spanish as allies to aid in the defense against outside indigenous enemies. He asserts that the Guaraní understood society...