Micaela Wiehe

My doctoral dissertation, titled “Making Moves: Indigenous Mobility under Colonialism in New Spain, the Philippines, and the Spanish Caribbean, 1490-1800” is centered on the theme of Indigenous movement and migration. My research will reconstruct the story of Indigenous migrations by following their movement from the beginning of the colonial era through institutions of forced labor, the recruitment of Indigenous soldiers and interpreters in the Spanish invasion, religious education of elite youth, and reducciones. Then, I will continue throughout the colonial period to analyze the reclaimed use of movement to support the continuation of precolonial religious practices, to avoid the Provistorato Courts and Inquisition, to create peripheral communities and new families, and more. Ending in the early nineteenth century, my dissertation will consider the long-term effects of colonial migration on the modern era. In all, I will consider three centuries of movements to suggest the use of mobility as a framework for analyzing resistance to Spanish colonialism and to foreground the lasting impact of this type of movement on modern migration patterns. Currently, I work under the supervision of Professor Matthew Restall.

2023 The James R. Scobie Award
2022-2023 History Graduate Student Association President
2022  Latin American Studies Research and Travel Award, The Pennsylvania State University