{"product_id":"the-criminal-case-of-juana-aguilar-adjudicating-gender-in-colonial-central-america-paperback","title":"The Criminal Case of Juana Aguilar: Adjudicating Gender in Colonial Central America - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSylvia Sellers-García\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1792 in rural San Salvador, Juana Aguilar was accused of committing what the authorities called a \"heinous\" crime. Aguilar was suspected of being a \"hermaphrodite,\" and while this in and of itself was not a crime, determining Aguilar's sex would resolve whether the relationships Aguilar had with women were criminal. Aguilar's possessions were confiscated, the accused was placed in jail, and a long criminal case ensued. Over the course of this case, almost a dozen medical experts examined Aguilar's person, and Aguilar escaped imprisonment twice before finally being apprehended in distant Guatemala City. In an age when medicine and science were gaining ever more authority in the process of construing identity, the legal authorities of colonial Central America relied heavily on doctors and midwives to determine what Aguilar \"really was.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor decades, Aguilar's case fell out of view, and scholars believed the only extant source was the examination notes of a medical expert who testified for the court. With this volume, the entire case--with testimony from the defendant, depositions and witness statements, inventories of Aguilar's belongings, and new details about Aguilar's intrepid escapes from prison--is made available in English. Sellers-García translates and contextualizes Aguilar's account and brings to the forefront issues and problems that we wrestle with today: the policing of supposed sexual deviance, the reliance on medicine for the creation of identity categories, and the criminalization of gender difference.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile Aguilar's experience was unique, it reveals broad and surprising truths about how the institutions of colonial Central America confronted difference. The volume offers readers an opportunity to engage with rare primary sources and will be especially valuable to students of gender and sexuality studies, the history of medicine, legal history, and the history of Latin America.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eSylvia Sellers-García\u003c\/strong\u003e is Professor of History and Director of the Lowell Humanities Series at Boston College. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Woman on the Windowsill: A Tale of Mystery in Several Parts\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDistance and Documents at the Spanish Empire's Periphery\u003c\/i\u003e and coeditor of \u003ci\u003eImagining Histories of Colonial Latin America: Synoptic Methods and Practices\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 118\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.5 x 8.4 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 25, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52048663511341,"sku":"9780271100340","price":38.09,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/3185\/6429\/files\/the-criminal-case-of-juana-aguilar-adjudicating-gender-in-colonial-central-america-paperback-4696757.webp?v=1780169645","url":"https:\/\/ishookbooks.com\/products\/the-criminal-case-of-juana-aguilar-adjudicating-gender-in-colonial-central-america-paperback","provider":"iShook Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}