Genizaros: Place and Identity in New Mexico

Genizaros entered colonial society as captives taken during tribal warfare in and around New Mexico. Most Genizaros began as Hispanos servants who earned their freedom by working off the ransom paid by their owners. They, and their children, formed a third of New Mexico’s Hispano population by 1880. While many assimilated into Hispano and Pueblo society, others settled on land grant communities where they maintained their identity through ritual, self-government and kinship; a culture that survives to the present. This lecture is the story of New Mexico’s Genizaros.