ABSTRACT
Elite culture in colonial Latin America was a projection of contemporaneous Spanish culture and only faintly reflected Native American influences. Colonial high culture suffered from many of the limitations of its parent but lacked the breadth and vitality of Spanish literature and art, the product of much older and more mature civilization. The colonial university was patterned on similar institutions in Spain and faithfully reproduced their medieval organization, curriculum, and method of instruction. The oppression of women and the gender double standard critiqued by Sor Juana in the excerpts were not the only indication of gender trouble in colonial Latin America. World-class intellects like Sor Juana, writing primarily for transatlantic cultural elites, were not the only ones to combine New World sensibilities and European cultural forms into a uniquely American hybrid or mestizo culture. Although vigorously suppressed by Spanish colonial political and religious authorities, indigenous culture continued to thrive well into the colonial period, especially on the periphery.
