‘Thou shall not commit adultery’: the discourse of guilt, penance and forgiveness in the Confessonario en lengua cumanagota (1723) by Diego de Tapia

Abstract

This contribution analyses the Confessonario en lengua cumanagota (1723) by Diego de Tapia as an instrument of conversion based on models of repression and inquisitorial techniques. In order to persecute the indigenous people of the eastern coast of Venezuela in their unfaithful and lascivious behaviour, coercion is employed in order to teach them Christian ethics. Tapia stresses the examination of the sixth commandment with repeated questions about the indigenous people’s sexual desires and practices, and includes moralising examples and symbols of eternal punishment. The confessionary can also be used as didactic material for learning the Cumanagot language, and at the same time it reflects the colonial context: confession through an interpreter, perception of the Caribs’ cultural idiosyncrasies and of their capacity for repentance in confession, and absolution without full expression of their sins, etc. Contextualising the confessionary in the Iberoamerican discourse genre of power, I will portray the author and his missionary and intellectual trajectory. The thematic organisation of the text reflects the challenge confession posed for the priest as well as the Cumanagot people. The analysis of discourse elements found in the sixth commandment (‘Thou shall not commit adultery’) show how stylistic means and the formulation of the questions may have instilled fear in the indigenous people.