The arm of history is long, but not always strong: The effects of labor coercion in colonial and postcolonial Peru

The arm of history is long, but not always strong: The effects of labor coercion in colonial and postcolonial Peru

Our project on the effects of forced labor in colonial Peru began years ago, when I, Leticia, was still a graduate student. The motivation was threefold. First, how did the Spanish pacify, control, and extract resources from their newfound empire? Forced labor played a prominent role in that story, but we felt its political economy was still incompletely understood. Second, how did forced labor shape the colonial economy (and viceversa)? That is…