f the solitary individual on a "voyage of exploration, of physical and spiritual discovery" in an isolated wilderness setting (149). Pilkington advances the notion that Cabeza de Vaca "became the first American" to offer a narrative with these distinctly American literary features (150). Comparing Cabeza de Vaca with other Spanish conquistadors, Pilkington says that "Cabeza de Vaca's conquest lay in the realm of the spirit rather than that of territory and treasure" (145).
- Rabasa, Jose. "Allegory and Ethnography in Cabeza de Vaca's Naufrigios and Comentarios." Violence, Resistance, and Survival in the Americas. Ed.William Taylor and Franklin Pease.Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990. 40-66.
- Rabasa's contention is that Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion allows for readings from an allegorical as well as ethnographical perspective. Cabeza de Vaca not only records specific place names and geographical features of the land through which he travels but also "invests them with symbols and characters significant within the narrative of evangelization and conquest" (49-50). Rabasa notes that Cabeza de Vaca's account appears to offer a benevolent representation of his attitude towards natives but actually reproduces symbolically "the colonial myths that structure and articulate the same violence he condemns" (43). Rabasa believes that Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion reinforces the notion that native peoples are subordinate to the rule of Spain and supports the idea that native knowledge and superstition is devil-inspired. Rabasa concludes by suggesting that Cabeza de Vaca's story portrays the "paradoxical coexistence of an imperial and empathetic perspective" and should be analyzed allegorically as well as ethnographically (63).
- Reff, Daniel T. "Text and Context: Cures, Miracles, and Fear in the Relacion of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca." Journal of the Southwest 38 (1996): 115-38.
- Reff notes that Cabeza de Vaca stands apart from his contemporaries because of the way Cabeza de Vaca "overcame to a remarkable degree the confines of Eurocentric thought" (115). The essay focuses on the miracles, cures, and biblical allusions in Cabeza de Vaca's narrative, especially his Christ-like activities. Reff traces the opinions of various scholars about Cabeza de Vaca's role as healer and stresses the role of intertextuality in the text-formation process of Cabeza de Vaca's account, especially the Bible and hagiography. The essay also stresses how any critique that Cabeza de Vaca and his compatriots were "able to manipulate the Indians by instilling fear in them" in order to "render the Indians passive or at worst irrational" exaggerates Cabeza de Vaca's "abilities as a proto-ethnographer" (132). Reff concludes by suggesting that today's scholars comprehend the Indian's fears of Cabeza de Vaca more than Cabeza de Vaca himself ever did.
- Resendez, Andres. "Cabeza de Vaca and the Problem of First Encounters." Historically Speaking 10.1 (2009): 36-38.
- Resendez examines the problems of what isn't said in Cabeza de Vaca's Narrative -- namely, the cruelties enacted upon native tribes during his journey -- and explores the different attitudes towards slavery in the New World. Resendez wonders why Cabeza de Vaca was reluctant to fully describe European atrocities the latter had witnessed and offers a possible explanation with some historic context. Resendez also describes the different roles African slaves would have in Europe and the New World and illuminates the differences between European and Native American slavery as a way of showing how Cabeza de Vaca survived as a shaman in North America.
- Silva, Alan J. "Conquest, Conversion, and the Hybrid Self in Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion." Post Identity 2.1 (1999): 123-46.
- "My goal is to interrogate the relationship between colonizer and colonized . . . and to understand how an 'outsider' and an 'insider' can retain his conqueror's mentality yet simultaneously become more sympathetic to native customs, how an 'Indianized' Spaniard can both recognize the problems inherent in the concept of 'discover