Frontiers of Evangelization: Indians in the Sierra Gorda and Chiquitos Missions

Robert Jackson's 'Frontiers of Evangelization: Indians in the Sierra Gorda and Chiquitos Missions' attempts to compare mission experiences between sedentary indigenous populations in present-day Bolivia and nonsedentary Pames and Jonaces Indians in central Mexico, aiming to show that demographic outcomes were influenced by missionaries' organizational strategies and population sedentariness. However, Jackson's claims lack sufficient evidence due to uneven sociocultural changes across the studied groups and an overemphasis on non-Chiquitos and Sierra Gorda missions. While the study contributes to comparative mission scholarship, it fails to substantiate its central arguments, leaving a limited understanding of the populations in question.

Sarreal, J. (2019). Frontiers of Evangelization: Indians in the Sierra Gorda and Chiquitos Missions. Hispanic American Historical Review, 99(1), 172–173. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-7288259