Barbara Ann French

“Narrating Hope: A Study of Epidemiological Narratives in Colonial Mexico" is a book project that seeks to analyze the way in which narrative structures were used by authors during diverse epidemics that occurred during the viceroyal period in Mexico as a means of narrating hope and communal resiliency. The multi-faceted and interdisciplinary approach used to conduct the research examines not only how the hope of societal reconstruction was projected by the authors, but also the way in which literary and historical texts from the period became a pedagogical tool for future contention and change. Additionally, the study reveals the way in which literary and rhetorical strategies employed by the authors generated a widespread cultural interpretation of the events, many of which are still relevant today.