Barataria: Common wisdom / Barataria: el saber de los comunes

Abstract

The famous episode of Don Quixote that covers the account of Sancho Panza's government in the island of Barataria, gives us the opportunity and the ideal pretext to immerse ourselves into the very heart of two pivotal questions whose elucidation will enable us to widely understand the scope and depth of the Cervantine classic and the stratified society in which the narration is contextualized. The first one will be the unexpected and surprising irruption of the doctor, Pedro Recio, next to the Manchegan governor in accordance with the new status that medical practitioners have reached, close to powerful positions in Spain. The second one, aimed to perceive the social stratification that explains and places us within the right context to understand both the spoken words and the governor's work in his ephemeral regency in the island.

Keywords

• Island
• Governor
• doctor
• popular wisdom
• scientific knowledge