Ser francés tiene sus riesgos: estrategias de supervivencia vital e ideológica en el ámbito novohispano del siglo XVIII

This article examines the identity transformation of the Portatui-Covarrubias family, of French origin, in which some of its members adopted Spanish affiliation in order to adjust to the dynamics of social power. In the case of Geronimo, the study shows how his identity fluctuated between concealment and affirmation of his roots as a survival strategy in the late eighteenth-century New Spain context, a context marked by inquisitorial control and the influence of revolutionary ideas. Based on microhistorical methodology, the analysis approaches the relationship between subjectivity, identity and power, showing that identities were fluid, determined by individual decisions and institutional pressures. The conclusions highlight that these identity strategies illustrate mechanisms of adaptation and resistance in a changing context, where alterity was not limited to stereotypes or religious beliefs, as well as to political ideas with the dangerous potential to alter the structures of the Ancien Régime.