This thesis explains Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez through its local and international context. It analyses the text as an important element of propaganda in Gaspar de la Cerda´s government, as viceroy of New Spain. In addition, the thesis deals with the importance of stereotypes and prejudices among European powers in the XVII literature and their influence in Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez. The research also defines the literary genre of Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez through a comparative study with texts written by Spanish captives during the XVI-XVII centuries. The title of the thesis written in Spanish (as established in my doctoral project) is Entre mecenazgo y piratería: una re-contextualización histórica e ideológica de Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez This research is part of the project Encounters and Cultural Transfers in Colonial Hispanic Literature. Therefore, it studies how a new intercultural discourse emerged in the New World. At the beginning of my research, I pretended to answer to the following questions: 1.What is the role of Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez in Gaspar de la Cerda´s literary patronage? 2. Are the stereotypes about British, French, Portuguese present in the book important elements of the XVII´s imagology? 3. What is the importance of captivity in Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez?
