The Nahua Newsletter A Publication of the Indiana University Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Alan R. Sandstrom, Editor
With support from the Department of Anthropology
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
February 2001, Number 31
The Nahua Newsletter
A Publication of the Indiana
University
Center for Latin American
and Caribbean Studies
Alan R.
Sandstrom, Editor
With support from the Department
of Anthropology
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
Welcome to the Nahua Newsletter, your friendly and readable, biannual gateway to scholarship on the culture, history, and language of Nahuatl-speaking and related peoples in Mesoamerica and surrounding areas. In this issue, you will find news items, notifications of publications, requests for cooperation, book reviews, and as a special feature, an Index of all of the book reviews that have appeared in the NN over the years. The Index should aid readers in finding expert reviews of key works. Please take note that authors of the reviews, as of the works themselves, number among the prominent names in Mesoamerican scholarship. They are some of the nearly 400 subscribers from 15 different countries who have found that the NN helps keep them informed about developments in their field of study.
The Index was prepared by Pamela Effrein Sandstrom, the behind-the-scenes person who has contributed so much to the success of the NN. Pamela has a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science and she is an experienced ethnographic field researcher. She has lived for nearly a year among Tibetans in exile in the Himalaya region of northern India and for four years among Nahuas in the tropical forests of northern Veracruz, Mexico. Her own research interests in library and information science focus on how scholars create and communicate knowledge. She has pioneered in the application of optimal foraging theory, developed by biologists and adapted by anthropologists to explain the behavior of subsistence foragers, to understand scholars as they forage in their information environments. Without her dedication and skills as a designer and proofreader, the NN would be but a pale shadow of itself.
And now for something completely unexpected. The NN is beginning to play a significant role in helping indigenous peoples from Mesoamerica and surrounding regions create an ethnic identity for themselves. As many readers already know, many indigenous peoples are rejecting their identities as Hispanics and want to be regarded as the Native Americans that they are. The declaration in defense of their traditional religion by Nahuas of Chicontepec, Veracruz, published in NN 30 is an example of this new awareness. One group that is discovering their identity is indigenous prisoners. Some years ago the NN became essential reading among Nahuas and former Nahuas housed in the correctional facility at Crescent City, California. We are not sure how they first got hold of the NN, but they have been writing beautiful hand-written letters to us for some time now. We currently have 14 subscribers from this institution and although their names and addresses are not listed with the other subscribers, they receive issues of the NN as they are published. Many of them do not know English and several write in Nahuatl. They are extremely interested in finding out more about the Nahuatl language and about their heritage as Native Americans.
We have sent them some material but would like to put the word out to NN readers who would be willing to help out. The prisoners are not allowed to receive books but photocopies and other materials would be fine. Anything at all that relates to ancient or modern Nahuas and especially material on Nahuatl is in demand. Our impression is that these men do not know a great deal of the published record concerning their ethnic heritage nor about the grammar of Nahuatl but they are eager students. Grammars and methods for learning Nahuatl or perhaps other indigenous languages of Mesoamerica would be welcome. For the sake of confidentiality, we ask that 14 copies of all material be sent to us at the address listed below. We will package up whatever we receive and mail it to Crescent City. We have no idea why these men have been incarcerated but we do know that many if not all of them are Nahuas or of Nahua heritage and we believe that it would be a service to them if we could help them discover something about their ethnic background. A relatively small effort on our parts could make a significant difference and we hope that you will join us in spreading knowledge to people who call out for it.
We mentioned in the last issue that the NN is now on the Web. We are putting all current issues on the Web (without illustrations, however, due to copyright restrictions), and we plan to mount all past issues as time permits. Unfortunately, since our last announcement our server has been upgraded and the address provided in NN 30 no longer works. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the technological revolution. The new address of the NN on the Web is http://www.ipfw.edu/soca/Nahua.htm. Readers will note that the address is identical except that everything is in lower case. Once again, we want to thank our Webmaster Richard Sutter, who is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, and whose e-mail address is SutterR@ipfw.edu.
By the way, according to our Nahuatl-speaking colleagues in northern Veracruz, one way to say "write me by e-mail" in Nahuatl is "xinechtlacuihui pan teposmecaixtlatiltlahcuilloli." Just thought you would like to know.
Please use the NN to call for cooperation, inform others about your current projects, spread the word about any accolades or recent publications, ask questions of the experts, or simply make your opinion known. Send text via e-mail or on a diskette saved in WordPerfect or MS Word. This saves typing time and helps reduce potential errors. The NN is sent to subscribers free of charge but it survives on donations from readers. Finances are always a bit precarious and so any help is welcomed. The publication is now 15 and a half years old and has continued solely based on the generosity of our readers. It is a record of which we can all be proud. Please make checks payable to The Nahua Newsletter and send them to the address below. All funds are used to print and mail the NN. There are no administrative costs.
Please send all correspondence, comments, questions, calls for action, or announcements to:
Alan R. Sandstrom
The Nahua Newsletter
Department of Anthropology
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, IN 46805
By e-mail: sandstro@ipfw.edu
1. Ricardo A. Fagoaga Hernández writes about his current research:
"The main purpose of my research project is to determine the ways in which people in rural Mexico manage to obtain their food supply. The standard paradigm which holds that these peasants obtain their nutritional requirements through subsistence agriculture (that is to say by producing it themselves) is no longer an accurate or adequate explanation of their activities. Various socioeconomic reasons and regional conditions have encouraged these people to seek new opportunities to insert themselves in the monetary market. Yet, the interesting thing is that despite these changes, their food preparation techniques and patterns of exchange have remained almost intact. The conceptual framework that I use for this study may be called a 'food systems' approach. This type of methodology examines the way in which people produce, prepare, exchange and consume different foods without excluding external elements that incidentally may produce some changes in the diet.
"The above project, titled 'Yahualica: Un sistema alimentario de la Huasteca hidalguense,' was accepted by the prestigious Mexican social sciences research agency CIESAS-CONACYT in the project 'La Huasteca: Sociedad, Cultura y Recursos Naturales. Pasado y Presente,' which financed my fieldwork of five months in Yahualica, Hidalgo (Huasteca hidalguense). This place, a little community and cabecera municipal, presented several special features for a food systems study, including:
"Geography and Ecology: Yahualica is located in a small plateau surrounded by two rivers; there is only one road to get there by motorized transport. There are four paths that connect the cabecera municipal with Santo Tomas (a pueblo of the municipio of Atlapexco), Mecatlan, Tepetitla/Tlalchiyahualica, and Olma (the smallest settlement). People used to have their milpas on the slope. The terrain has lots of stones, but the land near the rivers is enriched when the river floods. The semitropical climate permits two harvests of maize, and the growing of lots of citrus trees and a great variety of green vegetables and coffee.
"History and Politics: Yahualica was a pre-Hispanic settlement and still preserves some of the archaeological evidence. The town had significant political power until the last decades of the 19th century when, in the 1870s, a town named Atlapexco successfully usurped Yahualica's position. A federal resolution ended in the creation of the municipio of Atlapexco in 1922, and later converted it to the municipios of Yahualica and Huautla. In the 1970s, land invasions occurred that in principle distributed land equally between poor and rich peasants. The result of this is that today these lands are monte (meaning that the owners don't cultivate the land) and there is a high Index of migration to Pachuca, Hidalgo, or Mexico City.
"Market Circuits: The established market of Huejutla de Reyes provides the people of the region with daily fresh goods, meat, and even fish. This city is the center of a circuit that encompasses the towns of Atlapexco, Huatla, El Arenal, Jaltocan, Tehuetlan, and Chapulhuacanito. The people of Yahualica buy most of their food products in the first two, including the city. From time to time, people from other communities and municipios travel to the town selling food from house to house, but the local producers (mostly women) adopted this idea to earn some pesos.
"Of course, these aren't the only elements that have transformed or maintained the food system. Regional and national events also initiated subtle and profound changes in local conditions, including governmental programs in health, education and nutrition.
"I would like to thank you again for your interest and help. I will keep in touch and apologize for writing so late; the Xantolo arrived and I did not notice the passage of time." Ricardo A. Fagoaga can be reached at Eugenia 610-W, Col. Del Valle 03100, México, D.F. México; or by e-mail at rifagoag@datasys.com.mx.
2. Jess Valdovinos Alquicira, a student of social anthropology in Mexico, sends the following note about his current research:
"The Ocoroni is a Native American ethnic group related to neighboring Yaqui and Mayo people. The three groups inhabited the region of Cahitas in northeastern Mexico. The Ocoroni probably disappeared in 1970. We know almost nothing about them and there are few anthropological studies of these people. In 1903, Fortunato Hernández and Ricardo E. Cicero wrote an article entitled 'The Ocoroni Indians' that appeared in the Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 3(3):234-243. Thirty-five photographs by Rafael Garca accompany the article. The photographs were donated to the Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia photographic archives. With no other visual information and few documents, I am using the photographs to describe their daily lives, children, marriage, games, agriculture, traditions, vegetation of the region, clothing styles, textiles, houses, celebration, and pottery. After analyzing these aspects of culture and environment, I will compare the information with contemporary ethnographic data from their neighbors. Finally, I will try to demonstrate that photography is a visual instrument to document cultural information that can be used like written sources. The project is financed by CIESAS and my thesis advisor is Teresa Rojas Rabiela. You can contact me at valdovinos_98@yahoo.com."
3. Susan Toby Evans informs readers that the work she co-edited with David L. Webster, Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia has been published by Garland Publishing Co. The encyclopedia is a single volume, 948 pages long, including a 100 page Index. It contains over 500 articles by 300 Mesoamericanist archaeologists and ethnohistorians. The articles cover regions, sites, time periods, cultural and natural phenomena and materials. The cost is $150.00 US.
Susan also sent along copies of two articles that she has recently published: "Aztec Noble Courts: Men, Women, and Children of the Palace." In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya. Vol. 1, Theory, Comparison, and Synthesis. Takeshi Inomata and Stephen D. Houston, eds., pp. 237 273. Boulder, Co.: Westview Press, 2001; and "Aztec Royal Pleasure Parks: Conspicuous Consumption and Elite Status Rivalry." Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes 20 (2000): 206-228.
4. Neville Stiles writes: "I was a Nahuatl scholar for many years, although not any more since my work in Guatemala involves more mundane matters. I finished my Ph.D. thesis in 1983 at St. Andrews University, U.K., related to Nahuatl in the state of Hidalgo and the sociology of language. After setting up the School of Linguistics at Mariano Galvez University in Guatemala we maintained an exchange of journals (Winak: Boletin Intercultural) with the NN.
"My purpose for writing is to ascertain any interest there might be amongst your readership or libraries in the U.S. or other countries in obtaining an original carbon copy of five volumes of notes from 1926-36, meticulously typed up by the famous American researcher Byron McAfee. The notes are from the period when McAfee attended Nahuatl classes with other distinguished people including Robert Barlow. The notes are on all sorts of different paper, including some sheets with headings. McAfee worked for the British Petroleum Company in Mexico (El Aguila) in the 1930s and met there a friend of mine, now deceased, Mr. William Fellowes, of the U.K. Fellowes was an accountant whose job it was to wind up the affairs of British Petroleum after expropriation.
"In his spare time, Fellowes decided to study Nahuatl and realized that McAfee knew a lot about the language. He was given some books and began his studies, later preparing publications for journals and assisting the Museum of Mankind in London. I was contacted in the early 1980s by the Museum and made contact with Mr. Fellowes and visited him on two occasions. Some years before his death he recorded an audiocassette narrating the entire story of his experience with McAfee and handing over the documents to me. These documents are safely logged in the U.K. and are bound in old-fashioned, stamp album binders. I would like to sell these documents to an interested party and in the first instance hope to hear of anyone who would like to have the documents for their research. I think the original version, if it still exists, may be housed at the UCLA library where some years ago I located other works by McAfee in the catalog.
"I live in Guatemala and my address is 21a Avenida 33-43, Zona 12 Col. Santa Elisa, Guatemala, Guatemala, Central America. My e-mail address is samara_s83@hotmail.com. I am looking forward to hearing from anyone interested in this very special item."
5. José Luis Moctezuma has sent a CD to the NN containing "Avances y balances de lenguas yutoaztecas: Homenaje a Wick R. Miller," edited by José Luis Moctezuma and Jane H. Hill, and "Bibliografa de Sonora y areas adyacentes," by Julio César Montané Mart. The CD is published by Noroeste de México (nmero especial), Centro INAH Sonora, CONACULTA, INAH. "Avances y balances" will also be published in traditional book form by the Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia. The CD costs $15.00 US, plus shipping. To order, please contact José Luis Moctezuma at vaquero@rtn.uson.mx.
6. José Alcina Franch sent the NN a copy of his book Temazcalli: Higiene, terapéutica, obstetricia, y ritual en el nuevo mundo. Sevilla: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos de Sevilla, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientficas, 2000. ISBN 84-00-07998-1. From the introduction:
"El tema de este libro no es una mera curiosidad. La antropologa médica contemporánea no sólo está profundizando en mundos de conocimiento no académico por el mero deseo de conocer, sino porque de da en da se está comprobando que, aunque no todo, lo que conocan los mal llamados pueblos 'primitivos' y todas las civilizaciones antiguas del planeta, pueden aportar descubrimientos ocasionalmente sensacionales al tratamiento de enfermedades o conocimientos diversos y comportamientos médicos que pueden mejorar la medicina y la sanidad de nuestra propria cultura ....
"El presente libro es el resultado de una investigación interdisciplinara sobre algunos aspectos de la medicina tradicional de los pueblos americanos: todo él gira en torno al baño de vapor o temazcal que, en cierto modo, es una verdadera institución que se remonta hasta épocas bastante antiguas y llega hasta nuestros das, constituyendo, por lo tanto, una arraigada tradición cultural, especialmente en el mundo indgena de México y Guatemala."
6. Long-time NN reader Dani®le Dehouve has sent a copy of her recent book Rudingero el borracho y otros exempla medievales en México virreinal. México, D.F.: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologa Social, Universidad Iberoamericana, Miguel Angel Porra, Grupo Editorial, 2000. ISBN 970-701-074-6. A review of this book will appear in a future issue. From the cover:
"En Europa, durante los siglos XII y XIII, la Iglesia emprendo una nueva conquista de las almas, y las órdenes mendicantes, en particular, inventaron una técnica del sermón destinada a conmover el corazón de los fieles. En las ciudades, en los camplos, el predicador quiso mostrarse cercano a la vida cotidiana y a las preocupaciones de su auditorio. Con ese fin empezó a utilizar relatos breves y edificantes para ilustrar puntos especficos de su enseñanza: a tales relatos se les dio el nombre latino de exemplum (en plural exempla) segn el término heredado de la antigºedad romana que designó en aquel tiempo un modelo de comportamiento o virtud propuesto como ejemplo.
"En la Nueva España los exempla formaron parte del discurso edificante católico y desempeñaron un papel de extraordinaria importancia: este serie de relatos y temas (el borracho condenado a beber pez y azufre por toda la eternidad, el estudiante que carga una pesada capa llena de sofismas quemantes, el usurero y su hijo que se maldicen en el infierno, etcétera) vivieron con una fuerza enorme en la mentalidad de todos los grupos de la sociedad virreinal. El hecho dejó una profunda huella que se nota en la actualidad, de manera más evidente en algunos aspectos de la literatura oral y aun en temas cinematográficos."
7. Kristina Tiedje has sent a copy of her very interesting masters thesis written in French and entitled "Le R¥le de la Femme Nahua en Changement: Les Voix de Six Femmes Indiennes de la Huastéque Potosine au Mexique." Faculté d'Anthropologie et de Sociologie, Université Lumiére Lyon, France, 1997/1998. She is currently working on her doctoral research that is tentatively entitled "Ethnicity and Gender in Nahua Ritual Healing." She can be reached at the Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences 1218, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403 1218.
8. Julieta Valle Esquivel (ENAH) along with Rodrigo Fuentes Moreno, Carlos Guadalupe Heiras Rodrguez, José Bardomiano Hernández Alvarado, Maricela Hernández Montes, José Antonio Romero Huerta, and Linda Lea Salinas Orr have produce two valuable manuscripts relating to the Huasteca region. The first is "La etnografa de la Huasteca a través de sus autores: Bibliografa comentada," a 75-page annotated bibliography that covers the major works of ethnography on the Huasteca. The second is entitled "Reciprocidad, jerarqua y comunidad en la tierra del Trueno (La Huasteca)," written with the collaboration of Angela Ixkic Duarte Gastian and Baltazar Hernández Vargas. It is an analysis of the unique social organization found among indigenous groups in the Huasteca. The manuscript is 177 pages in length and covers a wide range of topics. Anyone interested in learning more about these works should contact Julieta Valle Esquivel at julietaxvalle@yahoo.com.mx or Carlos Guadalupe Heiras Rodrguez at cghr@terra.com.mx.
9. Enrique Hugo Garca Valencia (INAH-Xalapa) has forwarded a copy of a book to the NN about the paper-cutting tradition that survives among the Otom people of the Sierra Norte de Puebla and northern Veracruz region. The work is entitled Papel ceremonial entre los Otomes by Beatriz Oliver Vega. México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia, 1997. ISBN 968-29-9485-3. The work is a catalog of Otom ritual paper cuttings housed at the Museo Nacional de Antropologa. Each specimen is presented in a photograph along with catalog numbers, the name of the spirit portrayed in Spanish, and the dimensions of the figure. The work contains several hundred specimens along with a brief introduction covering the history of papermaking and paper cutting. There is also some information on how the figures are used by contemporary Otoms during religious observances.
10. Mara J. Rodrguez-Shadow and Robert D. Shadow send the NN a copy of their recent book entitled El pueblo del Señor: Las fiestas y peregrinaciones de Chalma. Toluca:Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, 2000. ISBN 968-835-562-3. Dra. Beatriz Barba de Piña Chan writes about the work:
"El estudio de las expresiones de la religon popular ha constituido una de las preocupaciones profesionales de los antropólogos Mara J. Rodrguez-Shadow y Robert D. Shadow. En esta ocasión nos presentan un estudio integral sobre el santuario de Chalma que ha sido escrito no sólo para los académicos, sino también para el disfrute de los peregrinos y devotos del Señor de Chalma.
"Es un libro en el que se incluyó todo; inicia con una sección en la que se descute el concepto de religión popular como categora analtica, contina con el relato de la historia de la aparación del Señor de Chalma y la destrucción de Ostoc Téotl, a quien los antiguos pobladores adoraban. Sigue con la descripción de las caractersticas geográficas y poblacionales del área, y su desarrollo social antes de la llegada de los españoles.
"Se expone el proceso de evangelización y el origen y desarrollo del culto y veneración del cristo crucificado. Se habla del asentamiento y la forma en la que se distribuye la población, las capillas y los comercios en el paisaje quebrado de la barranca.
"Se incluye una descripción minuciosa de las transformaciones que se han operado en la fisonoma de santuario, desde su fundación hasta nuestros das, mencionándose algunas de las muestras más relevantes de los exvotos que los fieles han dejado como significativos testigos de los favores recibidos.
"Como en una sección significativa ce citan los testimonios de los peregrinos, los y las lectoras podrán deleitarse y saborear el profundo sentido pragmático y religioso de las motivaciones de los penitentes,a quienes los autores dedican su obra. Se trata de un libro escrito de manera sencilla, agradable e interesante."
Mara J. Rodrguez Shadow's e-mail address is davecita@hotmail.com.
11. Please take note of two recent and excellent licenciatura theses in ethnohistory from the Escuela Nacional de Antropologa e Historia (ENAH), both written under the direction of Jess Ruvalcaba Mercado.
The first is by Patricia Gallardo Arias and is entitled "Medicina traditional y brujera entre los teenek y nahuas de la huasteca potosina." From the introduction (p. 7): "El tema de esta tesis es la práctica médica tradicional de los teenek de Aquismón, San Luis Potos. El objectivo inicial era analizar las representaciones en torno a la brujera en este grupo, mismo que tuve que ampliar durante la investigación debido a que el trabajo de campo me permitió conocer otros aspectos y problemas de la vida indgena relacionados con el eje de la investigación, tales como la terapéutica tradicional, los conceptos de salud y enfermedad y la relación entre medicina académica y medicina tradicional. Si bien la información proviene de médicos indgenas nahuas y teenek de diferentes lugares de la Huasteca potosina, el estudio se centró en el municipio de Aquismón, en aspectos amplios como prácticas y teoras indgenas que detallan la curación de los padecimeintos y enfermedades, las creencias y la naturaleza de las enfermedades. Estas cuestiones son de importancia, porque las concepciones y condiciones de vida de los teenek y nahuas son representativas, al menos en buena parte, de la problematica indgena en México porque la enfermedad es algo con lo que los pueblos indios conviven diariamente."
The second thesis, by Marcela Hernández Ferrer, is entitled "Ofrendas a Dhipak: Ritos agrcolas entre los teenek de San Luis Potos." From the introduction (p. 11): "Buena parte de este estudio consistió en caminar en la Huasteca por las diversas veredas, que sin pavimentar y entre la maleza sirven a los pobladores para transitar de una comunidad a otra, de un barrio a otro, de un municipio a los caminos que s tienen pavimento. Pero fundamentalmente, este trabajo se basa en mis encuentros con diversas familias que me permitieron involucrarme con so modo de vida y sus actividades cotidianas; en mis visitas constantes a unas y otras personas que me abrieron sus puertas y de buena gana convivieron conmigo y me hacan sentir lo tan semejante y diferente que soy de ellos. As es como empecé a caer en la cuenta de que como todo grupo humano, para los teenek, su vida diaria tiene que ver con su sobrevivencia material y que en realidad eso es lo que a ellos más les importa: tener alimento, trabajo, bienestar para su familia y estar bien con los miembros de su comunidad en sus relaciones con ellos y con los otros. De ese modo sus actividades extraordinarias, tienen cabida perfecta y su correspondiente lugar en la vida familiar de todo los das, como lo es trabajar en el campo, preparar la comida, edificar una casa o una escuela, colaborar con los parientes, charlar, rer, bromear y ritualizar.
"Y, de vuelta a la academia, el objectivo principal planteado para la investigación fue el de averiguar acerca de los ritos agrcolas dedicados a la deidad del maz: Dhipak y percibir cómo en ellos está plasmada su cosmovisión."
These important theses were based upon ethnohistorical as well as ethnographic research and they each contribute a great deal to better understanding of a little-known area of Mexico. For more information on these works, please contact Jess Ruvalcaba Mercado by e-mail at ruvalca@buzon.main.conacyt.mx.
12. The NN is pleased to announce publication of the second edition of Félix Báez-Jorge's Los oficios de las diosas. Xalapa, Veracruz: Universidad Veracruzana, 2000. ISBN 968-834-534-2. From the back cover:
"Con la primera edición de Los oficios de las diosas, Félix Báez-Jorge inició un ambicioso proyecto de cinco ttulos dedicados al estudio de la religiosidad popular y las cosmovisiones de los pueblos indios de México. Doce años después, en el momento de presentar estas segundo edición, ha cumplido con una parte sustancial del proyecto anunciado, particularmento en lo referente al sincretismo y a la religión popular a partir de la Colonia.
"Este primer ttulo abarca una dimensión histórica de 'larga duración,' desde diferentes temporalidades de la época prehispánica hasta la Colonia y la actualidad. Su método es dialéctico y diacrónico, tanto porque tiene en cuenta las contradicciones que se generan al interior de los grupos sociales, como porque visualiza a la religión como una institución subjeta a las transformaciones de la sociedad, esto es, en tanto que producto históricamente determinado.
"El libro presenta una sntesis etnográfica del pasado y el presente. Aporta, asimismo, un enfoque original que puede servir de paradigma para otras investigaciones y para la discusión teórica en general. La memoria indgena y el sincretismo ideológico como procesos creativos, la religiosidad popular y la gran riqueza de las tradiciones culturales de México son abordados aqu de una manera atractiva y original, tal como indica Johanna Broda en el prólogo de esta obra."
13. Russell J. Barber and Frances F. Berdan have written a book that will be of great interest to Mesoamericanists and ethnohistorians in general. It is entitled The Emperor's Mirror: Understanding Cultures through Primary Sources. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8165-1848-3. From the back cover:
"Russell J. Barber and Frances F. Berdan have created the ultimate guide for anyone doing cross-cultural and/or document-driven research. Presenting the essentials of primary source methodology, The Emperor's Mirror includes 13 chapters on paleography, calendrics, source and quantitative analysis, and the visual interpretation of artifacts such as pictographs, illustrations, and maps.
"As an introduction to ethnohistory, this book clearly defines terminology and provides practical and accessible examples, effectively integrating the concerns of historians and anthropologists as well as addressing the needs of anyone using primary sources for research in any academic field."
14. Lorenzo Ochoa and Gerardo Gutiérrez send the NN an article they published entitled "Notas en torno a la cosmovisión y religión de los huastecos," Anales de Antropologa (Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) 33 (1996-1999): 91-163. The article covers aspects of Huastec religion and world view based on archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic data. One unique contribution of the work is that it contains a photograph of cut-paper figures used by contemporary Huastecs in ritual offerings. This is the first direct proof we have seen that Huastecs are part of the ritual paper-cutting complex previously thought to be confined to neighboring Otoms, Nahuas, Totonacs, and Tepehuas.
15. We wish to alert readers to the recent publication of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, David Carrasco, editor-in-chief. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-510815-9. Orders can be sent to the Press by phone 1-800-451-7756, and a description of the work can be found at http://www.oup.org/reference/mesoamerican. The three volume set contains 615 articles, many written by readers of the NN, covering a wide range of topics from archaeology, ethnohistory, natural history, linguistics, art history, ethnography, etc. The work contains 1,500 pages and 200 illustrations, with extensive bibliographies and cross Indexing.
16. The latest issue of Desacatos: Revista de Antropologa Social (ISSN 1405-9274) published by the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores in Antropologa Social (CIESAS) is devoted to the cosmovision of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. There are articles on the Lacandon, Mazatec, Huichol, and of particular interest to NN readers, Nahuas of Chicontepec, Veracruz. The article entitled "Los equilibrios del cielo y de la tierra: Cosmovisión de los nahuas de Chicontepec," no. 5 (invierno 2000): 79-94, is written by Félix Báez-Jorge and Arturo Gómez Martnez.
17. The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México's Instituto de Investigaciones Estáticas has sent the NN a copy of a recent copy of their special issue of Boletn Informativo (ISSN 1405 4817) entitled "La pintura mural prehispánico en México," año VI, nmeros 12-13 (junio diciembre 2000).The 63-page publication contains eight original articles on mural painting plus additional material related to the topic.
Following is an Index to book reviews published in the Nahua Newsletter 13-31, 1992 2001, prepared by Pamela Effrein Sandstrom as a service to NN readers and reviewers. The Index acknowledges the contributions of scholars to a greater understanding of the Nahuas and other indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica.
The Index is organized in two parts. The first is an alphabetical listing of authors of the 85 works that have been reviewed since the inception of the book review section in 1992 (with name of reviewer along with the NN issue number and date of the review). The second listing is alphabetized by reviewers' last name and provides brief bibliographic information (titles and authors) for reviewed works, and the NN reference.
Aguirre Beltrán, Gonzalo. Cuatro nobles titulados en contienda por la tierra. Mexico, D.F.: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social, 1995. (Richard Bradley, reviewed in NN 22, 1996)
Anderson, Arthur J. O., transl. Bernardino de Sahagn's Psalmodia Christiana (Christian Psalmody). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1993. (Daniéle Dehouve, reviewed in NN 17, 1994)
Andrews, Jean. Peppers: The Domesticated Capsicums. New ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995. (Robert H. Cichewicz, reviewed in NN 27, 1999)
Báez-Jorge, Félix, and Arturo Gómez Martnez. Tlacatecolotl y el diablo: La cosmovisión de los nahuas de Chicontepec. Xalapa: Gobierno del Estado de Veracruz, Secretara de Educación y Cultura, 1998. (Mara Teresa Rodrguez, reviewed in NN 27, 1999)
Baudot, Georges; Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano and Thelma Ortiz de Montellano, transl. Utopia and History in Mexico: The First Chronicles of Mexican Civilization (1520-1569). Niwot, Colo.: University Press of Colorado, 1995. (John Fredrick Schwaller, reviewed in NNá 26, 1998)
Beber de tierra generosa. México, D.F.: Fundación de Investigaciones Sociales (FISAC), 1998. Historia de las bebidas alcohólicas en México, Vol. 1; Ciencia de las bebidas alcohólicas en México, Vol. 2. (Susan Kellogg, reviewed in NN 29, 2000)
Berdan, Frances F., and Patricia Rieff Anawalt. The Essential Codex Mendoza. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. (Frederic Hicks, reviewed in NN 24-25, 1997-1998)
Bierhorst, John, ed. Four Masterworks of American Indian Literature: Quetzalcoatl, The Ritual of Condolence, Cuceb, The Night Chant. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1984. (Juan Adolfo Vazquez, reviewed in NN 15, 1993)
Bierhorst, John, ed. Codex Chimalpopoca: The Text in Nahuatl with a Glossary and Grammatical Notes. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1992. (H. R. Harvey, reviewed in NN 16, 1993)
Bierhorst, John, ed. History and Mythology of the Aztecs: The Codex Chimalpopocaá. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1992. (H. R. Harvey, reviewed in NN 16, 1993)
Black, Nancy Johnson. The Frontier Mission and Social Transformation in Western Honduras: The Order of Our Lady of Mercy, 1525-1773. New York: E.J. Brill, 1995. (Richard Bradley, reviewed in NN 29, 2000)
Burkhart, Louise M. Holy Wednesday: A Nahuatl Drama from Early Colonial Mexico. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996. (Gordon Brotherston, reviewed in NN 23, 1997)
Byland, Bruce E., and John M. D. Pohl. In the Realm of Eight Deer: The Archaeology of the Mixtec Codices. Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1994. (Byron E. Hamann, reviewed in NN 21, 1996)
Cantoni, Gina, ed. Stabilizing Indigenous Languages. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona University, 1996. (David L. Shaul, reviewed in NN 23, 1997)
Cardenal, Ernesto; John Lyons, transl. The Doubtful Strait=El estrecho dudoso. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995. (Russell Salmon, reviewed in NN 22, 1996)
Cardenal, Ernesto; Carlos and Monique Altschul, transl.; Russell O. Salmon, ed. Golden UFOs: The Indian Poems=Los ovnis de oro: Poemas indios. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992. (John Bierhorst, reviewed in NN 15, 1993)
Carrasco, David. Religions of Mesoamerica: Cosmovision and Ceremonial Centersá. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1990. (Paul Jean Provost, reviewed in NN 28, 1999)
Castro, Felipe. Historia de los pueblos indgenas de México. México, D.F.: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologa Social, 1996. (Richard Bradley, reviewed in NN 24-25, 1997-1998)
Chase, Diane Z., and Arlen F. Chase, eds. Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. (Mike Pisani, reviewed in NN 16, 1993)
Chenault, Victoria, and Mara Teresa Sierra. Pueblos indgenas ante el derecho. México: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologa Social, 1995. (Susan Kellogg, reviewed in NN 24-25, 1997-1998)
Clendinnen, Inga. Aztecs: An Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. (Alan R. Sandstrom, reviewed in NN 13, 1992)
Coe, Sophie D. America's First Cuisines. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994. (Barbara J. Petit, reviewed in NN 20, 1995)
Graulich, Michel. Montezuma ou l'apogée et la chute de l'empire aztáÆque. Paris: Fayard, 1994. (Jacqueline de Durand-Forest, reviewed in NN 20, 1995)
Dover, Robert V. H., Katherine E. Seibold, and John H. McDowell, eds. Andean Cosmologies Through Time: Persistence and Emergence. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992. (Paul Proulx, reviewed in NN 16, 1993)
Downing, Todd. The Mexican Earth. 2nd ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. (Luis Leal, reviewed in NN 22, 1996)
Durán, Diego; Doris Heyden, transl. The History of the Indies of New Spain. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. (Kay A. Read, reviewed in NN 20, 1995)
Eber, Christine. Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995. (Michael R.Nusbaumer, reviewed in NN 27, 1999)
Foster, George McClelland. Hippocrates' Latin American Legacy: Humoral Medicine in the New World. Langhorne, Penn.: Gordon and Breach, 1994. (Brad H. Huber, reviewed in NN 27, 1999)
Foster, Nelson, and Linda S. Cordell, eds. Chilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the World. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1992. (Susan Toby Evans, reviewed in NN 26, 1998)
Fowler, William R. The Cultural Evolution of Ancient Nahua Civilizations: The Pipil Nicarao of Central America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. (Nancy J. Black, reviewed in NN 18, 1994)
Francis, Norbert, Malintzin: Bilingismo y alfabetización en la Sierra de Tlaxcala (México). Quito, Ecuador: Ediciones Abya-Yala, 1997. (Jane H. Hill, reviewed in NN 30, 2000)
Graulich, Michel; Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano and Thelma Ortiz de Montellano, transl. Myths of Ancient Mexico. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. (James M. Taggart, reviewed in NN 29, 2000)
Greenberg, James B. Blood Ties: Life and Violence in Rural Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1989. (Hugo G. Nutini, reviewed in NN 17, 1994)
Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. New World Encounters. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. (John Frederick Schwaller, reviewed in NN 17, 1994)
Gruzinski, Serge; Eileen Corrigan, transl. The Conquest of Mexico: The Incorporation of Indian Societies into the Western World, 16th-18th Centuries. Cambridge, England: Polity Press, 1993. (Susan Toby Evans, reviewed in NN 18, 1994)
Hassig, Ross. War and Society in Ancient Mesoamerica. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. (Robert J. Jeske, reviewed in NN 15, 1993)
Hassig, Ross. Mexico and the Spanish Conquest. London: Longman, 1994. (Michel Graulich, reviewed in NN 22, 1996)
Hogan, Ernest. High Aztec. New York: Tor, 1992. (Alan R. Sandstrom, reviewed in NN 19, 1995)
Hu-DeHart, Evelyn; Zulai Marcela Fuentes Ortega, transl. Adaptacon y resistencia en el Yaquimi: Los Yaquis durante la colonia. México, D.F.: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologa Social, Instituto Nacional Indigenista, 1995. (Gregory F. Truex, reviewed in NN 21, 1996)
Jones, Lindsay. Twin City Tales: A Hermeneutical Reassessment of Tula and Chichén Itzá. Niwot, Colo.: University Press of Colorado, 1995. (Jay E.Silverstein, reviewed in NN 24-25, 1997 1998)
Karttunen, Frances. Between Worlds: Interpreters, Guides, and Survivors. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, reviewed in NN 20, 1995)
Kay, Margarita Artschwanger. Healing with Plants in the American and Mexican West. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1996. (George M. Foster, reviewed in NN 23, 1997)
Kellogg, Susan. Law and the Transformation of Aztec Culture, 1500-1700. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. (Doris Heyden, reviewed in NN 24-25, 1997-1998)
Knab, Timothy J. A War of Witches: A Journey into the Underworld of the Contemporary Aztecs. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. (Doren L. Slade, reviewed in NN 23, 1997)
León-Portilla, Miguel; J. Jorge Klor de Alva, ed. The Aztec Image of Self and Society: An Introduction to Nahua Culture. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1992. (Harold B. Haley, reviewed in NN 15, 1993)
León-Portilla, Miguel. Fifteen Poets of the Aztec World. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. (Kay A. Read, reviewed in NN 18, 1994)
Lévine, Daniel. Le grand temple de México: Du mythe la réalité - l'histoire des aztéques entre 1325 et 1521. Editions Artcom, 1997. (José Alcina Franch, reviewed in NN 29, 2000)
Lipp, Frank J. The Mixe of Oaxaca: Religion, Ritual, and Healing. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991. (Carlos Garma Navarro, reviewed in NN 15, 1993)
Lomnitz-Adler, Claudio. Exits from the Labyrinth: Culture and Ideology in the Mexican National Space. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. (Alan R. Sandstrom, reviewed in NN 18, 1994)
Lutz, Christopher H., ed; Karen Dakin, transl. Nuestro pesar, nuestra aflicción=Tunetuliniliz, tucucuca: Memorias en lengua náhuatl enviadas a Felipe II por indgenas del Valle de Guatemala hacia 1572. México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1996. (Susan Schroeder, reviewed in NN 24-25, 1997-1998)
Mallon, Florence E. Peasant and Nation: The Making of Postcolonial Mexico and Peru. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. (Frances A. Rothstein, reviewed in NN 22, 1996)
Markman, Peter T., and Roberta H. Markman; introduction by Joseph Campbell. Masks of the Spirit: Image and Metaphor in Mesoamerica. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989 [1994 printing]. (Cecelia F. Klein, reviewed in NN 22, 1996)
Monaghan, John. The Covenants with Earth and Rain: Exchange, Sacrifice, and Revelation in Mixtec Sociality. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. (Alan R. Sandstrom, reviewed in NN 2, 1996)
Mulhare, Eileen de la Torre. Totemihuacán: Su Historia y Vida Actual. Puebla: Secretara de Cultura, Gobierno del Estado de Puebla, 1995. (Hugo G. Nutini, reviewed in NN 24-25, 1997-1998)
Nelen, Yvetter. De Illustere Heren van San Pablo: Lokaal bestuur in negentiende-eeuws Mexico/Tlaxcala, 1823-1880. Leiden: University of Leiden, Research School CNWS, 1999. (Frans J. Schryer, reviewed in NN 29, 2000)
Nutini, Hugo G., and Jack M. Roberts. Bloodsucking Witchcraft: An Epistemological Study of Anthropomorphic Supernaturalism in Rural Tlaxcala. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1993. (Barry L. Isaac, reviewed in NN 21, 1996)
Pasztory, Esther. Teotihuacan: An Experiment in Living. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. (Susan Toby Evans, reviewed in NN 28, 1999)
Paul, Anne, ed . Paracas Art and Architecture: Object and Context in South Coastal Peru. Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 1991. (Lawrence A. Kuznar, reviewed in NN 14, 1992)
Phillips, Jr., William D., and Carla Rahn Phillips. The Worlds of Christopher Columbusá. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. (Paul Jean Provost, reviewed in NN 15, 1993)
Pollard, Helen Perlstein. Tariacuri's Legacy: The Prehispanic Tarascan State. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1993. (John M. Weeks, reviewed in NN 17, 1994)
Poole, Stafford. Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol, 1531-1797. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1995. (Mulhare, Eileen M., reviewed in NN 21, 1996)
Quiñones Keber, Eloise. Codex Telleriano-Remensis: Ritual, Divination, and History in a Pictorial Aztec Manuscript. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995. (Doris Heyden, reviewed in NNá 26, 1998)
Radding, Cynthia. Entre el desierto y la sierra: Las naciones o'odham y tegáma de Sonora, 1530 1840. México, D.F.: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologa Social, Instituto Nacional Indigenista, 1995. (Gregory F. Truex, reviewed in NN 21, 1996)
Radding, Cynthia. Wandering Peoples: Colonialism, Ethnic Spaces, and Ecological Frontiers in Northwestern Mexico, 1700-1850. Durham: Duke University Press, 1997. (Christopher S. Beekman, reviewed in NN 26, 1998)
Ramirez, Arnulfo G., Jose Antonio Flores, and Leopoldo Vilinas. Se tosaasaanil, se tosaasaanil: Adivinanzas nahuas de ayer y hoy. México, D.F.: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologa Social and Instituto Nacional Indigenista, 1992. (Catharine Good, reviewed in NN 16, 1993)
Rea, Amadeo M. At the Desert's Green Edge: An Ethnobotany of the Gila River Pima. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1997. (Lawrence A. Kuznar, reviewed in NN 26, 1998)
Reff, Daniel T. Disease, Depopulation, and Culture Change in Northwestern New Spain, 1518 1764. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1991. (Michael H. Logan, reviewed in NNá 13, 1992)
Rodriguez, Jeanette. Our Lady of Guadalupe: Faith and Empowerment among Mexican American Women. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994. (John M. Ingham, reviewed in NN 21, 1996)
Rodriguez-Shadow, Mara J. La mujer azteca. México, D.F.: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, 1997. (Cristina Lirón, reviewed in NN 28, 1999)
Rodrguez-Shadow, Mara J., La mujer azteca. 4a. ed. México, D.F.: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, 2000. (Ana Lau J., reviewed in NN 31, 2001)
Rudolf van Zantwijk, ed. De zon en de arend: Duizend jaar Azteekse vertelkunst[The Sun and the Eagle: A Thousand Years of Aztec Story-Telling]. Amsterdam: Prometheus, 1996. (Henri Gooren, reviewed in NN 28, 1999)
Sahagn, Bernardino de; paleography of Nahuatl text and English translation by Thelma D. Sullivan; completed and revised, with additions, by H.B. Nicholson, et al. Primeros memoriales. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. (Frances Karttunen, reviewed in NN 26, 1998)
Sahagn, Bernardino de; facsimile edition photographed by Ferdinand Anders. Primeros memoriales. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press; Madrid: in cooperation with the Patrimonio Nacional and the Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, 1993. (Frances Karttunen, reviewed in NN 26, 1998)
San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuantzin, Don Domingo de; Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder, eds. and transl. Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Texcoco, Culhuacan, and other Nahua Altepetl in Central Mexico. 2 vols. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. (Gordon Brotherston, reviewed in 30, 2000)
Schaefer, Stacy B., and Peter T. Furst, eds. People of the Peyote: Huichol Indian History, Religion, and Survival. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997. (Frank J. Lipp, reviewed in NN 27, 1999)
Shimada, Izumi. Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994. (Lawrence A. Kuznar, reviewed in NN 19, 1995)
Slade, Doren. Making the World Safe for Existence: Celebration of the Saints among the Sierra Nahuat of Chignautla, Mexico. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992. (James Dow, reviewed in NN 18, 1994)
Sousa, Lisa, Stafford Poole, and James Lockhart, eds. and tranls. The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega's Huei tlamahuicoltica of 1649. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1998. (Paul Jean Provost, reviewed in NN 31, 2001)
Stone, Andrea. Images from the Underworld: Naj Tunich and the Tradition of Maya Cave Painting. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995. (Gordon Brotherston, reviewed in NN 21, 1996)
Stresser-Péan, Guy, ed., facsimile del códice con un estudio e interpretación; ayudado por Claude Stresser-Péan, y la prefacio de Charles H. Dibble. El Códice de Xicotepec: Estudio e interpretación. México. D.F.: Gobierno del Estado de Puebla, Centro Francés de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroaméricanos, Fondo de Cultura Económica. (Yolotl Gonzalez Torres, reviewed in NN 22, 1996)
Suarez, Jorge A. Las lenguas indigenas mesoamericanas. México D.F.: Instituto Nacional Indigenista, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social, 1990 [1983]. (David L. Shaul, reviewed in NN 21, 1996)
Turner II, Christy G., and Jacqueline A. Turner. Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1999. (Robert J. Jeske, reviewed in NN 29, 2000)
Umberger, Emily, and Tom Cummins, eds. Native Artists and Patrons in Colonial Latin America. Tempe: Arizona State University, 1995. (Norman W. Bradley, reviewed in NN 21, 1996)
Wilson, Richard. Maya Resurgence in Guatemala: Q'eqchi' Experiences. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. (Cindy Vandenbergh Hull, reviewed in NN 21, 1996)
Yoffee, Norman, and George L., eds. The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1991. (Richard E. Blanton, reviewed in NN 15, 1993)
Zapata y Mendoza, Juan Buenaventura; Luis Reyes Garca and Andrea Martnez Baracs, transl. Historia cronológica de la noble ciudad de Tlaxcala. México, D. F.: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretara de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural; Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologa Social, 1995. (David Robichaux, reviewed in NN 29, 2000)
Zorita, Alonso de; Benjamin Keen, transl. Life and Labor in Ancient Mexico: The Brief and Summary Relation of the Lords of New Spain. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. (Louise M. Burkhart, reviewed in NN 22, 1996)
Alcina Franch, José, review in NN 29, 2000 of Le grand temple de México: Du mythe la réalité - l'histoire des aztéques entre 1325 et 1521 by Daniel Lévine.
Beekman, Christopher S., review in NN 26, 1998 of Wandering Peoples: Colonialism, Ethnic Spaces, and Ecological Frontiers in Northwestern Mexico, 1700-1850 by Cynthia Radding.
Bierhorst, John, review in NN 15, 1993 of Golden UFOs: The Indian Poems=Los ovnis de oro: Poemas indios by Ernesto Cardenal; translated by Carlos and Monique Altschul; edited, with an introduction and glossary by Russell O. Salmon.
Black, Nancy J., review in NN 18, 1994 of The Cultural Evolution of Ancient Nahua Civilizations: The Pipil Nicarao of Central America by William R. Fowler.
Blanton, Richard E., review in NN 15, 1993 of The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations edited by Norman Yoffee and George L. Cowgill.
Bradley, Richard, review in NN 22, 1996 of Cuatro nobles titulados en contienda por la tierra by Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán.
Bradley, Richard, review in NN 24-25, 1997-1998 of Historia de los pueblos indgenas de México by Felipe Castro.
Bradley, Richard, review in NN 29, 2000 of The Frontier Mission and Social Transformation in Western Honduras: The Order of Our Lady of Mercy, 1525-1773 by Nancy Johnson Black.
Bradley, Norman W., review in NN 21, 1996 of Native Artists and Patrons in Colonial Latin America edited by Emily Umberger and Tom Cummins.
Brotherston, Gordon, review in NN 21, 1996 of Images from the Underworld: Naj Tunich and the Tradition of Maya Cave Paintingá by Andrea Stone.
Brotherston, Gordon, review in NN 23, 1997 of Holy Wednesday: A Nahuatl Drama from Early Colonial Mexico by Louise M. Burkhart.
Brotherston, Gordon, review in NN 30, 2000 of Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Texcoco, Culhuacan, and other Nahua Altepetl in Central Mexico collected and recorded by Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuantzin; edited and translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder.
Burkhart, Louise M., review in NN 22, 1996 of Life and Labor in Ancient Mexico: The Brief and Summary Relation of the Lords of New Spain by Alonso de Zorita.
Cichewicz, Robert H., review in NN 27, 1999 of Peppers: The Domesticated Capsicums by Jean Andrews.
Dehouve, Daniéle, review in NN 17, 1994 of Bernardino de Sahagn's Psalmodia Christiana (Christian Psalmody) translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson.
Dow, James, review in NN 18, 1994 of Making the World Safe for Existence: Celebration of the Saints among the Sierra Nahuat of Chignautla, Mexico by Doren Slade.
Durand-Forest, Jacqueline de, review in NN 20, 1995 of Montezuma ou l'apogée et la chute de l'empire aztéque by Michel Graulich.
Evans, Susan Toby, review in NN 18, 1994 of The Conquest of Mexico: The Incorporation of Indian Societies into the Western World, 16th-18th Centuries by Serge Gruzinski; translated by Eileen Corrigan.
Evans, Susan Toby, review in NN 26, 1998 of Chilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the World edited by Nelson Foster and Linda S. Cordell.
Evans, Susan Toby, review in NN 28, 1999 of Teotihuacan: An Experiment in Living by Esther Pasztory.
Foster, George M., review in NN 23, 1997 of Healing with Plants in the American and Mexican West by Margarita Artschwanger Kay.
Garma Navarro, Carlos, review in NN 15, 1993 of The Mixe of Oaxaca: Religion, Ritual, and Healing by Frank J. Lipp; forward by Munro S. Edmonson.
González Torres, Yolotl, review in NN 22, 1996 of El Códice de Xicotepec: Estudio e interpretación facsimil del Códice con un estudio e interpretación del Dr. Guy Stresser-Péan, ayudado por Claude Stresser-Péan, y la prefacio de Charles H. Dibble.
Good, Catharine, review in NN 16, 1993 of Se tosaasaanil, se tosaasaanil: Adivinanzas nahuas de ayer y hoy by Arnulfo G. Ramirez, Jose Antonio Flores, and Leopoldo Vilinas.
Gooren, Henri, review in NN 28, 1999 of De zon en de arend: Duizend jaar Azteekse vertelkunst [The Sun and the Eagle: A Thousand Years of Aztec Story-Telling] translated, edited, and introduced by Rudolf van Zantwijk.
Graulich, Michel, review in NN 22, 1996 of Mexico and the Spanish Conquest by Ross Hassig.
Haley, Harold B., review in NN 15, 1993 of The Aztec Image of Self and Society: An Introduction to Nahua Culture by Miguel León-Portilla; edited with an introduction by J. Jorge Klor de Alva.
Hamann, Byron E., review in NN 21, 1996 of In the Realm of Eight Deer: The Archaeology of the Mixtec Codices by Bruce E byland and John M. D. Pohl.
Harvey, H. R., review in NN 16, 1993 of History and Mythology of the Aztecs: The Codex Chimalpopoca translated by John Bierhorst; also Codex Chimalpopoca: The Text in Nahuatl with a Glossary and Grammatical Notes edited by John Bierhorst.
Heyden, Doris, review in NN 24-25, 1997-1998 of Law and the Transformation of Aztec Culture, 1500-1700 by Susan Kellogg.
Heyden, Doris, review in NN 26, 1998 of Codex Telleriano-Remensis: Ritual, Divination, and History in a Pictorial Aztec Manuscript by Eloise Quiñones Keber.
Hicks, Frederic, review in NN 24-25, 1997-1998 of The Essential Codex Mendoza by Frances F. Berdan and Patricia Rieff Anawalt.
Hill, Jane H., review in NN 30, 2000 of Malintzin: Bilingüismo y alfabetización en la Sierra de Tlaxcala (México)á by Norbert Francis.
Huber, Brad H., review in NN 27, 1999 of Hippocrates' Latin American Legacy: Humoral Medicine in the New World by George McClelland Foster.
Hull, Cindy Vandenbergh, review in NN 21, 1996 of Maya Resurgence in Guatemala: Q'eqchi' Experiences by Richard Wilson.
Ingham, John M., review in NN 21, 1996 of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Faith and Empowerment among Mexican-American Women by Jeanette Rodriguez.
Isaac, Barry L., review in NN 21, 1996 of Bloodsucking Witchcraft: An Epistemological Study of Anthropomorphic Supernaturalism in Rural Tlaxcala by Hugo G. Nutini and Jack M. Roberts.
Jeske, Robert J., review in NN 15, 1993 of War and Society in Ancient Mesoamerica by Ross Hassig.
Jeske, Robert J., review in NN 29, 2000 of Man Corn: CaNNibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest by Christy G. Turner II and Jacqueline A. Turner.
Karttunen,Frances, review in NN 26, 1998 of Primeros memoriales by Bernardino de Sahagn; facsimile edition photographed by Ferdinand Anders; also paleography of Nahuatl text and English translation by Thelma D. Sullivan; completed and revised, with additions, by H.B. Nicholson, et al.
Kellogg, Susan, review in NN 24-25, 1997-1998 of Pueblos indgenas ante el derecho edited by Victoria Chenault and Mara Teresa Sierra.
Kellogg, Susan, review in NN 29, 2000 of Beber de tierra generosa: Historia de las bebidas alcohólicas en México, Vol. 1; Ciencia de las bebidas alcohólicas en México, Vol. 2.
Klein, Cecelia F., review in NN 22, 1996 of Masks of the Spirit: Image and Metaphor in Mesoamerica by Peter T. Markman and Roberta H. Markman.
Kuznar, Lawrence A., review in NN 14, 1992 of Paracas Art and Architecture: Object and Context in South Coastal Peru edited by Anne Paul.
Kuznar, Lawrence A., review in NN 19, 1995 of Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture by Izumi Shimada.
Lau J., Ana, review in NN 31, 2000 of La mujer azteca by Mara J. Rodrguez-Shadow.
Leal, Luis, review in NN 22, 1996 of The Mexican Earth by Todd Downing.
Lipp, Frank J., review in NN 27, 1999 of People of the Peyote: Huichol Indian History, Religion, and Survival edited by Stacy B. Schaefer and Peter T. Furst.
Lirón, Cristina, review in NN 28, 1999 of La mujer azteca by Mara Rodriguez-Shadow.
Logan, Michael H., review in NN 13, 1992 of Disease, Depopulation, and Culture Change in Northwestern New Spain, 1518-1764, by Daniel T. Reff.
Mulhare, Eileen M., review in NN 21, 1996 of Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol, 1531-1797 by Stafford Poole.
Nusbaumer, Michael R., review in NN 27, 1999 of Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town by Christine Eber.
Nutini, Hugo G., review in NN 17, 1994 of Blood Ties: Life and Violence in Rural Mexico by James B. Greenberg.
Nutini, Hugo G., review in NN 24-25, 1997-1998 of Totemihuacán: Su Historia y Vida Actual by Eileen de la Torre Mulhare.
Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard, review in NN 20, 1995 of Between Worlds: Interpreters, Guides, and Survivors by Frances Karttunen.
Petit, Barbara J., review in NN 20, 1995 of America's First Cuisines by Sophie D. Coe.
Pisani, Mike, review in NN 16, 1993 of Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase.
Proulx, Paul, review in NN 16, 1993 of Andean Cosmologies Through Time: Persistence and Emergence edited by Robert V. H. Dover, Katherine E. Seibold, and John H. McDowell.
Provost, Paul Jean, review in NN 15, 1993 of The Worlds of Christopher Columbus by William D. Phillips, Jr., and Carla Rahn Phillips.
Provost, Paul Jean, review in NN 28, 1999 of Religions of Mesoamerica: Cosmovision and Ceremonial Centers by David Carrasco.
Provost, Paul Jean, review in NN 31, 2001 of The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega's Huei tlamahuicoltica of 1649 edited and translated by Lisa Sousa, Stafford Poole, and James Lockhart.
Read, Kay A., review in NN 18, 1994 of Fifteen Poets of the Aztec World by Miguel León Portilla.
Read, Kay A., review in NN 20, 1995 of The History of the Indies of New Spain by Diego Durán; translated, annotated, and with an introduction by Doris Heyden.
Robichaux, David, review in NN 29, 2000 of Historia cronológica de la noble ciudad de Tlaxcala by Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza.
Rodrguez, Mara Teresa, review in NN 27, 1999 of Tlacatecolotl y el diablo: La cosmovisión de los nahuas de Chicontepec by Félix Báez-Jorge and Arturo Gómez Martnez.
Rothstein, Frances A., review in NN 22, 1996 of Peasant and Nation: The Making of Postcolonial Mexico and Peru by Florence E. Mallon.
Salmon, Russell, review in NN 22, 1996 of The Doubtful Strait=El estrecho dudoso by Ernesto Cardenal; translated by John Lyons.
Sandstrom, Alan R., review in NN 13, 1992 of Aztecs: An Interpretation by Inga Clendinnen.
Sandstrom, Alan R., review in NN 18, 1994 of Exits from the Labyrinth: Culture and Ideology in the Mexican National Space, by Claudio Lomnitz-Adler.
Sandstrom, Alan R., review in NN 19, 1995 of High Aztec by Ernest Hogan.
Sandstrom, Alan R., review in NN 2, 1996 of The Covenants with Earth and Rain: Exchange, Sacrifice, and Revelation in Mixtec Sociality by John Monaghan.
Schroeder, Susan, review in NN 24-25, 1997-1998 of Nuestro pesar, nuestra aflicción=Tunetuliniliz, tucucuca: Memorias en lengua náhuatl enviadas a Felipe II por indgenas del Valle de Guatemala hacia 1572, edited and introduced by Christopher H. Lutz, transcribed, translated, and with commentary by Karen Dakin.
Schryer, Frans J., review in NN 29, 2000 of De Illustere Heren van San Pablo: Lokaal bestuur in negentiende-eeuws Mexico/Tlaxcala, 1823-1880 by Yvetter Nelen.
Schwaller, John Frederick, review in NN 17, 1994 of New World Encounters edited by Stephen Greenblatt.
Schwaller, John Fredrick, review in NN 26, 1998 of Utopia and History in Mexico: The First Chronicles of Mexican Civilization (1520-1569) by Georges Baudot; translated by Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano and Thelma Ortiz de Montellano.
Shaul, David L., review in NN 21, 1996 of Las lenguas indigenas mesoamericanas by Jorge A. Suarez.
Shaul, David L., review in NN 23, 1997 of Stabilizing Indigenous Languages edited by Gina Cantoni.
Silverstein, Jay E., review in NN 24-25, 1997-1998 of Twin City Tales: A Hermeneutical Reassessment of Tula and Chichén Itzá by Lindsay Jones.
Slade, Doren L., review in NN 23, 1997 of A War of Witches: A Journey into the Underworld of the Contemporary Aztecs by Timothy J. Knab.
Taggart, James M., review in NN 29, 2000 of Myths of Ancient Mexico by Michel Graulich; translated by Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano and Thelma Ortiz de Montellano.
Truex, Gregory F., review in NN 21, 1996 of Entre el desierto y la sierra: Las naciones o'odham y tegºima de Sonora, 1530-1840, by Cynthia Radding.
Truex, Gregory F., review in NN 21, 1996 of Adaptacon y resistencia en el Yaquimi: Los Yaquis durante la colonia by Evelyn Hu-DeHart; translation by Zulai Marcela Fuentes Ortega; revised by Teresa Rojas Rabiela.
Vazquez, Juan Adolfo, review in NN 15, 1993 of Four Masterworks of American Indian Literature: Quetzalcoatl, The Ritual of Condolence, Cuceb, The Night Chant edited with commentaries and new translations by John Bierhorst.
Weeks, John M., review in NN 17, 1994 of Tariacuri's Legacy: The Prehispanic Tarascan State by Helen Perlstein Pollard.
The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega's Huei tlamahuicoltica of 1649. Edited and translated by Lisa Sousa, Stafford Poole, and James Lockhart. UCLA Latin American Studies, Vol. 84; Nahuatl Studies Series No. 5. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0 8047-3482-8 (cloth), $45.00. ISBN 0-8044-3483-6 (paper), $16.95.
I was reading this book on an airplane when I fell into friendly conversation with the stranger seated next to me. Eventually, my companion asked me about the book that I was reading. I felt that this could be an opportunity for a "dry run" of my planned review for the Nahua Newsletter. So, with my trapped companion's permission, I launched my attempted to enlighten him about this slim and exotic volume. My attempt was immediately frustrated because I found it very hard to discuss the book without a single picture, drawing, photograph, or illustration of the main subject of the book - the famous image of the Virgin of Guadalupe herself. Ironic oversight, considering that The Story of Guadalupe concerns the apparition of the Virgin's image on the humble cloak of Don Juan Diego in 1531 A.D. The story of Guadalupe is the story of this miracle and not a single impression of the image is to be found in this book. I feel it is reasonable to expect to see the famous likeness somewhere in the book or on the dust jacket. The same can be said of the Samuel Stradanus engravings referred to in the text (pp. 13, 17-18). It would be easier for a reader to follow the discussion of the lithographs with a copy of the image at hand. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.
The religious conversion of Mexico in the sixteenth century was a Roman Catholic missionary's dream: heathens without morals and savages without mercy. These are the ideal conditions for those interested in living out the Catholic mission of spreading the true faith to the benighted heathen. In the sixteenth century the recently opened Orient was socially too sophisticated, culturally ancient, and politically powerful for this dream, but the New World Indians were "perfect" ? being technologically primitive, politically defeated, medically devastated, and culturally crushed. It was a stage set for missionaries and consequently attracted highly motivated legions of the most devoted servants of the Church: Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits.
The religious conquest of Mexico is almost more stunning than its military conquest. In fact, both were extremely rapid and benefitted from the extraordinary confluence of events and institutions. One of the key elements of this historical transformation was the miraculous appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the poor Nahua, Juan Diego, at Tepeyac in 1531. This event is a source of much anthropological, historical, theological, and nationalistic literature that by its sheer weight would undoubtedly be the heaviest question in Mesoamerican studies. Therefore, it is exciting to have a version of the original story as published in the late 1640s available for scrutiny by the English-speaking scholarly community.
For Mesoamericanists this volume is analogous in a sense to the Dead Sea scrolls and takes its place among the other original documents on post-Conquest life and culture. The release of the first translation of a document about an important historical event always makes academic scholars' hearts beat a little faster, a fact that probably would have pleased the Aztec priests who attended Coatlicue's temple, which originally stood in pre-Conquest times on the very hill where the Christian-era event took place.
The Story of Guadalupe fills a need for a high-quality, complete English translation of this important document and the authors state that they wish to remedy this situation "by offering a faithful transcription of the complete text of the 1649 book, together with a translation and critical apparatus. We hope to serve three main purposes. The first is to give the English speaking public access to a version of the texts, which will be easily readable and reveal their true qualities. The second is to provide advanced students of Nahuatl with an annotated, readily usable transcription and translation of what is, although not so intended, surely one of the best works ever produced for the learning of the refinements of the older form of the Nahuatl language. The third (partly overlapping with the second) is to advance the philological analysis of texts, trying to penetrate deeper into the nature of words and expressions, not only in order to comprehend the meaning better, but also to try to find out more about the works affinities and authorship" (p. 4). I think no more succinct description of this volume could be written.
Being neither a philologist nor linguist, I leave the assessment of those parts to scholars that can be more enlightening as to the merits of this work. Speaking for the general audience, I feel that the authors should be congratulated for filling a gap in the library of codices, manuscripts, and ethnohistorical documents concerning Mesoamerica during its post-Conquest transformation period. This work joins other recent releases of original documents such as Guy Stresser-Peán's Codice de Xicotepec (México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1995) that will be appreciated by scholars from diverse backgrounds as basic resources in Mesoamerican studies for years to come.
The nicely presented translations that grace the work are delightful to read and one can see why the story generated such fervor among the new converts to the Church in the late-sixteenth century. The work would also have benefitted from having an Index, but for those interested in Mesoamerica, it is a welcome addition to our understanding of post-Conquest life and times.
Paul Jean Provost
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
La mujer azteca. By Mara J. Rodrguez-Shadow. 4a. ed. México, D.F.: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, 2000. 276pp.
"mira que [las enseñanzas] las tomes y las guardes en tu corazón y las escribas en tus entrañas" - Fray Bernardino de Sahagn
Entiendo perfectamente porqué este texto ha alcanzado la cuarta edición; su lectura atrapa al lector/a desde el principio por el estilo ameno de su relato, la abundante bibliografa, la variedad de los temas que comprende y el orden de la narración. Estructurada en siete captulos, conclusiones y bibliografa, la obra abarca una amplitud de cuestiones relativas a la situación de las mujeres en la sociedad azteca; se ocupa de las posturas teóricas de diversos investigadores del México prehispánico, amén de apoyarse. En los códices indgenas y en los cronistas españoles que plasmaron la visión del mundo al que se enfrentaron. A lo largo del libro examina cómo las prácticas sociales determinan la condición de las mujeres. Como hemos hecho notar, el tratamiento de los temas que cubre es exhaustivo ya que hace un ejercicio en el que abarca la problemática femenina en casi todos los aspectos que le conciernen, logrando una profundidad en el análisis.
El texto inicia con la discusión de las dos posiciones que los estudiosos han sostenido acerca del papel de las mujeres en la sociedad mexica, por un lado, que las mujeres ocupaban un lugar prominente y por el otro quienes argumentan que estaban socialmente subordinadas. La autora distingue entre las obras analticas y los meros estudios descriptivos. No obstante la seriedad del estudio, el libro es muy sencillo, disfrutable, sugerente e interesante.
Comprender la situación de subordinación femenina en México y buscar sus races entre los mexicas es el objetivo primario del libro. Hacerlo a partir de las fuentes historiográficas tradicionales, mediante una lectura distinta, es lo que nos presenta Mara J. Rodrguez. Esta lectura se sustenta en una metodologa feminista en donde la perspectiva de género subraya la importancia de examinar a las mujeres, as como a los hombres, en relación al género opuesto más que de forma aislada y sobre todo permite comprender las relaciones de género que se entablan en todos los niveles de la organización social, a través de una explicación del contexto en el que se producen, enmarcando dichas relaciones dentro de los acontecimientos económicos, polticos, sociales e ideológicos.
La autora parte de la premisa de que al ser, la azteca, una sociedad militarizada, los valores masculinos eran los que prevalecan, (vale la pena mencionar que la situación no ha cambiado) de ah que se estimulara la agresividad y la beligerancia, atribuciones de género que no compartan las mujeres (p. 80). Esta sociedad impregnada de representaciones guerreras propició que las actividades consideradas más importantes: el gobierno, la guerra, la caza, el sacerdocio y el comercio estuvieran en manos de los hombres, lo que implicaba la marginación femenina y el reparto desigual de los trabajos y los puestos de autoridad, prestigio y poder (pp. 99, 251). Ello haca que las mujeres fueran consideradas botn de guerra, trofeo al valor masculino. Es as que, Mara de Jess a lo largo del texto va estudiando cómo se impona el dominio masculino y cómo éste "mantuvo un estrecho control sobre las mujeres, que incluso sobrepasaba los marcos de diferenciación clasista" (181). No obstante, hay que apuntar que las mujeres desarrollaron estrategias de resistencia frente a la dominación y en algunos casos se rebelaron mientras que en otros su resistencia fue pasiva.
La intención del libro es visibilizar lo invisible, pero también "buscar las caractersticas especiales que adopta un régimen social especfico en un periodo histórico dado" (18). La autora evidencia una extraordinaria capacidad de sntesis al presentar las caractersticas, comportamiento y actitudes que asuman las mujeres en la sociedad azteca, observando y contrastando minuciosamente las versiones de sus fuentes. De ah que transitemos a través del ciclo de vida de las mujeres, tomando en cuenta sus diferencias por clase social; nos acerquemos a conocer que eran las madres las encargadas de trasmitir a sus hijas, sus conocimientos dentro de los estrechos márgenes del hogar y cómo la educación era diferenciada entre niños y niñas. También pone de manifiesto la función marginal que las mujeres ocupaban dentro de los ritos religiosos, as como la participación diferencial en el proceso productivo y en la estructura ocupacional. Pero llega más lejos, hurga en códices y crónicas para averiguar lo que no es tan evidente, lo que no se menciona, la sexualidad, su control, la agresión o sea la violación, la prostitución, el adulterio y el aborto. Resalta no sólo el quehacer femenino sino también el tiempo de las mujeres alejado de los ciclos polticos a partir de la inclusión de problemáticas como el trabajo doméstico, la maternidad o la crianza de los niños.
La autora al igual que las mujeres mexicas sabe hilar fino y lo demuestra al situar la opresión femenina en el tiempo, discute lo que se ha dicho acerca de la opresión de dónde proviene y cuáes han sido las causas de su aparición. "La opresión femenina es un fenómeno que ha antecedido a la aparición de las sociedades clasistas y que ha persistido a través de los tiempos adoptando diversas formas y grados distintos" (p.249). De ah que observe minuciosamente las desiguales relaciones de poder que se entablaron entre hombres y mujeres.
La lectura de La mujer azteca ayuda a entender comportamientos, estereotipos y preconcepciones que han sobrevivido al tiempo, y que aun perviven, lo que muestra la lentitud con que se transforman las prácticas cotidianas y ordinarias. Por lo tanto sea bienvenida esta cuarta edición y espero que sigan muchas más.
Ana Lau J.
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Xochimilco
The fine illustrations found throughout this issue are from Stuart D. Scott and Michael S. Foster, "The Prehistory of Mexico's Northwest Coast: A View from the Marismas Nacionales of Sinaloa and Nayarit," pp. 107-135; and Michael S. Foster, "The Archaeology of Durango," pp. 197-219. In Greater Mesoamerica: The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mexico. Edited by Michael S. Foster and Shirley Gorenstein. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2000. xvi+307 Pp. ISBN 0-87480-656-9.
Last updated: 11/22/07