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(Walter Mignolo) The Darker Side of The Renaissanc PDF
(Walter Mignolo) The Darker Side of The Renaissanc PDF
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The Darker Side
of the Renaissance
Literacy) Territoriality)
and Colonization
WALTER D. MIGNOLO
Ann Arbor
'THE liNIvERSITY OF MICHIGAN PREss
.
I LI.. ·
Contents
I'!
Language and the Spread of Western Literacy 29
Mignolo, Walter.
The darker side of the Renaissance : literacy, territoriality, am� Chapter 2 The Materiality of Reading and Writing Cultures: The
,
colonization / Walter D. Mignolo. L ____
�
Chain of Sounds, Graphic Signs, and Sign Carriers 69
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index, PART 2. THE COLONIZATION OF MEMORY
ISBN o-472-lo327-X (alk. paper)
1. Latin America-Historiography. 2. Indians-Historiography.
Cimptcr 3 Record Keeping without Letters and Writing Histories
The argument that follows cuts across the current distinction between
the Renaissance and the early modern period. While the concept of
RctJaissance refers to a rebirth of classical legacies and the constitution
of humanistic scholarship for human emancipation and early modem
period emphasizes the emergence of a genealogy that announces the
modern and the postmodem, the darker side of the Renaissance un
derlines, instead, the rebirth of the classical tradition as a justification
of colonial expansion and the emergence of a genealogy (the early
colonial period) that announces the colonial and the postcolonial.
Thus, rather than a lineal succession of periods I conceive the coexis
tence of clnsters (Renaissance/darker side of the Renaissance; early
modem/colonial period; enlightenment/darker side of the Enlight
enment; modern/colonial period). In other words, the Renaissance is
conceived in this book together with its darker side and the early
modern together with the early colonial period.
Why the "Darker side of the Renaissance" and the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries and not, for instance, the late eighteenth or late
nineteenth centuries when the largest portion of the world was under
colonial rules? One of the reasons is that my field of expertise is not
English but Spanish/Latin American/Amerindian cultural historics.
But more important are the facts that the legacies of British imperial
ism and French and German colonial expansion are not only indirectly
related to my professional training but to my personal experiences as
well. And we all know how important personal experiences are in
postcplonial tlleorizing. For instance, what I conceive in tlllS book as
the modern/colonial period (according to tlle previons genealogies)
viii is a moment in which English, French, and German constitute them legacies of the "darker side of the Renaissance" and the "early colonial ix
----- ----
selves as the languages of modernity and of the "heart of Europe" period" into curtent discussions on colonial legacies and postcolonial
Preface (according to Hegel), relegating Castilian and Portuguese as lan theories emerges from the need to decolonize scholarship and to de- Preface
guages not well suited for scientific and philosophical discourses. center epistemological loci of enunciation. I agree wirll all of those
When Mne Descartes in Amsterdam, toward 1630, merged literacy insisting that colonialism is not homogeneous, that we should pay
with numeracy and redirected the notion of scientific rigor and philo morc attention to the diversity of colonial discourses, that
sophical reasoning in French, the Castilian and Portuguese languages postcoloniality cannot be generalized, and so forth. It is precisely be-
remained attached to the heavy literate and humanistic legacies of the cause I agree with the need to diversifY colonial experiences that I am
European Renaissance. If we could detect a reorientation of philo interested in diversifYing loci of enunciations from where colonial
sophical and scientific discourses toward the beginning of the seven legacies are studied and re-inscribed in the present. It would be mis-
teenth centuty, it would be worthwhile to note that such reorientation leading to assume, in other words, that postcolonial theories could
was attached to specific languages (the languages of the modem ouly emerge from the legacies of the British Empire or be postulated
period: English, German, French) and coincided with the moment in as monological and theoretical models to describe the particularities
which Amsterdam began to replace Seville as the Western center of and diversity of colonial experiences; it would be misleading to as-
economic transactions at the closure of the Renaissance/early sume, also, that only the theoretical legacies of the languages of mo-
modem/colonial period and the opening up of the Enlightenment/ dernity (French, German, English) are the ones with scientific legit-
modem/colonial period. imacy. Inscribing the languages of the Early colonial period (Spanish,
Why then did I write this book in English and not in Spanish? portuguese, Quechua, Aymara, Nahuatl) into the theoretical lan-
Writing in Spanish means, at this time, to remain at the margin of guages of modernity is a first step toward intellectnal decolonization
contemporary theoretical discussions. In the world in which scholarly and the denial ofthe dmial ofcoevalness (see infra).
publications are meaningful, there are more readers in English and My position on this issue is neither that of personal interest nor
French than in Spanish. Like students writing a dissertation in a bending toward tl,e defense of national languages, cultures, and tra
"minor literature," it requires a double efo
f rt: to know the canon and ditions. On the contrary, it is founded in my strong conviction that
the corpus. To write in Spanish a book that attempts to inscribe onc of the rich avenues of postcolonial theorizing is, precisely, to
Spanish/Latin American and Amerindian legacies into curtent open up the possibilities of diverse and legitimate theoretical loci of
debates on the Renaissance/early modern period and into colonial enunciation and, by so doing, to relocate the monologic and univer"
legacies and postcolonial theories means marginalizing the book be sal subject of knowledge inscribed in tl,e modem/colonial period
fore giving it the possibility of participating in an intellectnal conversa (i.e., Amsterdam as the new economic center and Descartes as the
tion, which, since the eighteenth century, has been dominated by paradigmatic example of the modern mind). If the Spanish Empire
German, French, and-more recently-by English. I will have more declined in the modem/colonial period and Castilian became a
to say about the issue a couple of paragraphs below when I introduce second-class language in relation to languages of European moder"
Gloria Anzaldua's contribution to theorizing colonial legacies. nity (French, English, and German), it was, mainly, because Castilian
The legacies of the Spanish Empire in the Americas are what con had lost its power as a knowledge-generating language. It became a
nect the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with the present, be that language more suited for literary and cultural expressions at the mo
present the plurilingual and multicultnral Andean or Mesoamerican ment that knowledge was articulated by stressing the primary
societies in Latin America or the emerging Latino cultures in the qualities of reason in philosophical ideas and scientific arguments and
United States. Thus, my justification for focusing on the early colonial by suppressing the secondary qualities conveyed in feelings and emo
period and the darker side of the Renaissance (instead of on the British tions. A fracture within the Romance languages took place in the
Empire) is that my own situation-contrary to thinking from and modem period: while French maintained the expressive flair at
about colonial Australia, New Zealand, or India-at present is con tributed to the Romance languages, it was also the language of philo
nected with rl,e legacies of the Spanish Empire, with tlle more reCent sophical rigor and of one of the colonial powers of modernity. This
U.S. inlperial expansion to Latin America and Latin American migra fractnre was emphasized after World War II, when the planet was
tions toward the United States. Finally, the need to re-inscribe the divided into three ranked areas and Castilian (and Portuguese) be-
x came a (two of the) third world language(s). The situation was main Modernity includes a rational "concept" of emancipation that we xi
----
�ty," which is articnlated as follows: book is, then, the articulation of differences bOtll in space and time, as
.
xii well as the uses of space and time as the means by which cultural America is (iu Anzaldua's work) extended to and inscribed within the xiii
----- differences are articulated. Thus, while the denial of cOelmlness United States and chronologically because the notion of Hispanic
Preface emerged as one of the main conceptual consequences of the growing America blurs the boundaries between the colonial and the nco- or Preface
privilege of time over space in the organization and ranking of cultures postcolonial, since Spanish was the official language of both the col-
and societies in the early modem/colonial period, the denial of the onial empire as well as of the neo- or postcolonial nations on the one
denial ofcoevalmssis one of the major tasks of postcolonial theorizing. hand, and it is spoken in Latino communities in United States on the
The third stage of Western expansion and globalization, of which otller. Furtllerrnore, tl,e links Anzaldua established between gender
we are part and parcel, is currently located after World War II. Some of and language allows for tl,e displacements of geocultural concepts
the landmarks of this third stage are the movements of decolonization such as America, Our America, Hispanic America, Latin America,
in British, French, and German colonies; the growing expansion of the etc., as far as all these concepts are founded in and by discursive forma-
United States, and the substitution of all forms of territorial colonial rions presupposing masculinity as tl,e constitutional subject of geo-
ism by global marketing and finances. WIllie the subject I am writing cultural categories. Instead, Anzaldua displaces the accent ftom the
about is locat.ed in the first stage of globalization, the \vriting.subj"ct is delimitation of geographical spaces to meir borders, locations in
located in the-tlgrg. Thus, a second thrust of tl,e book is (I have which languages (Spanish, English, Nahuatl) and gender (male,
. - -��--
�
already argued) understanding the past and speaking the present. In female, homosexual, heterosexual) are tl,e conditions of possibility for
the present being spoken (which also speaks of us), theories articulat the creation of spaces-in-between as a different way of dunking.
ing the global are theories speaking the present in a postmodern and Anzaldua's great theoretical contribution is �c.r:e���2I'aCe-,jI1:
postcolonial worl<:!. If postmodern and postcolonial";:� �icious ex betIVJ'Cl1 fi:om l�hereto tllink rather thgn a hybricispace.to taJI, about, a
pressions either because we arc not out of modernity or colonialism or hybrid thinking-space of Spanish/Latin American and Amerindian
because by using them the preference tl,at modernity attributes to legacies as the condition of possibility for Spanish/Latin American
./'
time over space is reinforced, I would like to emphasize that, in spite of and Amerindian postcolonial theories. In this regard, Anzaldua's
all tl,e ambiguities, postmodernity and postcoloniality designate (in I "borderlands" join forces with Rodolfo Kusch's concept of "pbago-
my argument) the locations of two different modes of countering cytosis" (upon which I elaborate in the introduction), with Dussel's
the former, "decolonization" is the corresponding one associated autre." Khatibi, like Anzaldua, constructs a transdisciplinarity space
with the latter. for tllinking about colonization from the personal inscription (linguis-
Gloria Anzaldua (1987), theorizing on borders, boundaries, and tic and personal) in colonial legacies ratl,er than writing abottt colo
places of cultural contact, provides more theoretical insights that I can nization from the rules of a disciplinary game. Such are tl,e places from
develop here. I will just mention a few of them. First, there is the where I intend, in writing this book, to speak tl,e present by theorizing
double re-inscription of Spanish. On the one hand, Anzaldua re the past.
inscribes Spanish (a third world language) into English (a first world
language) by stressing the difficulties of taming a wild tongue. Curi
ously enough, the concept of "taming a language" (akin to Nebrija's II
philosophy of language, which I analyze in the first chapter) is recast
by Anzaldua as a strategy of resistance, while in Nebrija "taming a During the time that tl,is book has been in production, a number of
language" is a strategy of control, government, and colonization. On significant articles and books have been published. I would like to
the otl,er hand, Anzaldua re-inscribes the Aztecs' concept of painting mention only a handful directly impinging on the general line of my
and writing ( Tlilli, In Tlapalli [The red ink, the black ink]) and, by so argument. Enrique Dussel (to whom I referred above) published"Eu
doing, she contests Nebrija and Aldrete (who I also analyze in the first rocentrism and Modernity," the first of his Frankfurt Lectures (Dussel
chapter) by denying that writing is representation of sound (Nebrija), 1993a), and an entire book about the myth of modernity (Dussel
and that languages are bound to one territory (Aldrete). In the second 1993b). Dussel's arguments in both publications are an extension of
place, by linking language and gender Anzaldua allows for geocultural his early work on the philosophy of liberation on which I comment in
and chronological reconfigurations-geoculturally because Hispanic the introduction. Edward Said's Imperialism and Cultllre appeared
arguments in a layered fOffil. First, the core period explored runs from xv
xiv (or at least it got into my hands) in the fall of 1993. The book is
1570 to 1630, ,vith a flashback to the beginning of the sixteenrll cen
extensive and controversial, and I cannot do justice here to it nor to
turywhen truly mixed cultures began to emerge, and then toward the Preface
Preface the polemic surtounding it. I will limit myself to two aspects related to
eighteenth cenrury when the Spanish empire began to crumble, a
my own argument.
Creole intelligentsia to flourish, and the influence of Amerindian pop
The reader of Said's book will find that the emphasis I placed on
�
ulation to diminish. Questions of language, memory, and space are
comparative strategy reverberates on Said's contrapuntal analytic
presented in successive discursive organization, although in a coexist
strategy. The same reader may not immediately think of Fernru:-d
ing chtonological and conceptual order. The lineup of tl,e book also
Ortiz's "contrapunteo" of sugar and tobacco. When I read Srud s
follows the double logic. At first glance, again, the privilege is given to
Imper ialism and Cltltltre I assumed, indeed, that his contrapuntal
language and time over space. Such a modem and Western hierarchy
analysis was borrowed from Ortiz. Fernando Coronil ptoved me
could be interpreted othenvise if space, instead of being looked at only
wrong (Coronil in press). By so doing, he was also able to bnng to the
in the final parr of the book, is read instead as an overarching concept
foreground the fact that two critics of the complicities between an
in which language and time are included. In this respect, the relevance
thropology and imperialism, fifry years apart from each other, ,:ere
ofspace in Amerindian cultures and legacies is highlighted and mod
both thinking contrapuntally, and their models were both denved
em Western obsession with time neutralized. In connection with the
from music: classical music in Said; Cuban and liturgical popular mUSI
locus of enunciation, what I attempt to do is less to describe and
cal tradition in Ortiz. My own restitution of comparative strategy
narrate how colonization of languages, memories, and space took
comes also from another "third world" intellectual, R. Pannikar
place and were implemented than to idmtifY the spaces in betwem
(1988), a historian of religions who looks at the modem (classical)
produced by colonization as location and mew ofnew modes of th ink
comparative methodological tradition implementing a modem (col
;''8 whose strmgth lies in the traniformation and critique ofthe «au
onial) emerging methodological and epistemological comparative
thmticities" ofboth Western and Amerindian legacies. This is the rea
strategy by asking who is comparing what, why, and how. By refram
son why in writing this book I was more interested in exploring new
ing comparative strategy in colonial legacies and by introducing the
. ways ofthinking about what we know than to accumulate new knowl
comparing subject into the act of comparing, he disrupted the Idea
edge under old ways of thinking. Thus, the reader can find here tl,e
that cultures are monologic entities that a scientific mind observes,
reason for the lengthy introduction and aftenvord framing the six
dissects and compares. Comparative strat"gythus reframed becomes
chapters and emerging from the debris and the silences in each of
the analysis ofprocessesoftransculturatign (another concept intro
tl,em.
duced by Ortiz) of which the comparing subject is part and parcel:
In reading the final proofs of the book I realized that I frequently
Ortiz as well as Said (Coronil and myself, too, for that matter) have
used the word "tradition." What I said in the previous paragraph and
different intensities and forms of investments with colonial legacies
my insistence in understanding the past and speaking the present in
that prompt their (our) analysis and critique of colonialism: for in
vites an understanding of "traditions" not as something that is there to
Preface tions allows me to conceive colonial encounters as a process of manip their inscription in the early colonial period and the fact tl1at they are Preface
ulation and control rather than of transmission of meaning or repre rooted in the displacement of Castilian and Portuguese languages in
sentation. I am not looking for representations but, rather, for the history of modernity. Khatibbi may look like an exception. How-
processes and semiotic interactions. ever, the fact that French colonial language is, in Khatibbi, transcultu-
In the spring of1994 Homi Bhabha's much awaited book, The rated with Arabic, and tl1at Arabic is the language upon which
Locations ofCulture, was released. At that time, I had read almost all Castilian built its triumphal moment in the early modem period,
the articles that became chapters of the book, with the exception of makes me feel Khatibbi to be a tlunker closer to the one I just quoted
the introduction and the conclusion. I have already devoted elsewhere than to Amselle, for example, whose conceptualizations are invested
(Mignolo, "The Postcolonial Reason," forthcoming) several pages in the history of French languages and cultures and its colonial expan-
comparing Dussel's and Bhabha's contribution to the criticism of mo sion. What all of this amounts to, in other words, is the foregrounding
dernity from a colonial and postcolonial perspective. Here I would like of history of language in the modem period and the linguistic inscrip-
to underline just two aspects strictly relevant to my project and the line t ions of theorizing in the realm of a variegated spectrum of colonial
of reasoning I am trying to articulate in this preface. In the first place, legacies.
Homi Bhabha's countering modernity stems from the experiences
and legacies of the British Empire in India and-in consequence
from the endowment of the second stage or globalization fro"!'J:h.e III
·
Enlightenment to World War II. As such, his theorizing is deeply
entrenched in the linguistic history of modernity and the predomi As many other people doing research and writing books, I have a long
nance of English and French. I found "natural," for instance, the list of debts. Several times I artempted to reconstruct the moments, in
intellectual and emotional enthusiasm that Terry Eagleton expressed chtonological order, that brought me to this point. Perhaps the depar
for the book ( The Guardia", February 1994), an enthusiasm that I ture was when I listened to Alton Becker's interpretation of the J av
mysclf tend to place in Kusch's criticism of occidentalism, in Dussel's anese shadow tl,eater and read one of his articles (Becker 1980).
criticism of modernity, and in Anzaldua's critical location between Beeker showed me that it was impossible to understand Javanese
Aztec speech and writing legacies, between Castilian as a colonial shadow theater from the categories traced by Aristotle to describe and
language vis-a-vis Nahuatl and English; as a new colonial language prescribe Greek tragedy. The need to compare and at the same time
replacing and displaeing the tole of Castilian in the complex histories undo tl,e premises upon which comparative strategy was founded
and contemporary genealogies of the early modem and the early col became clear to me at the blink of an eye. It was also Becker with
onial periods. Their arguments spring from the legacies of the Spanish whom, toward 1974-75, I was able to talk about the works of Um
empire, and, consequently, their theorizing is deeply tooted in the berto Maturana and Francisco Varela and about the contemporary
language and history of modernity and the displacement ofCastilian relevance of Ortega y Gasset's conceptualization of a "new philol
as "langl,l'1ge..proper lO. knowledge and philosophical reasoning. ogy." Next I met Lemuel Johnson, when we both were members of
Secondly, I share with Homi Bhabha his emphasis on tl,e"spaces in the College Curriculum Committee at tl,e University of Michigan.
between," a concept that I learned from Ortiz's notion of "trans Johnson helped me, without him knowing it, to put what I learned
culturation"; from Kusch's notion of '�cultural phagocytosis"; from from Becker into the context of colonization. Bringing the European
the Brazilian novelist and cultural critic Silviano Santiago's notion of Renaissance into the scenario of comparing Javanese shadow theater
"the inter-space" (entre-lugar) of Latin American literature elabo and Greek tragedy and that of colonization was indeed an easy task
rated in the early seventies; from Anzaldua's notion of "borderland"; since, at that time, I was doing research on Renaissance historiography
from the word "epantla, coined by Nahuatl speakers in New Spain and the histories of the Indies. This, in retrospect, was the triad that
during the sixteenth century to designate the inter-space between put tills book in motion.
cultures; from Khatibbi's notion of"une pensee autre" and the trans The first time I tried to put the teaching of Becker and Johnson to
formation of"bi-lingual" into"bi-Ianguage," which places the accent good use was wlule I was doing research at the John Carter Brown
xviii Library. Norman Fiering, its director, was organizing an inter
in which I was able to verbalize the connections between literacy and xix
disciplinary conference on "The Book in the Americas." It was June, ----
historiography. My contribution to the conference proceedings ("Lit-
Preface 1986 and the conference was being planned for June, 1987
:
I �re eracy and Colonization: Writing Histories of People without His- Preface
sented my ideas to Fiering in rough form and defined my contnbuoon
toty") allowed me to articulate literacy and historiography and to
to the conference as a comparative analysis of the "book" in European
move from ti,e brighter to the darker side of the Renaissance. A pre-
and Amerindian societies at the time of the encounter. He encouraged
vious attempt was made in 1989 when I was invited by Nancy Farriss to
me to submit a written version of my ideas; the paper was accepted,
participate in a workshop on "The Colonization of Languages: Verbal
celebrated by some, and looked at with suspicions by others. It went
and Non-Verbal," organized by the Latin American Center and the
through several revisions before becoming chapter 2 of this book un University of Pennsylvania. There I met Serge Gruzinski, whose La
der the new title "The Materiality of Reading and Writing Cultures." I
colonizasion de lJimaginaire. Societes indigenes et occidentalisation
am in debt to Paul Gehl and Michael Palencia Roth for the time tlley
dans Ie Mexiqtte espagnole, xve me-xviiieme siecles (1988) greatly
took to read the piece and make valuable critical comments. I am also
changed my view on the historiography of the Indies. Gruzinski's
thankful to Elizabeth Hill Boone for making me believe that my ap
book and the exchange of information and ideas entertained thereaf-
proach to writing and the book was interesting and original.
ter, together witll my reading (during the same years) of the concept
In writing chapter 2 I became aware of the complicities between
of literature and histoty in Edouard Glissant's Ca,.ibbean Dise01me
the histoty of the book and the histoty of writing during the European
(1981) and Ranajit Guha's piece on Indian historiography and sub-
Renaissance. I was fortunate to have met Ignacio Osorio Romero
altern studies (Guha 1988), contributed to my rewriting of the piece I
m
Preface ward. Their generosity and wisdom largely contributed to what the writing in ancient Mesopotamia and a bundle of energy when it came Pre/ace
reader will find in chapters 5 and 6. Finally, I am indebted to the to discussing theories of writing and representations.
confidence and enthusiasm of Doris Sommer and Benitez Rajo for Last but not least, there are a series of debts owed to those who
inviting me to present my preliminary ideas on the issues, in the fall of helped not in the ideas discussed or information introduced in the
1989, at Amherst College. Nina Scort, who attended the talk and book but in its very production, in the "materiality of reading and
listened to the first version of what is now chapter 5, encouraged me to writing cultures." George Baudot introduced me-in the early 1970S
present it again the following year at the University of Massachusetts. and in Toulouse-to the beauty of the NallUatl language and the
I did. A preliminary version of chapter 5, under the same title, was stories told by the mendicant friars in early colonial Mexico. I owe
published in the conference proceedings (Cevallos-Candau et al. morc than I can express to the enthusiasm ofLcAnn Fields, Executive
1994)· Editor at the University of Michigan Press. When I had just a general
Chapter 6 has a different though related history, and again the John idea of the book and perhaps a draft version of two chapters, some
Carter Brown Library is in the picture. Julio Ortega invited me to time in the fall Of 1988, LeAnn made me believe in rlle relevance of the
participate in an NEH seminar in June, 1991. I presented tllere a rough project. I am not exaggerating in saying that perhaps \vithout that
version of what is now chapter 6. A first version was printed by Ran initial enthusiasm this may not have been a book but a series of articles
dolph Macon Woman's College in their series of Philip Thayer Me published in different journals. I am enormously indebted to Mar
morial Lectures. A second version was published in tlle first issue of ianne Grashoff, who, with patience and savoir faire, read and reread
Latin A m"'ic«n Colonial Review (1992) and, cortected and enlarged, draft after drafr of the entire book, making valuable editorial recom
became what is now chapter 6. Although much of what went in this mendations at the level of the sentence and paragraph, identifYing
chapter was a product of my previous research at tlle John Carter repetition or ideas not clearly expressed, as well as underlining what
Brown and the Newberry Libraries, I also benefited from the help and she found interesting and appealing. When I began writing the book I
of
generosity of David Bosse at the Clements Library (University worked closely Witll Noel Fallows, then a graduate student at the
Michigan), who always found the missing pieces and hidden informa University of Michigan, now an assistant professor at Tulane Univer
tion. sity. Fallows's mastery of English and his experience in editing his own
I have outlined some of my many debts articulated around signifi father's articles made my life much, much easier. He also translated
cant moments in tlle process of doing research and writing the book. I from Spanish into English several quotations from sixteenth- and
have many other no less significant debts, both to institutions and seventeenth-century authors. When Fallows was out of reach,
persons. In the first place I shall mention tlle year I spent at tlle In Maureen Dyokas (also a graduate student at the University of Michi
stitute for the Humanities at tlle University of Michigan as A. Bartlett gan) took his place in translating from Spanish into English. I shall add
Giamatti Faculty Fellow (July 1991-June 1992), where I was able to that both Fallows and Dyokas were very seriously interested in transla
write and rewrite parts and wholes of the book. The leadership of its t ion and already had experience of their own in that field. When I
director, James Winn, and tlle wisdom ofthc Fellows, both faculty and came to Duke University in January, 1993, I had to deal with the
graduate students, greatly enhanced tlle general perspective in which I difficult task of obraining reproduction permissions for all of the
framed the main thesis of the book. ninety-fuur illustrations. It was a task in itself, probably very much like
In tlle fall of 1992 I co-taught a graduate interdisciplinary seminar gathering information and writing an extra chapter. I am indebted to
with Fernando Coronil ("Beyond accidentalism: Rethinking How Kristin Pesola, Lisa O'Neil, and Debbera Carson for their superb job.
the West Was Born"), which greatly influenced what I wrote in the r wish to thank the anonymous employees at the University of Michi
afrerword. I owe thanks to Anton Shammas for sharing with me his gan Library who so diligently processed my constant requests for in
ideas about writing and the book in Arabic history and about tlle space fonnation, articles, and books and sent them to me via e-mail or
in between the Islamic and European worlds. I am indebted to Fatma t hrough campus mail. Ellen McCartllY and the editorial team at the
Muge Go:;eck for sharing with me her knowledge and ideas about University of Michigan Press were a model of efficiency, care, and
:.
Andrea
xxii patience in the last stage of the book. Finally, Anne Wylie,
lo, the people w t h who, ,
Wylie Mignolo, and Alexander Wylie Migno :
Preface I live, were kind in excess over the years, under standm g that Oh, he IS Introduction
h or stay
still writing the book" when I had to leave home to do researc
away to write. On Describing Ourselves
Describing Ourselves:
Comparatism, Differences, and
Pluritopic Hermeneutics
The Darker Let me expand, however, on the advantages of philological and oretical concept, such as "territorial organization, or territorial con 011 Describing
Side ofthe comparative approaches and justifY my belief that such a method can ceptualization" authorizing a comparative analysis of Spanish maps Ourse/ves
Renaissance also prove beneficial in the domain of colonial cultural studies, re and Amerindian amoxtli. Describing
In the
thinking popular cultures, and building postcolonial theories. Ifphilological and comparative analysis is the necessary approach to Ourselves
first place, colonial semiosis implies the coexistence of "high" and understanding colonial semiosis because of coexisting systems of
"low" cultures. It also implies power relations between, on one hand, descriptions and coevolutionary processes, with differing degrees and
the group of people controlling the politics and the economy and, on levels ofinterference and hybridization, it cannot be justified from the
�
i
the other the subaltern communities. In the second place, a philolog perspeetive of a philosophical hermeneutic,2o which implicitly or ex
cal appro ch is necessary for understanding colonial semiosis on two plicitly grounded both philology and comparatism in the modem
levels: first, fur critically distancing the understanding subject from era.21 The understanding of "our" tradition, in which the foundation
his/her own upbringing, memories, and sensibility; and second, for of philosophical discursive hermeneutics rests, implies that the tradi
critically approaching the conceptualization ofsemiotic practices alien tion to be understood and the understanding subject are one and the
to the culture in which he or she places him- or herself. This meth same; a universal tradition is understood by a universal subject who, at
odological problem, common to anthropologists, is also relevant to the same time, speaks for tl,e rest ofhumanity. Contrary to tl,e mono
those who work with signs or traces ofthe past rather than with people topic understanding of philosophical hermeneutics, colonial semiosis
in the present. Map andgeographer arc, for instance, common names presupposes more than one tradition and, therefore, demands a
usu
to an educated Western citizen. But a l1J,Oxtli and tlaclIilo arc not diatopic or pluritopic hermeneutic, a concept I borrow from Rai
ally so (see chaps. 5 and 6). Although map and geograph er are also mundo Panikkar.22 This book is also a venture in pluritopic her
talk:
notions common to scholarly discourse there is a temptation to meneutics as a mode of understanding.
nd how Amer
about "Amerindian maps. " 19 It is necessary to understa What I am proposing is certainly not new. Enrique Dussel has
be
indians understood a "map," and at this point, philology needs to developed a similar perspective in order to deal with a similar problem:
complemented with a comparat ive apptoach . Since map and amoxtli the tensions between tl,e Western philosophical tradition as practiced
ed
were names by which different cultures and communities designat in the European centers ofeducation and in third world universities.23
described, a
the graphic and material objects in which territory was Dussel proposes an "analectic/' as an alternative to a "dialectic,"
comparison between their frmn and uses in their respective cultural method. ModifYing Levinas's position according to his own experi
context is of the essence. The situation becomes even morc complex ence in and ofLatin American history, Dussel moves toward a politici
when we realize that amoxtli could also be translated as "book" and zation of phenomenology by introducing tl,e notion of people as an
tlaclIilo as "scribe" (see chap. 2). Map in the Middle Ages meant "nap alternative to Darsein in phenomenological reflection. Criticized
kin, signal cloth" and, by extension, the material on which graphic harshly by Marxist thinkers who at first embraced his "philosophy of
signs are inscribed. Amoxtli referred both to the tree from which the liberation," he has also been blamed for his metaphysical concept of
solid surface to write on was made ("paper") and to the entity in which people (even if grounded in the Argentinian experiences of the 1970S
the written material was kept together ("book" ). Amoxtli and "signal and in Latin American history)24 and for his own totalizing concep
cloth" were, then, solid surfaces upon which signs ofterritoriality were tion of analectic.25 Yet he has been recognized for politicizing phe
inscribed. Thus, while territorialiry was common to both Spanish and nomenology as an oppositional way ofthinking rooted in the perspec
elative
Amerindian ethnic groups, maps and amoxtli were culture-r tive of the historical, marginalized, and oppressed Other (Indians,
names for graphic objects in which territoriality was represented.
A proletarians, women). Altllough I agree with those who have disap
in which
geographer was distinguished from a historian in a culture proved ofDussel for proposing a metllodological alternative that re
became clearly e
diff rent activities. This was not mains within the monotopic perspective he attempted to debunk, I
writing and mapping
which the tlacttilo painted both would like to capitalize on his move toward a decolonization, or liber
necessarily so, however, in a culture in
preserve d and ation (in his own words) of thoughts.26 Consequently, there is an
the pictographic signs in which past memories were
a Nahuatl
those in which spatial boundaries were traced. That is why important distinction to be made between Dussel's analectic and the
[2 concept of a pluritopic hermeneutic I am developing here. While and Brarhwaite simultaneously construct and rheorize alternative cen [3
Dusse!'s analectic allows for a radical rethinking of rhe object to be ters in what have been considered rhe margins of colonial empires,
The Darker understood, described, or interpreted, pluritopic hermeneu�_9 Latinos in rhe United States and Black Americans are demonstrating 011 Dcscribing
Side ofthe calls into question the positionality and rhe1iomogeneity_o£.r:he-un,� that either the margins are also in the center Of, as Thiong'O puts it, Ourse/ves
Renaissance derstandiilg subject. One has the impression that Dussel remains rhat knowledge and aesrhetic norms are not universally established by Describing
,,"thin a representational concept of knowledge rhat questions the a transcendent subject but are universally established by historical Ourse/pcs
conceptualization ofrhe Orher as a subject to be understood, without subjects in diverse cultural centers. Gloria Anzaldua, for instance, has
questioning the understanding subject itself. However, his contribu arriculated a powerful alternative aestiletic and political hermeneutic
tion to the construction of disciplinaty postcolonial loci of enuncia by placing herself at rhe crossroads of rhree traditions (Spanish
tion should not be dismissed.27 American , Nahuati, and Anglo-American) and carving a locus of
It is not rhe whole picture of philosophy of liberation as practiced enunciation where different ways of knowing and of individual and
by Dussel rhat I am interested in, but in his politicization of phe collective expressions meet.31
nomenology and the introduction of analectic as an alternative locus But perhaps the best example of a pioneering effort to understand
of enunciation. Such a move has put Dussel at odds with Marxist colonization in the New World, and parricularly in tile Andes, by
thinkers, since he sees analectic as a better alternative to dialectic and a practicing a pluritopic hermeneutics-without giving it a name-was
philosophy ofliberation as an alternative to Marxism.28 My particular provided by the Argentinian philosopher Rodolfo Kusch.32 For politi
problem wirh Dussel is rhat rhe intro�uEtion _of.gnalectic results in cal reasons, Kusch was teaching at a northern Argentinian university,
conceiving rhe margins as fLxecrind o-;'tological rarher than as a mov Salta, during rhe [960s. Northern Argentina had in the past been part
able and relational concept. Dussel, however, is not a solitary voice of rhe Inca empire, and Kusch realized how much of the Inca legacy
claiming rhe right of rhe margin to speak, produce, and transmit remained in twentieth�centlllY Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina.
knowledge. The African writer and literaty critic Ngugi Wa Thiong'O He began to practice a comparative erhnophilosophy, moving from
has articulated a similar idea in a different manner. Thiong'O speaks of the system of thoughts practiced by the Inca elite in the sixteenth
alternative centers, instead of centers and periphery. By analyzing century (under Spanish rule) and by peasants of Amerindian descent
Conrad's"I[ean oj"Dark;ws and Lamming;�-I;the Castle ofMy Skin, t() the Western philosophical tradition practiced in Europe and re
Thiong'O concludes that Conrad is criticizing rhe empire from the hearsed in rhe colonial periphery. Kusch's analysis, moving from one
very center of its expansion, while Lamming is criticizing it from the tradition ofthonght to rhe other, was not just an exercise in pluritopic
center o fresistance. Edward Kamau Brarhwaite supported rhis idea by hermeneutics but, I will venture to say, the minimal step to be taken
talking about and reading his poetry. A crucial moment of his search for rhe constitution of differential loci of enunciation and rhe estab
for a rhyrhm and a voice, which corresponds wirh his living experience lishment of a politic ofintellectual inquiry rhat will go beyond cultural
in the Caribbean, came when the skidding of a pebble on rhe ocean relativism.
gave him a sound and a rhythm he could find by reading Milton or Kusch's philosophical inquiry was motivated by a need felt by Latin
Shakespeare. A second crucial moment came when he perceived rhe American intellectuals since rhe second half of the nineteentil century,
parallels between rhe skidding of rhe pebble on the ocean and rhe the need to discover or to invent the cultural identity of America, an
calypso, a rhythm he could find by listening to Beethoven.29 ambiguous noun rhat sometimes implies South or Latin America and
Michelle Cliff, on her part, indirectiy joins tilese claims when she sometimes the entire American continent, including the Caribbean.
states tilat one of rhe effects of assimilation in rhe Anglocentrism of Kusch uses it in both senses, indicating the differences between Amer�
British West Indian culture "is rhat you believe absolutely in the he indian and Enropean legacies in SOUtil, Central, and North America.
gemony of rhe King's English and in rhe fOrm in which it is meant to His main argument revolves around the distinction between causal
be expressed. Or else your writing is not literature; it is folklore and and seminal (from "semen, seed, origin, source") ways of thinking as
can never be art. . . . The anglicau ideal-Milton, Wordsworth, rhey refer to two generic conceptual frameworks (and their afrer
Keats-was held before us wirh an assurance rhat we were unable, and math), enacted and illustrated in rhe West. The first is a rational rhink
would never bc enabled, to compose a work of similar correct ing in rhe Enlightenment tradition in a capitalistic economy. The
ness . . . . No reggae spoken here."30 While Thiong'O, Lamming, orher, enacted by tile Amerindians of colonial times and peasants of
14 Amerindian descent today, is a rational thinking in the tributary eco world environment writing about his or her distant friends, making a IS
----- ----
nomic systems in Mesoamerica, a variety of ways of living under West� career out of his or her extended fieldwork. Therefore, the exercise of a
17)e Darker ern economy since the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. If there is pluritopic hermeneutics is more than an academic exercise. To Kusch all Describing
Sideoftbe a dichotomous laying out of Kusch's investigation, the dichotomy it is a reflection on the politics of intellectual inquiry and a strategy of Ourse/l'''
Renaissance ends once he compares Amerindians of yesterday with peasants of cultural intervention. "Writing cultures" acquires a whole new mean- Describing
today, European thinking of yesterday and today, people in the city ing when intellectual inquiry is part of the culture shared by the self- Ourse/m
and in the country, the middle class in the urban centers both north same and the other, by the subject of study and the understanding
and south of the Atlantic and the Pacific. Kusch's analysis goes back to subject.
the ways of thinking before the early modern period when the seminal, Thus, the pluritopic hermeneutic I am trying to articulate moves
in the upcoming West, was anchored in religion. He begins by locat toward an interactive concept of knowledge and understanding that
ing, in the West, two modes of thought at the same time that he reflects on tl,e very process of constructing (e.g., putting in order) that
underlines the liberation from religious tllinking proclaimed by the portion of the world to be known.33 Itis fashionable nowadays to tell a
ideologues of modernity, from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. story from different points of view to show how relative the invention
How these two modes of thinking interact in the history of America of reality is. What a pluritopic approach emphasizes is not cultural
(his paradigmatic examples are Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, and Chile relativity or multiculturalism, but the social and human interests in
and, more specifically, the high plateau of the limits between Bolivia the act of telling a story as political intervention. The politics of
and Pen!, on the one hand, and Buenos Aires, on the other) is what enacting and of constructing loci of enunciation are at stake, rather
Kusch attempts to disentangle by means of conceptual analysis inter than the diversity of representations resulting from differential loca
mingled with personal experiences in northern Argentina and sOllth tions in telling stories or building theories. At this point the ethical
ern Bolivia as well as analysis of the middle class on the outskirts of the dimension of knowledge and understanding should be introduced.
city of Buenos Aires. In the dialectic between causal and seminal ways For pluritopic understanding implies that while the understanding
of thinking, Kusch finds, as well as founds (Witl,0ut naming it), "a subject has to assume the truth of what is lmown and understood, he
third space" in which a pluritopic henneneutics could be practiced. or she also has to assume the existence of alternative politics of loca
Kusch uses the ��us" as a member and participant in the society driven tion with equal rights to claim the tnIth. The ethical problem arises
by causal ways of thinking. As an Argentinian philosopher, he is able to when the ideal relativism in which examples like this one have been
go beyond a surfuce of dichotomous oppositions and find the seminal cast overlook the fact that coexistence of perspective does not always
pattern that connects the hidden underground of Western thought take place without a display of power relations and sometimes vio
with explicit Amerindian attitudes, which have resisted the assimila lence. Thus, if the epistemological and ontological aspects of a plur
tion to causal thinking, even though peasants of Amerindian descent itopic understanding could be dealt with in tenns of relativism, its
live within a hybrid context in which the commodification of "art ethical dimension invites one to look at the configuration of power.
crafts" in Sunday farmers' markets does not erase seminal attitudes Cultural relativism may be an important step in understanding cul
maintained among the members of their own communities. By com tural differences, but Kusch's practice suggests that it falls short if it is
paring alternative philosophies in his own and neighboring countries not analyzed in the context of power and domination. From this
with the same official language (Spanish) and similar linguistic Amer point of view, the colonization of langllages, of memory, and of space
indian configurations, Kusch is no longer the outsider trying to under to be analyzed in the following chapters sheds light on the very
stand the Other from fur away. The Other for Kusch is part of his own process of understanding.
country, part of his own everyday life and community. "Us" and Colonial situations invite one to rethink the hermeneutical legacy.
'�they" are subsumed in a third space in which both become ��we," the If hermeneutics is defined not only as a reflection on human under
members of this country, the inheritors of a colonial legacy. standing, but also as human understanding itself,34 then the tradirion
In a larger context, Kusch is-like the Amerindians with whom he in which hermeneutics has been founded and developed has to be
converses and upon whom he reflects-a member and participant of recast in terms of the plurality of cultural traditions and across cultural
the Americas. He is not an anthropologist who, after finishing his two boundaries. Panikkar casts his concept of diatopical hermeneutics,
or three years of fieldwork, will expend the rest of his life in a first- from which I depart, as follows:
16 Diatopical hermeneutics is the required method of interpretation hermeneutic situation and the constant operativeness of history in 17
----
when the distance to overcome, needed for any understanding, is his own consciousness, but in such a way as to imply that his own
The Darker not just a distance within onc single culture . . . , Of a temporal understanding does not enter into the event.36 011 Describing
Side afthe one . . . , but rather the distance between two (or more) cultures, Om'selves
Renaissance which have independently developed in different spaces (topoi) The Mexican historian and philosopher Edmundo O'Gorman DeSCI-ibillg
their own methods of philosophizing and ways of reaching intel deserves reconsideration at this point for his contribution to the de- Ourseh1es
ligibility along with their proper categories.35 centering of the knowing and understanding subject and contributing
to the construction of a postcolonial locus of enunciation. 37 I have no
One aspect distinguishes Panikkar's concept from my own: tl,e quarrel with and, indeed, enthusiastically endorse Gadamer's criticism
kind of"different spaces" implied in colonial situations. Thus, colonial of a positivistic conception of knowledge and understanding on the
situations and colonial semiosis present a hermeneutical dilemma for same grounds that I accept O'Gorman's criticism ofpositivistic histo-
the understanding subject interested in the hierarchy established by riography (both come from the same source: Heidegger's critique of
the domination of one culture (its histoty, institutions, and individ historiographical understanding).38 The position I take in this book
uals) over another. Historically, the analysis of colonial situations has distances itself, however, from Gadamer at the same time that it ap-
been studied and narrated from points of view prevalent in different proaches that of O'Gorman and assumes the paradox that a model of
domains of the colonizing cultures, even when the interpreter advo thought so mudl centered in the Western philosophical practices
cates the rights and goods of colonized cultures. Colonial semiosis (such as philosophical hermeneutics) engendered a counterdiscourse
brings the following dilemma to the fore: what is the locus ofenuncia and a critic of Western historiography from the colonial centers (to
tion from which the understanding subject comprehends colonial sit follow Thiong'O's approach). Thus, Dussel's analectics and O'Gor-
uations? In other words, in which of the cultural traditions to be un man's invention depart from the philosophical tradition engendering
derstood does the understanding subject place him- or herself by them to become alternative methodologies for understanding social
constructing his or her loclls of enunciation? How can the act of read processes and cultural artifucts outside tl,e scope of a philosophical
ing and the concept of interpretation be rethought within a plur henneneutics or a universal pragmatics. It is on Dussel's and O'Gor-
itopically oriented hermeneutics and the sphere of colonial semiosis? man's philosophical moves, rather than on their entire philosophical
These questions arc flot only relevant when broad cultural issues such positions, that I would like to capitalize. Let's take another step in tlus
as colonial situations and colonial semiosis are being considered, but direction.
also when more specific issues such as race, gender, and class are taken Gadamer's notion ofan "ongoing, natural tradition" presupposes a
into account. It is in this sense that Dussel's analectic is a necessary monotopic hermeneutic in which the locus ofenunciation ofshe or he
complement to a pluritopic hermeneutic emphasizing the locus of who understands belongs to the same tradition invented by the very
enunciation and challenging the universality of the understanding act of understanding. On the contrary, colonial situations depart from
subject. the wlified and hegemonic arrangements of an evolutionary (civiliz
Gadamer dearly states the goals and justificarions of philosophical ing) process rllat began in Greece and reached those countries tl,at
hermeneutics: accepted it as their own origin. From the perspective of colonial situa
tions, it is belpful to remember tllat, toward the eleventh centuty,
My thesis is-and I think it is a necessary consequence ofrecogniz Latin Christendom and Muslim Arabia were both coinileritors of the
ing the operativeness of history in our conditionedness and Greek; and that Latin and Arabic were tl,e languages of secular and
finitude-that the thing which hermeneutics teaches us is to see sacred \visdom. Thus, if hermeneutic is restricted to "our ongoing
through the dogmatism of asserting an opposition and separation natural tradition" and tllat tradition is the Greco-Latin one, then her
between the ongoing, natural tradition and the reflective appropri meneutic is regional and restricted to one specific kind of tradition.
ation of it. For behind this assertion stands a dogmatic objectivism On the other hand, if hermeneutic could be extended beyond the
that distorts the vety concept of hermeneutical reflection itself. In Greco-Roman legacy to understand non-Western traditions, then it
this objectivism the understander is seen-even in the so-called could not be monotopic but pluritopic. That is to say, the idea that an
sciences of understanding like histoty-not in relarionship to the understanding subject located in the "natural, ongoing tradition" of
18 the West is in a position to understand non-Western legacies must be eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) was the economic and political 19
rejected if the understanding subject does not call into question the power that made possible the universalization of regional values. -----
The Da1'IlCT very act of understanding and, instead, projects a monotopic under Colonial situations imply a pluraliry of traditions (instead of an On De"" ibing
Side ofthe standing over multilingual and pluricultural worlds. When Gadamer "ongoing natural' one"), call for a reddliution of Gadamer's philo� Ourselves
Renaissance reads in the Romantics the desire to overcome the classics and saphical hermeneutics, and invite a pluritopic, instead of a monotopic, Describing
discover the charms of the past, the far, the alien (the Middle Ages, hermeneutics. While in Dussd's hermeneutics the philosopher reo Onrselves
India, China, and so on), 39 he redefines hermeneutics in the context niains the voice of Knowledge and Wisdom, and in his case, the
of intercultural understanding, although the understanding subject Knowledge and Wisdom ofri,e People, in a dialogic understanding the
remains located in one specific culture, one that claims the right to role of the philosopher or scholar is as much to talk as it is to listen to
intercultural hermeneutic understanding: other voices talking about experiences alien to him or her. If"natural"
traditions are questioned and regionalized (i.e., there are as many
Hermeneutics may be defined as the attempt to overcome this natural traditions as there arc communities inventing them), then the
distance in areas where empathy was hard and agreement not easily universal position ofthe understanding subject can no longer be main-
reached. There is always a gap that must be bridged. Thus, her tained. Race, gender, class, and nationaliry are all important dimen-
meneutics acquires a central place in viewing human experience. sions in the process ofunderstanding oneselfas well as in the disciplin-
That was indeed Schlciermacher's intuition; he and his associates ary process in which the question, What is to be understoodl is
became the first to develop hermeneutics as a foundation, as the answered.
primary aspect of social experience, not only for the scholarly inter However, if a pluritoEic lmd!'rsJanding�of.coloniai semiosis rec .
_
_
pretation of texts as documents of the past, but also for under quires a comparative m;;thodology, we might, then, easily fall into the
standing the mystery of the inwardness of the other person. This trap-iliafC "I1lparativ" uII.9",,�tancliggjs jpjtself " product 0f cologial
feeling for the individualiry of persons, the realization that they exp�J:1�1qps,41 or that it began with Herodotus; or perhaps even be
cannot be classified and deduced according to general rules or for�, with Homer or the Ionian writers.42 I prefer to think that if
laws, was a significant new approach to the concreteness of the comparative processes need an origin, it-like many others-should
other.4-0 not be looked for among the Greeks but among some of the features
common to living organisms. Discerning differences by identities, and
Overcoming the classical tradition and encountering the far and vice versa, also seems to be a feature of human intelligence,43 and,
the alien did not change the monotopically conceived hermeneutic, consequently, so are comparative attitudes.44 Why should compara
for the understanding subject and his or her locus of enunciation riSID be interpreted as a Greek invention instead ofas a human need for
maintained a European position. The question of how an Indian or a (better) adaptation and survival I Comparative categories formulated
Chinese could understand the far and the alien was never asked, much in disciplinary terms are what we might attribute to the colonial ex
less how encounters between Europeans and Chinese (see chap. 5 ) or pansion ofthe fifteentll through seventeenth centuries, which implies
between Europeans and Amerindians in the sixteenth century could that only the Western foundation of knowledge was an authorized
be understood today, and by whom and from where such an under way of knowing, comparing, and formulating comparative categories.
standing was achieved. For understanding sixteenth-century encoun Furthermore, it would be possible to argue that most comparative
ters during the expansion of Christianiry and European political and studies (of literatures, religions, languages, histories, cartographies,
economic power would be a different enterprise if undertaken from etc.) are founded on a monotopic hermeneutics. Consequently, an
the perspective of members of conflicting groups in power (who had alternative comparatism grounded on a pluritopic hermeneutics is at
the abiliry to speak and be heard) in Europe, China, or (Latin) Amer the same time a need and a challenge: a need, because colonial situa
ica. Monotopic hermeneutics served to maintain the universality of tions are defined by tl,e asymmetry of power relations between tl,e
European culture at the same time that it justified the tendency of its two (or more) poles to be compared; and a challenge, because an
members to perceive themselves as the reference point to evaluate all alternative methodology must deal with and detach itself from the
other cultures. What European countries such as Spain and Portugal presuppositions of the established metllodological and philosophical
attained during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (and what foundations from which it departs: in this case, comparatism and
was carried on by England, France, Germany, and Holland during the monotopic hermeneutics.
20 David Wallace has observed that one of the chief historical markers not necessarily the instruments required to understand something 21
of the Renaissance is the "discovel)''' and colonization of the fourth that lies outside the theol)', but, on the contral)', that theories are the
The Darker and final continent, the New World; and the most powerful redefini instruments required to construct knowledge and understanding (in 011 Describing
Side ofthe tion of the Renaissance paradigm took place in nineteenth-centul)' academia they would be called "scholarly or scientific descriptions"), Ourselves
Renaissance Europe, amid (and as part of) the carving np of African, Asian, and my usc of"subjective" and "objective" constitutes examples, not epis Describing
Australian territories between European powers,45 that is to say, dur temological statements. 01t1'SelVes
ing the last stage of imperial expansion. But the fourth part of the From the point of view of either a constructivist epistemology, in
world was known as such only from the perspective of European cos which the world (or the text) is constructed by the subject as "repre
mography. Muslim and Chinese conceptions of the earth, as we will sentation,"46 or a perfonnative (enactive) one, in which the nervous
see in chapter 5, did not divide the known world in the same way. system constitutes itselfas a subject of knowledge and understanding
Nothing in nature itselfdivided the world in four parts; rather it was a in a constant process of self-definition and self-adaptation,47 it will be
human invention within a particular cultural tradition. Since scholars trUe that the personal (individual) and social situation of the knowing
in the growing field of colonial discourse have ro account for a com subject will be played within the rules and procedures of a discipline
plex system of semiotic interactions embodied in the spread ofWest (even in the case in which they will be contested) as well as within the
em literacy, a concept such as colonial scmiosis has the advantage of community of which the scholar is a member. Constructing or per
removing one from the tyranny of the alphabet-oriented notions of forming knowledge and understanding implies, in the final analysis,
text and discourse, and the disadvantage of adding to an already vast that the living organism in any of its possible descriptions (nervous
and sometimes confusing vocabul"l)'. On the positive side, it defines a system, person, self, scholar, scientist, etc.) prevails in its interactions
field ofstudy in a parallel and complemental)' fashion to such preexist ,vith the world at the same time that it competes with and cares for
ing terms as colonial history, colonial art, colonial economy, and so on. other living organisms ofthe same species in its dialogue and relations.
However, the notion of colonial semiosis reveals at the same time that The opposite would be true for an "objective" notion of knowl
language-centered colonial studies are moving beyond the realm of edge: the order of the world and disciplinal)' rules will prevail over the
the written word to incorporate oral and nonalphabetic writing sys {)rganism's needs, personal obsessions, and human interests. Accord
tems as well as nonverbal graphic systems and that parallel notions ingly, in neither case could we say that a better (deeper, more accurate,
such as colonial art or colonial histol)' should be rethought from the more trustworthy, more informed, etc.) knowledge or understanding
perspectives opened up by a pluritopic hermeneutic. is attained. For if we approach knowledge and understanding from a
If signs have neither defined properties nor teleologically divine or constructivist or a perfonnative point ofview (even taking account of
intentionally human orientations but acquire such qualities when they the differences between them, and limiting it to the actual configura
enter into a network of descriptions by those who, in one way or tion of disciplinal)' enterprises), the audience addressed and the re
another, lise them, then what arc the criteria for validating one de searcher's agenda are equally relevant to the construction ofthe object
scription over another? The question is neither new nor insignificant. or subject, as are the information and models available to the under
The simple answer I would like to risk here is: performance, not corte standing subject. Thus, the locus of enunciation is as much a part of
spondence. It is the function of the description rather than the accu the knowing and understanding processes as are the data for the
racy of the representation. Enacting is perrorming, not looking for disciplinOl)' (e.g., sociological, anthropological, historical, semiologi
correspondences with the world or for the true meaning ofa sentence, cal, etc.) construction ofthe "real." Consequently, the "true" account
a text, an object, an event. Performing means both having the skill and ofa subject matter, in the form ofknowledge or understanding,viti be
knowing how to use it, for skill alone is not enough to make a person a transacted in the respective communities ofinterpretation as much for
good player, a superstar, or the leader of the community. The point I its correspondence to what is taken to be real as for the authorizing
am trying to make is that scholars studying the culture (whether na locus ofenunciation constructed in the vel)' act ofdescribing an object
tional, ethnic, or gender) to which they belong are not necessarily or a subject. Furthermore, the locus of enunciation of the discourse
subjective, just as scholars studying cultures to which they do not being read would not be understood in itself but in the context of
belong are not necessarily objective. Since I believe that theories are previous loci of enunciation that the current discourse contests, cor-
22 reets, or expands. It is as much the saying (and the audience involved) about semiotics. However, none of the above formulations contem 23
as it is what is said (and the world referred to) that preserves or trans plated colonial situations in their discussions of either the abstract or
The Darker fonns the image of the real constructed by previous acts of saying. me historical aspects of signs and discourses. Thus, the ueed to intro 011 Describil1g
Side oftllc This book is interdisciplinary (or multidisciplinary, as some would duce the notion of colonial semiosis. Ourse/Fes
Renaissance prefer) in content and method. By interdisciplinary I mean that practi Sign production and transmission across cultural boundaries and Describing
tioners of several disciplines converge in studying a situation or in negotiations between oral discourses and different kinds of writing Oursch'es
solving a problem; or a practitioner of a discipline borrows ftom and systems open up new horizous for which tl,e scholar can hardly find a
relates his or her findings to other disciplines. In both cases, a rethink tradition in literary studies. Descriptions and explanations of human
ing of problems, questions, and methods that had been asked by pre communication across cultural boundaries confront the scholar with
vious scholars in their own disciplines takes place. Expanding the limits of a linear notion ofhistory and invite him or her to replace it
disciplinary boundaries is a tendency of our time, dearly described by with a nonlinear history; to replace causal relations with a network of
Clifford Geertz, that postmodern thinkers constantly dwell upon.48 connections; to accept that the "same" object or event is conceived
The force behind this tendency is an issue in which I will not get quite differently in different cultures and tllat it is not enough to say
involved at this point. However, I would like to state, succinctly, how that any abstract thought or knowledge-driven activiry in non
tllis situation impinges on tlle position I am taking in this book. Western culrures is like science or philosophy and, furthermore, that
My disciplinary training combined the history of literature, there are narratives and songs that are like oral literature. The cnIX of
discourse analysis, and semiotics under the label "theaIY ofliteratllre." the matter is that when cultural differences go beyond common mem
Semiotics (or semiology, which I prefer, for its ties with philology) and ories expressed in different languages, we have no alternative but to
discourse analysis have lost the glamor they enjoyed t:wenry years ago. understand the differences in relation to our own identity and to look
They have, however, set an agenda of questions to be asked and prob at ourselves as others. While this is, indeed, a very difficult thing to do,
lems to be solved. The semiological perspective introduced into tlle itis precisely what tlle humau sciences (social sciences and the human
agenda of the social sciences and the humanities raises questions re ities) attempted: to invent a (meta)language by means of which we
lated to meanings and interpretations, focusing on the production, could become observers of our own interactions. The problem is that
transmission, reception, and postprocessing of signs. Certainly, me traditional epistemological distinction between participant and
Peirce's semiotics was to logic what Saussure's semiotics was to lin observer is not sufficient, since, as participants, we are already ob
guistics. Lotman's approach to the semiological perspective intro servers. We are, so to speak, observers twice over. Let me elaborate on
duced, instead, a context labeled "the semiotic of culture," which I this distinction.
perceive as compatible with cultural studies.49 Balthtin's contribu I have tried to cast it in terms of participant/observer and scholar
tions in tllis respect were by no meaus uegligible: ideological ques (scientist)/observer with tlle help ofMaturana's distinction between
tions were introduced, genres were approached from a semiological descriptions and explanations, and the role played by the observer in
perspective, and the old debate between hermeneutic and epistemo each of tllem.53 There is an important difference, dearly visible al
logical, between natural and human, sciences, introduced by Dilthey, tllOugh not explicit, in Maturana's notion of observer. SimplifYing a
was recast.50 Derrida's own work, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, rather complex argument, I would venture to say tllat, according to
owes a great deal to the semiological approach, even if he placed Maturana, we who conceive ourselves as human beings become ob
himself in opposition. De lagral1zmatologie could not have been con servers ofour interactions, and, in the process of becoming conscious
ceived without the widespread diffusion of Saussurean semiological observers, we generate descriptions and representations of that which
linguistics and its adaptation by Levi-Strauss in theoretical anthropol we have observed. Speech is, perhaps, one of the most powerful semi
ogy.51 Finally, in this genealogy ofdebts, Foucault's coucept ofdiscur otic means to increase the domain of communicative interaction, but
sive formation emerged from the ueed to go beyond tlle abstract it also allows the participants in the speech to reflect upon speech itself
signifier/signified approach to language and the need to look not at and about speaking interactions. Briefly, to be human (following this
abstract linguistic codes regulating speedl, but at the functioning of logic) is uot only to interact semiotically but to use language to gener
discourse in history and society. 52 This approach is not unlike tllat of ate descriptions of the domain of interactions in which we are partici
Bakhtin. These are some of the references I have in mind when I talk pants. On the other hand, ifspeech is a means to describe our semiotic
24 interactions, it is not the only one. We also have writing and other vided by anthropological training. This point takes us back to our 25
----
ways of using sounds and signs to interact as well as to describe our previous consideration of the mobiliry of the center, the power to
The Dm'ker own interactions. Whether speech (and alphabetic writing) are the speak or write, and the construction of loci of enunciation. What 011 Describillg
Side ofthe most powerful sign systems for communicating and describing our follows is an effort to understand otherwise, to shake up the patterns of OIWSc!JlCS
Renaissance communications is not a problem I will pursue here. Language (in understanding inherited from the European Renaissance and the Describillg
whatever manifestation, not only speech and alphabetic writing) al French Enlightenment, by playing them against the disarticulation D/me/!'cs
lows ror a domain of interactions at the same time that it allows the and rearticulation of knowledge inherited from colonial and neo-
obsclVcr to describe his or her own interactions as participant, either in colonial legacies.
semiotic-communicative or any other kind of social interactions. The
fuct that I am interested in the former should not allow us to forget
that we, as rational animals, not only interact but have invented sign
systems to describe our interactions. Thus, a performative concept of
cognition not only impinges on our description of the world, but also
on the descriptions of our (human) descriptions of the world. We not
only use a tool; we also justifY its uses as selected from among many
possibilities. The use of the tool is as ideological as the descriptions
invented to justifY its use.
But at still another level, Maturana's observer is no longer the per
son who describes but she or he who explains. This second observer is
the scientist: "As scientists, we want to provide explanations for the
phenomena we observe. That is, we want to propose conceptual or
concrete systems deemed to be intentionally isomorphic to (models
of) the systems that generate the observed phenomena. "54 Thus, the
first interesting aspect emerges when comparing the goals of the
scholar (scientist)-observer and the functions of models and explana
tions in scientific practices with the goals of the participant-observer
and the function of definitions and descriptions in the practices of
everyday life. The challenge ofthe human sciences is not only what has
always been pointed out, the coalescence of the object of study with
the subject studying it, but the positionaliry and politicization of the
understanding subject and his or her drive to know or understand. A
more complex set ofproblems has to be resolved when the scholar or
social scientist has to negotiate his Of her own cultural world as con
ceived in everyday practice; the conceptual scheme of the disciplinary
(meta)language with the cultural world and the conceptual scheme of
the disciplinary (meta )language of other social worlds. In our century,
anthropologists began to realize that the Azande may not have
diSCiplinary practices called anthropology. However, if the Western
anthropologist can "observe" the Azande and describe their customs
both as a participant-observer and a member ofa different culture, and
as scientist-observer of a disciplinary world called anthropology, the
possibilities of "being observed," at various levels, are certainly open
to consideration, 55 as is the question of replacing the Azande's own
self-description with the more authoritative and scientific one pro-
Part I
29
been published during the sixteenth centul)', Aldrete's contribution of the Moors, the Koran, and tile "other." Altilough the Moors oc 31
was a narrative ofits origins.2 Nebrija's grammar had been published cupied tile Iberian Peninsula for almost eight centuries (from the
in Salamanca, one of the most important centers of learning in the eighth to the fifteenth) and, like the Romans, had alphabetic writing Nebrij« in the
17Jc Dm'/ur
kingdom of Castile during the time of Ferdinand and Isabella. Al and a religion of the Book, Castilian language derived ftom Latin New World
Side ofthe
drete's work appeared in Rome, and he underlined the fact that while the Arabic influence was ouly registered at the lexical level (La
Renaissance
the first treatise on the origin of Castilian language was published lenglla castellana, 167). Two religions, related to two different lan
in the place where the language itself originated. He clid not miss an guages, coexisted in the Iberian Peninsula for almost eight centuries
iEopportunity to defend his main thesis, that Castilian derived from (La lenglta castellana, 175) and, most importantiy, the Arabic lan
Latin and was corrupted by the Visigoths during their conquest ofthe guage and the Islamic religion never succeeded in replacing Castilian
Iberian Peninsula from the end of the fifrh centul)' to the end of the and Christianity (La lenglta castellana, 164-75). The argument al
seventh.3 lowed Aldrete to explain tile expansion of Castilian language beyond
adopted the boundaries of the Castilian kingdom to reach Navarra, Es
Recognition that the Visigoths were vanquishers and yet
of the vanquis hed did not prevent Aldrete tremadura, and Andalucia and to justifY its connivance with Christian
the language and culture
out the histol)' of human ity by stressing tile fight against the Moors.
from defending a second thesis: through
red. One The complicity between language and religion had not been
kind, conquerors have inflicted their language on the conque
hed stressed by Nebrija at the beginning of Castile's role as an imperial
ofAldrete's chapters expresses the thesis in its title, "The Vanquis
of the Vanquis hers, Surrend ering Their Own power. Queen Isabella's perception of Castile united under Chris
Receive the Language
with the tianity, however, was a legacy transferred by Aldrete's time a century
with Their Land and People." In this chapter, Aldrete deals
Inclies.4 In the later from the philosophy of the state to the philosophy oflanguage.
examples of the Iberian Peninsula and the (West)
provided by Aldrete was responding to this double endowment when he stressed
Iberian Peninsula the nucleus of his argument was
the Moors) . that the Arabs-contral)' to the Romans-not only had a different
the differences between the Romans and the Arabs (or
e used in all those territor ies rl,e language but also a different religion. Expancling the language and
Arabic was obviously the languag
the Moors lost not reconquering territories were part and parcel of a double legacy that
Moors had under their control: Castilians under
their lives had its roots in the early months of 1492, when tile ejection of the
only their language, but sometimes their religion, and often
castellana, book I, chap. 22, p . 139)· But the Arabs lefr Moors combined with tile publication ofNebrija's grammar.
(La lengtta
were able to What Aldrete has to say about tile West Indies is mainly derived
significant portions of the peninsula in which people
ng their religion, ftom the Jesuit father Jose de Acosta, who spent a long part of his life
preserve their sense of territoriality by preservi
es rl,e in Peru. Acosta received ftesh infOrnlation ftom the Jesuits in Mexico
Christianity, and their language, Casrilian. Aldrete differentiat
s invaded about the Mexica culture and histol)' and published his Hist01·ia natlt
invasion ofrl,e Moors from that of the Romans. The Roman
the entire territol)' and of course imposed their languag e. Aldrete had ral y moml de las Jndiasin 1590. Acosta's book and Francisco L6pez
invasion s. One de G6mara's Hispania vitrix, published in 1555, were two ofthe most
two important reasons to distinguish between the two
invaded the widely read and translated books during the sixteenth centul)'. The
of Aldrete's points was historical: because the Romans
the same Jesuit Acosta had a clifferent agenda than G6mara, Heman Cortes's
entire peninsula, Romans and Castilians became onc and
los cuales se hizieron unos los Es� private chaplain. The first had a strong interest in understancling mat
people ("can los romanos con
hs could not alter ters natural and human in the Indies. The latter chose to celebrate the
panoles"), a legacy so strong that even the Visigot
n language vietol)' by describing the lands, ti,e people, and, mainly, the Spaniards'
it. A second point was religious: the origin of the Castilia
on of Chris deeds. Following Acosta's Historia, Aldrete realized that there were
in the Iberian Peninsula went together with the expansi
as the most importa nt ally for two "monarchies" in the Indies, one of the "Ingas, 0 Incas del Piru,"
tianity. Aldrete recognized religion
uenrly, since Latin was and the other in New Spain, belonging to the kings of Mexico.
maintaining or changing a language.5 Conseq
ed tilat tile corrup Aldrete was particularly interested in learning from Acosta's report
the language linked to Christianity, Aldrete perceiv
profOund connec tilat Quechua was the official language ( 17tnasimi, "the general lan
tion ofLatin by the Visigoths clid not alter the more
which was transferred to modem guage")6 of the Inca empire and that Nahuati in Mexico had a similar
tion betwe"n Latin and Christianity,
tion from Hebrew, function for the Aztec (or Mexica, as they prefer to call tilemselves)
vernacular languages and resulted in a clear distinc
, the language empire. Both were languages tilat the conquerors imposed upon the
which was linked to Latin through the Bible, and Arabic
32 conquered. Aldrete found these examples extremely useful. The ex Spanish domains closely follows L6pez de
Velasco's description and 33
pansion and colonization oflanguage by the Incas and Mexicas sup mapping ofthe Indies, which was published in an
expanded version by
The Darker ported his thesis that the vanquisher always inflicted its language upon Herrera y Tordesillas, who replaced L6pe
z de Velasco and became ti,e Nebrija in the
Side ofthe the vanquished, as did the expansion and colonization oflanguage by official chronist of Philip II. IO
Nnv World
Renaissance the Spaniards. Since Aldrete was interested in supporting his thesis and Aldrete, however, was neither a historian
nor a geographer. He was
indirectly justifYing colonial expansion, he did not point out tills time interested in me spread ofCastilian over
the new organized territories.
the differences between the colonization oflanguage by ancient Mexi And territorial organization was-in Aldr
ete's scheme of tllings
cas and Incas and ti,e colonization oflanguage by Spaniards, as he did intimately tied up wim language. Ifhe
mentions ,vith pride me Span.
when distinguishing the Roman from the Arabic invasions of the iards ' achievements in the administration
and remapping of the terri
Iberian Peninsula. The blind spots of his argument show that Aldrete to!)', he is less enthusiastic about Span
ish accomplishments in the
was interested in establishing the Greco· Roman tradition in language � �
tea hing f Castilian to ti,e Amerindian
population, which would give
and the Holy Roman legacy in religion. Aldrete did not doubt that temtonalIry a new dimension: not
just the drawing of geographic
there was a particular distinction and rightness in such legacies, and he boundaries and the implantation of
administrative offices and admin
never doubted that such a distinguished linguistic and religious tradi istrators, but that which comes with
memories shared and stored in a
tion should be expanded to the Spanish dominions in ti,e Indies. His common language . Aldrete reported
that, according to the infotnla
contribution to the emerging and expansive idea of Western civiliza tion he gamered from the Indies,
some Indios principales (noble per
tion merits an examination that it has not yet received. sons) had as good a pronunciation as
ti,e native Spanish. However, he
Unlike those who in the first years of the colonization observed and observed, Amerindians in general
( "los Indios") did not speak ve!)'
described linguistic habits and perfotnlances, Aldrete was less con much Spanish because mey preferred
their Own language, and because
cerned with the Amerindian lack ofletters than ,vith me fact mat the no one was seriously pushing mem to
do so ( "Los Indios, aunque
Castilian tongue was not spreading as fast as he would have liked? como e dicho, comunmente 10 saben,
i entiendeo, pero vsan 10 poco
Relying on Acosta, he emphasizes that the Incas were able to force por la aficion que tienen a su lengua,
no auiendo quien los obligue a
meir language on meir conquered territories and mat "Guainacapa" vsar la agena" (La lengna castellana
, book I, chap. 22). In CritiCizing
(Huayna Capac), the Inca king under whose governance Quechua �
his ,:n peers for not being prompt and
active enough in teaching
had expanded,S is to be credited for the successful linguistic expansion Castilian, he rechums the example of
linguistic policies implemented
(La lengna castellana, book I, chap. 22). His main interest in tI,is by Huayna Capac in Peru and me Rom
ans in the Iberian Peninsula,
example, however, is not with a linguistic ethnography ofAmerindian who were able and willing to sprea
d their language effectively in all
languages but rather ,vim the poor achievements to date in spreading their conquered territories ( "De parte
de los nuestros no a auido
the Castilian tongue. He moves, men, from ti,e celebration ofHuayna diligencia para la introduccion de la
lengua, par que si la vuiera auido,
Capac's success to a description of the territorial reorganization car como la pusieron los Romanos, 0 "Gua
inacapa," sin duda en todas
ried out by me Spaniards. In one dense paragraph he provides a sum· ellas se hablara, como dice el Padre
Acosta"). Aldrete is confident,
rna!)' of the ten audiencias (geographic and administrative units) in neverrileless, mat God and me Span
ish Crown would succeed in
which me Indies had been divided under the Spanish rule, from Mex spreading me Castilian tongue in me
Indies, despite the lack ofinter
ico and La Florida, in ti,e northeast of me Spanish dominions, to me est shown so fur by the Spaniards ("Pe
ro no dudo, que continuandose,
Antarctic and me Philippines, the soumwestern extreme. By me time con el favor de nuestro senor, el govie
. mo de Espana, que en mui breue
Aldrete was writing, the Council of me Indies (the central institution tIempo an de hablar la Castellana
todos, sin que de parte de los
for Spanish administration of me New World), founded in 1524, had nuestros aia diligencia" [book I,
chap. 22]) .
gone a long way in me administration of me Indies. In 1571, under There was another difference betw
�
een me Roman colonization of
Philip II, L6pez de Velasco was appointed official cosmographer, and Spain and me Spanish colonizatio
n of me Indies mat interested AI
by 1574 he had finished his Descripcion y demarcacion de las Indias rete. Wim a calm and ghastly
conviction, Aldrete states two main
,
Occidentales," a manuscript of about one hundred and fifry folios ,vim mterconnected differences: first,
mat me Iberian Peninsula was in.
d
fourteen maps, which was reproduced in different fotnls until the first vaded by several communities
before the arrival of the Romans whil
e
half ofthe eighteenm centU!)' (see chap. 6). Aldrete's summa!), of me no foreign nation had invad
ed me Indies before the Spaniar s;
sec-
34 ond, that the Amerindians, "those people" ("aquella gente"), not dissemination of icons and descriptions
of people unknown until re
-----
cent times. Such tendency was sharpened
35
only lacked any kind ofletters, and consequently science and literature by reading and writing,
ThcDarke>' as well, but also tl,e civility ("polida") that in Aldrete's mind went which expanded the domains of descriptio
n of oneself and the other. Nebri.ia il1 the
Sideoft"c together with letters, Without interruption, Aldrete concludes by It is in this precise sense that reading and
writing sharpened seeing New World
Renaissance adding that they live like beasts, nalred. l l There is a complex connec and that seeing has enriched reading and writi
ng, In this sense also tll
tion, talren fur granted in Aldrete's associations, between the fact that connection between language and cloth
�
ing in Aldrete can be ex
the Indies had not been invaded before the Spaniards, their lack of plained, Clothing and speaking were
at the same time signs in which
letters and civility, and their nakedness, that allows him to correlate good "poliefa" (civility), or the lack ofit, could
be identified, and they
the Amerindians with the beasts. It was already difficnlt-if not were signs whose reading allowed the const
ruction of social identities
impossible-for Aldrete to understand that the materiality of alpha by the perception of social differences. Aldrete could
not avoid a per
betic writing and the ideology built around the concept of the letter spective that was imbedded in the culture
of the time: a reeling of
were not the only warranty of science and civility, and that if a com civilitas, the way people look, the way people speak,
the way human
munity had not been invaded by a nation coming from east of the beings should behave. I S Descriptions of
Amerindian social life and
Mediterranean, where the origins of alphabetic writing were located, personal conduct were influenced by
the code of social and bodily
they did not have a chance to enjoy the "benefits" of the letter. behaVIors that had been building up since the
end offifteentll-centUJY
It is striking for a twentieth-centuty reader of Aldrete that the sen Europe ( fig. I.I).
tence following the argument just described begins by inttoducing a Aldrete also takes for granted the conn
ection between alphabetic
causal link ( "because") that connects language with clothing: Aldrete writing and civility. In the same way that
he perceives an association
states blatantly that because they lacked letters, most Amerindians between speech and dressing, he assum
es a stronger link between
were naked or seminalred. He adds that with the exception of the speech and writing. It is difficult to decid
e whether the assumption
Amerindian nobility ("indios principales") who dressed like Spaniards that there was a necessary connection betw
een speech and writing
("Los principales andan totalmente vestido a la Espanola, i traen allowed him to debunk the idea that Casti
lian language preceded the
sombreros, que antes no vsauan, i tambien �apatos" [book I, chap. Roman invasion; or whether he had to come
up with such a hypothesis
12]) and spoke good Castilian, those who lived in isolated towns ( "los in order to defend his theol)' that Casti
lian language was born from
Indios") still went nalred. One can surmise the follmving logic: that if the debris of a Latin corrupted by north
ern invaders (the Visigoths).
they were naked they did not spealr Castilian or did not speak it vel)' Whatever his reasons, he argues that
well. There is an implicit connection perhaps taken for granted: lin
guistic behavior and good manners are signs of the civilizing process, When a nation receives another la11g
uage, it also jointly admits the
If speech was used to distinguish the self-same from the other (or letter with which the language is written, and
if it loses its spoken
"barbarians" from those who do not spealc "our" language), it ac� language, it also loses the form of tl,e letter ,vith
which it is writ
� l
quired a new dimension in the cluster of principles to regulate social ten . . . . The point is that nobody who
writes Latin as he should
behavior that can be dated to the end of the fifteenth centul)' and the writes in Greek letters, nor vice versa
: and the sam is true of al
first decades ofthe sixteenth centul)', and that Erasmus and Vives were languages that have a particular form
ofletter. Thus whoel"" receives
major contributors to during the kingdom of Charles I of Spain,!2 a new language also receives the letter with which
it is written) and if
Not civilization but civility ( civilitas) was the word coined to justify a they lose the langllage, they also lose the chamcters
of that language.
new code of social behavior and, at the same time, to distinguish And that is how the letter was lost in
Spain, as well as the books. (La
between those who used or were aware of it from those who were out le1tglta castellana, book 3 , chap. 18; italics mine
)
�
of the ganle)3 Norbert Elias interprets Erasmus implying that the
connections between language and clothing were related with read Recibiendo llna nacion otra lengu
a, can ella viene, que admita
ing and writing: "reading has sharpened seeing, and seeing has en Junta ente la letra can que se escriu
� e, i si pierde el lenguage, pierde
riched reading and writing."14 This enigmatic formula could be un tambIen la forma de la letra, con
que 10 escriuia. ' , . El punto esta
derstood by elaborating on the increasing tendency of people to en que nadie, que escriua, com
o deue, el Latin 10 escriue can letra
s
observe themselves, enhanced by the encounter with and the Griegas, ni par el contrario: i
10 mismo en todas las lenguas que
ifhis thesis could be defended in those cases in which a given language 37
derived from Latin, it would be more difficult to justifY the translation
of Amerindian speech to Latin letters. Nebrjja ill the
T7JeDarker But it is not necessary to prove Aldrete right or wrong, since under New W01'/d
Side ofthe standing the game he was playing, the social forces nourishing it, and
Renaissance the compliciry between knowledge, human interests, and locus of
enunciation is more relevant to my goals. His defense of the con
tinuity of the classical tradition is perfectly articulated in tl,e double
genealogy he traces: not only spoken Latin but Latin letters derived
from Greek (La lC1lgtla castellana, book 3, chap. 28).'7 The thesis
holds its force as long as the colonization ofAmerindian languages, by
modeling them according to the Latin grammar, is ignored. Aldrete
constructs his model within a larger framework articulated by Nebrija
a century earlier. The framework was bounded, at one end of the
spectrum, by Latin as the language of learning and civility, and by
Castilian as the language of the nation. At tl,e other end is the beliefin
the power of the letter to tame the voice, to preserve the glory of the
prince and the memories of a nation, and to npgrade the social and
cultural processes of the Amerindians, who, even though they were
not barbarians, had not yet been blessed with the most marvelous
human invention, which, as Nebrija had argued, was the letter. I S
Fig. J.J. The alphabet and manual labor in the Middle Ages. Courtesy of
Bibliotheque Municipale de Dijon. Looking Forward from Ello Antonio de Nebrija: The
Invention of Letters and the Need to Tame the Voice
tienen particular forma de letra. Con 10 qual los que reciben nueua
A few years afrer tl,e marriage of Queen Isabella of Castile and King
lengua, tam bien la letta, can que se escriue, i si la pierden, tambien
Ferdinand ofAragon and Sicily in 1469, a landmark in the story of one
los caracteres propios della. I assi se perdio la letra de Espana con la
of the most powerful empires in human history, Nebrija was back in
lengua, i libros.]
Spain afrer his ten-year residence in Italy, where he absorbed tl,e ideas
theses: the first assertS that ofthe time, including the ideals ofthe st1ldia httmanitatis. More than
In Aldrete's paragraph I perceive twO main
as its written counter twenty years would elapse between the marriage and the glorious day
every spoken language presupposes the letter
that �y particular language
a in which Granada would be reconquered and a colonial empire in a
part. The second, inferred from the first, is
gly oed to the letter that It still unknown land would begin to grow. The year 1479 was, however,
(like Greek or Latin or Castilian) is so stron
with the letters belong a tuming point in the rapid changes Isabella and Ferdinand were im
would be impossible to write in one language
s Latin would write it in posing on a chaotic kingdom controlled by powerful noblemen. Eco
ing to d1e other, because no one who write
writing of grammars of nomic control over the nobles and compilation of the Royal Ordi
Greek letters. Aldrete does not mention the
time already very well nances gave to the future Catholic kings a solid foundation to move
Amerindian languages, a practice by that
ages alien to alphabetic from reorganization to tl,e building oftl1e Castilian kingdom. During
known; by means of these grammars, langu
�
6 Such practices offered the following years tl,e court of Ferdinand and Isabella began to
writing were written in the Latin alphabet.'
thesis (although he could stinguish itself from earlier Spanish courts. One difference lay in the
obvious counterexamples to Aldrete's hypo
Amerindian languages were mfluence of humanistic education. Isabella had not been exposed to
have defended his thesis by saying that
to any kind ofletters). Even humanistic studies as a child. As an adolescent in the isolated castle of
not written at all and therefore not linked
Arevalo, she learned sewing, embroidering, and horseback riding, and man of letters (j"rispcritlls) rather than a mother and a woman of 39
the rudiments of a general education were provided by a local priest. attns. Nebrija, indeed, had his plans very well charted.
The Darker Isabella had ambitions ofsomething different for her children, and she The concise and powerful argument advanced in the introdu
ctory Nebl"ija in the
Side oftile surrounded herselfwith a full hand ofintellectuals who would become notes to his Gral1uitica castellana are well known, and it is not
neces NelJ' World
� :
Renaissance well known in the history of Spanish letters. The Italians Pietro Mar sary to go into detail here.21 It is worthwhile to remember howeve
r
tire d'Anghiera (Peter Mattyr) and Marineo Siculo tutored her chil that one oftl,e remarkable features ofNebrija's work was hi
claim fo
dren in philosophy and theology. Several years later, these men would a pact between "armas y letras" at the precise moment the kingdo
m of
be at the prestigious University of Salamanca teaching Latin, rhetoric, Castile was becoming a modern state ruled by men of
letters. The
and grammar next to Nebrija. During the early 1480s, when Peter flourishing of the arts, especially the art oflanguages, or
grammatica,
Mattyr was in the court of the crown of Castile, Nebrija published his is rhetorically emphasized by Nebrija, who contrasts tl,e image
of a
Introductioncs latinfIC, which helped introduce the studi"
influential new beginning with the ruins left by the enemies ofthe Christi
an faith:
hmnanitatis in Spain and began what Francisco Rico has termed
Nebrija's fight against the '�barbarians. " 1 9
Now tllat the Church has been purified, and we are thus reconciled
During the early months of14 9 2, Queen Isabella and Nebrija were
to God, now that the enemies of the Faith have been subdued by
the protagonists of a well-known anecdote in the history of Spanish
our arms, now that just laws are being enforced, enabling us all to
culture: the moment in which Nebrija offered to Queen Isabella the
live as equals, what else remains but the flowering of the peaceful
grammar ofCastilian, whose advantages he carefully described in the
arts. And among the arts, foremost are those oflanguage, 1Vhich sets
prologue:
liS apart ft·OIlt tbe wild animals; langllage, whicb is the unique dis
Now, Your Majesry, let me come to the last advantage that you shall
tinction of luan, tbe meausfaT' the kind oflInderstanding wbich can
gain from my grammar. For the purpose, recall the time when I
be S/lrpasscd o1lly by co1ltelllplatio1l.22
presented you with a draft of this book earlier this year in Sala
manca. At this time, you asked me what end such a grammar could It is to speech that Nebrija primarily refers. That
language, and
possibly selVe. Upon this, the Bishop ofAvila interrupted to answer language alone, distinguishes human beings from
otl,er living systems
in my stead. What he said was this: "Soon Your Majesty will have is a belief upon which an ideological network was built.
The elevation
placed her yoke upon many barbarians who speak outlandish oflanguage authorized the efforts by philosophers
and men ofletters
tongues. By this, your victory, these people shall stand in a new to expand upon a linguistic foundation; in
the early modern period,
need·, the need for the laws the victor owes to the vanquished, and this implied a complex network in which the
medieval trivium (gram
the need for tl,e language we shall bring with us." My grammar mar, rhetoric, and logic) and the modern studia
huma ll itates comple
shall selVe to impart them the Castilian tongue, as we have used mented the spread ofWestern literacy in an array
offarms: from teach
grammar to teach Latin to our young. 20 ing reading and writing in Latin and vernac
ular tongues to writing
grammars of tongues alien to the Greco-Latin
traclition.
It comes as no surprise that Queen Isabella did not immediately Nebrija introduced humanist ideas in Spain,
and, as a humanist, he
understand what use a grammar of a vernacular language could possi� knew that tl,e power of a unified language,
via its grammar, lay in
bly have. Although she was aware of the prestige that would be teaching it to barbarians, as well as controlling
barbarian languages by
brought to the tongue by a grammar, which until then had been writing their grammars. Erasmus had not yet
reinterpreted the mean
restricted to the languages of the Scriptures (Hebrew, Greek, and ing of civilitas, but it is easy to imagine tllat
the idea was already in the
Latin), she had not yet made tl,e connection between language and air. Bringing civilization to tl,e barbarians mean
t different things from
power via colonization. It was Ferdinand, after all, who had his eyes on different loci of enunciation, of course. One
suspects tllat the Vis
Aragon and Castile's expansion over Europe, not Isabella, who was igoths, seen as barbarians by the Romans, had
an image of tllemselves
mainly interested in the unification of Castile. The possibility ofthink as the Civilizers, even if they admired and
adopted Roman laws, lan
ing about outlandish tongues across the Atlantic was not even a uto �
gua es, and customs. But these were the
terms in which Nebrija spoke
pian dream. Such issues were the task of the humanist ( Iitteratus) and ofills present to Isabella. In our own time,
we understand Nebrija's
40 effort to civilize as the ideological seed ofwhat would become a gigan achieve his goals by the expedient ofletters. By contrasting the Latin 4'
tic campaign to colonize Amerindian languages by either writing their of his ancestors with the expansion of the Roman Empire, and by
The Darker grammars or by teaching Castilian to the native speakers.23 underlining tlle strength ofthe language as a unifYing force over geo Nebrija ill the
Side ofthe To understand Nebrija's strategy requires understanding that his graphical and political conquests, Valla foresaw the Roman recovery of NeJV World
Renaissance argument rested both on a philosophy oflanguage, whose roots could its lost power and, as a consequence, predicted a unified Italyplaying a
be traced back to Saint Augustine and the merging of Platonic and central role in tlle future of tlle new emerging nations.
Christian traditions (applied to justifY the need for a unified language Certainly it was difficult for Nebrija before and during 1492, when
to counteract the plurality of tongues after Babel), and on Lorenzo he wrote his preface to tlle Castilian grammar, to anticipate much
Valla's De elegantia latinae linguae (1435-44), written to save about the colonization of the New World and the Philippines. Like
Christian Rome from linguistic and cultural illiteracy. Saint Au Queen Isabella, he was probably thinking about a unified Castile after
gustine's strong belief in one original language came from the evi the reconquest of Granada. And perhaps like Ferdinand, he was an
dence provided by the Scriptures and from his Platonic theoretical ticipating that Aragon and Castile would increase the control and
framework. As a neoplatonist and a Christian, Saint Augustine's read colonization of the Mediterranean and northern Europe. The in
ing ofthe Holy Book assumed an original unity from which the multi triguing royal marriages that Ferdinand and Isabella planned for their
plicity of things came. The original and unified language, according to children make clear that even at the tum of the century, the royal
Saint Augustine, was not named because it was not necessary to eyes were looking north rather than west.29 Still, Nebrija was not
distinguish it from other human languages. It could simply be called alone. Nebrija was able to persuade Queen Isabella that her destiny
human language or human locution.24 However, human language was not only to conquer but also to civilize. He had in Isabella
was not enough to keep human beings happy and free from transgress a decisive and determined companion who was not happy just
ing the law, as expressed in the project of building a tower to reach to chase the Moors out of the peninsula and to request the Jews' con
heaven. The multiplication of languages that caused the division of version to Christianity. She originated the Spanish Inquisition,
people and communities attained the number seventy-two, and each paradoxical instrument to achieve a Christian and linguistic uni
of them had a name. At this point it became necessaty to find a name fication.
for the primordial language to distinguish it from the rest. Saint Au One can surmise that Nebrija's earlier Latin grammar, written with
gustine had good reaSOns to believe that the original language was the intention of civilizing Castile, was the foundation, grammatically
Hebrew. Even forty years after Nebrija composed his Latin grammar, as well as ideologically, for his Castilian grammar. Ideologically,
Vives (familiar with Saint Augustine's work and responsible for the Nebrija was concerned with the unification of Castile and the expan
critical edition orchestrated by Erasmus) was delineating la questione sion of the Spanish empire. Linguistically and philosophically, he was
de la lingua in terms of the contrast between the primordial language obsessed with the control of the voice by mediation of the letter. The
spoken by Adam and the Tower of Babel as the event that initiated liaison between the voice and the letter, which we will see expanded in
linguistic diversity.2s Aldrete, was already an idea feffilenting in Nebrija. His famous axiom:
While Vives was acquainted \vith Saint Augustine and was develop to write as we pronounce and to pronounce as we write.30 In the
ing a philosophy oflanguage that would be implemented, directly Or description of the parts into which Latin and Castilian grammars are
indirectly, by the missionaries colonizing Amerindian languages or by divided, Nebrija presented a tlleory of the letter that was at the same
historians looking for some connection between Amerindian and sa time a theory of writing. Nebrija began his grammars and later on his
cred and classical tongues,26 Nebrija was rewriting Valla's program, rules for Castilian orthography by devoting several paragraphs to the
outlined in the preface to his De elegantia latinae linguae. We owe to concept of the letter. He assumed that tlle alphabet was one of the
Ascencio the report on the relationships between Valla's program to greatest achievements of humankind, and he was constantly looking
save Rome and Nebrija's program to expand the Spanish empire.27 into the history of writing and the invention ofletters to support his
When he was in Italy, Nebrija became acquainted with Valla's re belief. An example from tlle Graul/itica castellana in which he merges
evaluation oflettcrs as a means to save the Holy Roman Empire from the invention of letters witll the origin of history shows that Nebtija
total ruin.28 Valla realized that rebuilding an empire could not be had more than a linguistic agenda in his speculations on alphabetic
accomplished solely by means of arms. He intended, instead, to wtiting:
42 Among all the things that human beings discovered through expe The celebration and history ofthe letter were followed by Nebrija's 43
rience, or that were shown to us by divine revelation in order to pharmakon or remedy: once the letter was defined as the instrument
The Darker polish and embellish human life, nothing was more necessaI)', nor to tame the voice1 he became concerned with correcting and main Nebrija ill the
Side o/the benefited us more, than the invention ofletters. Such Jetters, which taining their complicity. A successful cure for the inconsistencies be New WOI'/d
Renaissance by a common consent and the silent conspiracy of all nations have tween sound and letter depended on the grammarian's success in
been accepted, have been invented-according to those who taming the voice. Otherwise, speakers would pronounce in one way
wrote about antiquity-by the Assyrians; with the exception of and write in another, just the opposite result from that for which the
Gelio, who attributed the invention of letters to Mercury in letters were invented. Nebrija's reasoning stated an a priori need (i.e.,
Egypt.3! the letters were needed to tame the voice) to explain a long and com
plex historical development (i.e., the invention of graphic signs to
In his Reglas de ortografia m la lengua castellana, "compuestas por fulfill different communicative, cultural, and social needs); and then
el maestro Antonio de Lebrixa," he insists: he forced himself to find a remedy for a situation whose ideology he
contributed to framing.
Among all the things that human beings discovered through expe Nebrija thought that without letters language deteriorated. Al
rience, or that were shown to us by divine revelation in order to drete, we have seen, was less convinced than Nebrija that the letter was
polish and embellish human life, nothing was more necessary, nor a preventive cnre. Languages die, states Aldrete, and with the death
benefited us more, than the invention ofletters. It seems that this the letter disappears. Aldrete seems to lean toward the priority of
invention originated from the fuct that before letters were speech over writing, Nebrija the reverse. Since Aldrete had the oppor
discovered, images were used to represent the things which people tunity to read and listen to missionaries and men of letters who re
wanted to record, such as the figure of the right hand stretched out ported about Amerindian cultures and societies, he retains their im
which meant generosity, and the closed fist which meant avarice, pression that lack ofletters is equated with a lack of civilization. And
and the car denoted memory; knees meant mercy; a coiled snake since he is interested in defending his thesis that the vanquisher im
indicated the year, and so on. But since this business was endless poses its language on the vanquished, Aldrete pays more attention to
and very confusing, the first inventor of letters-whoever that Mexica and Inca linguistic expansion prior to the Spanish coloniza
was-looked at the amount ofdifferent voices in his language, and tion of Mexican and Incan population.
made as many figures or letters; by means of these figures, when
placed in a certain order, he represented all the words he wished, as
much for his memory as for speaking with those who were not Looking West: Spreading Literacy by Writing
present and those who were about to come. Thus the lett,,· is noth Grammars, Laws, and Edicts and Teaching How
ing more than a trace orfigttre by means of which the voice is rep,.,: to Be a Good Christian
sented.32
Nebrija and Aldrete established a solid foundation for the spread of
The passage shows Nebrija's perseverance in his theory of the letter Western literacy in the colonial world by combining grammar,
for morc than twenty-five years, as well as the semiotic context in orthography, and the origin of Castilian in an ideological complex.
which the Jetter was conceptualized. Its superiority over other writing Origin, for Aldrete, did not yet have the evolutionary and progressive
systems was measured by the distance between the graphic sign and connotations that it would acquire more than a century later with
the voice. If the ear signified memory, the figure of the right hand Condillac and Rousseau.33 During the eighteenth century the qnes
stretched out meant generosity, and the closed fist meant avarice, it tion oforigin expanded from the national tongue to human language,
was not possible to use such signs to control the voice. They were and the barbarian languages became primitive ones by which to mea
either fixed categories of meaning or signs open to various interpreta sure the evolution from the simple to the complex. The question of
tions. A language whose destiny is to unifY a native territory and to the original language was for Saint Augustine an issue of hierarchy,
subjugate a conquered people could not, in Nebrija's perception, be decided by its place in theological discourse and the organization of
left open to the variations of speech. human knowledge. The original language was simply the best. For
44 Nebrija and Aldrete the same pattern was still at work, and the gram understood them to have some natural vittue or property, but 45
mar and genealogy of a language were framed not in evolutiona!), rather for the fineness of their color or because they were scarce.
The Dm'ller terms but as prestigious legacies. That is, a linguistic and synchronic Others were stonemasons or carpenters, and others had knowledge Nebrija in tbe
Side ofthe hierarchy was at work during the sixteenth and early seventeenth cen of the stars and movements of the heavens, by which they divined New World
Renaissance turies. Konrad von Gesner's definition of barbarian languages offers a future events. And it is clem· that if they had possessed letters, they
paradigmatic example of a frame of mind familiar to Nebrija and Al lVould have come tograsp many natural secrets; but as paintings are
drete. Gesner considered eve!), language barbarian except Greek, little capable of retaining in them the memory ofthe thingspainted,
Latin, and Hebrew, the oldest ofthem all and the language implanted they did not advance, because almost as soon as the one who had made
by God.34 the most progress died, his knowledge died with him.)37
Writing, however, was conceived according to an evolutionruy
model. When Nebrija celebrated the invention of alphabetical writ The spread of Western literacy, of which Pomar is an example as
ing, he described the period before the invention of the letter: "before well as a convinced agent, thus took conflicting directions as it was
letters were discovered, images were used to represent the things supported by different and sometimes conflicting ideas about lan
which people wanted to record, such as the figure of the right hand guages, writing, and cultural ideologies. Spoken languages were
stretched out, which meant generosity, and the closed fist which somewhat detached from writing when the question of origin was
meant avarice, and the ear denoted memoty. "35 Another example is discussed, But writing came into the picture when the consolidation
given in Juan Bautista Pomar, a descendant on the maternal side from of vernacular languages, whose classical legacies placed them next to
the Texcocan nobility and son ofa Spaniard, who was born in 1535 in nonbarbarian languages, needed the letter to tame the voice and
New Spain. In Relaeion de Texcoeo (1582) the philosophy oflanguage grammar to control the mobility of the flow of speech. Writing was
that celebrates the letter and treats it as an evolutiona!), stage beyond a then the end result of an evolutiona!), process, one of the highest
previous sign system is so entrenched that Pomar applies it to measure achievements of human intelligence. Pedro de Gante, a relative of
the Amerindian level of cultural achievements. In his repott on the Charles I and the first Franciscan to arrive in Mexico after the fall of
education of the Amerindian nobility, he writes, Tenochtithm, expressed his reactions to the Mexicas in a famous letter
addressed to Philip II reporting 011 the difficulties that the missionaries
Procuraban los nobles para su ejercicio y recreacion deprender al had in learning Amerindian languages because they were "people
gunas artes y oficios, como era pintar, entallar en madera, piedra u without writing, without letters, without written characters, and
oro, y labrar piedras ricas y darles las formas y talles que querian, a without any kind of enlightenment" ("era gente sin escriptura, sin
semejanza de animales, pajaros y sabandijas. Aunque estas piedras letras, sin caracteres y sin lumbre de COsa alguna").38
estimaban, no era porque entendieran de elias alguna virtud 0 pro The philosophy oflanguage shared by these meu provided a model
piedad natutal, sino por la fineza de su color y por haber pocas de fur the interpretation ofAmerindian writing systems at the same time
ellas. Otros a ser canteros 0 carpinteros, y otros al conocimiento de that it justified writing the grammars of Amerindiau languages as a
las estrellas y movimientos de los delos, por los cuales adivinaban means to teaching reading and writing. Spreading literacy meant
algunos sucesos futuros. Y se entiende que si tuvieran letras, teaching Amerindians what the Western man ofletters understood by
llegaran a alcanzar ,nuchos secretos naturales; pero como laspinturas reading and writing. Reading and writing, of course, are not necesM
no son lftUY capacespara retener en ellasla memoria de las cosas que se sarily what the missionaries understood as such: They understood a
pintan, no pasaron adelante, porque casi en muriendo el que mas at kind ofnegotiation with signs that the Mexicas conceived in terms of
cabo llegaha, 11101'ia con tl SIt ciencia.36 paintiug and telling oral stories by looking at the painting.39 Thus the
Amerindian relations with written signs had to be changed.
[The nobles would, for their exercise and recreation, attempt to Writing grammars ofAmerindian languages was a complex process
learn some arts and trades, such as painting, sculpting in wood, with more at stake than just the cognitive issue suggested in the pre
stone, or gold, and working precious stones and giving them the vious paragraph. There were, first, the technical implications of using
forms and sizes they wanted, in the likeness of animals, birds, and the Latin alphabet to transcribe sounds of languages alien to the
vermin. Although they valued these stones, it was not because they Greco-Latin tradition. And there were also ideological aspects of uni-
fication, which Nebrija clearly stated as a goal in his grammars voice but "outside" of it, missionaries and men ofletters would have 47
neither of which was free, however, of conflict with the missionaries' pointed out what class of sounds a particular Amerindian language
T7JeDal'ker goals in writing grammars of Amerindian languages, as we shall see. had instead of noticing what it lacked. Ncbl'ija ill the
Side oftbe Franciscan missionaries, de Gantc among them, arrived in New The Jesuit Horacio Carochi, in his well-known AITe de la Icnglla NCIV World
Renaissance Spain in 1524, two years after Nebrija's death, and seven years after the mexicalla (1645), begins his work by noting that the Mexican lan
publication of his Reglas under the governance of Charles V; the guage lacks seven letters and, in the next section, urges those learning
Jesuits followed in 1572, under Philip II. The Franciscans set foot in the language to pronounce it correctly.40 There is an understandable
Mexico a few months after the fall ofTenochtitlan to Cortes's army. It paradox, but a paradox nonetheless, between the assertion that a lan
was Cortes, in fact, who requested from Charles V spiritual assistance guage lacks a given number ofletters in relation to an alphabet created
to Christianize the indigenous people, not necessarily to Hispanize for a nonrelated language and the urge to pronounce it correctly. Of
them. A Castile unified under one religion and one language was the course Amerindian languages did not lack letters but implied different
ideal of Isabella and Nebrija, bnt not necessarily of Charles V, who ones, namely those that were not within the sound system of the
lived in Flanders until he was seventeen years old and was far removed Romance languages. But the friars' program consisted of taming
from his grandparents, particularly his grandmother's, ideal. As Holy (Nebrija and Carochi use the word redueir) the Amerindian lan-
Roman Emperor his energies were invested in Europe rather than in
the linguistic and religious unification of Castile. This shift in atten
tion is evident, for example, in Charles's treatment of Cardinal Jim
enez de Cisneros, confessor ofQueen Isabella since 1492 and the mOst
powerful figure in the religious configuration of Spain, who was
dismissed as regent when Charles V took possession of the Crown of
Castile and Aragon.
The Franciscans not only learned indigenous languages, tlley also
wrote their grammar. A glance at Amerindian language grammars
written by Castilian friars in Mexieo during the sixteenth and seven
teenth centuries shows that the majority of them began with a discus
sion of the letters of the alphabet and by identifying those letters
Amerindian languages did not have. None of them showed any con
cern with the script of the classic civilizations in the central plateau.
Their common interest in identifYing the missing letters indicates that
celebrating the invention of writing and finding its origin were no
longer issues and that writing systems that did not call immediate
attention to the representation of sounds were ofno interest. The new
preoccupations expressed by the grammarians suggest that the letter
had been promoted to an ontological dimension with a clear priority
over the voice as well as any other writing systems (fig 1.2). The classi
cal tradition was invetted, and the letter no longer had the ancillary
dimension attributed to it by Aristotle (Dc interpretationc) but had
become the voice in itself, while nonalphabetic writing systems were
suppressed. The discontinuity of the classical tradition during the en
counter with Amerindian languages emerged in the cornman and b
a
repeated expression "esta lengua carece de tales letras" (this language
lacks such and such letters). If, indeed, the person who made such an Fig. I,2. a, The alphabet in geometric projection during the Renaissance;
assertion was not presupposing that the letter was not located in the b, the alphabet and book illumination during the Renaissance
guages, not analyzing the connection between picto-ideographic published in the final decade of the fifreenth century, was the fore 49
writing and speech, which was of a different kind than that between most contribution in contemporaty Europe and an inspiration for
1beDnrker speech and alphabetic writing. The conviction that Latin was a univer other works ofa similar nature in the Old World, and not long after Nebrija ill the
Side ofthe sal linguisric system and that the Latin alphabet was an appropriate in the American continent as wel1.42 New World
Renaissance rool to represent sounds oflanguages not related to it was expressed
by the Dominican Domingo de Santo Tomas (1499-1570), in the
prologue to his grammar of Quechua: "This language is so in agree The date mentioned ("the final decade of the fifteentIl century")
ment with Latin and Castilian in its structure that it looks almost like a indicates tIlat the Gramdtica castellana is referred to. The views oftIlis
premonition (prediction) that the Spaniards will possess it."41 And Nahuatl specialist contrast, however, with obseIVations made by spe
naturally he follows by linking language and territory. Not only is cialists in nco-Latin in New Spain. According to tIleir findings, the
Quechua a sophisticated language, observes Domingo de Santo expression "el arte de Antonio" referred, during the colonial period,
Tomas, but it is also the language through which the rulers as well as to Nebrija's Latin grammar.43 The study of Mexican libraries dnring
the people communicate in the entire Inca territory, which he esti the sixteenth century has shown that the phrase refers to the Latin but
mated to be more than one thousand miles long and several hundred not to the Castilian grammar, and that it is the Latin and not the
wide (II). Castilian grammar that had been found in monastic libraries.44
There is a revealing ambiguiry in the history of the spreading of Scholars who have studied the impact ofNebrija ill Europe have un
Western literacy by, among other means, writing grammars ofAmer derlined the extraordinary success of the Latin grammar ( Illtroduc
indian languages that I would like to explore in the remainder of this tiOllCS latinae, 1481) and the curious neglect of the Castilian grammar.
chapter. The ambiguiry is related to whether it was Nebrija's Latin Or The Introdttctiolleswent through no less than fiffy editions during the
Castilian grammar that provided the model to write grammars of author's lifetime, while the Gramdtica castellana fell into almost com
Amerindian languages. And it is revealing because ofNebrija's ideol p!ete oblivion and was never reprinted until the second half of the
ogy, underlying each grammar. Both the friars, who undertook the eighteenth century, already an important indication that Castilian was
task of composing grammars of native languages, and contemporary the language of communication but not of learning. The disparity
scholars who have studied the history, politics, and ideology of alpha between the initial lack of interest in the Castilian grammar during
betization and conversion during the colonial period recognize Nebrija's time and the increasing attention it received after tlle nine
Nebrija's influence. But it is not clear to what extent and in what teenth century is due, according to Francisco Rico, to tlle growing
capaciry his presence in the New World !efr its mark. I should indicate impact of the classical fonnula "language is the companion of the
why I think we are faced with an important issue here, how an ideol empire," revamped in the Italian and Spanish Renaissance.45
ogy oflanguagc changed, even came into conflict with its own effects, Let's also remember the Arte de fa lengua castellana y 11lexicana,
as it was carried out by different agents in the New World. We should published in 1571 by Alonso de Molina. In his prologue, the author
distinguish between two levels ofNebrija's influence. One is technical reports that the first part ofhis grammar is devoted to a morphology of
and relates to the model offered by his Latin and Castilian grammars the Mexican language and that he follows the model of the Latin and
to those who were interested in writing grammars of the native lan Castilian grammars. Therefore, he divides the sentence of tIle Mexi
guages. The second is political and ideological and relates to the pro can language into eight parts. This indication is most valuable since we
grams Nebrija attached to his grammar ofLatin, on the one hand, and know that Nebrija was clear in saying that the Latin sentence is divided
to his grammar and orthography of Castilian, on the other. Let's take into eight parts, tIle Castilian into ten. So we can conclude that Molina
these issues one at a time, first the relative influence of the Latin or the followed the Latin grammar, altIlough, to complicate tIle mystery
Castilian grammar on the technical level. further, he does not seem very concerned about making tIle distinc
It is common to find among NahuatI specialists assertions such as tion between tIle two grammars. This is probably because, at tIle tech
the following: nical level, when there are grammatical models oftwo languages that
are closely connected, it does not make much difference which one is
In one sense it is important to stress that Antonio de Ncbrija's used to write tIle grammar of a language totally unrelated.
linguistic model, as much in his Arte as in his Diccionario, both I am more interested in exploring the ideological implications of a
50 politics oflanguage implemented by the Crown that had its ground 51
-----
ing in Nebrija's prologue to his grammar of Castilian than in an em I.B SIlGOND UVRII.
" H O M M B L E 'f R B.
The Dar/leT pirical description of hundreds of grammars of native languages in Nebrijl1 in the
Side o/the search of the traces ofNebrija's impact. In any event, we have enough NCJ1' World
Renaissance infonnation to assert that, on the technical lcvcl, the Latin grammar
was the one really used in the New World colonies. If, however, the
technical differences between the two possible models were negligible
when it came to writing grammars of the native language, we cannot
ignore their ideological differences if we aim to understand the com
plex politics oflanguage in colonial times. Each grammar represented
H
an ideological program that impinged on the justification and imple
mentation of spreading Western literacy in the New World. Let's first
quickly review Nebrija's two programs, one associated with the Latin
grammar, one with the Castilian, in order to tum, then, to the teach
ing ofliteracy in New Spain.
Let's go back briefly to Nebrija's return from Italy in the early years
of an increasingly powerful Castilian kingdom, and to the impact that
Valla might have had in his thinking about the transformation of
Castile. It has been pointed out repeatedly that in the Iberian Penin
sula Nebrija was one of the pillars of the continuity of the classical
traclition. In the prologue of the 1481 edition, Nebrija justifies the
need for a Latin grammar in Castile as a foundation of the studia
httmanitatis.46 The program is not original, certainly. It comes from
Italian humanism and, particularly, from the influence of Valla's Dc
elegantia latinae linguae.47 In 1481, Nebrija emphasized the need to
know Latin, "the foundation of our religion and Christian Republic."
Beyond being the language of religion and the Christian republic,
Latin was also the language of knowledge and scientia.48 Further
marc, according to Nebrija, Latin was necessary because the law was
formulated in that language, and he was persuaded that it is in and by
the law that human beings can live together in a society and build a
civilization. There is no indication that Nebrija believed the law could Fig. 1.3. The alphabet and the human body during the Renaissance
�
Renaissance cuanto se pudiere, que aqui en Rama sc tiene, que es el mas litH y took place the moment the modern world encountered the " other "
mas compendioso de todos. EI padre Vicencio Lanoche tiene pra and alphabetic writing met oral traditions and pieto-ideographic wri
tica desto, y podra ayudar a que asi se efectue; porque destos prin ing systems (figs. 1.7, 1.8). In Castile the theory of the letter led to a
cipios de latinidad, importa mucho el excercicio y el buen orden theory ofwriting that transcended the regionality of spoken languages
que aca (en Roma) se tiene.6S and colonized the voice,68 but application of the theory in the New
World led to the colonization of Amerindian languages (by writing
[In the study of the humanities I would like, as far as possible, to their grammars) and the colonization of the Amerindian memories
follow the same order that we follow here in Rome, which is the (by writing their histories, as chap. 3 will show). In the eighteenth
most useful and succinct of all. Father Vicencio Lanoche is prac century we still hear the echoes of the early colonization oflanguage
ticed at this, and he will be able to help its being carried out; be both in the sphere of speaking and that ofwriting.
cause of these principles of Latinity, the practice and good order More than a century after Aldrete's La IC1Ig1la, the archbishop of
that we follow here in Rome are of great import.] Mexico, Francisco Antonio Lorenzana y Buitr6n1 published his classic
Ca'1:as pastoralesy edictos.69 In his "Pastoral V" we still hear Aldrete's
Nebrija's program for the Latinization of Castile was not antag complaint of the Spanish failure to teach Castilian to the Amerindians.
onistic to that of the Jesuits. 66 It comes as no surprise, then, that the The title of the "Pastoral V" is, appropriately, " Para que los Indios
Jesuits would take Nebrija's Latin grammar as one of their basic text aprendan el Castellano," and in the first sentence Lorenzana claims
books. that after more than two centuries the situation in this respect is pretty
Second, a report written in 1586 about New Spain included a sec much the same as it was for Cortes, in need of "interpreters of the
tion about the Jesuit education in the city in which it was pointed out languages." He points out the difficulties presented by what he per
that grammar was studied in four classes: rhetoric, philosophy, twO ceived as the multiplication of Amerindian languages in the area of
lessons on theory and one on case of conscience ("lcense en este cole Mexico, Puebla, and Oaxaca. All of this is happening, observes Loren
gio gramatica, en cnatro clases: retorica, filosofia, dos lecciones de zana with dismay, despite the numerous laws and decrees formulated
teoria y una de casas de conciencia") . !t was in this context that Matco by the Crown mandating that the Castilian language be taught to the
Galindo, in 1636, published the first edition of his Explicacion dellibro Amerindian. His dismay is complemented by a historical reasoning
CIII111:0 de Antonio de Nebrija, which was reprinted during the seven very similar to that expressed by Aldrete 150 years before in Seville:
teenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1640 Tomas Gonzalez published
his Explicacion de lar rilabas sabre el lib,-o V de Neb" ija and, in 1642, the No ha habido Nadon Culta en el Mundo, que cuando extendia sus
Explicacion de la wantidad de las sflabas sob"e el libro qllinto del A,1:e Conquistas, no procurase hacer 10 mismo con su Lengua: Los
de Antonio de Nebrija. Toward 1650, Diego de LOpez published Breve Griegos tuvieron por birbaras las demas Nadones, que ignoraban
explicaciim dcl libro cuarto de Antonio Nebriscllsc; Tomas Gonzalez la suya: Los Romanos, despues que vencieron a los Griegos, pre
published De a11:e rhetorim libri tres and Ane de Antonio, in 1652 and cisaron a estos a que admitiesen su Lengua Latina, 6 de Lado,
1657 respectively. It should be remembered that the "arte de An Campana de Roma, con tanto rigor, que no permitian entrar para
tonio" refers to the Latin and not to the Castilian grammar.67 negocio alguno en el Senado, a el que hablase otra Lengua estrafia.
We have arrived at 1657 and the publication of grammar books in
Mexico, having begun in 1481 with the question of the letter. The [There has never been a Cultured Nation in the World, that when it
dream ofIsabella and Ferdinand was changing slowly into a concern extended its Conquests, did not attempt the same with its Lan
that Spain was losing its European and Atlantic hegemony. Nebrija guage: the Greeks took for barbarians those other Nations that
introduced, in his Reglas de la O11:ograjta en la lenglta casteliana, a remained ignorant ofits speech; the Romans, after conquering the
theoty of writing in which the domain of the letter took over the Greeks, required them to accept their Latin Language-that of
Latium, the Roman countryside-with such rigor that they did not 61
allow anyone who spoke another, foreign language to conduct busi- ----
a
(albeit love in two languages is also possible), it is more difficult to
Fig. 1.7. Writing without letters. Graphic signs in central Mexico and the
Valley of Oaxaca: «, a sign for the year; b, historical personages; c, a marriage
scene. From Picture Wlitingfrom Ancient Southern Mexico: Mixtec Place
Signs and Maps, by Mary Elizabeth Smith. Copyright © 1973 by the Univer
sity of Oklahoma Press.
c
62 accept that in Mexico that language should be the language of the Santos Padres Griegos, y quando exquisito se ha escrito en el
sovereign living in Spain. But for Lorenzana there is no alternative, Mundo, y con todo ya no hay Naciou, que hable comunmente el
The Darker not only because of political realities but also because of the linguistic puro Latin? Nebrija in the
Side ofthe hierarchy: New World
RenaisSfl1JCC [And now, reducing our consideration to the sundty languages of
Ba..xando ya con la consideraci6n a los Idiomas tan varios de los the Indians: who could seriously fail to acknowledge that, just as
Indios, (Quien sin capricho dexara de conocer, que asf como Sil their Nation was barbarous, so was and is their Language? Who
Nacion fue barbara, 10 fue, y es su Idioma? ,Quien podra comparar could compare Mexican with Hebrew, in spite of the fuct itis a dead
el Mexicano can el Hebreo, y can todo ya es Lengua muerta, no Language, even though, as some say, it is that spoken by our first
obstante, que algunos dicen, que es la que hab16 nuestro primer Father Adam, instructed by God? Who could equate it to Greek,
Padre Adan, ensei'lado por Dios? ,Quien Ie igualara con el Griego, which was such an elegant and fecund Language, even though it is
que fue Lengua tan elegante y fceunda, y can todo ya es muerta, 0 a now dead, or at least almost dead? Who could put Mexican before
10 menos casi muerta? (Quien antepondra el Mexicano a el Latin, Latin, into which language we have translated all the Holy Books of
en cuyo Idioma tenemos traducido todos los Libras Sagrados, de the Holy Greek Fathers, and which is as exquisite [a language] as
has ever been written in the World, even though there is no longer
any Nation that uses pure Latin in evetyday speech?]
to Tierra del Fuego, as well as the cultural patterns and traditions CastilIan was a language to be taught and used in writing the
memo
associated with those languages, shows once morc that it is in and by ries of the new (national) territories. Another historical paradox
: the
grammar that Nebrija had intended to serve the expansio
n of the
Spanish empire in fact served as a tool to help build the nations
that
arose from the liberation of the Spanish colonization.77 A new histo
FERDINANDO VI
BlSPANlARUM REG! CATIIOllCO
NUNCUPATA.
AUTHORE
J)"OANNE]OSEPHOJ)E Eqv"IARA ETEGVREN,
Mt:<iwzo. eltdo Epi[coJ'D JU�dfllntnJi.Mttropol. Erdifi4 pa!r;4
C.wonim klaglflrali. Rtf!4 aPomijiei.: VnnmJitatu Mtxicanmft!
Prim4rio ct' Emfritorrht%gi.tAnuctJfo�s quomJIII1Jqut Rdfort.
ofpUJ Sanll.e 1nquifttionir 6iJidum Cm(rm. 111m;. Arrhitp {(Qpi
Mtxi�ani wifulfort et' DifZaji.' bxaminatart SJnod4/i.
.
TO@MUS PRI@MUS
Exhibens Litteras ABC.
Chapter 2
"things" because things arc signs that bring infonnation about some� man voice in alphabetic writing was taken for granted during the 17"
T7}c Dm'Jur
thing else. Finally, figures are included because of the diversity of sixteenth century, and the idea still has validity in communities of Materialityof
Side ofthe
written letters. Thus, figures basically means "written letters." believers. In the sixteenth century, what missionaries and men of let- Reading and
Renaissal1ce
After defining the book, Venegas introduces the distinction be ters perceived in Amerindian sign carriers was molded by an image of Writing
tween the "archetype book" and the "metagraph book."2 He calls the the book to which Venegas's definition contributed. One can also Cultures
firstexemplar or dec"ado (rule or pattern) and the second, tramllto surmise that the concrete examples Venegas, or any educated person
(likeness) or traslado (trans-lation, moving something from one place in sixteenth-century Castile, had in mind were the medieval codices
to another). The first is the uncreated book read only by the angels; and the recently printed books (fig. 2.1).3 That hypothetical person
the second the book read by human beings. The archetype book is the had probably forgotten what a book might have been before papyrus
expression of the Divine Word and the container of all knowledge. was replaced by vellum and tlle roll by the codex,' and perhaps forgot-
God, as the supreme writer, has expressed the truth in the Book of ten also that writing did not require a book (fig. 2.2 ). Such a person
Nature and in the Holy Book (archetype), which has been inscribed in might not have been aware that in the transformation and subsequent
alphabetic characters. The human book has two functions: to allow use of the codex form, Christianity and the reproduction of the Bible
human agents to know the creator of the universe by reading his book played a crucial role.5 Thus, when a missionary, an educated soldier, or
and, at the same time, to Censure every human expression in which the a man of letters was exposed to the artifacts the 1vlexicas named a111 0X-
.
devil manifests himsclf by dictating f 1lse books. tli and the Maya named 1'11", he described them as objects folded like
an accordion and translated these terms as "book" (fig. 2.3 ) . In China
and Japan, during the fifteenth century, nan'atives painted on folded
screen and hanging scroll were very common, and tlle bound book
familiar to European men of letters, like Venegas, was probably Un-
Imown.6 But since Spaniards were not sure what lliud of books the
Amerindians "books" were, they feared that the words of the devil
were registered in them, without suspecting that the notion of the
Fig.2.1. \Vriting and the
written word might have been alien to the Amerindians7 and the very
materiality of sign carriers:
idea of the devil questionable. The Spaniards took action consistent
A medieval codex
with what they believed a book to be and what they perceived Amerin-
dians to have. One reaction was to burn them, perhaps with the calm
and secure spirit that characterizes Diego de Landa's description:
a mine)9
Landa might have had no choice but to talk about "their letters"
and "their books," rather than think in teons of "our puh" and ask
what concepts the Maya used to designate the basic units of their
writing; or to ask whether the distinction between painting and writ
ing made sense for them and, consequently, what was the purpose of
describing "their" books as having pictures illustrating tl,eir writing.
Landa could have asked also whether the Maya distinguished "book"
from "paper," since puh seems to refer to the surface in which signs are
inscribed and to the object created by written signs in a solid surface
made out of tree bark ( vuh). But there is still more: why did Landa
believe that tl,e materiality of Maya writing was to be understood in
terms of books, and why did he not think that tl,ey could have had
b
74 other surfaces in which signs were inscribed and writing practiced? 10 observed during the year; the third, with dreams, illusions, supersti 75
For Landa writing was naturally conceived in terms of papers and tions and omens in which the Indians believed; the fourth, with
The Dm'ker books; and books in terms of the medieval manuscript and the print baptisms and with nallles that were bestowed upon children; the The
Side ofthe ing press, which were also the examples Venegas might have had in fifth, with the rites, ceremonies and omens of the Indians relative to Mate..iality of
Renaissance mind some twenty-five years before Landa's report. marriage. Only one of all tI,ese books, namely the first, can be Reading and
In Anahuac, among the Nalmatl-speaking people, the term reg trusted because it recounts the truth,ll Writiltq
ularly employed to refer to the material surface on which painted Cultures
narratives were inscribed was amaxtli. Brother Toribio de Benavente Borgia Steck's translation leaves out important wording from the
(Motolinia), who arrived in Mexico in 1 524, reported on such Mexica original, namely, Motolinia's statement tllat only the first book can be
'�books." Contrary to Landa, Motolinia's description oscillates be trusted becallse the other four wereinvented by ti,e devils.It is curious
tween the materiality of inscriptions and the conceptual genres he to note that a similar observation was made by Landa in connection
perceived in Mexicas' books. In a letter, Motolinia reported to Lord with the Maya concept of time. This section translated Maya glyphs
Antonio Pimentel, into alphabetic writing and reported that
I shall treat of this land of Anahuac or New Spain ...according to The sciences which they taught were the reckoning of the years,
the ancient books which the natives had or possessed.These books months and days, the festivals and ceremonies, the administration
were written in symbols and pictures.This was tI,eir way of writing, of thcir sacraments, the omens of the days, their methods of divina
supplying tI,eir lack of an alphabet by the use of symbols... . These tion and prophecies, events, remedies for sickness, antiquities, and
natives had five books, which, as I said, were written in pictures and the art of reading and writi11g by their letters and the chamcters
symbols. The first book deals with years and calculations of time; wherewith they w"ote, and by pictures that illustrated the writings. 12
the second, with the days and with the feasts which the Indians
Venegas's dual typology, distinguishing between the archetype and
ti,e metagraph book, allowed an interpretation of ti,e latter tllat
emerged in almost evety report about writing and books in the New
World: it might be the book of the devil, which contained not science
but snperstition, not truth but fulsehood.Material differences across
cultures in writing practices, the storage and transmission of informa
tion, and ti,e construction of knowledge were erased-in a process of
analogy, a fight in the name of God against ti,e devil.
The game of the word became, thus, a conceptual gallle that im
pinged on understanding across cultures (what is "behind" words
such as amoxtli) l'uh, and book?), on the exercise of power (who is in a
position to decide whose knowledge is truth, what container and sign
carrier is preferred and should be trusted?), and tJle colonization of
language. The only artifucts that Motolinia trusted he named xihuto
nal amatl (book counting ti,e years).Amatlis derived from amoxtli, a
plant that grew in the lakes in the Valley of Mexico and from whose
bark sign carriers were prepared. Amatlaczeilo was a name for the
individual whose social role was to paint on the amatl,' it was trans
lated as "scribe." Other expressions related to social roles in writing
activities have been derived, such as uei amatlaCltilo, which Simeon
translated as "secretary or principal writer"; and also amoxtlacttilo,
Fig. 2.3. Writing and the materiality of the sign carriers: a Mcxica am oxtli which he translated as "scribe, author." Simeon's translations of the
first as "secretary" and the second as "author" suggests that mnoxtli Antonio de Ciudad Real, observed in his repott on tile life of Brother 77
might have referred to "books" and amatl to "paper." In any case, not Alonso Ponce that the Maya should be praised above all otiler people
T7JCDarker only was the materiality of the artifact different, but also the social role of New Spain for three things. He was impressed, first, by tile charac Tile
Side a/the and the conceptualization each culture associated to the signs (letters ters and figures (he called tilem let/-as) with which the Maya wrote Matcl'ia/it),of
Renaissance or painting), the sign carrier (a11loxtli or book), and to the social roles their narratives and recorded tileir past (which he called hirtoria). The Readil1g and
( tlawilo or scribe), as well as tile activities (writing/reading and look second noteworthy aspect was their religion and sacrificial rites Writing
ing at/telling a story). These conceptualizations varied according to devoted to their gods (which he called idols). And third were the Maya Cu/tltrcs
respective traditions, cultural and social uses, and the materiality of calendars, inscribed in artifacts made of tree bark. He described them
reading and writing interactions. Spaniards, however, had the last as consisting of very long strips almost a third of a l'a1'n (thirty-three
word and took for granted ti1at their reading and writing habits, their inches) wide, which were folded ��and came to be more or less like a
human and divine books, and tileir ways of organizing and transmit quarto-bound book." He also observed the spread of Maya literacy.
ting knowledge were better and exempt from devilish design. The Only the "priests of the idols" (ah kins) and every so often a noble
spread of Westem literacy, then, did not only take tile form of reading person understood such "figures and letters." After the conquest,
and writing. It was also a massive operation in which the materiality however, "our friars understood them, knew how to read them, and
and the ideology of Amerindian semiotic interactions were inter even wrote them." 15
mingled with or replaced by the materiality and ideology of Western The analogy with a quarto-bound book is indeed quite revealing.
reading and writing cultures. The medieval bound manuscript was basically similar in format to tile
printed book during the Renaissance. When paper was introduced in
Europe toward the end of the thirteenth century, replacing previous
sign carriers (such as parchment), it was folded in two or four (in lolio
Writing without Words, without Paper, without Pen or in quarto) and then assembled in segments (fusciculus) of four to six
sheets. Medieval and Renaissance printed books acquired a very dis
Writing does not presuppose the book, although during the sixteenth tinctive fonnat in relation to previous rolls or scrolls. Yet one can find
century celebration of the letter, it was narrowed down to mean just in standard histories of tile book the notion that tile first books were
that almost exclusively. Its image is so strong in cultures of the book scrolls. Such expressions presuppose that a given material format (the
that those who do not belong to them, as we no longer do, are not medieval and Renaissance book) was imperfect when invented and
always aware of what a book means.13 Alternative sign carriers (like finally achieved an essence that was in potentia since its inception. This
newspapers) were not yet available, and the complicity between writ evolutionary model of writing and the book was to a great extent an
ing and the book was such that the possibility of writing on clay, invention of the European Renaissance, and it was precisely the model
animal skin, tree bark, and the like was beyond the cultural horizon of enacted by missionaries and men ofletters when they described Anler
the time. Venegas's definition of tile book, very much like Nebrija's indian writing practices and sign carriers. It is somewhat curious that
celebration of the letter, erased previous material means of writing t he analogy was made between Amerindian mnoxtli or IJuh and
practices or denied coeval ones that were not alphabetically based. quarto-bound book instead of the scroll, to which new pieces could be
Keeping with examples ftom the Yucatan peninsula, we observe added, and which could be rolled and unrolled. In his famous descrip
that tile many Spanish descriptions and reactions to Maya writing tion, Bernal Diaz del Castillo chose instead to say that Mexican books
practices were presented as if Western books and the equivalent of were folded like Castilian fabric.
Western paper were the only sign carriers. The colonizers paid less I would like to elaborate on this point, taking an example li'om
attention to writing Gllved in stone and in pottery, which had very current ways of talking about writing. An evolutionary model still
wide use and significant social functions.i4 The reader of such descrip seems to prevail, according to which true writing is alphabetic writing
tions as Landa's and Motolinfa's was invited to conceive Maya literacy and is indistinguishable from the book, which, in its turn, is indis
in European terms and never the inverse, imagining what Europeans tinguishable from the material form of the European medieval and
might lack if tile point of reference were Maya script and sign carriers. Renaissance examples.
A few years after Landa wrote his relaci(m.) another Franciscan, Following David Diringer, for example, three kinds of writing can
be visualized: embryo, nonalphabetic, and alphabetic. He calls the last of his basic presuppositions. The most relevant of his presuppositions 79
two "pure" writing. It is possible, he says, "to count as 'writing' any for the issues explored in this chapter is revealed by his consistency in
The Darker semiotic mark . . . an individual makes and assigns a meaning to," and using the term book in the restricted sense furnished by his own West The
Side ofthe the antiquiry of writing is perhaps comparable to the antiquiry of ern and contemporary culture and projecting it toward different times Materiality of
Renaissance speech. But a "critical and unique breakthrough into new worlds of and places. Let me illustrate this statement. Diringer writes: Reading and
knowledge was achieved within human consciousness not when sim Writhw
ple semiotic marking was devised but when a coded system of visible Libri Lintei ("linen books") are mentioned by Livy not as existing Cultures
marks was invented whereby a writer could determine the exact words in his own time, but as recorded by Licinius Macer . . . who stated
that the reader would generate from the text."16 Writing thus con that linen "books" were kept in the temple oOuno Moneta. They
ceived is restricted to syllabic and alphabetic writing. If this distinction were not "books" in the modern sense, but simply very ancient
is valid from the standpoint of the history of writing, ethnography, or annals and libri magistratum ('�books of magistrates"). 1 8
paleography, it is not as satisfactory from the semiotic point of view. I
am less concerned with the change of name, whether we call an action Despite the'caution ("they were not books in the modem sense"),
"writing," than with a change of level directing us away from the Diringer translates "libri" as "books." Diringer certainly knows that
particular lexicon and expressions of a culture linked with the repre libri lintei designates ancient chronicles of the Romans that were writ
sentation of a particular mode of interaction and toward a disciplinary ten on linen and preserved in the Temple 00uno Moneta. But it is not
understanding, in which a concept is bonded to its theoretical defini known for sure that they were books, since libri may have been used to
tion. One needs, first, a theoretical definition of graphic signs and of designate the solid surface on which writing was performed (a possible
graphic semiotic interactions before moving into a historical classifica extension from the original meaning: the inner bark of a tree). Thus,
tion of different stages in the development of writing. Semiotically, a libri lil1tei could be just "writing on linen"; Ubri magistratuln could
graphic sign is, then, a physical sign made with the purpose of estab be translated as "writings of the magistrates."
lishing a semiotic interaction. ConsequentIy, a human interaction is a A second example comes from the idea that papyms was the main
semiotic one if there is a community and a body of common knowl writing material for books in dle Greco-Roman world. Although pa
edge according to which (,,) a person can produce a graphic sign with pyms was indeed dle primary writing material, it does not follow that
the purpose of conveying a message (to somebody else or to him- or it was for writing books, but radler just lor a multitude of writing
herself); ( b) a person perceives the graphic sign and interprets it as a purposes (e.g., recording data for future use, everyday human interac
sign produced with the purpose of conveying a message; and ( c) dlat tions, communication with gods).19 To be inscribed and transmitted,
person attributes a given meaning to the graphic sign. Notice that in a graphic sign certainly needs a medium. But from dlis point to the
this theoretical definition of writing the links between speech and book is a long road. Diringer states that the Greek word biblos means
writing are not necessary because writing is not conceived of as the the "pith of the papyms stalk"; it gave origin to biblioll, the common
representation of speech. word for "papynls scroll" or 'tpapyrus roll" whose plural was biblia,
In this sense writing is a communicative device common to all "papyrus rolls," td biblia, "the scrolls." In this case, Diringer translates
cultures, although its conceptualizations and uses diverge and not "tile scrolls" as the equivalent of "book. "20 With regard to tile Roman
every member of a community has access to writing, whereas in Walter lexicon, Diringer relates that the modern word "volume" derives from
Ong's conception, writing is limited to alphabetic or syllabie systems. the Latin l'olm11en (a thing rolled up); it is formed from dle verb
For its part, book is a concept united with writing only in dle concep "olvere (to roll) and renders the Greek ',ylilld,-os (cylinder). In this
tualization of a culture in which writing is understood in the restricted context cpoll'cl'c,jalia vahJerc (to unroll) was often used in the sense of
sense defined by Diringer and Ong. To avoid the ambiguities caused "to read" (folia cOlljiccre). When, after all this information, Diringer
by the use of concepts that preserve, in a disciplinaty context, tile same relates that dle term VOlltmell, like liber (to peel the inner bark of a
meaning they hold in cultural (nondisciplinary) expressions, a the tree), was in common use for "book," tile quotation marks do not
oretical definition is needed. Before giving a definition of book, I will solve the problem of the manner in which a community represents its
first attempt a description. In what follows I rely on Diringer's classic Own objects and social interactions. For an educated member of West
study devoted to the book before printing. 17 My own recognition of ern culture, the word book is associated with a body of knowledge (and
his important contribution will not prevent me from challenging some representations) far from the meaning of a roll ( 1'0Ilt1ltCII ) of inner bark
80 of a tree ( liber) or the frame in which a roll was cut ( tomos), which in all difference is not trivial. It gives us a better understanding of the idea of 81
probability were among the meanings associated with these words in the book in nonliterate and literate societies.24
-----
TIle Dar/lei" the Roman community. Now it is possible to attempt a definition of booll that, contralY to The
Side ofthe Certainly the entire problem of the book cannot be reduced to the that of the sign, will be culture specific: Materiality of
Renaissance meaning of the words coined to designate the material aspects of Reading and
writing ("roll," "cut," '�unfold," "bark of a trec," etc.), and we cannot a) A solid surface is a book as an object to the degree to which it is the Writing
view the book only as an object (or a class of objects). With the increas sign carrier for some kind of graphic semiotic interaction; Cultures
ing complexity of literacy, the practice of writing on libel; boc, papyrus, b) A book as an object is also a book as a text to the degree to which it
biblioschanged. A change in a given practice and in the object affected belongs to a specific stage in the development of writing ("pure
by that practice was accompanied, sooner or later, with a change in the writing," according to Diringer's classification) and the members
conceptualization of the practice and of the object. The meaning of of a given culture represent the system of graphic semiotic interac�
the original words related to the practice of writing and the graphic tion in such a way that it attributes to the sign carrier (books as
sign carrier entered a process of transformation. I am mainly interested object) high and decisive functions (theological and epistemologi
in two aspects of this transformation:(a) the plural of bibliol1, biblia, cal) for their own organization.
came to indicate sacred Scriptures and the Book par excellence;21 (b)
from biblos (the inner bark of papyrus) was formed the Greek bibli According to this definition, the book as text implies '�pure" writ�
othCl" (house of papyrus); it came to mean wisdom or knmvledge.22 ing, although "pure writing" does not necessarily imply the idea of the
In other words, the representation of the semiotic system of interac book. The necessaty connections are founded in the presuppositions
tion achieved by inscribing and transmitting graphic signs on solid underlying cultural expressions. A rereading of the seminal chapter by
surfaces began to change with the increasing complexity of literacy Curtius, "The Book as Symbol," will show that he devotes a great deal
and became strongly associated with religion and knowledge. of time to metaphors about writing and that he seems to assume that
This long detour through the house of words leads me to believe they are plain and simple synonyms of metaphors for the book.
that a more accurate translation of a111 0xtli would be biblos, papyrus, Be that as it may, some example needs to be drawn from Cunius in
liber, or boc rather than "book" or "libra," as shown through a closer order to back up our definition of the book as text. In 1948 Curtius
look at some of the Aztec words related to a1l1(}xtli.23 called attention to the amount and the significance of the images that
different cultures had constructed to represent their ideas about writ�
ing and the book. He begins his survey with the Greeks, noting that
Amoxcuilo«, whose roots are amoxtli and icuiioa, to paint, to inscribe theyclid not have any "idea of the sacredness of the book, as there is no
something; privileged priestly caste of scribes."25 What is more, one can even find
A1lloxcalli, whose roots are amoxtli and calli, house, room; disparagement of writing in Plato. There is the familiar last part of
Amoxitoa/mlloxpoa, whose roots are nmoxtli,' itoa means to say ar to Plato's Phaedrlts, in which Socrates attempts to convince Phaedrus
narrate something by heart; and pan means to tell, to summarize a that writing is not an aid to memory and learning but, to the contrary,
process, to count. can only "awaken reminiscences" without replacing the true discourse
lying in the psyche of the wise man, which must be transmitted
through oral interactions. It should be underlined that Socrates is
Thc translation of allloxitoa/allloxpon offered by Simeon, "lire un mainly concerned with writing in its relationship to knowledge and its
livre" (to read a book), is quite misleading if it is understood either in transmission, but not with the "book." If one thinks of the rich vocab�
the sense of '�to go over a written page with the eyes" or L�to pro� ulaty associated with graphic semiotic interactions inherited from the
nounce out loud what is written," for the Romance words lire or leer Greeks and also remembers that the idea of the sacred book was alien
(to read) come from the Latin legere, meaning "to collect" ( lectio, a to them-for they were more concerned with "writing" than with
gathering, collecting). The sense of "collecting" is absent from the "book"-one again concludes that to translate biblos as "book" im
Nahuatl word, and the emphasis is on "telling or narrating what has plies imposing our meaning of book upon theirs rather than fully "n
been inscribed or painted on a solid surface made out of amoxtli." The dCl-stallding their meaning of bib/os. This observation, amounting to
82 the general problem of the fusion of horizon or the fusion of cultural of conversion, not simply religions of birth. You can spread them, like
expressions, is also valid in the case where amoxtli is translated as jam. And you can persuade or force people to give up one set of beliefs
TIle Darker "book." and practices and take up another set."28 What is important here is not The
Side ofthe Contrary to the corrupted nature of writing in which Plato repre the "content" of the Book but rather the very existence of the object in Materialit)' of
RmnisJa1Jcc sented graphic semiotic interactions, nothing is found but the utmost which a set of regulations and metaphors was inscribed, giving to it the Reading find
praise (and God as the archerypal writer) in Christianiry. In this form special status of Truth and Wisdom. Writing
of representation, the tongue becomes synonymous with the hand It is now easier to understand Motolinia's metaphorical language CIIltltres
and the universe with the Book.26 While Socrates anchors knowledge when he refers to and describes Aztecs' "books." One can also under
in the psyche and conveys it through oral transmission of signs, stand the context of meaning underlying the epistemological meta
Christianiry secures knowledge in the Book and conveys it through phors he employed to describe their "books." By selecting the first, he
the graphic transmission of signs. One could surmise that the idea of projects the cognitive component of the idea of the book; by chOOSing
the book may have entered into the system of representation of the second, he draws from the theological component of the idea
graphic semiotic interaction at the point when writing gained its all� of the Book in which truth finds its warranty. IfMotolinia cast the devil
tonomy from oraliry and the book replaced the person as a receptacle as the author of the false books, it was not only because the devil was
and a source of knowledge. It is quite comprehensible that when the guilty of all wrongdoing in this world, but also because he had a
word was detached from its oral source (the body), it became attached thousand faces. In this case, the face he showed was related to the
to the invisible body and the silent voice of God, which cannot be sacralizarion of the Book in Christianity.
heard but can be read in the Holy Book. However, the theological The model of writing and the book embedded in the European
view of writing developed by Christianity and the epistemological Renaissance, and generally defined by Venegas, erased many of the
view of knowledge provided by Socrates and Plato (where God is not possibilities for different writing systems and sign carriers that mis
only the archetype of the writer but also the archetype of wisdom), sionaries and men of letters might have inquired about rather than
joined forces during the Middle Ages27 and extended to the Renais describing by analogy with their own model. Because the paradig
sance. Nature is the book God wrote, and to know nature is the best matic example of writing was alphabetic and referred to the medieval
way to know God. Curtius quotes a telling passage from Luis de Gra codex and the Renaissance printed book, the Peruvian quipu was vir
nada's Simbolo de lajC, in which Granada uses the expression "to think tually eliminated from the perspective one can get about the mate
philosophically in this great book of earthly creatures" to mean that riality of reading and writing cultures. There was certainly more than a
because God put us in front of the "marvelous book of the entire reading and writing culture in both the European Renaissance and the
universe" we must read the creatures as live letters and thus, through colonial New World. However, as we have seen in the first chapter, the
them, read of the excellencies of their creator. model provided by the alphabet and the book was the paradigmatic
Christianity is not, of course, the only religion having a holy book example of the material facets of reading and writing.
or Scriptures (e.g., the Koran, the Torah). But it shares with those The quipu certainly did not go unnoticed among those who were in
others the disequilibrium of power between religions possessing the Peru observing Amerindian cultures during the first century of the
Book and those without it. At stake here is the role played by the book conquest. Acosta, in his Historia naturaly moml de las Indias (1590)
as a text during the process of colonization carried on by literate so devoted several chapters (book 6) to descriptions of Amerindian writ
cieties. As a matter of fact, the role of the book in our understanding of ing systems, comparing them with alphabetic as well as Chinese writ
the colonial period in the New World may not have been entirely ing. Acosta refers to the quipu when he writes about memory and
exploited. One could, perhaps, profit by taking an example from Jack record keeping in Peru. He begins his description by noticing the
Goody and using it as an analogy. To practice the Asante religion, differences between the quipu and other writing systems:
observes Goody, you have to be Asante. Due to the lack of written
narrative tracing the border between the internal and the external Los indios del rim, antes de venir espafioles, ningun genero de
space, of what is preSCribed and permirted from what is proscribed and escritura tuvieron, ni por letras ni por caracteres, 0 cifras 0 figurillas,
forbidden, the "idea" attached to thc Asante religion varies consider como los de la China y los de Mexico; mas no por eso conservaron
ably over time. Religions founded on alphabetic writing and the corre menos la memoria de sus antiguallas, ni tuvieron menos Sil cuenta
sponding idea of the book are, concludes Goody, "generally rciigions para todos los negocios de paz, y guerra y gobierno.29
[The Indians of Peru, before the Spaniards came, had no sort of
writing, not letters nor characters nor ciphers nor figures, like those
TIle Darker of China or Mexico; but in spite of this they conserved no less the
Side oftile memory of ancient lore, nor did they have any less account of all
Rmaissancc their affairs of peace, war, and government. po
Fig 2.4. Writing and materiality of
sign carriers: fI-, an Andean quipu, b, a
The quipu was considered by Acosta a valid sign for record keeping textile with an unidentified coat of
but not equivalent to writing since it could not be considered letters, arms, probably from colonial Peruvian
characters, or figures (fig. 2.4).Acosta's definition of writing, then, families (sixteenth/seventeenth cen
presupposed that a graphic sign (letter, character, images) inscribed tury?). Charles Potter KlingFund.
Courtesy, Museum afFine Arts,
on a solid surface (paper, parchment, skin, bark of a tree) was needed
Boston.
to have writing. A bunch of knotted strings of different colors would
not qualifY for an insightful observer as analytically minded as Acosta.
However, when Acosta has to describe what a quipu is and how it is
llsed, he cannot avoid using the notion of writing, and, what is morc,
he makes a perfect analogy between writing with letters and writing
with strings, colors, and knots. In Acosta's definition, "Son quipos,
unos memorialcs 0 registros hechos de ramales, en que diversos nudos
y diversas [sic1 colores, significan diversas cosas" [Quipus are a kind of
record keeping or register made out of sets of branches in which a
II
diversiry of lmots and a diversiry of colors mean different things].
What attracted Acosta's attention, however, was not the material ap
pearance of the quipu, but what the Inca did with it. Acosta thought
that whatever could be done with books in matters of recording the
past, keeping track of the law, ritual, and business matters could be
also done with the quipus ("los libms pueden decir de historias, y leyes
y ceremonias, y cuentas de negocios, todo eso suplen los quipos tan
puntualmente, que admira"). Thus, Acosta's hesitation between the
filct that quipus were not writing or books, although they performed
like writing and books. More striking in this respect is the analogy
Acosta established with alphabetic writing:
[And in every bundle of these, so many greater and lesser knots, and
tied strings; some red, others green, others blue, others white, in
sb01t) as many differences as we bave with our twenty-four letters,
arranging them in different ways to draw forth an infinity of words:
b
86 so did they, with their knots and colors, draw forth innumerable portant enough to have a social role assigned to it, that of the quipu
meanings of things.)32 maker. Guaman Poma de Ayala, in his Nucva cOl'onicay buengobierl1o,
The Darker left a few drawings that illustrate what a quipu and a quipuc«mayoc TIle
It seems evident after reading Acosta as well as other writers who look like (fig.2.5).For Acosta to consider tlle quipltcnmnyoc as a social Materiality of
Side Dfthe
described the quipu that not only was the material image of a roll or role equivalent to a medieval scribe (fig.2.6), a Renaissance secretary, Reading and
Rmaissfl.l1Ce
scroll forgotten and replaced by the quarto-bound book, but the or a man of letters (fig. 2.7) would perhaps have been beyond his Writing
meaning of textn1ll had also faded out of the vocabulary of the time. horizons.Or perhaps he was also seeing, from a different perspective, Cultures
Texo in Latin meant "to make" and morc specifically "to weave." By the transformation that Guaman Poma de Ayala saw when he depicted
transference, it was also used in the sense of "join or fit together," to an Inca colonial secretary (fig. 2.8); this, we can imagine, resulted
interlace or to intertwine.Hence, tcxtum invoked the idea of some
from the social ttansformation of the ancient quipu maker in the colo
thing woven or made into a web. It was also transferred by Roman
nial society.
rhetoricians to alphabetic written compositions to denote the texture In medieval Europe (as well as in tlle Islamic world), the practice
of a composition (dicendi tcxtlt1n temte). What Acosta missed, be and conceptualization of writing were closer to physieal labor than an
cause he assumed that wriring presupposed graphic signs inscribed on intellectual pursuit (see fig.I.I). Dictm"e was the verb tllat described
flat surfaces, was the tactile aspect of the quipu. Modern scholars who tlle activity that today one would describe as wl'iting and composition.
have recently studied tllem in detail observe that the quipu maker The generation of a text began with the dictation tllat tlle scribe in
produced meaning, recorded memory, and worked with numbers by scribed in wax tablet; after corrections introduced by the dictator, it
tracing figures in space. In the process of organizing Of weaving was transcribed in parchments.Writing, then, required not only a skill
strings and colors, and of knotting them, the qnipncamayoc had to in which all parts of tlle body were engaged, but also the skill to
change tlle direction of the strings and the position of the colors rela prepare tlle instruments (stylus, feather, ink, parchments, etc.). The
tive to each other. This process, the authors ObSCIVC, was not simply transformation from the dietntorand the scribe to the consolidation of
preparatory to tlle real making a record. It was an integral part of quipu botll activities in one person began to take place perhaps toward tlle
making or writing.The materiality of quipu making invites interesting sixteenth century.3.1 However, the idea that writing implied the voice
comparison with the brush and the stylus, tlle instruments of Mexica did not vanish as quickly as one might suppose after the transforma
and European writing practices: tion of reading brought about by the multiplication of manuscripts,
The quipumaker's way of recording-direct constnlCtion-re during the early fourteenth century, and the invention of the prinring
quired tactile sensitivity to a much greater degree.In fact, the over press, in the second half of the fourteentll centuty.Titu Cusi Yupanki
all aesthetic of tlle quipu is related to the tactile: the manner of reported in 1570 how people from northern Peru witnessed the arrival
recording and the recording itself are decidedly rhythmic; the first of the first Spaniards and described them as bearded men who talked
in the activity, tlle second in tlle effect. We seldom realize the po to tllemselves looking at pieces of white fabric.35
tential of our sense of touch, and we are usually unaware of its In Anahuac, the tlacuilo was tlle social role equivalent to tlle Peru
association with rhythm... . In fact, tactile sensitivity begins in the vian quipu maker, tlle medieval scribe, or tlle Renaissance secretary
rhythmic pulsating environment of the unborn child far in advance (see fig. 6.19). He did not deserve as much attention from the Spanish
of tlle development of other senses.33 writers, however, as those who had the wisdom of the word ( tlama
tinimc, in Nahuatl; amattta,36 in Aymara and Quechua; qo 1'U naoh, in
The tactile sensitivity perceived today in the quipu maker would Maya-Cachiquel), ttanslated as "orators" or "philosophers" by Span
have been obscure to Renaissance men of letters who were thinking in ish chronists. Sahagun, for instance, who did such a tllOrough job in re
terms of letter writing and books as the paradigmatic model of pro searching and describing Mexica culture, devoted an entire book, out
ducing meaning and keeping records. Acosta, as we have seen, cer of the twelve in his Florentine Codex (1 578),37 to rhetoric and moral
tainly did not miss the similarities between gltisar (to organize or philosophy. The tlncuilowas practically hidden in a chapter he devoted
weave letters, strings, little stones, or beans) in order to produce to the craftsmen and disguised under tlle name of the "oficiales de la
meaning and keeping records.But he failed to see the tactile dimen pluma" [feather craftsman 1 (fig.2.9).The Mendoza Codex, gathered
sion in quipu making. by mandate of Viceroy Mendoza toward 1 5 50, has the tlncuilo and his
Quipu making was, then, an important activity in Inca society, im- son in tlle context of artisans in Mexiea society (fig.2.10).38
88 or books, from ancient painted papers, vel)' old and painted by elder
and dear nobles from the towns of Tzacualtitlan Tenanco Chicon
The Dar/leI" cohua c, they wrote them before I arranged them, and wrote this TlJC
Side Dfthe stal)''' [De cinco partes a libros, de antiguos papeles pintados muy Materiality of
Renaissancc viejos hechos par los antiguos queridos nobles que fueron de Rending and
Tzacualtitlan Tenanco Chiconcohuac, antes que yo los arreglara, fue Writing
compuesta esta historia]. The reference to five units or parts (also Cultures
called "libros" by Chimalpain) reminds us of Motolinia's classification
ofAztecan "books" or partes (pieces). What tllOse pieces might have
been can be surmised by what Chimalpain refers to as five units of
painted amoxtli. He describes, furthermore, where the information
comes from:
c '-_===
I
I
I
I
Fig. 2.7. Writing
and social roles:
II Fig. 2.8. Writing and social
roles: a colonial secretary, a
I
a Renaissance possible transformation
man of letters of a quipllcnmayoc
by alphabetic writing, and to move speech toward written ptose. The Mexican chronists such as Chimalpain and Ixtiilxochiti is what the 93
92
fact timt Chimalpain still maintained in his writing the repetitive struc Spanish chronists had some difficulties in understanding (or at least in
ture of the oral is indicative of the fractures of colonial semiosis in the sorting out in a way that would still be satisfactory for today's reader): The
The Darker
Side ofthe transition from oral narratives, in which repetition is a part of everyday that both Spanish and Amerindians recorded their past as well as their Materiality of
speech, to an alphabetic written prose (in both the Latin and Spanish, wisdom in graphic and oral forms; that both equally treasured tilose Reading alld
Renaissance
from which Chimalpain learned to write in Nahuati). By the sixteentil records, even if tiley had different perspectives On the values that �V1·itillg
century, this repetition had already clearly established its distinction should be attributed to the oral and the written; and that the quipus in Cultltres
with versification. Even in modern Spanish translation the echoes of a the Andes and the painted signs in Mesoamerica were the equivalent
rhythmic speech could be heard: "el papel pintado y la historia de los of letters. The Spanish never understood that, if the Amerindians
linajes antiguos" [the painted paper and the lineage history ], "ahara lacked letters, they themselves by the same token lacked quipus and
yo he pintado, he escrito con letras un libro" [to paint a book, writing a1l10xtli. And while the Spanish had men of letters, the Incas had
it witil letters]; "el me 10 presto, el libro de sus antepasados, me 10 qlliptlcamayoc and Mexicas tlilelliio.
proporciono" [he loaned it to me, tile book of his ancestors, he made Ixtlilxochiti and Chimalpain left an extensive description of their
it available to me].42 working methods. Ixtlilxochitl's written Spanish was quite impressive,
If there were at least five ancient books, as Motolinia and Chimal even though he always criticized the Spanish interpretation of Mexi
pain mentioned, perhaps the tlacuilo was not just one single person, can history. As a historian writing in agreement with the conventions
generally trained to paint any of them, and perhaps there was a divi ofWestern historiography and alphabetic writing, he found his source
sion of labor and a division of training also. Don Fernando de Alva ofinformation in ancient painted amoxtli as well as in oral reports and
Ixtiilxochiti was a descendant of tile same Texcocan family who the memories of tile elders (Imehtle). In order to find out the trutll
hosted Pedro de Gante around 1523. What emerges from the words of about the past of New Spain, Ixtiilxochiti could not trust tile con
tradictory opinions of various authors (most, if not all, Spaniards) who
wrote its history. He decided to look into tlle painted records of the
Mexicans themselves, as well as to the songs they used to register tlleir
memories ("y de los cantos can que las observaban, autores muy
graves en su modo de ciencia y facultad"). The authority, according to
k .,-,... {.�
Ixtlilxochitl, was in tile hands of the "most distinguished and wise
U;"*"",,,C7 � ;; '3
.
unos que trataban de los anales poniendo par su orden las cosas que
acaedan en cada ana, can dia, mes y hora. Otros tenian a su cargo
las genealogias y descendencias de los reyes y senores y personas de
linaje, asentando par cuenta y raz6n los que nadan y borraban los
que marian, can la misma cuenta. Unos tenian cuidado de las pin
turas de los terminos, Hmites y mojoneras de las ciudades, provin
cias, pueblos y lugares, y de las suertes y repartimientos de las
tierras, cuyas eran y a quien pertenedan. Otros, de los libros de las
Fig. 2.9. Writing and social roles: a tlawilo among the feather artisans Jeyes, ritos y ceremonias que usaban en su infidelidad; y los sacer-
[some dealt with the annals, placing in order the things that had 95
dotes, de los tiempos, de sus idolatrias y modo de su doctrina idol
94 occurred in each year, [recording the] day, month and hour. Oth
atrica y de las fiestas de sus falsos dioses y ca!endarios.Yfinalmente,
losfilosofos y sabios que tenian entre elias, etaba a S1l cargo el pinta/' ers, were in charge of the genealogies and descent of the kings and Tbe
I1JcDnrker
lords and persons of noble birth, noting fuithfully, those who were Materiality of
Side oftbe todas [as cienci«s que sablan y alcallzaball, y (nseii«r de memoria
born and erasing those who died, in the same manner. Some took Readiug and
Rmnissl1ncc todos los cantos que Obscl11aban en sus ciencias e historins; todo 10 clIal
care of painting the limits, boundaries and borders of the cities, Writi1W
mudo el tie1llpo can la caida de los ,.eyes y so,ores, y los trabajos y
provinces, towns and villages; and the parceling and distribution of Cultures
persecuciones de sus descendientes y la calamidad de sus subditos y
lands: whose they were and to whom they belonged. Others
vasallos.43
[looked after] the books of laws, rituals and ceremonies that they
practiced in their unbelief; and the priests [recorded] the times of
their idolatries and the manner of their idolatrous doctrine, and the
;:;14 �1� ,
feasts of their fulse gods and calendars.Andfinally, the philosophers
and JVise 111en am.ong them were entrusted with painting all the
M
. . ···
-#'U � knowledge they possessed and had attained, and with teachingfrom
memory all the chants they obsm'ed in thei,- histories and lore; all of
which time altered with thefall ofthe kings and lords, and the labors
: :=
::::'-'==
M t- -
-
- -
"-::::.:: .. ...::.--,
- ': -
Fig. 2.10, Writing and social
-
- . .
-
- - -
- - ..
'
roles: flJ a tlacttilo and his son, '-
- -
-- '
�
--
-'
- �"
' --' -
among other artisans; u, =' __
-..-.-
� I--cq� . -
.._-
----
11 --- -
- --
---
- -
weaving in Anahuac; and in -. " -.. -
� - -=--- _
CJ .
- - .
_
the Andes
;- _. --- ....:.
-: .. -.=. .
��
-
3C- � J4 10/'"-"
c
b
96 and persecutions of their descendants and the calamity of their eral weeks in 1524. Alphabetic writing allows for tile inscription of 97
----
subjects and vassals. ]44 what is said but not for a description of tile scene of speaking. Mexica
TIle Darllcr writing allowed for me inscription of me scene but not for what TIle
Side oft"e Ixtiilxochiti's distinction, or lack tilereof, between the scribes (es- was said. Near 1565, in me Colegio Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, Saha Materiality of
Renaissance critores, tlncuilo) and wise men (filosofo, sabio, tlamatini) in other gUn found me scattered notes, probably left by one of the twelve Reading and
chronicles establishes an attractive analogy Witil the situation in tile Franciscans or by an Amerindian already familiar wim alphabetic Writi1w
European Middle Ages. It is not obvious that bom functions were part writing. He put tile pieces together and provided a ftee and some Cllltun:s
of the same social role, since there were, precisely, different names for what rlistorted translation of me Mexica noble and wise men. He
mose who had wisdom and mose who had skill. It is not surprising, gave tile dialogue me form of a Christian doctrine, wim me titie of
tilen, tilat Sahagun placed tile tlac"ilo among me craftsmen C% qltios y doctrilla christiana. The manuscript was found in me
although according to the sources, there seems to be a closer connec Vatican's secret archives and was published for the first time in
tion between the tl"cttilo, tlato"ni (skillful in speaking, but also gover 1924.45 The fact that it was found in Rome and not in Seville suggests
nor) and tla1l1atini1l1e (having tile wisdom of the word) timn between once more that Christianization and Hispanization were two dif�
tile tlaClliio and tile expert in several crafts. In Ixtiilxochiti it is perhaps ferent programs, even during the period in which Charles I of Castile
due in part to the process of transculturation and me changing pat and Aragon and Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire joined bOtil
terns (as he himself noticed at me end of paragraph) timt blurred the goals in one person.
distinction between tiatanni and tlamatini. For the Spaniards, very In the 1560s it was still possible to believe that conversion was
much used to me idea of philosophers and wise men who were at the quick and easy and that me Mexican recognition ofChristianity was so
same time scribes, the distinctive and complementary functions ofthe obvious that there was no room for doubt. But my interest here is to
tl,,"'atini and tile tlacttilo went almost unnoticed. The Spaniards "listen" to the dialogue again at that particular moment in which tile
erased me differences between the two cultures by using meir descrip question ofreading, writing, books, and knowledge came to me fore
tion of themselves as a universal frame for understanding different ground. Let's first look at the transcription of the original in Nahuatl
cultural traditions. Venegas's definition of tile book stands as a para and tile close Spanish translation provided by Leon -Portilla as well as
rligmatic image of a cultural product that was at once a distinctive me English translation by Kior de Alva.46 The scene of speaking is
material object, written in alphabetic characters by a wise man, tilat roughly me follOwing. The twelve Franciscan friars, in a meeting with
had to be read by or explicated by intelligent people. From tile per tile nobles and tiatoani (governors), explain to them their own mis
spective opened by Venegas's description, we can understand today sion, and meir roles as agents of God and me emperor. The tlato""i
part of me difficulties tile Spaniard had in understanding the mate respond to the Franciscans in the terms transcribed below and end
riality of Amerindians' reading and writing culture, as well as the ac :
their speech at the moment in which they decide to consul with the
tion tiley had taken, eitiler by burning their "books" or slowly erasing tiamatinime (wise men):
mem by teaching the Amerindian to change tile material configura
tion of reading and writing and the format in which signs were in� 76r Auh inhin, totecujyoane
scribed and infornlation graphically recorded so tilat it might be orally [Y, he aquf, senores nuestros,]
rlisseminated. [And tilese, oh our lords,]
ca oncate in oc no techiacana,
[estan los que aun son nuestros guias]
Talking about Graphic Signs, Sign Carriers, and Persons [indeed, mey are tilere, mey still guide us]
of Knowledge and Wisdom
in techitquj, in techamama
[elIas nos llevan a cuestas, nos gobieman,]
Shortly after tile first twelve Franciscans arrived in Mexico on their
[mese who catty us, these who govern us,]
mission to convert the Amerindian to Christianity (see chap. 1), a
historical dialogue took place between me Franciscans and repre yn jpampa in tiaiecultilo
sentatives of tile Mexica nobility and men of wisdom. The dialogue [en relacion al servido]
was apparentiy recorded at me time it took place, probably over sev- [in relation to tilese being served]
yn johtlatoquiliz ini jnmatacacholizq in jlhuicatl 99
ca in toteoua yn jntlacaccuhcava
[el curso y el praceder ordenado del cielo]
[de los que son nuestros dioses, de los cuales es cl
[with the journey, the orderly course of me heavens,] TIle
7l1eDarker merecimiento]
Materiality of
Side olt"e [indeed, these who are.our gods, these who have their merit] in iuh iovalli xelivi.
[c6mo se divide la noche]
Reading and
Renaissance
cujtlapillj ahtlapallj
[according to how ti,e night is divided.]
Writing
[Ia cola, el ala (Ia gente del pueblo):] Cultures
[that of ti,e tail, of the wing,] Auh in quitzticate,
[los que estan mirando (leyendo),]
In tlamacazque, in tlenamacaque,
[And mese continually look at it,]
[los sacerdotes ofrendadores, los que ofrendan el fuego,]
[the ones who offer things, the ones who offer incense,] 780 in qujpouhticate,
[los que cuentan (0 refieren 10 que leen)]
auh in quequetzcova mjtoa
[these continually relate it,]
[y tambien los que se llaman quequetzalcoa]
[and those named the featllered serpents,] in qujtlatlazticate in amoxtlj
[los que despliegan (las hojas de) los libras,]
in tlatolmatinjme
[tllese continually cause the book to cackle,]
[Sabios de la palabra,]
[these are knowers of the word,] in tliIli, in tlapalli,
[Ia tinta negra, la tinta raja,]
auh in jntequjuh in qujmocujtlauja
[me black, me color,]
[su oficio, con el que se afanan,]
[and their charge, Witll which they trouble tllemselves,] in tlacujlolli quitaqujticate
[los que tienen a su cargo las pinturas.]
in ioalli in cemjlhuitl
[is in tile painting mey continually cany.]
[durante la noche y el dia,]
[by night, by day,] Ca iehoantin techitqujticatc,
[Elias nos llevan,]
in copaltemaliztli
[Indeed, they are me ones who continually carry us,]
[Ia ofrenda de copal]
[is the act of burning copal,] 785 techiacana, techotlatoltia
[nos guian, nos dicen el camino.]
in tlenamaqnjliztlj
[tlley guide us, tlley cause the earth to speak to us,]
[el ofrecimiento del fuego]
[the act of offering incense,] tehoantin qujtecpana
[Los que ordenan]
in vitztlj, in acxoiatl,
[They are me ones who put it in order,]
[espinas, ramas de abeto]
thoms, acxoyatl, in iuh vetzi cc xivitl,
[c6mo cae el ana,]
775 in ne,oliztli.
[such as how a year falls,]
[Ia acci6n de sangrarse]
[the act of blood letting,] in iuh otlatoca in tonalpoallj,
[c6mo siguen su camino la cuenta de los destinos y los dias]
in qujtta, in qujmocujtlauja
[such as how the count of me destinies-feasts follows its
[los que miran, los que se afanan con]
pam,]
[These see, tI,ese trouble themselves,]
rna tiqujrnacaca lor
100 auh in cecempoallapoallj
[Que podamos darles]
[y cada una de las veintenas,]
[Let us give them.] Tbe
TIle Darker [and each one ofthe complete counts,]
in jhyotzin, yn jtlatoltzin, Materiality of
Side ofthe qujmocujtlauja,
790 Reading and
RmaisJance [su aliento, su palabra.]
[de esto se ocupan] Writing
[His precious breath, His precious word.]47
[they trouble themselves Witll it,] Cu/tltres
iehoantin yntenjz, incocol, The dialogue continues with tl,e meeting between the tetemchtin
[de ellos es el encargo, la encomienda,] (in charge of the militaty apparatus) and the tln1l1ntinime (members of
[they have their charge, their commission,] the noble class in charge of the religious apparatus), where tiley dis
cuss the answer they will give to the twelve Franciscans. This scene is
y mamal in teutlatollj followed by tl,e moment iu which tlntonni and tla11latinime return to
[su carga: la palabra divina]
talk with the Franciscans and, this time, the word is in the mouth of
[tlleir duty which is tl,e divine word,]
the tia1nntillimc. Their answer is a respectful disagreement with the
Auh in tehoantin Christian doctrine presented by the Franciscans. One of the central
[y nosotros,] points is the discourse about the Christian God and the Mexica in
[and we are those] Tloqlte in Naltaqlte (the Owner of Nearby and Together). The
tlamatillime refer to' the Christian God as in Tloquc in Nattaqllc and
ca ,a ye iyo totequjuh
they express their admiration that the Spaniards have come "from the
[s610 es nuestro oficio:]
clouds, the fog, from the very inside ofthe immense water" in order to
[indeed, who but have as our sole task,]
bring "his book, his painting, the celestial word, the divine word" [Y11.
795 (in mjtoa) teuatl tlachinollj. jaTntlx, yll jtlacujlol, 990; in illmicac tlatolli, ill teotlatolli, 991]. Afier
[Lo que se llama el agua divina, el fuego (la guerra)] listening to tile tla1llatillilll e, tl,e twelve Franciscans begin their reply
[ (what is called) divine water, fire.] as follows:
auh ,a iehoatl ypan titlatoa,
ea muchi tamechilhuizque
[y tambien de esto tratamos,]
[Todo os 10 diremos]
[And only we speak on it,]
[Indeed, we will tell you everytlling,]
tictocujtlauja yn jtequjuh
tameeheaquitizque
[nos encargamos de los tributos]
[os 10 haremos eseuchar,]
[we trouble ourselves with the tribute,]
[we will cause you to hear it,]
yn cUjtlapillj, yn atiapallj
1100 intla anquinequ
[de la cola y el ala (del pueblo).]
[y si es que vosotros quereis.]
of the tail, the wing.
[ifyou desire it.]
.. ........
. . . ...
[we shall explain all ofthis at great length ifyou wish to hear it, and
we shall satisfY you with all our explanations, because we have the
sacred sn'ipture wherein are contained all the things we shall tell YOII,
for they are the words ofHe whogives being and life to all things. This
sacred scripture, of which we have spoken many times, is vel)' an Fig. 2.n. A contempo
cient, its words are most true, definite, and worthy of belief. ] rary perspective of young
Sahagun surrounded
with "books"
I t would have been difficult for the tlamatinime to understand the
connections between human writing and the writing of God, or be
tween the archetype book and the metagraph book, according to
Venegas's distinction, which was naturally embedded in the answer
provided by the twelve Franciscans (fig. 2.n). It would have been
equally difficult for them to understand a concept oftruth that presup
posed both a philosophy oflanguage that prioritized the letter and a
religious belief that attributed the final truth to the written version of
the spoken words pronounced by God.58 At the same time, it was just
as difficult for the twelve Franciscans to understand that the mate
riality ofMexica reading and writing culture drove them to a concep
tualization of the word, the painted "books" and the relations be
tween words and signs \vith the itt Tloqtte in Nattaqtte (the Owner of
the Near and the Together) that was not necessarily constructed
aronnd alphabetic writing.
God's metaphor of writing, according to which his words are dic
tated to men, is so well known that we need not press the idea fur-
108 the sky and in the painting and transmitted in oral discourse ( tla Mexieas conld have been satisfied with an oral description of what 109
tolli) 60 The image of the other that members of each group con they saw in the paintings . On the other hand, there is scattered evi
17)c Darker structed changed with the changes in the personal pronoun designat dence that the Amerindians had difficnlties in understanding how a TIle
Side ofthe ing the speaker and the listener, relating them to the context of a book or a page can "talk," and how "painted signs" ( the alphabet) Materiality of
Renaissance particular reading and wriring culture. The mobility of the locus of conld tell what could have been told byway ofspeaking. They were, so Reading and
enunciation was, in this case, loaded with the ideology ofthe book and to speak, on opposing sides of the letter, the Mexicas not aware ofits Writing
amoxtli, with the spoken word and the diversity of graphic signs. The existence, the Spaniards perfectly aware and convinced lack ofletters Cultures
"other" depended on and changed with the change ofspeaker, which, placed human communities in the realm of absences: among the un
in this case, belonged to two disparate discursive situations and cul lettered. The Mexicas were aware ofthe significance of being skilled in
tural traditions. the art ofspeaking and the meaning ofhaving the wisdom ofthe word.
How could the Mexicas understand that the sacred writings and It was the speech of tllOse who knew how to "look at the stars and
the Divine Book were the proofofGod's existence and the warranty of the sky" and to "unfold the pintnras" that the Mexicas referred as
Truth when they were not only alien to such a configuration of book authoritative, not to writing and the book. On the contrary, the Span
and God but also to the Western notion of truth?6 1 Quite simply, the iards, if they were aware of tlle power of the spoken word, also ac
Mexicas were unable to understand because instead of reading the cepted the warranty of the written word and tlle book. It is to writing
Letter of the Book, they were accustomed to listening to the Sages of and the book that the Franciscans referred in their dialogue with the
the Word as well as looking, recounting, and displaying the painting of tlntoqlle and the tlalllatinjllle who underlined spoken discourse. The
their Amoxtli. How could the Spaniards understand and accept the other experience of Anahuac was that the veracity of one god and
position expressed by the Sage of the Word if they believed that a laek the falsity of otllers could be judged by invoking the graphic inscrip
of alphabetic writing was not only a sign ofcivil barbarism but also one tion ofthe letter in an object that did not look like their nmoxtli. How
of religious marginality? How could a group of lettered men whose could the timnatini1lle, routinely contemplating the paintings drawn
vety social role presupposed the concept ofletter understand the Sages by the tlawilo and telling stories, exercising at tlle same time the
of the Word, whose very social role presupposed oral transmission of power of the spoken word, be reconciled with the idea that the true
knowledge? "To read" meant unmatched activities for the Spaniards meaning was contained in tlle silent words of the Sacred Book? Con
and for the Mexicas, as well as other Amerindian communities. The flicting ideas about speech and writing, about tlle materiality ofread
stmy ofAtahualpa, in the episode ofCajamarca, in which he holds the ing and writing cultures, is what the process ofcolonization brought
Bible to his ears expecting to hear the Book talk, is as well known and about during the first enconnters between Spanish men ofletters and
revealing as the metaphor of the "talking book" in the autobiography Mexicas skilled in painting and speaking. The seed was planted for
of Frederick Douglass.62 Mexicans deseribed as "contemplating and similar interpretations and behaviors during the colonization ofother
recounting what is in the picture and on the sky" what Spaniards European nations during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries .63
described as '�reading dlC pages of a book" and, by extension, ��read
ing" the universe as a book written by the hand of God. There is a
double interpretation ofthis analogy. One interpretation would tell us When Just Speaking Well Was Not Good Enough
that what Mexieas and Spaniards were doing with the artificial signs
inscribed on solid surfaces and with the natural signs wandering It is time, then, to push a little further our understanding of the social
atound the universe was basically the same, since they were looking at and cultural function of tlle Mexicas' learned spoken (or rhetorical,
and making sense ofthem. The second interpretation could be formu aecording to Sahagun) discourses and its relation to ,visdom.
lated as a question: why did the Spaniards, in their accounts, leave the The Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagun paid more attention to tlle
impression that the Mexicas were doing well in reading and writing Mexicas' speech than to their writing. While Acosta was writing his
matters, although they were not yet at the level of Spaniard intelli Histo1'ia and inquiring about Mexica knowledge and uses of letters,
gence and cultural achievements? Chronicle after chronicle ofthe first Sahagun remained mute about Mexica manners and uses of
writing.
encounters describe the materiality ofthe reading and writing cultures As I have mentioned, book 6 of the Flormti"e Codex
was devoted,
and show the difficulties the Spaniards had in understanding how the instead, to "Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy."64 In it, Sahagtm
com-
no piled those discourses in which the elders organized and transmitted discourses (plltticas) used by parents to educate their children. He 1II
their wisdom to future generations. It also contains examples of well provides two examples: a discourse a motl,er addresses to her daugh
The Darker constructed and sophisticated speeches. Sahagun was aware of their ter, and one addressed by a peasant to his son, already married. Tor 171c
Side ofthe cultural relevance, which he made explicit in the very first paragraph of quemada could not hide his admiration for the eloquence of such dis
Materiality of
Renaissmlce the prologue to book 6: courses and tl,e difficulties he, like Andres de Olmos and Bartolome de
Reading and
las Casas, had in translating them into Castilian:
All nations, howeversallage and decadent65 they have been, have set WI-iting
their eyes on the wise and strong in persuading, on men prominent Cultlt1'es
no las hemos sabido romancear can la dulzura y suavidad que en su
for moral vittues, and on the skilled and the brave in warlike ex
lcngua estos naturales las usaban, atendiendo mas a decir
ercises, and more on those of their own generation than on those of lisa y
distintamente la sentencia de la doctrina, que la eleganc
others. There are so many examples of this among the Greeks, the ia del
lenguaje con que entre ellos se platicaba; porque confies
Latin, the Spaniards, the French, and the Italians that books are full o que en el
decir su razon estas gentes, as! en contar con sus bienes
of this subject.66 (italics mine1 como en
referir sus males, son aventajadisimos retoricos, 110
The same was practiced in this Indian nation, and especially porque elIas
hayan oido ningun precepto retorico de los que
among the Mexicans, among whom the wise, superior, and effec enseila Quin
tiliano, ni de los que da eicer6n en sus particiones,
tive rhetoricians were held in high regard. And they elected these to sino por serlo
ellos naturalmente y tan elocuentes que les es muy facil
be high priests, lords, leaders, and captains, no matter how humble decir cual
quier cosa que quieren; . . Pal' las dicIJas pldticas
.
their estate. These ruled the states, led the armies, and presided in y "" isos dados
podrtln colfgir los que con bltcnas entrai'ias qltisieren considerarlo,
the temples . . . . I think that by means of these virtues they achieved
que cstas pobresgentes e indios natll1'ales dc Mixico, TctzcltcO, Tlax
dominion, although it lasted little time and noJV they have lost all, as
calla Y SIIS comarcas, alcanzaban y sentian, par natural razim y
one will clearly sec who will compare that contained in this Booll With mas
1t110S quc otros, como vemos cntrc otrasgentes, que no todas tienen Una
the life they nolP lead. This being ,'oy cleal; I do not tell the rC/lSOIlfa)'
miSlna habilidad y discrecioJJ.67 [italics mine 1
it. [italics mine1
It is not enough for Sahagtln to compare the Mexicas with the [We have not been able to translate them into
Spanish with tl,e
Greeks, Italians, and Spaniards; he also compares their past glories gentleness and mildness which these people used
in their own lan
with their present decay. In addition it was necessary to defend the guage, and we have dwelt more on translating the
meaning of the
credibility of the kind of speeches he was going to repott to those who doctrine plainly and clearly, than the eloquence
of the language
had talcen the Indians to be barbarians because they were illiterates; they used themselves; for I confess that when these
people express
and it was also necessary to make clear that the content of book 6 was themselves, be it either to tell of their good or
their bad fottune,
not invented, that "all the informed Indians will assert that this lan they are outstanding rhetOricians, not because they
have heard the
guage is characteristic of their ancestors and the works they pro rhetorical precepts of tlle type taught by Quinti
lian or Cicero in his
duced" ( Florentine Codex, 1:66). If Sahagun put so much emphasis on divisions, but rather because they have a natura
l capacity, and they
the Aztecs' formal speeches, he did it because the image of the barbar arc so eloquent that they Can talk about anything
they desire with
ian, savage, and illiterate Indians that had been constructed during the great ease. . .Any high-minded person 1Vho would 1Vish
.
to do so,
process of conquest and colonization did not allow much room for mould concludc, given thc said conversations and noticcs
, that these
well-thought-out speeches (as we have seen in the previous section). poor lV1'etches, and natiJJc indians ofMexico, Tetzcuco, Tlaxca
lla and
How could they do that without letters? Acosta honestly asked. In its elwirons, werc able to understand and scnse things
by dint of
deed, altll0ugh oratory was a well-known kind of oral speech tllat had natm'al reason, some more So than othel's, as with an'Y cultllr
.
e, fior Hot
been codified since Aristotle's Rhetoric and, later on, by the great all ofthe11l possess the sa1lle silil! and wisdom .l6B
Roman rhetoricians (Cicero, Quintilian), the codification (rhetoric)
of oral speech (oratory) was after all a written artifact. Not every aspect of the Amerindian cultur
es attracted Spanish men
Some thirty years later, another Franciscan, Juan de Torquemada, of letters with the same intens
ity. They devoted, for instance, much
devoted several chapters of his Monarquill indialla (book 13) to the more time to reconstructing Amerindian
genealogy, religion, and CllS-
\12 toms than to exploring Amerindian conceptualizations of their dis 2. Chapters 9 through 16 are illustrations of human communicative 11 3
cursive practices and means of recording the past. The authority of situations related to public affairs and civil government. AltIlOugh
TIJcDarkcr alphabetic writing and its "natural" links with histOIY and rhetoric there are also in this group discourses by the newly appointed The
Side oftb, furnished sufficient proof for the Spaniards to look at other cultures leader directed to the gods, they are in the tone of thanking tIle Materiality of
Rcnaissallce as inferior. All ofwhich illustrates, once more, the difficulties ofunder gods for his new social status. What characterizes this group of Reading and
standing differences and using differences to construct power posi discourses is their function in the political administration of tIle Writil1g
tions. society. Thus, tIlere are discourses tIlat the leader addresses to the ClIltm'es
Sahagun'S transcription of oral Mexican discourses and the sub nobility or to the people, as well as discourses that the nobility
sequent compilation by Juan Bautista (1600) under the titIe of address to the people in support of the newly appointed leader.
Httelmctlatolli (a Nahuatl expression meaning ��ancient word" or Those who were in charge of pronouncing tIlis kind of discourse
"discourse of the clders")69 are paradigmatic examples afthe author were characterized as "skillful in speaking."
ity of tIle elders in a society in which oral transmission is more impor 3. The third group comprises tIle discourses that the leaders ad
tant than written communication, and wisdom is deposited in the dressed to their sons in order to train them in the administration of
living body rather tIlan in tIle book. The Franciscans (Olmos, Sa public affuirs and as future leaders of their people; and the
hagun, Juan Bautista) documented native discursive practices, but not discourses addressed to their daughters, training and teaching
their own categorization and evaluation ofverbal behavior.70 I am not them their role in society and in tIle preservation of the un
implying tIlat tIley should have, since I am well aware tIlat this possi blemished image of their lineage. It is also in tIlis context that the
bility was not within their scope ofknowledge or expectations. It was a mothers' discourse to their sons and daughters could be included,
natural assumption for a man of letters in the sixteenth century to making tIle disrinction between parental relations and social roles.
consider the Greco-Roman legacy to be the true categorization and This group seems to illustrate the discourse pronounced by social
evaluation of speech in matters of grammar and rhetoric, and not to leaders and members of the nobility.
worry about what the Amerindians might have thought about their 4. The fourth group embodies those discourses pronounced by the
own speaking and writing activities. The missionaries collected and people for tIle education of their children. Most of them are ori
transcribed what had been said but did not collect Amerindian con ented toward procreation, addressed by botIl the mother and tIle
ceptualizarions, nor did they describe in (etI1l10graphic) detail diverse futher (fig. 2.12).
acts of saying. The classical legacy in the field of rhetoric had stressed
tIle description of acts of saying not necessarily for the understanding One question tIlat immediately comes to mind is related to the
of tIlem, but rather to teach and encourage good discursive perfor formal character of these discourses, their transmission and their pro
mances. Missionaries had, therefore, some standards to recognize and nunciation in different situations by members ofdifferent generations.
evaluate a good speech as a good perfoffilance but did not have the Arc these examples of one specific situation, or are they models of
tools to undertake a description of saying acts, taking into account discourses pronounced and repeated in an indefinite number of simi
communicative situations, social roles, and sex and gender in semiotic lar situations? The amount ofavailable Imehltetlatolli as well as the lack
and verbal interactions, Speech and oral discursive genres were valued, of information about tIle social condition of tIleir production and
although not enough to equate them with written discursive genres, reception does not allow for an empirical descriprion of tIle role this
Let's take a closer look at the discourses collected by Sal1agun as discursive genre played in Aztec society. However, a general descrip
examples of Aztec rhetoric and moral philosophy. And let's examine tion could be undertaken, based on both tIle contribution of special
critically the image oftIle Amerindian left by tIle Spanish missionaries ists in Nal1uatI culture who have studied the h1tehltetlatolli,72 and on
and men ofletters who judged and depicted tIlem in relation to their contemporary studies on the etImography of communicarion that
lack of letters. A preliminary organization of discourse, compiled by have shed light on tIle structure and firnction of discourse in societies
Sal1agun according to their content, follows.?1 in which oral communication is fundamental in politics, social rela
tions, education, religion, and so on,73
I. The first eight chapters are devoted to the monologues addressed The hltchuetlatolli were transcribed in alphabetic writing by the
to the gods by high religious and political officers, in which the gods Franciscan friars from 1546 (tIle date when Andres de Olmos might
are asked for help to solve the problems afflicting society. have collected them) until 1600 (the date when Juan Bautista pub-
b
The Darker voice.80 body of knowledge associated with that word in the lexicon and the The
Side aftbe expressions of the culture into which the original is translated. Thus, Materiality af
Renaissance This example illustrates that letters or a writing system that allows the translation of a l1lOxtli as "book" does not capture the differences Rcadil1gand
for the transcription of speech is flat a necessary condition for civiliza in the conceptualization of the activities related to the object, such as Writing
tion; illiterate people can have very sophisticated manners, be highly "to write"/tlacuiloliztli and "to read"/amoxitoa. A partial descrip- Culturcs
tion of the knowledge associated with the word book and the verbs to
concerned with education and with social behavior. If, in the realm of
technology, there are a number of things that cannot be done without
lVI'itf and to rend in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Spain, and a
comparison with their NahuatI equivalents (n1ll 0xtli, tlacttiloliztli,
writing, in the realm of human culture and behavior there seem to be
no written achievements that cannot be equally attained by speech. If n",oxitoa), would soon make it evident that ti,e Aztecs could hardly
writing as well as speech distinguishes the human species from other have had books in the same sense that Castilians understood that
organisms with nervOus systems, it is speech that was dcveloped word. They did, nevertheless, have books."4
before writing-into an instrument of education, social organization, The point I am trying to make here is ti,e following: while it is
and coordinated human interactions,sl And even when writing devel possible to generalize by saying that writing (in ti,e sense of scratching
oped as an instrument of religious power, social organization, and on solid surfaces or using any kind of material meant to codity mean
human interaction, speech was not abandoned. I am not trying to ing) is an activity common to cultures on this planet (and it is likely
defend, with this argument, the W estern logocentric tradition that that every culture with writing systems has expressions to designate
Derrida worked so hard to debunk,s2 I am only suggesting that the these activities), the conceptualization (Le., the "meaning network")
fuct that contemporary linguistic science was founded on the experi associated WitIl the word and the activity is clIltllre spccific. The same
ence of speech and suppressed writing from its field of inquiry does not statement could be made in relation to the materiality of sign carriers
necessarily mean that writing in the West was never preferred over and their conceptualization in different cultures. Boo" is neither the
speech; that it was a sign of a superior level of culture and a true universal name nor the universal concept associated with solid surfaces
measure of civilization. Renaissance philosophy of writing, prior to III which graphic signs are inscribed, preselV'ed, and transmitted. It is
and during the colonization process, bears witness to the fuct that the only from the point of view of a culture capable of applying its regional
value of speech over writing in Plato and the subsidiary role attributed concept to similar practices and objects of other cultures that could
to writing in Aristotle and in Saussure were inverted during the late see ancient Middle East clay tablet and Egyptian papyms as foreum
European Renaissance.83 ners of Western and Christian books,ss If the hypothesis is that book
designates the object and implies its representation in a network of
semiotic interactions, then the question "What is a book?" should
A Book Is Not Necessarily a Book: The Materiality of be answered in the same way that the question "What is writing?" can
Signs and Their Descriptions be answered: a book is not an object whose essential propetry can be
identified, but rather a cultural and regional interpretation of a specific
Spaniards translated amoxtli as "book." The previous discussion sug kind of object. W riting, although it refers to an activity ratI,er than to
an object, follows the same logic. Mexicas referred to the red and black
gested, I hope, the implications of such a translation, given the fact
ink to describe an activiry similar to what Spaniards referred to as
that the network of meaning Amerindians associated with the mate
riality of their reading and writing cultures was suppressed and sup writing.86 The development of speech and the extension of hands to
planted by the network of meanings Spaniards created around similar scratch solid surfuces (originally "to write" came from the Anglo
kinds of cultural practices. W hile the translation of anzoxtli as "book" Sa.xon writal1 and meant "to scratch" marks with something sharp; in
libra may be correct inasmuch as this rendering offers the best Icelandic it was rita, "to scratch"; in Swedish rita, "to draw, to trace";
or
alternative in the English or Spanish lexicon, it is also misleading since in Dutch, rijtel1, and in German rcisscl1, "to tear") have increased the
it does not take into account the erymological meaning of words and complexity of semiotic behavior among ti,e species homo and have
the social fimction related to those translations in the respective lan- contributed to the consolidation of features we recognize as human.
120 Because in the West the concept of writing was associated with ac to discern (Le., to read) the semiotic behavior ofother animals as well 12!
tivities of scratching or drawing graphic signs on solid surmces, Peru as the changes in nature.
The Darkcl' vian quipus presentcd a lot of difficulties to be interpreted and ac If it is true that with speech a form of semiotic interaction was 17Je
Side ofthe cepted as writing. introduced tllat had a significant impact on biological configuration Materiality of
Renaissance If the properries that make an object a book are neither in the (enlargement of brain size) as well as on the organization of commu Reading and
object nor in the class of objects of which the book is one example nal life (law, mmily life, planning, etc.),87 with writing ( from pictogra Writing
(mainly because there is no such tiling as an essential meaning sup phyto the alphabet) both a restructuring ofthought and a reorganiza Cultures
porting all different ideas of ti,e book but, rather, changing concep tion of social life were attained.ss Writing (in the general sense of the
tions of sign carriers), then we have to seek an answer to the question use of hands and the extension of hands Witll a sharp instrument,
within the specific cultural descriptions ofsimilar kinds of objects. The brush, pen, fabric, etc.), together with speech, distinguishes the net
question now becomes "What kind of conception/description does a work ofsemiotic interactions proper to humans from the more limited
culture associate with a class ofphysical objects made of grapllic marles one found in other animal species. Writing, which is of interest here
on a solid surface or in visually knotted and colored strings.>" Or some fur its ties to the book, seems to be a universal of culture; the book,
thing equivalent, such as: "For whom is a physical object Witll a given however, is not. The book could be conceived as a general object
set of characteristics a 'book'? How much is the idea of the 'book' among communities Witll different writing systems only if there is
based on ti,e alphabet and on literacy? What kind of'books' do we find agreement to call "book" any kind of material or solid surface on
in societies with nonalphabetic writing systems?" One possible anSWer which graphic signs are inscribed (Le., ti,e book as mere object); it is
to this set of questions seems obvious: al1zoxtli and vlth were words culture specific if what a culture understands by "book" (e.g., Holy
coined to designate a class of objects within a society Witll picto Book) transcends the object and it becomes a text: the idea of the
ideographic writing systems, while book, during ti,e fifteentll centuty, object on which graphic signs are inscribed as conceived by the culture
was a word used to designate a class of objects within a society at a producing and using it.
complex stage of alphabetic literacy. This answer, however, does not
tell us much about the kind of representation associated, in each cul
ture, with the words in question. To explore tIus issue, it is necessary to Conclnding Remarks
relativize ti,e notion ofthe book that we all bring with us and become
observers of our own cultural presuppositions. Let us explore first the I hope to have avoided the dangers of placing an all-powerful col
question ofwriting and then the question of the book. onizer in front of a submissive native by taking a mountain detour, in
According to current estimates, the biological lines of hominids to which the snakelike road I followed placed the reader in front ofa vast
which human beings belong is a lineage about fifteen million years scenic view. You may have perceived, in the distance, that colonial
old. The human features to which one is accustomed today were con semiosis implies constant interactions where relations of domination
solidated far more recently (about tlltee million years ago). One ofthe cannot be avoided, adaptation by members ofcnltures in conflict take
crucial aspects of this consolidation was ti,e emergence of a particular place, and opposition ( from "inside") and resistance (from "outside")
kind of semiotic interaction: speech. All species of animals character the official power is enacted in various forms. Speaking, writing, and
ize themselves by their ontogenetic, communicative, and semiotic sign carriers, as well as their conceptualization, was one set ofrelations
behaviors. The first accounts for all ti,e actions of the individual; the in which colonization took place. Thus, the spread ofWestern literacy
second for their tendency to live in "common union" with other indi� linked to the idea of the book was also linked to the appropriation and
viduals ofthe same species; the tl1ird for their ability to exchange signs. defense ofcnltural territories, ofa physical space loaded with meaning.
To live in common union implies communicative behavior and, there The Western book became a symbol of the letter, in such a way that
fore, the transmission and exchange of signs. If speech and writing writing was mainly conceived in terms of the sign carriers: paper and
distinguished the species Homo sapiens ftom other species, reading the book. Reading and writing practices were more and more con
(from the Anglo-Saxon raeden, to discern) seems to be one aspect in cdved in terms ofti,e sign cartier; reading the word became more and
ti,e sphere of semiotic interactions shared by all species of animals: more detached from reading the world, as the tlamati"ime would
although not evety species uses hands to write, they certainly are able have preferred to say.
122 Paradoxically, modem technology has returned us to the "begin
nings of the book" (biblos) in that microfilms, screens, disks, and tapes
17Jt! Darker
Side ofthe
have become the new kind of surface on which writing is inscribed.
The new forms ofstorage and retrieval of information arc in the pro
Part 2
Renaissance cess of eliminating our bookish habits. Soon, we will not need to
peruse pages to find the necessary pieces of information. We are al The Colonization of Memory
ready having access to alphabetical and thematic menus from which to
obtain what we need. The metaphor of the Divine Book could be
replaced, then, by the metaphor of the Electronic Book, an interna
tional data bank in which all lmowledge will be contained. A professor
of literature, teaching Borges's "The Library of Babel," will have to
explain to his or her students what a "book" and a "library" were.
During the process of colonization, however, the book was con
ceived by Spaniards as a container in which knowledge from the New
World could be deposited, as a carrier by means of which signs could
be transmitted to the metropolis, and, finally, as a text in which truth
could be discerned from falsehood, the law imposed over chaos. The
book, furthermore, also played a very important role in the reverse
process of sign transmission: from the metropolis to the colonial pe
riphery. Printed books facilitated the dissemination and reproduction
of knowledge and replaced, in the New World, the practice of the
tiawilo and the function of the amoxtli and contributed to the colo
nization of languages.
Chap ter 3
125
I26 A second feature of the debate was its chronological frame. With a cording the past and of finding means of interaction for which litera 127
few exceptions, its paradigmatic examples were taken from Western ture became the paradigm:
TlleDarker historiography since the eighteenth century-an interesting period Record
Side ofthe indeed, since it is the period in which the very concept of literature Keeping
History is a highly functional fantasy of tIle West, originating at
Renaissance replaced the Renaissance concept of poetry; human letters as a lan without
precisely the time when it alone "made" the history of the
guage-centered form oflmowledge was replaced by belles leures as a Letters
World . . . . At tI,is stage, History is written with a capital H. It is a
language-centered form of enjoyment. It is also a period in which the
totality that excludes other histories tI,at do not fit into that of the
concept of fiction replaced the notion of mimesis and verisimilitude
West . . . . Literature attains a metaexistence, the all-powerfulness
and became one ofthe distinctive features ofliterary narratives. In this
of a sacred sign, which will allow people WitIl writing to think it
chapter I will move back in time and space, to encounter alternate
justified to dominate and rule peoples with an oral civilization . . . .
forms of writing, recording, and transmitting the past that allow for a
Itis again this double hegemony ofa History with a capital H and a
reframing of the debate on fiction, literature, and history in the con
Literature consecrated by the absolute power of the written sign
text of literacy, colonization, and writing histories of people without
that the peoples who until now inhabited the hidden side of the
history.'
earth fought, at the same time they were fighting for food and
The discussions on history, literature, and fiction acquired a new freedom.6
dimension with the hisroriography introduced by the Indian group of
subaltern studies. History began to be explored in its compliciry with
My own reading ofAmerindians' and Spaniards' record keeping is
empires. Ranajit Guha expressed it suecinctIy by saying that the histo
closer to Glissant's framing than to White's or Guha's. It attempts to
riography of Indian nationalism has been dominated for a long time
circumvent the universality of "history" and to conceive "historiogra
by colonialist and bourgeois-nationalist elitism and tI,at botI, origi
phy" as a regional Western invention (particularly in its post-Renais
nated as "ideological product of British rule in India."4 Gayatri Spivak
sance version); and to conceive record keeping ofhuman memories as
has noticed that tI,e concepts of territorialiry and of woman are quite
a more general practice of which Western historiography is one of its
relevant in subaltern studies.s Territorialiry in subaltern studies is an
manifestations. The fact that this regional record-keeping maintains a
chored with kinship and communiry. In my own book, instead, ter
complicity with empire and imperial expansion gave it its universal
ritorialitv is linked more WitIl communiry and with the implementa
value and allowed imperial agencies to inscribe the idea that people
�
tion ofc gnition by the group ofpeople in power. But perhaps what is
WitI,Out writing were people without history and that people without
more important in the reframing of historiography by the group of
history were inferior human beings.
subaltern studies is the complicity between the subject and objeet of
investigation (as I attempted to develop it in the Introduction), be
tween subaltern studies and subalternity. Or, to put it in other words,
it is not just the conceptual reframing ofhistory as narrative, literature, Literacy and the Colonization of Memory: Writing
or fiction that matters but, rather, the ways in which understanding History of People withont History
the past could impinge on speaking the present as political and episte
mological intervention. For more than a century, from Brother Ram6n Pane (who remained in
During the same years that the Indian subaltern studies group were ilie Caribbean and lived with tI,e Amerindians between Colombus's
dismantIing tI,e complicity between historiography and empire and first and second voyages) to the Franciscan Juan de Torquemada
building new links between scholarship and political intervention, (who, toward 1615, finished a vast narrative in which he included the
Edouard Glissant was overturning tI,e allegiances between history and origin of the Mexica, the conquest of Mexico, and the Franciscan
literature and building new links between scholarship and political activities during the sixteenth century), a concern and a complaint
intervention, looking at history and literature once again from the persisted.? The concern was the Amerindians' qualifications to have
perspective of the empire ratI,er than from their epistemological un history (because of their lack of letters) and ilieir competence to tell
derpinning. For Glissant history and literature were just instruments coherent narratives. Torquemada expressed his opinion in the follow
of the Western empire to suppress and subjugate other forms of re- ing manner:
One of the things which causes the most confusion in a republic tives accomplished by Greek and Roman historians, as well as the 129
and which greatly perplexes those who wish to discuss its causes, is rherorical legacy of imperial Rome (mainly Ciceronian and Quin
The Darkc1' the lack of precision with which tl,ey consider their history; for if tilian) . It was tl,e beliefin the accurate preservation ofmemory and the Record
Side oft"e history is an account ofevents which are true and actually happened glorification of the past by means ofalphabetic writing that resulted in Keeping
RC1Jaissallcc and those who witnessed them and learned about tl,em neglected a powerful compliciry between the power ofthe letter and the author without
to preserve the memory of tllem, it will require an effort to write iry of history. So concerned was Nebrija in taming tl,e voice that the Letters
them down after they happened, and he who wishes to do so will consequences of his effort went beyond the first-level connection be
grope in the dark when he tries, for he may spend his life collating tween the oral and tl,e written to reach a second level of cultural
tl,e version which he is told only to find that at the end ofit he still literacy, in which taming the voice impinged upon the control of
has not unravelled the trutll. This (01' something like this) is what memory.
happens in this hist01Y of NeJV Spain, fm'just as the ancient inhabi From such a philosophy oflanguage and writing, it should come as
tants did not baJJc letters, or were even fatniliar with them, sa they no surprise that Spanish men ofletters appointed themselves to write
neither left records oftheir history." down tl,e history that Anlerindians could not properly write because
of their lack of letters. This belief was so long-lived that even Bar
The belief that only alphabetic literacy allowed fur a reliable record tolome de las Casas, who fought all his life against the belief of his
ing of the past was so authoritative among Spanish intellectuals of the compatriots and men of letters that Anlerindians lacked intelligence
sixteenth century that the sociery in which they lived translated tl,e and humaniry, had uo choice but to admit that they belonged to tl,e
medieval litteratns by letrados (men ofletters) and changed its mean class of barbarians identified with the illiterates:
ing to designate tl,e social roles involved in writing marters. The cele
bration of alphabetic writing analyzed in the previous chapters led The second class of barbarians are those who lack a literary lan
Antonio de Nebrija not only to consider tl,e letter the greatest inven guage [qui literali semone carent 1 which corresponds to their ma
tion of humankind but also to elaborate on the connections between ternal idiomatic language, as is Latin to us, and thus know how to
alphabetic writing and history. express what they think. I O
In his Reglas de la O11:ografia en la lC1tgna castellana (15I7), Nebrija
repeated almost verbatim what he had said in his Castilian grammar Since it was common belief at the time (clearly expressed in histo
twenry-five years before about the greatness of the letter. But in this riographical treatises )ll that history was composed of words and
case, he tied up the invention ofletters Witll tl,e glory ofthe prince and things, the "lack ofhistory" Spaniards referred to should not be taken
all those who, being in a position of power, need to be remembered: as a lack ofsignificant "things" (events, belief, ideas, memories) in the
Anlerindian past, bur just as the lack of written narratives accom
For Palimedes in the Trojan War did not win as much renown in plished by the agency of letters. For Spaniards did not question the
organizing battles, giving tl,e passwords, passing on his surname, value of Mexica or Maya inscriptions, since they fell within the range
assigning the watches and vigils, in discovering weights and mea of documentation that Renaissance historians used to tell stories
sures, as il1 the invention off0111' lettel'S: the Greek y, and three more about the past. Mexica or Mayan narratives of their own past were
aspirated letters: ch, ph, th.9 taken by Spaniards as equivalent to the evidence provided by coins,
medals, and other kinds ofinscriptions, but certainly not as eqnivalent
From tl,e letter to the glory of the prince there is certainly a great to a written narrative by Thucydides or Tacitus,
gap and an indirect road, since it is tl,e invention ofletters rather than How did the Mexicas narrate their past? To what kind of evidence
the strategies ofwar that established the glory ofthe prince. However, were Spaniards looking when they complained or raised doubts about
there is also an inllerent connection between the letter and the glory of the accuracy of Amerindian written memories? Mexica writing was
the prince tllat resurfaces in Torquemada's complaint about the lack mainly pieto-ideographic, with a few signs to represent sounds. Figure
of letters among the Mexica. Torquemada's concept of history (or 3·1 is a condensed version of the Tira de ia peregrinacion, a narrative
historiography) implies the dominant Ciceronian definition of it, that in its original form is folded as an accordion, about three meters
which was forged on the experience of alphabetically wrirten narra- long and fifteen centimeters wide. The Tim de la pert!!J1'inaci6n (which
bears the name of the Italian knight Bernardo Boturini Benaducci,
who collected it among other Mexican antiquities around 1740) was
TbeDarkcr probably painted circa 1550. Although painted under the Spanish
Sidc oftbc rule, it was done by a tiac1tilo, probably of the first generation after the
Renaissance conquest, who preserved very much the style of the ancient codices.
The tim narrates the Mexica peregrination from Azthln, place of ori
gin, imagined to be some place between current Southern California
and northern Mexico (state of Chihuahua), to their point of arrival,
Chapultepec and Tenochtithln (currently, Mexico City).
Let's look briefly at the first "chapter" (the episode in the upper lefr
corner) of the peregrination narrative (fig. 3.2). The woman and man
seated on the left are presented in the conventional Mexica postures
a
b
Fig. 3.1a. The Codex Se/dm, from the Mixtec region, painted around 1521.
It tells the stOIY ofthe beginning ofa genealogy, starting at the lower right
corner and moving up in Boustrophedon fashion. The birth ofa princess is in� Fig· 3·th. Tim de fa peregriuaciti1J: from Azthin (top left)
dicated by the umbilical cord. to Tcnochtitian (bottom center)
1 32 and costumes of their gender: she sits with her feet folded under her, rainly, the interpretation changed when the interpreter changed and, 133
covered by her long skirt and qttechqttelllit4' he sits on his rump, with mainly, when the ruler for whom the interpreter worked changed.
1beDarller his bent legs covered in front by his cloak. If, as human figures, both Torquemada was certainly bothered by what he perceived as erratic ReC01'd
Side ofthe are typical, they have also been singled out by their proper names: a narrative and unstable meaning as opposed to a steady control of Keeping
Rmaissallce round shield (chilllalli) is artached by a line to her head, identifYing meaning through an alphabetically written narrative under the rule of without
her as the priestess Chimalma. Thus, her image conveys the meaning hisrorical writing. He was unable to make a distinction between the Lettel1
both of an individual and of a group. The next human figure, un human need to record tlle past and tlle variety of forms the fulfillment
named and standing in his canoe, functions not as a participant but to ofthat need might take. It was hard for him, as for any Spanish man of
convey the action of rowing across the lake. The other protagonist is letters, to understand that narratives recording the past could function
the tribal patron (and god) Huitzilopochtli, conventionally indicated independently, outside speech and its control by alphabetic writing;
on the right side by the small human head helmeted with the head ofa and that a visual langnage and spatial relations are perfectly under
hummingbird. The protagonists are, therefore, Chimalma, the Mexi standable to those fumiliar with the pictorial conventions. Ifwe com
cas, and Huitzilopochtli.12 pare Mexica painted narratives recording the past with Western writ
Of course, changing the materiality of writing practices engenders ten narratives recording the past, we are able to identity, in both, a
alternative conceptions ofreading activities. The verb to read-as has common matrix constituted by the participants, the events, the spatial
already been discussed in the previous chapter-did not exist in location, and temporal marker. We can also find that both kinds of
Nahuatl. A11loxitoa has been translated as "reading a book," an ex narrative have, among others, the important function of identity
pression that can be understood by a literateWestern person, but such building. For the Renaissance men of letters, that was not enough.
a translation does not render its full meaning. Amoxitoa is a com They decided that history should fulfill the conditions established on
pound word whose roots are amoxtli, a tree in the Valley of Mexico the experience of alphabetically written historical narratives. Since
and, by extension, the bark of a tree in which writing was inscribed, Amerindians did not fulfill that condition, the len'ados appointed
and taa, which means "to narrate" Of to tell a story. One can surmise tllemselves to write the history of tllis people "without history." 13
that those who were trained to " rcad" the "books" (such as the Tira The notion of history and of people without history, which, if not
de I" peregrinacion) looked at the picture while telling the stoty. Cer- hegemonic, was certainly substantial during tlle sixteenth century,
developed from a philosophy oflangnage built on the experience of
, alphabetic writing. A few decades before Torquemada, Father Acosta
�® fi�
debate as to whetller the Amerindians lacked intelligence. With per
suasive arguments he supported the idea that Amerindians were intel
fR. t-a:
ligent human beings. What they lacked was not intelligence, but let
ters. In book 6 of his HistOl'i« natltral y moral de las Indias (1590),
� a"
Acosta states that nobody had discovered that "the Indians make use
ofletters," and from this assumption he develops a theory of writing
ti:� il" the words we pronounce and that words are immediate signals of the
concepts and thoughts of man (he was, ofcourse, referring to human
fE. a beings). Both letters and voice were created in order to understand
things: tl,e voice for those who could communicate directly in the
�� same space; letters for tllOse who could not be present but would be
able to read what had been written. Acosta emphasized that signals or
signs that were produced to signifY other than words could not truly
Fig. 3.2. Detail of Tim de In percgrinacioll: first scene, leaving Azthin be called letters, even tllOugh they could be written: a painted image
1 34 of the sun is not a cluster of written letters depicting the snn, but a courses-all of this a by-product of the imposition and growing rele 135
painting. Based on this assumption, Acosta made two inferences: (I) vance of alphabetic writing as the main learning device. Later, as basic
The Darllcr man ( humankind) has three different ways ofrecording memories: by treatises of humanistic education, the works of Cicero and Quintilian Record
Side ofthe letters and writing (primary examples are the Greeks, Latin, and He· shaped the minds of those who would write histories of the New Keeping
Rcnaissance brews); by painting (primary examples Acosta found in almost every World and colonized Amerinclian memories. without
known civilization); and by ciphers and characters; and (2) none ofthe Letters
civilizations of the Indies used letters, but they did employ both im
ages and figures. It was only natural that Acosta was surprised by the Describing What One Sees, Remembering Past Events,
report ofTovar, a Jesuit living in Mexico who informed Acosta about and Conceiving History
the Mexicas' culture, about the Mexicas' means ofrecording the past,
and about their elegant and sophisticated way ofspeaking. How could The concept ofhistory in the Western world was born at the same time
they have history if they did not have writing, and how could they be as the alphabet. Herodotus (c. 480-425 B.C.) and Thucydides (c.
so elegant in their speech if they did not have rhetoric? asked Acosta. 460-400 B.C.) were considered the fathers ofhistory and Greece the
Tovar, who was familiar with the Mexicas' art of memory, attempted original place of alphabetic writing. IS Although this picture could be
an explanation of how both remembeting the past and remembering challenged from the perspective ofnew developments in the history of
long sentences could have worked without the help of letters. He writing,'6 I suspect that it is still widespread among language
agreed, however, with Acosta's concerns about the Mexicas' lack of centered disciplines. The Greek noun [aTopea meant inquiry or learn
letters and writing. In a letter to Acosta Tovar suggests that even if ing by inquiry as well as the narrative by means of which what was
they have different types of figures and characters used to "write learned by inquiring was also reported. The verb [aTopEw indicates the
things" [escribir las casas], "their figures and characters arc not as action ofinquiring, rather than a specific kind ofinquity, and its report
sufficient as our writing."14 was designated by historia in the Italian Renaissance. The writer of
The theory of writing held by Spanish men of letters during the taTopLa could himselfhave been the eyewitness, or he could have used
Renaissance should become clear from these examples. The com the report of direct informants who had witnessed the events them
plicity between alphabetical writing and history, applied to Amerin selves. Temporality and the chronology of events were not neces
dian cultures, elicited Acosta's typology ofwriting. He concluded that sarycomponents oficrTopLa . The conjunction ofl aTopL a and to'TOPEW
anybody can keep records of the past, but history can only be written with a lasting chronology ofthe events reported took place many years
with letters. What was the foundation for this conception of writing later, when Roman writers began to inquire into the past ofRome and
history? What was the philosophy of historiography that made such a the beginning of the empire. Tacitus, writing the history of Rome
connection with writing possible? It is common knowledge that during the first century A.D., used the expression analesto refer to the
within the legacy of imperial Rome, works such as the Ad he1"C1mitt1ll, events that took place before the time of his own birth and historia to
De oratore, and Institutione oratoria were the basic rhetorical treatises refer to the events contemporary with his own biography. However,
for any humanistic education. They imposed and transmitted the idea Roman historians such as Livy (59 B.C.-A.D. 17) and Tacitus were
that history is narration and narration is the central part of construct writing about a subject matter, Rome, that they were able to trace to
ing a text (dispositio). It is also a well-known fuct that Quintilian in the its beginning and through its development until their own days. One
Institutione oratoria (book 2, chap. 5 ) distinguishes three kinds of important difference between Herodotus, on the one hand, and Livy
narrations: [abula, the furthest removed from truth and applied to and Tacitus, on the other, was that the latter two writers were living in
tragedy and epic; m;glt11lCll tlt1l1, a feigned narrative that applied to a society in which alphabetic writing and graphic record keeping con
comedy; and finally, bistorin, which was considered the true narration stituted part of the society itself. Herodotus and Thucydides, instead,
of past events. The complicity between history and alphabetic literacy lived in a society in which records were still kept in the body's memory
comes from a culture whose learned members were able to write so and transmitted orally. Cicero's definition of history, based on the
phisticated treatises (rhetoric) about oral performances (oratmy) and Roman experience, became the standard definition during the Euro
written narratives (historia). They laid the groundwork for conceiving pean Renaissance and was often repeated by historians of the New
the writing of history in terms of the fundamentals of oratorial dis- World: esse testem temporum, Fitae magistral'tl, vitam melnoriac, peri-
tatis lucen. et vetustatis nuntian (witness of time, model of life, life of of record keeping ( ricordal1Z11) found among wealthy families within 137
----
memory, light of truth, and messenger of antiquiry). the thriving Italian city-states and the chronological organization of
The Darker Toward the end of the fourteenth century Ibn Khaldun (1332- facts and events cultivated by the medieval chronist with the rhetorical Record
Side oftile 1406), one of the classical Arab historians, wrote a monumental Mlt experience and training inherited ftom the blossoming domain of Kcepillg
Renaissance qaddintah, an extensive overview or introduction to his ICitab al-Ibar, letters in the Roman world. Roman historians (such as Livy and Tac- withollt
which Rosenthal translated as "World history."17 The modern reader itus) and Italian hnmanist historians (such as Bruni and Biondo) Letters
might wonder if "history" in Franz Rosenthal's translation should be shared a deep sense of the past based on the storage of written records
understood in the sense the word had for Herodotus or rather it that distinguishes them from Greek historians, for whom writing his-
would be closer to the Latin meaning of histor;a. For the Roman tory was more related to the written report of the investigation of
historians the word had a meaning closer to ��a narrative account of current events than with the reconstruction of the past based on writ-
past events" than to ��report on witnessed events." In fact, Ibn ten records. Contrary to Roman historians, humanist historians had
Khaldun's written narrative and report resembles more a compen an image of tlle rise and fall of tlle Roman Empire at tl,e same time that
dium of human civilization with particular attention to the Arabic a perspective on the ten centuries elapsed ftom its full to their present
world than a histori" a la Tacitus or Livy. Futthermore, Khaldun at days. New World historians were deprived of such a perspective on the
taches great importance to philosophy. If, on the one hand, he past. The stories they were telling and they Imew well began in 1492. A
grounded his work on the significance of the written (kitab), he was deep sense of the past, paradoxically, did not belong to them who
also aware of the importance of philosophy in understanding the past wrote history but to those who the Spanish doubted had history be-
of human civilization and the present of Arabic societies. In Rosen
cause they did not have writing. The tension between those who had
thal's translation, Ibn Khaldun remarks, the memories and those who appointed tllemselves to write history
was not an easy problem to solve, even by a careful and relentless
The inner meaning of history [ kitllb], on the other hand, involves
person such as Bernardino de Sahagun. New World historians ap-
speculation and an attempt to get at the truth, subtle explanation of
proached tlleir subject matter with a concept of historiography inher-
the causes and origins of existing things, and deep knowledge of
ited from tl,e Roman and humanist traditions at the same time tllat
the how and why of events. [History (kitab), ] therefore, is firmll'
they found themselves in a situation more akin to Herodotus and
rooted in philosophy. It deserves to be accounted a branch of [phi
Thucydides than to Livy or Biondo.
losophy]. (1:6)
Let's explore further this distinction, making a stop in the sixth
century A.D., a century considered to be one of the first stages in the
The complicity between writing about the past and a rational foun
configuration of modern Europe.20 In retrospect, three interrelated
dation of its understanding (philosophy) clearly distinguishes his con
fuctors played a substantial role in this process: tl,e rise of Christianity,
ception of llitab from Livy's notion of historia, Biondo's notion of
the Greco-Roman legacy, and the immigration of Germanic com
istoria) or las Casas's notion of historia.l8 In the West, there is a re
munities. This century has also been characterized by contrasting By
markable tendency to link history with rhetoric instead of philosophy,
zantium, in which an effortwas being made to reconstitute the Roman
particularly after the powerful legacy of Cicero and tl,e Roman histo
Empire, with tl,e West, in which a plurality of newborn city-states
rian. If by the eleventh century both the Muslim and the Western
replaced the unity created by imperial Rome. Hispania or the Iberian
Christian world were inheritors of Greek philosophy, history seems to
have taken different roots in these cultures. Peninsula was linked to Byzantium, and together with Mrica and Italy
was one of the strategic points for a Byzantine reconstruction of the
In Italy, toward the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the
fourteenth centuries, things began to take a new turn. Almost ten
O1'bis terrarll111 modeled on the Roman Empire. Hispania was the
centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy was a conglomerate place in which the Hispano-Romaus resisted Byzantium. In Hispania,
of city-states, and it became the locus of a new development in histo Seville was tl,e place that in the eighth century A.D. witnessed the
riographical writing. Cochrane has described the conditions facilitat Muslim expansion. A century before, in 556, during the revival of the
ing the development of a consciousness that influenced historio Visigothic culture, Isidore was born in Seville. Isidore of Seville is a
graphical writing in the West until the seventeenth century.19 good example of the Hispano-Roman intellectual of the sixth century
Hnmanist historiography, according to Cochrane, blended a practice A.D. who contributed to a notion of history related to alphabetic writ-
ing that would prove crucial to the future expansion of the Chtistian the Greek apo til historein (to see or to know) or by the fact that the 139
West and the construction of a new idea of Europe. Conceiving and Greek expression he was translating did stress the act of seeing ( the
17JeDar/ur wtiting history was, no doubt, an important step in the direction of present knowing and the agency ofthe eye or witnesses) as opposed to Record
Side "ft"e consolidating the classical legacy. History as a discipline or discursive remembering events past. Isidore did not perceive differences be Keeping
Renaissance practice became a substantial tool in such an enterprise. Let's explore tween Greek and Latin concepts ofhistory. He was even less bothered without
Isidore of Seville's concept of historia. by the consequences ofhis own translation, when he says, for instance: Letters
Book 1 of his famous Etimologiae21 begins with an exploration of
the letter (chap. 3 ) and ends with a definition ofwriting history (chaps. Pues entre los antiguos, nadie cscribia historia mas que aquellos
41-44). Narurally, this link came to Isidore from Varro's distinction, in que eran testigos y habian visto las cosas que narraban, pues mejor
high education, between the trivium and the quadrivium.22 Writing conocemos 10 que hemos visto que 10 que sabemos de oidas.25
history was a subcomponent of the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and
dialectic). In Isidore's view the letter had been invented to write down [For among the ancients, without exception only those who were
and maintain the "memories of things" [res memoria]. The letters, witnesses and who had seen the things they narrated wrote histOlY,
according to a telling image used by Isidore, enable us to "tie things for we understand what we have seen better than what we know by
up," thus keeping them from "flying away with all those things that hearsay.]
are forgotten" :
In other words, Isidore was not concerned with the distinction
El uso de las letras se introduce para conservar el recuerdo de las between a narrative of witnessed events (which will become past
cosas, pues para que no huyan por el olvido, se atan can las letras; events from a future perspective) and a narrative of the narrative of
pues en tanta variedad de casas, ni todas se podrian aprender de witnessed events. Because he was not interested in such a distinction,
oidas, ni facilmente se retendrian en la memoria.23 he was able to blend a conception of history as a narrative of past
events with a conception ofhistory as a narrative ofwitnessed events:
[The use of letters was begun in order to preserve the memory of
things, for in order that they may not fall into oblivion, they are Las cosas que se ven se refieren sin equivocaci6n. Esta disciplina
tethered by means of letters; for with such a vatiety of things, it pertenece a la gramatica, porque se escribia solo 10 que era digno de
would be impossible to learn them all by hearsay, and it wonld be ser tenido en memoria. Par tanto, las historias se Haman monu
no easy task to retain them in the memory.] mentos, porq ue perpetuan las cosas sefialadas. Se les llamo series
por traslacion, tornado este nombre a sertisjlorll1J1, de guirnaldas de
Isidore recalls, in this context, the notion of literatio (literacy) in flores.
troduced by Varro to refer to "the knowledge ofreading, writing, and
counting." Numeracy ( lllt11lcratio) is included in the concept ofliter� [Things that are seen are reported without any ambiguity. This
acy. The connections between the letter ( litterae) and the act ofread discipline pettains to grammar, for only the things deemed wotthy
ing ( lege/-c) were tal<en for granted because, he said, the word letter of memory were wtitten down. Therefore, histoties are called
comes from legiterae, which means "to open the way for those who monuments because they perpetuate notable events. Figuratively,
read" [legenti iter]; as well as the fact that what is repeated is repeated they were called series from the expression sertisflomm, garlands of
in the act ofreading (in legC1ldo iterantm-). This interpretation shows flowers.]
that by the turn of the sixth century, the original meaning of lcgere
�"to discern"-had acquired a restricted meaning, that of "discerning The lack ofdistinction between history as report ofpresent events
the letters of the alphabet" or reading ( leer in Spanish; liI-e in Ital by an eyewitness and history as record ofpast events remains in Isidore
ian).24 when he describes the "histotical genres." On the one hand he dis
Isidore's concept of history was inferred from that of Cicero. His tinguishes three genres according to methods of organizing time
tory, said Isidore, is the narrative ofpast events, and it is also the way of (eftmerides, counting by days; calender, counting by months; and
knowing past events. He was not perturbed by his own translation of anales, counting by year). On the other hand, he distinguishes history
from annals on the assumption that the latter is a narrative of the conventions, is cast. Miguel Le6n-Portilla offers a useful complement 141
ancient times and past events that the historian could not witness, to Ixtlilxochitl's description by his reconstruction of a Nahuatl word
171eDarkcr whereas hista,.ia is a narrative of the events taking place during the mmily expressing the Mexica conceprualization of oral discourses as Record
Side oftbe historian's time,26 well as written records.28 The concept of talttc£iyatl, which Le6n Keepillg
Rmaissancc In Italy, nine centuries afrer Isidore of Seville, humanist histo Portilla translates astolteqttidad, or the peculiarity of the Toltecs' cul without
riography would begin to blur the distinction between annals and tural identity,29 is the most inclusive one. As such, toltecayotl was a Letters
history. The understanding of"history" (apo ttl hist01·eil1) as an eyewit word employed among the Toltecs (tlle civilization preceding the
ness account began to be conceived as the narrative of past events, Mexicas, from whom they claimed their cultural legacy) ta refer to the
which were saved from oblivion by written records and transmitted to cultural tradition and identity of a human and social community pre
furure generations by alphabetic narratives. New World historians served, among other forms, by means of oral and written transmis
found themselves in a situation similar to Isidore of Seville and later sions: Taltecltyatl, adds Le6n-Portilla,
the humanists: they were unable to accept that past events could have
been recorded without necessarily haVing letters, and, unlike Isidore, abarcaba la tintn negra y la tintn raJa-la sabiduria-la escritura y
they failed to recognize the distinction between annals and history. el calendario, libros de pintura, conocimiento de los caminos que
Thus, it is in the context of the discontinuity of the classical tradition siguen los astros, las artes, entre elIas la musica de las flautas, bon
that we might understand some of the tensions and dilemmas mced by dad y rectitud en el trato de los seres humanos, el arte del buen
New World historians as well as some of the peculiarities of New comer, la antigua palabra, el culta de los dioses, dialogar con cllos y
World historiography briefly discussed in the previous section. COn uno mismo.30
17Jc Darker few months in England and then moved to Lisbon, where he was well first language of Greece. Vico's vocabulary to describe speech and Record
Side oftile received in the royal house. He did not stay long, however, and moved writing is not altogether clear and is given on occasion to long and Keeping
Renaissance to Madrid. Because of his religious devotion, he walked from Madrid complex debates. Vico employs the word lingua (language) for both witllollt
to Zaragoza to visit the temple ofNuestra Senora. It was in Zaragoza speech and writing, although he also resorts to scriberc) lettera) and Letters
as a result of this devotion that he learned about the cult of the Virgin camtterewhen referring specifically to writing. Sometimes even a spe-
of Guadalupe, in Mexico, who had become almost a century earlier cific name is given to a carattel'c) for instance, gCl'oglifici (hiero-
the symbol of the Creole population and consciousness. Boturini did glyphic). Thus when Vico describes the language of the first age, he
not hesitate in deciding to visit Mexico. Once there, he divided his imagines that such divine language ( lingua) was somewhat similar to
time between the goal of his mission (the Virgin of Guadalupe) and the Egyptian hieroglyphics and implies a correlation between the
the "discovery" of Mexican ancient history. Before his death in 1555, three kinds oflanguages and the three kinds of characters.44 The first
he was able to finish his Idea de twa n1le1'« historia general de la of these languages "was a divine mental language by mute religious
AWC1-ica Septentrional, printed in 1746, the first volume of the Histo acts Of divine ceremonies," the second "was by heroic bluzonings,
ria general de la America Sepmlt1-ional: De In cronologia de sus pt-i,,
cipales nacioncs, printed in 1749 (fig. 3.3).42 It would be an under
statement to say that Boturini's work remained marginal in the history
of historiography, although he had during his time a few strong sup
porters. None, however, supported Boturini for the same reasons we
are interested in today, that is, Boturini's new concept of history and
I D E A
historiographical writing. D E UN A N U EVA
The few studies and comments on Boturini's work are mainly in Fig. 3.3. Boturini
relation to his new idea of writing history. Boturini was an admirer of Benaducci's first edition
ofhis Idea de twa nllcva
HIST ORIA GENERAL
Giambattista Vica, whose first edition of the Sciencia nteovn. prima DE LA
historia de la America
(SNP) (1730) he knew.43 Following Vico's model ofa nniversal his Scptmtriollal
tory of humankind, Boturini experimented with the history of the AMERICA SEPTENTRIONAL.
ancient Mexican and divided it in three ages: the age of gods, the age
F U N Ii) .JJD A
of heroes, and the age of men (or human beings). This distinction,
which has been traced back to ancient Egypt and was known through S O B R E M A T E R I A L C O P I O S O DE FIGURAS,
Symbolos J CaraCi:eres J y Gerogtificos I Ca.ntJ.rcs,
Varro, was expanded by Vico. To each age Vico attributed a particular y M.nu[cricos de Autores Indios,
kind oflanguage. During the age of the gods, the language was hiero 111tiOlamente defcubiertoi.
glyphic; during the age of the heroes, the language was composed of
signs and of "emprcsas heraicas" [heroic enterprises]; and in the age ID E Ii) I C A L A
of men, the language was epistolary, and they were able to communi
cate across space. Viee came to the conclusion that a civil history was
AL REY N;RO SENOR
EN SU REAL , Y SUPREMO CONSE]O
possible because each nation was able to write its own history in the D E LAS INDIAS
characters corresponding to each period.
EL CAVALLERO LORENZO [JOrURINI BENADUCI,
Selfar dt lIS Torn ;, Je Honlh
The theory of the three linguistic (or semiotic) stages in the evolu
tion of humankind that Vico laid out in book 3, chapter 25 of SNP
LES EDITIONS GENET
should be understood in the context of the Christian history of lan 199·201, R U E DE O R E N E LLE, 1 9 9 2 0 1
guage, whose origin was attributed to Adam. Afrer Adam came the PARIS (7',
plurality oflanguages prompted by the episode of Babel, to which we
briefly alluded in chapter l. Finally, there was the long and obscure age
146 with which arms are made to speak," and the third is '�articulate tribution was his recognition of the Mexicas' own legitimate way of 147
----
speech, which is used by all nations today. "45 The three kinds of recording me past. Certainly, Boturini took mis idea very far, and we
TIlC Darkcr characters are, first, the "divine, properly called hieroglyphics, used should not necessarily expect what was impossible to deliver witilin Record
Side oftlie ' " by all nations in their beginnings . . . . And they were certain me eighteenth-centnry horizon of Imowledge. It was more man KeepillO
Renaissa1Jcc imaginative universals, dictated naturally by the human mind's innate enough that Boturini understood that tlle Amerindians had their own without
ptoperty of delighting in tile uniform." The second is "tile heroic valuable ways of preserving memories. By recognizing mis he indi - Lcrrers
characters, which were also imaginative universals to which they re rectly introduced a new philosophy ofwriting upon which to evaluate
duced the various species of heroic things, as to Achilles all me deeds Amerindian manners of preserving memories. Boturini was able to
of valiant fighters and to Ulysses all the devices of clever men." And solve much of tile puzzle presented to sixteenth-century observers of
the third is the "vulgar characters which went along wim tile vulgar me Amerindian history of writing and their writing of history: namely,
languages," or letters.46 that every human community had its own manner of recording tlle
For me second age, tile language of arms, Vico does not offer an past and mat me connivance between alphabetic writing and history
equivalent example, as he does for me first age. The language (lillgua) was a regional invention of me West. He could not go far enough to
of me third age is, according to Vico, speech and alphabetic writing, recognize that the Mexicas' five ages were as desirable as Vico's three.
witil Homer its paradigm. Thus, not only does Vico trace an evolu His model was of one evolutionary world, not of alternates.
tionary process from tile age of gods to me age of man, but he also Vieo's dictum ��Every nation spoke by writing" deserves, at this
traces an evolutionary process oflanguage according to which me last point, fuMer exploration. Vico, contrary to Nebrija, considered me
stage corresponds to "letteri volgari" [tile alphabet].47 Consequentiy, alphabet just one form of writing. Writing to Vico meant any kind of
whatever culture has not reached such a stage remains somewhere visible sign somehow related to me world ofideas and not necessarily
between the first and the second age. However, Vieo's theory is not as to speech. The distinction between writing and idea (and not between
simple as tius introductory paragraph suggests, and a second reading writing and speech) is crucial, for by lettere he refers to any visible sign
can problematize tile first. (like munder or storm, in tile primal language of the first age [SNP,
Vico's disagreement with dlose who maintained that the origin of book 3, chap. 3, p. 897J), and by lettere voware he alludes to alphabet
speech preceded the origin of writing ( tetm'e) and his well-known ic writing and the articulated language of the age of me men (or
thesis that both have a common origin contested the Renaissance human beings). Vico uses carattere (character in the sense ofscript) in
philosophy oflanguage that celebrated the letter, paving the way for his analysis and depiction of the world ofideas. Following his distinc
scholars such as Boturini, who was able to perceive what escaped tion between the world of signs ( lettere and lettere "aware) and tile
sixteenth-century men ofletters and missionaries. Vico states his thesis world ofideas ( carattere), he proposes a division oflabor between me
in a very obscure and problematic formula: "tute Ie nazione parlarono philosopher, who deals witil earattel'e, and the philologue, who deals
scrivendo" [every nation spoke by writing]. It was easy for Boturini to with lettere.49 The following charts Vico's concept of lillgua and the
conclude, following mis premise, that me Amerindians, prior to the relations between lcttcrc and carnttcre.50 Lingua comprises
arrival of tile Europeans, had meir own way of writing, by speaking
and by hieroglyphics and me language of arms. Accordingly, and fol Lettere: percept, visible signs
lowing Vieo's second premise, by which every nation writes its history Carattcre: concept, mental ideas
in me language corresponding to each age, Boturini concluded mat Pm"lari: percept, audible signs
the Mexicans had meir own manner of writing history. Thus, he en
titled his first report on his findings a "new idea of history," precisely The mree-way distinction is useful for remapping Vico's concept of
because he realized that alphabetic writing was not a necessary condi tile mree ages of the world and their corresponding languages, all of
tion for writing history, despite me fact that sixteenm-century scholars them in me realm of me lett,,"e (not in earattere or padMi): the lan
had difficulties in understanding this. Boturini's contribution was not guage of tile gods (where the lettere arc natural signs read or inter
so much his division of Mexica history in three ages, since he sup preted as hieroglyphs), tile language of tile heroes (where the lettC/'e
pressed me fact tilat the Mexicas tilemselves divided tileir own are man-made signs read as signs of war), and the language of human
chronology into four ages previous to the present.48 His main con- beings (where tile lettere are lett"'i "owari, or alphabetic writing).
_ .___ ••�.. ,�" ... \."a\,.u\::U Ult: pInnaCle of
volgar;' Record
-.-- �J "u" �\::lWit:a [0 accept that the lcttcrewere invented by the Greeks (even if Vico introduced, nevertheless, a new way oflooking at the history Keepil1g
Renaissance he takes Homer as the paradigmatic example of the language of the
ofwriting and the writing of history. The happy coincidence that Bo without
third age), it was because he did not accept that writing was invented
turini read Vico and went to Mexico allowed him to see in Mexican Letters
after speech. He believed that semiotic processes from the beginning writing what missionaries ofthe first century fuiled to see: the Amerin
of human existence involved sound, body movement, ideas, and
dians' magnificent and exemplary (to paraphrase his own expressions)
graphic signs by which some kind of coordinated behavior among
ways ofwriting history, which could be positively compared-accord
living nervous systems was attempted. Vico's concept of lingua is a mgtO Boturini-with the most celebrated histories written anywhere
complex matrix composed ofideas , different kinds ofvisible signs, and
in the world. Boturini gave two reasons to support his statement:
sounds.
There was in Vico, however, a hesitation between the synchronic I. Lo primero, porque es la mas fucunda de todas quantas hasta el
and the diachronic handling of his own model. He asserts that the presente se han descubierto, por tener quatro modos de encomen
three kinds oflanguage (by sounds [parlari], by natural means [light dar a la publica memoria sus cosas notables: eI primero, en Figuras,
ning and storm], and graphic signs [ lettere]) were born at the same Symbol os, Caracteres y Geroglificos, que encierran en si un mar de
time, although he also suggests a hierarchical dominance based on erudicion, como se vera adeIante: El segundo, en Nudos de varios
chronological development. First was the language of gods, followed colores, que en idioma de los Peruanos se llaman Quipu, y en el de
by the language ofheroes, and, finally, the language ofhuman beings. nuestros Indios [he refers to central Mexico] Nepohualrzitzin: El
The hierarchical relation derives from the fact that while during the tercero, en Cantares de exquisitas metaforas, y eIevados conceptos:
first and second ages the language of human beings was not yet in El quarto, y ultimo, despues de la Conquista Espanola, en Manus
place, during the third age the language ofgods and heroes survived. critos de ambas lenguas Indiana, y Castellana; algunos en papel
Thus, Vico perceived the Chinese and the Aztecs as equally "behind" NacionaI, y otros en el Europeo, por cuyo medio se viene en cono·
in alphabetic writing (letteri volgari) because in both cultures people cimiento de las particularidades de su Vida Civil.
still wrote in hieroglyphics: 2. La segundo, por hallarse adomada de una Chronologia tan
exacta, que vence en primores a la de los Egipcios, y Caldeos; pues
"Nell'Indie occidentali i messicani furono ritruovati scriver per
explica sus mas con quatro caracteres, Tecpatl, Callt� Tocht/i) Acatl)
geroglifici, e Giovanni di Laet nella sua Descriziene della NttoPa
que quiere decir, Pcdernal) Casa) Concjo y Cal1a) arcano de los
India) descrive i geroglifici degl'indiani essere diversi capi d'ani·
quatro Elementos, y de muchas erudiciones Astronomicas, texien
mali, piante, fiori, fiutte, e per gli loro ceppi distinguere Ie fumiglie;
dolos en Triadecateridas, y formando con quatro de elIas 52 arlos,
ch'e 10 stesso uso appunto ch'hanno l'armi gentilizie dcl l1wndo
que son el Cyclo Solar Indirmo, en el qual se demuestra un Systema
nostro. Nell'Indie orientali i chinesi tuttavia scribono per gero
perpetuo, e infalible, que es la mas genuida propriedad de la ver
glifici. "51
dadera cienda (PLATE 3 and 4).5 3
[In the West Indies the Mexicans were found to write in hiero
glyphics, and Jan de Laet in his Description oj the Nell' India [I. Firstly, because it is tl,e most eloquent of all tl,at have to date
describes the hieroglyphics of the Indians as divers heads of ani been discovered, since there are four ways ofcommitting notewor·
mals, plants, flowers and fruits, and notes that they distinguish thy matters to public memory: first by means of Figures, Symbols,
families by their cippi; which is the same use that is made offumily Characters, and Hieroglyphs, each of which conrains a sea ofwis
coats-of-arms in our world. In the East Indies the Chinese still dom as we shall see shortiy. Secondly, by means of multicolored
write in hieroglyphics.] S2 knots, which are called quipu in the Peruvian language and 1tepo
hualtzitzin in the language of our Indians [Le., those in central
While Vico cannot be accused of utterly falling into the trap ofthe Mexico]. Thirdly, in poems full of exquisite metaphors and noble
Renaissance celebration ofalphabetic writing, as Acosta did, he could conceits. Fourthly and lastly, after the Spanish Conquest, in manu-
ISO scripts written in Indian and Castilian; some on local paper, others in their paintings as their poems. If they won or lost a battle tlley 15 1
on European, by which we have come to know about the pecu would paint the event with precise attention to detail; and the
17)c Dal'/�er liarities of their Civil Life. Philologists composed poems of rejoicing or sorrow to celebrate or Record
Side ofthe 2. Secondly, because they are blessed with such a precise Chronol lament ti,e slightest circumstances of tI,eir good or bad fortune to Keeping
Rwaissancc ogy, that it surpasses in its elegance that of the Egyptians and the the sound of their musical instruments.] withollt
Chaldeans; for the years arc explained by four characters: Tccpatl, Letters
Calli, Tochtli, Acatl, which mean Flint, HOlISe, Rabbit, and Reed, Thus, Boturini's Idea de IIna ll1tCl'a historia is, indeed, a history of
the mystery of the four elements, and much more astronomical Amerindian historiography, and more specifically, a history of the his
scholarship, weaving them in Trindecateridas so that four of them toriography of ti,e two ages, ti,e age of gods and the age of heroes.
equal fifty-two years, that is, the Indian Solar Cycle, which is a BotUl1ni not only wrote a history ofAmerica Septentrional (Mex
perpetual and infallible system, which is in turn the purest property ico), he also collected and described a wealtll of documents to show
of true science. ] how the Mexicas themselves wrote their own history. In this particular
aspect Boturini went further than his mentor. His personal experience
Boturini, thus, accepts that history can be written without letteri with ancient Mexican sources in the very country in which such
volgari (alphabetic writing); it can be written with just " letters" (any sources were produced gave him a perception of ancient Mexican
kind of sign). He then describes how Mexicans wrote their history in manners ofrecording ti,e past tllat Vico could not have had by reading
the age of gods and the age ofheroes. He stops before the third age, Jean de Laet or otl,er secondary descriptions. Where Boturini some
which presumably created a theoretical problem that could not have what fuiled, as did many others born before and after him, was his
been solved by following Vico. The conquest of Mexico interrupted inability to understand tllat the classical models he was using to orga
the natural continuity of Mexican history and introduced a discon nize ti,e Mexica chronology conflicted with the chronology of ti,e
tinuity in the history of writing that resulted in the coexistence of Mexica he himself described Witll such detail and admiration. He
conflicting spoken languages and systems of writing. To account for fuiled, however, to fully recognize that the Mexicas' model ofti,e ages
what happened in the sixteenth century Boturini would have had to of the world (or of universal history) was as valid as ti,e one Varra
invent a fourth agc, the age ofcolonial encounters, when people with borrowed from ti,e Egyptians and Vico borrowed from Varro.
tettere voigari transmitted their system ofwriting to people with Lettere It is well known tllat the Mexica divided time into five ages, or
(nonalphabetic writing). He does mention, however, the existence of Suns, ti,e Fifth Sun being ti,e one indicating the present time, the time
"manuscripts in both languages, Indian and Castilian." What is un� in which the cosmological locus ofenunciation is situated (fig. 3 .4). It
usual in Boturini (even more so if we remember Acosta's doubts and is, in other words, those in the present who placed themselves under
Garcilaso's uncompromising tribulations by malting his uncle talk ti,e Fifth Sun who were able to tell the story ofthe previous four. This
about the Incas' manners of preserving the past) is the conviction and implies that the previous Four Suns might not have existed, and tllat
the enthusiasm with which he studied Amerindian histories: they were an invention of the present. Such an observation is not only
valid for Mexica's ages ofthe world, but for Varro's and Vico's as well.
Aun mas admira Ia verdad, y sencillez can que los Historiadores Being bOtll human inventions and being difficult to assess whether
antiguQs, assi en las Pinturas, como en los Cantares, referian las universal history is really divided in tI,ree or four ages, we should
cosas dignas de memoria. Si ganaban, 0 perdian las Batallas, pin conclude that the one that prevails is ti,e one tllat could be heard,
taban el sucesso con las mayores puntualidades; y los Philologos rehearsed, and repeated. The Mexica Fifth Age remained as a proofof
companian llnDS Caotares de jubilo, 0 de lamentacion, celebrando, their rationality regarding chronology and calendaric organization,
a Boranda, al son de sus instrumentos musicos . . . las mas menudas but not, unfortunately, one that could stand on its own next to Varro's
circunstancias de su buena, 0 mala fortuna. 54 and Vico's. Boturini, in other words, praised Mexica's own manners of
writing history. He replaced it, however, with a Western chronological
[What is even more amazing is the truth and simplicity with which model. By commenting on these examples I should repeat, Once
the ancient historians depicted things worthy of memory, as much again, that I am not interested in building on a critique ofBoturini but
152 on a learning experience. One of the lessons I am learning from Bot kind of language attached to each, Mexica believed in a universal 153
urini is how easy it is to recognize others' values and how difficult it is history divided in five ages and with a particular kind of food attached
The Darker to let them stand on their own. to each. Viea's model sUlvived, however, and it sUIvived within a crit Rccard
Side ofthe A second aspect that deserves special attention is the fact that Mexi ical complicity with alphabetic writing. For even ifVico took a giant Keeping
Renaissance ca's five ages of the world were not characterized by the evolution of step in relation to Nebrija, both in IllS effotts to put alphabetic writing without
language and writing, but by an evolution ofnourishment. During the next to other writing forms and in his effOrts to account for the simul Letters
first age, or Sun (Sun 4 Tigre) the main sustenance was bellotas de taneity of the origin ofspeech invention and of the invention ofwrit
mei"" (holm oak acorn). During the second age (Sun 4 Wind) a ing, his own model remained within an ideology in which language
transformation took place in basic nourishment and people ate a kind (speech and writing) had the same privilege that food had in the Mexi
of water maize (<<eeemtli). In the third age (Sun 4 Fire-Rain) a step ca model of universal history.
forward was taken in food suppott and the «eeeentii was supplanted by When Boturini's application ofVarro's-Vico's model to organize
eineoeopi, a kind of root of maizelike plant. Tills change ended up in Mexica history is looked at closely, one is astonished by the simulta
the fifrh age (Sun 4 Movement) in which maize, the plant and edible neous superimposition and suppression ofcultural models. For exam
encountered in almost every single narrative of origins ofAmerindian ple, the Egyptians also divided universal history in three ages, but they
people, becomes the principal nourishment. Thus, while Vico pro could have not attached to each age a particular kind of language in
posed a universal history divided in three ages with a particular the way that Varro, who lived in a period and culture in which the
intellectual elites were in full possession of alphabetic writing, could
have done. 55 Language, in other words, could be used as a distinctive
feature in a model ofuniversal history, but language is not necessarily a
distinctive feature of universal history itself. Thus, Boturini stood at
the crossroads between an Egyptian legacy transformed by Varro and
incorporated it in the Western classical tradition. The Mexicas' own
model of universal history was alien to both the Egyptian and the
Western classical legacy, and the encounter between the Western and
the Mexica models (or, better, people acting and interpreting accord
ing to different models of universal history) brought a new light into
the practice and conceptualization of recording the past. Let's listen
to what Boturini has to say about the issue:
Fig. 3.4- The Mexica fifty-two year cycle, divided in four parts of thirteen
[Following the idea ofthe famous division oftime, as taught by the
years cacho Place and time are two sides of the same coin. Egyptians, I have divided Indian History into three Ages; the first is
154 the Age ofthe Gods; the Second, the Age ofthe Heroes; and third, human understanding and the natural tendency to take pleasure in 155
the Age ofMan. In this way there is a gradual descent to the point at the uniform, and tI,ey did with portraits and likenesses what tlley
The Darka which our Indians established their Humane Governments, and could not do Witll universally abstract forms, the likes of which I Record
Side afthe their Empires, Kingdoms, and Dominion spread throughout shall explain with a natural, clear, and obvious interpretation, never Keeping
Rcuaissance America until, vanquished by Spanish arms, they renounced their before seen, and withheld even from Indian understanding.] wit!;ollt
idolatrous ways and embraced the Catholic faith . . . . Thus I Letters
decided to describe their ways in the aforementioned three ages: Boturini solved the problems that Amerindian history presented to
Divine, Heroic, and Human, which arc the same as those that the someone making an effort to cast it in Vieo's categories by listing and
learned Varro explains as follows: Obscure, Mythical, and His describing thitteen major deities and explaining ti,e meaning of each
toric.] ofthem in Aztec cosmology. For example, ti,e first deity, Tezcatlipoca,
is described by Boturini as
The tension between conflicting models naturally persisted-as I
Geroglifico de la Divina providencia, primera Dcidad Indiana, da a
understand it-all along Boturini's book. The admiration for the
entender, como nuestros Gentiles confessaron se governaba el
Mcxicas' exact chronology was not enough to accept it in its own
Mundo par una Sabiduria Divina, que tenia su asiento en el Cielo, y
right. VieD and Yarra were authorities ofBoturini's own cultural past
a su cuidado todas las cosas humanas. (Idea, II)
that he could not avoid, while Mexican chronology was a remarkable
construction that he could only admire. Thus, in chapter 3 of his
[The hieroglyph of divine Providence, the first Indian deity, so to
Nueva historia he followed Vico closely and attempted to characterize
speak, so our Gentiles acknowledged tI,at the world was governed
the ages of the world according to the language particular to it. He
by Divine Wisdom, whose throne was in heaven, and in whose care
identified and described "the mute speech" ('�hablar mudD," "parlari
were all human things.]
mutti") of the Divinity in the original time of Mexican civilization,
applying Vico's lexicographic derivation and transformation of the Moving from deity to deity, Boturini described the Mexicas' narra
Greek expression mythos into the Latin nwtlts (mutc, inarticulatc),57 tive of ti,e origin and order of the world. His serial description was
Since Boturini did not have the philological background exhibited by preceded by an explanation ofhow the Mexicans wrote their histories:
his indirect mentor in developing his argument, he just stated the case
in a form that could only be understood by someone fumiliar with Y porque no quedassen las primeras casas can descuido olvidadas,
VieD: componian los Indios, y referian al pueblo la historia antigua con
una Fabulas Divinas, que separare de las demas de otros tiempos,
Mas creyeron en esta primera Edad, que todas las cosas necesarias, y llamandolas a su lugar adequado, y explicandolas en el propio sen
utiles al sustento de la vida humana, eran verdaderas Deidades, y tido de sus Autores, que fueron Poetas Theologos, y baxo del sim
par esto las demostraron con Geroglificos Divinos mentales, que ulacro de varias Deidades, pretendieron historiar las cosas de la
son unos Generos fingidos Divinos, que les enseiio el entendi Religion, y costumbres de sus tiempos. ( Idea, 10)
miento humano por aquella natural propensi6n de deleitarse de 10
uniforme, y porque 10 que no podian hacer con la abstracci6n de las [And so that ti,e first tllings would not be thoughtlessly forgotten,
formas por universales, 10 hacian con los Retratos, y Semejanzas, las the Indians composed the ancient history by dint ofdivine tales and
que ire explicando con una interpretacion natural, clara, y evidente related them to ti,e people, which separated them from all other
hasta el dia de hoy no sabida, y aun negada a los entendimientos times, and they invoke them at the appropriate time, and deliver
Indianos. (Idea, 9 )S 8 them in the way their authors meant them to be, who were poet
theologians, and behind the image of various deities tlley sought
[Yet in this first age they believed that all of the things that were the histories of their religion and the customs of the times. ]
necessary for sustaining human life were true deities, and conse�
quently they depicted them intellectually with divine hieroglyphs, Boturini closed his report of the first age by stating that since this
which are make-believe divine genres. These they learned through age was governed by the "mute language of the God" it must have
begun, ofnecessity, by simulating the divinities. At this point Boturini the ancient Mexicans. In tlns regard, no less interesting is Boturini's 157
became aware ofthe difficulties of attuning the compatibility between interpretation of the historiography of the second age, in the light of
TIle Dar/leI' the language (in the specific sense of Hebrew, Castilian, or Nahuatl) Vico's theoty and philosophy of language and writing. The second Rec01'd
Side ofthe and language as "divine hieroglyph" of the first age. His account is part, devoted to the age ofheroes, was divided in rwo sections with a Keepillg
Rmaissal1ce vety revealing of the difficulties he must have encountered. Boturini transition chapter. In the first part, Boturini identifies the Symbols without
assumed that during the first age the "lengua muda de los Dioses" Heroicos or symbols oftl,e age oftlle heroes. He begins by describing Letters
(the mute language of tlle gods) was prevailing. It was necessaty, the signs ofthe sun and the moon and follows with a description ofthe
therefore, to have the simulacrum of the divinity since religion (or symbols oftlle days and the years. He clearly describes the intercon
"providenza," according to VieD) was the very origin and foundation nections between the four elements, the organization of space and
of all nations. 59 Thus, time, all represented by the same set ofsymbols (see figs. 3.4 and 3.5):
Y como era preciso, que en coordenar las lenguas (salvo la Hebrea, Tecpatl (Flint): South, Fire and one of the four seasons, depending
que empez6, y dur6 siempre lengua de un solo Dios) conviniessen on sign dominating the year. For instance, when the year is domi
los hombres en un camun pensamiento, assi les fue mas fadl expli nated by Actl, Tecpatl is Summer; but when Tecpatl dominates the
carse a los principios con Geroglificos Divinos, que como Gencros Year, Tecpatl is Spring.
mentales arrastraban tras de si en compendia dilatados conceptos, Calli (House): East, Eatth and same rotation of the four seasons
los que no podian estos primeros Fundadores dar a entender con la Tochtli (Rabbit): Notth, Air, and same rotation for the four seasons
lengua articulada, la que fue en esta Edad muy escasa, y de palabras Acatl (Reed): West, Water, and same rotation for the four seaSOns.
regularmente monosylabas, e imperativas, que discurso fueron, y
son las raizes desta lengua Madre Indiana, Nahuatl, y con la que los But he missed once again tl,e oppottunity to bring to tlle fore
primeros padres mandaban a sus hijos, y nietos las cosas, que debian ground tllat tlle Mexica magic number was four and not tllree (figs.
executar, pues ute imagino que los sztbditos mas bien dcmostraban Sit
3 .6, 3.7). The ttansition chapter is devoted to tlle transformation that
obediencia can el silencio.6o took place from the age of gods to tl,e age of heroes. Boturini imag
inatively concludes that a "Metamorphosis Indiana" could be written
[And it was necessary tllat in coordinating the languages (Witll tl,e as complement of the "Metamorphosis Ovidiana." Boturini clearly
exception of Hebrew, which was and ever shall be the language of agrees with Vico when he moves to the heroic and military symbols
one God) men agreed on a common mode of thought and so and read arrows, bows, escudos, and so on as the language of the sec
initially it was easier for them to express themselves Witll divine ond age. Next to the heroic-military symbols, Boturini placed the
hieroglyphs, which they dragged behind them like intellectual heroic-political symbols:
genres in a compendium of vast concepts, and the first founders
were unable to express such concepts articulately, for language in La misma Lengua Symbolica, que en el parrafo antecedente se
this age was limited, full of monosyllabic words, and imperatives, demostt6 ser Lengua de Armas, fue tambien lengua de Govierno,
the basis of their speech, and the roots of tlle Indian mother con la qual nuestros Indios dieron razones de las tierras, que havian
tongue, Nahuatl, the language that tlle first futhers used to tell tlleir habitado largos tiempos, llevandolas assimismo pintadas en sus es
children and grandchildren what to do, for I am sure tllat their cudos, y symbolizadas muy a 10 vida, a par las peregrinas frutas, y
subjects did nothing more than to obey in silence.] flores, que producian, a por algun particular esfuerzo, que hicieron
en desmontarlas, y reducirlas a la labor. ( Idea, 77)
It would be tempting here to accuse Boturini ofhaving a generous
imagination. It would be more beneficial, instead, to underline the [The same symbolic language, which as previously stated is the
foundations from which his imagination departs: a new concept of language ofarms, was also the language ofgovernment, with which
history and a new concept ofthe relations between histoty and writing our Indians gave accounts oftheir lands, which tl,ey had inhabited
come forth from the merging, in Boturini's persona, ofVico's theory for many years, and likewise they bore tllem painted on their
and philosophy of writing and his own encounter with the records of shields, and symbolized vividly, or by sttange fruits and flowers that
they grew, or by some particular endeavor that they undertook to 15 9
demolish them and reduce them to labor.]
Record
Finally, he also placed, in the second age, the origin ofa "raro modo Keepillg
de historiar" [a strange manner ofwriting history] by knots (what the without
Peruvians called quipu and the Mexicans nepohttaltzitzill) and by oral Lettm
songs, which Botunni considers to be eitherofhistoric or poetic value.
It is worth quoting what Boturini has to say about the quipus as a
manner ofwriting histOlY, as an answer to Garcilaso's question to his
uncle and Acosta's question to Tovar:
Decenarias, Centenarias, Miliarias, etc.; referir las BataBas, y for the Inca emperors used them to keep track oftheir many vassals; Record
The Darker
Hazanas de sus Monarcas, y explicar todo aquello, que nosotros to take account of the extent of their armies, since the position of [(eepillg
Side ofthe
the knots furnished a strange arithmetic based, for example, on withollt
Renaissance damas a entcnder con la escritura (alfaberica, especificacion mia,
columns oftens, hundreds, and thousands, etc.; they were used to Letters
WM), y con la ayuda de estos Quipu, que fueron los monumentos
report battles, and tile deeds of their rulers, and to explain all tile
mas antiguos de aque! Imperio, y se hallaron en los Archivos de la
things that we would explain with alphabetic writing, and, with tile
Impetial ciudad del Cuzco, y entre los Incas consangufneos de los
Emperadores, pudo el Nobilissimo Historiador Garcilasso Inca de help of these quipus-which were the oldest testimonies of that
la Vega fundar la Historia, que escribi6 de su ilustre Patria. YPOl' empire, previously housed in the archives of the imperial city of
que, aun despltes de la Conqltista, no podian tan[aci/mente los Indios Cuzco, as well as the blood relatives of the emperors themselves,
perllanos entral' en el Alfabeto Europeo, y olvidar la antigua cos the most noble historian Garcilaso Inca de la Vega was able to
undertake the history of his illustrious homeland. And since, even
tumbre de SIts QJlipu) co1ttinuaron en ltsarlos algttn tic1npo en todo!
after the conquest, the Peruvian Indians had some difficulty grasp
SlIS comercios, y necesidades de la vida; y el Pad"e Acosta refiere que vio
una Muger !legal' a la Iglesia con Itn manojo de cordones, y Nudos, ing the European alphabet and abandoning the ancient custom of
con el qual abrio al Confessor laspue>1;as de SlI conciencia. ( Idea, 85- the quipu, they earried on using tI,em for some time in all their
dealings and neeessities oflife; and accorcling to Father Acosta, he
86) (italics mine)
saw a woman going to church with a handful of strings and knots,
\vith which she opened the doors of her conscience to her con
fessor.]
Having recognized the proper way of recorcling the past in the age
of gods and the age of heroes, Boturiui moved to the age of human
beings. At this point Boturini opened up a can of worms, perhaps
without being fully aware ofthe implication ofhis move. It was also at
tins particular juncture that fre began to clissoeiate himself from Vico,
allowing for a critique of the Eurocentric perspective embedded in
Vico's philosophy oflanguage and history. Let's explore why.
The third age, which began in A.D. 660, is described in ehapter 21.
The year A.D. 660 i s almost one thousand years before the "discovery"
of the New World (1492) and the conquest of Mexico (1521). Conse
quently, the discovery and conquest themselves could not have been
taken by the Mexica as a beginning of anything. What led Boturini to
take the year A.D. 660 as the beginning of tile third age was tl,e fact
that he was able to locate around those years the compilation of the
first teucal1wxtli, the written record par excellence, as distinguished
from amoxtli, which referred to written records in general.61 Boturini
also made it clear that the history ofthe Amerinclians had not yet been
properly written by any European historian; this of course was true,
but of relative importance. The history of the Europeans had not yet
been written by any Amerindian either. The records Boturini had in
his hands, along with Amerinclian narratives writren in alphabetic
script by Amerinclian historians such as Clnmalpain and Ixtlilxochitl,
Fig. 3.7- The shape afthe world in Mesoamerica, from the Codex B01;gia
162 could have suggested to him that there were histories written by the historians: that there is a natural and substantial complicity between
other. And, in fact, Chimalpafn's inclusion in significant moments of history and alphabetic writing, and that record keeping without letters
The Darfur the histOlY ofSpain, from 1479 to the conquest ofMexico and afrer, is does not have the same authority as record keeping with letters. Record
Side Dfthe a vivid example that a universal history could be written from different
/(CCpil1,JI
Rcuaissallcc loci ofenunciations within the same culture, which also means differ
without
ent cultural perspectives and models. Boturini naturally fell short once Alternative Renaissance Legacies: Francesco Patrizi and Letters
again and could not avoid the temptation ofintegrating thc Amerin Eguiara y Eguren
dian past into a universal history written from a European perspective :
Boturini was not very successful in convincing people with his ideas.
En el dicho ana 660 entro, rigorosamcnte hablando, en l111cstros He had on his side, however, a handful ofCreole intellectuals in Mex
Indios la terccra Edad, 6 sea el Ticmpo Historica, y assi sc haec ico who, toward the mid-eighteenth century, were also reevaluating
manificsto, que mis trabajos Literarios, estendiendose desde la the history of their countty. As already mentioned in chapter 2, Jose de
Confusion de las Lenguas, que fue el ailo de 2497, que calculi! Eguiara y Eguren wrote a monumental work known as Biblioth
eca
antes, fundado en la opinion de los LXX. hasta el de 660 de la mcxical1a, in five volumes, introduced by a prologue (or actually, a
Encarnacion, que fue el de 5859 de la Creacion del Mundo, segun series of twenty prologues [anteloquin]) in which he explaine
d the
dichos LXX. toman a Sil cargo la Historia de 3362 afios, que por no motivation of his enterprise and described, in general, the
content of
haver entrada en pader de alguna atra Pluma, vicne a ser privativa the Bibliotheea (fig. 3.8). What makes Eguiara y Eguren's Bibliotheca
mente mia, y de tanto gusto, y utilidad al Publico, que de balde la relevant to the previous discussion is the fact that, like Boturin
i, he
ignorancia se podra ocupar en deslucirla. ( Idea, 140) attributed great value to the documents and monuments of
ancient
Mexico, but he did so under a different ideological program.
It was the
[Strictly speaking, that same year, 660, saw the arrival ofthe third growin g national consciousness of Mexican intellectuals
that drove
age for our Indians, that is historical time, and so it becomes clear Eguiara y Eguren to a reevaluation of the "history" written
by ancient
that my literary studies, which cover the time of the confusion of Mcxicans rathcr than Vico's idea that oricnted Boturin
i's pcrception.
language, which took place in the year 2497, as I calculated pre Both coincided, however, in distinguishing the universality
of record
viously, based on the opinion of the LXX, until the year 660 ofthe keeping from the regionality of Renaissance historiographic
al concep
Incarnation, which was the year 5958, in the creation ofthe world, tions that modeled the perceptions of missionaries and
men ofletters
again according to the LXX, are dealing with the history of 3362, during the sixteenth century. Eguiara y Eguren quoted a
lengthy pas
which, never having been written about before, is my exclusive sage from Julian Garces, first bishop ofTlaxcala, in a
letter written in
privilege, and such an enjoyable onc, and of such use to tile public, 1533 and addressed to Pope Paulo III:
that it would be foolish to claim otherwise.]
D E L L A
H I S T O R I A
BIBLIOTHECA Fig. 3·9· Rethinking D I E C E D I A L O G H I
MEXICANA Fig. 3.8. A Bibliotheca
what (in the West)
history really is:
D( M. F R A N C E S C O P A T R. I T I O
FERDINANDO VI
HISPANIARUM REGI CATI-IOUCO
NUNCUPATA.
A UT H O R E
D.,oANNEJOSEPHa DE EeVIARA E'I'EGVREN,
Mexic:mo. (Mfa Ep{ropo Jtmttant;fl;Mftrapo!. Erdtji.e plftri"
Cif1!Oftl"! JvlIfJ,Iflra1i.. Rrgi.e erPontijici.e Vnrorrjifdtis MrxicllnmJis
Prt»JlfrlO ct Emrrito ThtfJ/ogi.e Anucrj{orr. quondamqur RfEforr..
apuJ S.:nc7.e lnquijitionir Officium Ctnforr, 111m;. Archirpi/ropi
Mrxjc.w� Confoltorr. ct Dia:(1i� Examinafore Synodali,
CapUCfnifrJIm Virginum J ConflJJionihus et aliisfarris.
T O @M US P R I@lVlUS
Exbibens Litteras A B C. IN V B N B T I A , A l' P l\ k s s o A N D R E A
-- --- ------- ---�---
A II.II.I V ABENE, 14 D L X.
166 was near both possibilities. The second half of the sixteenth century grasped tl,e idea ofhow history is made, but he insisted that he was not 167
----
was, in Italy, the period in which historiographical treatises flourished. clear yet as to what history was. At this point Compte Giorgio, the
171C Darlu:r The Ciceronian tradition was the most relevant, although alternative third participant, intervenes by asking a seemingly rhetorical question: Record
Side a/the views began to emerge in the voices of Bodin and Patrizi. The morc what else could history be but writing? Patrizi replied with another Keeping
Renaissallce political and law-oriented view of history defended by Bodin saw its question: what if history was also painting (pintura)? If we consider witboltt
days of glory during the eighteenth century, when the influence of tllis answer from the perspective presented by Acosta some twenty- Letters
rhetoric was declining.67 The more eccentric view defended by Patrizi five years later, it is, frankly, surprising. After questioning that history
had less chances ofsurvival in a sociery in which alphabetic literacy was was just tlle narrative of the past, he questioned that historical narra-
one of the yardsticks used to measure civilizations, to consolidate the tive be considered only in terms ofwriting (implying, of course, alpha-
images ofthe self-same and its distinction from otherness.6s Curiously betic writing). One of the examples he provided was the history of
enough, Patrizi's view also indirectly flourished in the eighteenth cen Alexander III, painted in the hall of the Venetian Council. But cer-
tury in Vico's work, although tl,e Italian philologue and philosopher tainly the dissident Patrizi was not content with just presenting tl,e
did not make a concerted effort to rescue Patrizi's ideas from oblivion. idea that a painting was as valid as (alphabetic) writing in relation to
To better understand Patrizi's oppositional conception of history, history: he pushed the issue further and defended the idea that sculp-
let's remember the legacy of the rhetoricians ofimperial Rome.69 As ted and painted record keeping are more properly history tl,an written
we mentioned in the previous section, in sixtcenth-centmy European ones, because they reveal the events to the eyes without need ofmedi-
universities rhetorical treatises such as Ad berclllliu11l, Dc oratare, and ation by words. At this point, and after questioning that history be
Illstittttio orato;'ia were on every reading list for a serious humanistic considered nothing more tllan a narrative ofpast events and a written
education. These treatises both constructed and conveyed the idea narrative, he moved to question whether history be narrative at all! He
that history was narrative and that narrative was the Ubody" ofhistory. introduced his argument by asking a question to Bidernuccio: would
Thus narrative was not only important in writing history, but also you consider history sculptures and painting tl,at include a narrative
history was the true narrative itself. That is to say, history was both ("lettere narranti alcuna cosa" )? Bidernuccio's answer is certainly affir-
what happened and what was narrated, history and historiography. mative, and the justification is that rl,e words attached to sculptures or
Consequently, there was not much difference in saying that history painting are tnle narratives ofsome kind of events. Patrizi consistently
was narrative than in saying that history was the memory ofpast events dissented and argued tl,at history was not narration but memory.
in narrative form. Memory is what counts-according to Patrizi-in a definition of
Patrizi was not really convinced that the Roman rhetorical legacy what is history, and not the kind ofsigns employed to keep a record of
.
was the most satisf1.ctory way of conceiving history. In his Dc historia past events. Since the example provided by Patrizi on this occasion was
dieei di1lloghi (1560), he devotes book 1 to a dialogue in which he Egyptian history, which developed, according to him, from their man-
expects to arrive at a definition ofhistory (4�cosa l'historia sia"). Bider ner ofkeeping records ofthe Nile's floods, I surmise tllat natural signs
nuccio, one oftl,e three participants in the dialogue, responds to Pa were also in Patrizi's view authorized means to preseIVe the memory of
trizi's question "what is history?" with the canonical Ciceronian past events. It is at this point rl,at Patrizi's concept of external books
definition: " L' historia e cosa fatta, remota dalla memoria de nostri plays an important role in his argument.
tempi" [history is what happened in the past, removed li'om present The definition of history proposed by Patrizi implied a philosophy
memories]. Patrizi's answer was Simple: he claimed that he did not oflangnage tllat diverged radically from tl,e philosophy of language
understand what history was. He argued that he had found several presupposed in the treatises by Roman rhetoricians. On tl,e one hand,
contradictions in tlle definition of history provided by "external he had first enlarged record keeping to include nonalphabetic writing.
books" [Iibri difum';]. And one of those contradictory definitions was Second, he introduced the distinction between librisCI'itti diflan'i and
the one sustained by Cicero: that history is the memory of past events, libr; del alma. And tllird, he introduced the distinction between visible
and the true narrative of those events. Afrer a long debate in which signs, in which external books are written, as opposed to mental im
Patrizi argued that history cannot only be conceived as a narrative of ages, which are written in tlle "books of the soul."
past events, but that it should also be considered as a narrative of Despite the efforts made by Boturini to restore some credit to the
presCilt and future el'ents, he concluded by stating tl,at he finally Amerindians' means of record keeping and rl,e effort of his pre-
168 decessor, Francesco Patrizi, to contest a restricted view of histOIY de like Western concepts of history, a regional conceptualization of 169
pendent on the letter, individual struggles make their mark in the discursive rypes and not a theoretical construction that accurately
The Darker academic history of ideas, although not necessarily in the belief system describes and analyzes non-Western discursive typologies. Record
Side oIthe attached to institutional power and the ttansmission of knowledge to Keeping
Rmaissal1cc future generations. Amerindian agencies to record and transmit their without
past have been silenced for several centuries. If they are resurfucing Concluding Remarks Letters
today, they are as interesting objects of study, and as oppositiona l
voices of colonized subjects during and after the conquest and colo I hope to have convinced the reader that the relations between history,
nization began, but seldom as alternatives to Western modes of fiction, and literature show a different configuration when we move
thought (previous to the sixteenth century). The past is a set of possi back to the sixteenth century and look at the issue from a cross
ble worlds that cannot be changed and voices that cannot be restored, cultural perspective and in colonial situations. There are, indeed, two
but we could certainly change our current perception of the past by different aspects deserving further considerations. One is the relation
constructing new images of how things might have been if they were ship between literature, histOIY, fiction, and mlth before the eigh
not what missionaries and men of letters told us they were. And cer teenth century in the Western tradition. The other is the relationship
tainly we have several ways of achieving our goals: one will be the between Western notions of literature, history, truth, and fiction and
adventure of reconstructing what might have happened; a second will non-Western conceptualizations of record-keeping practices, oral and
be to reread the signs of the past in the context of our present con visual means of social interaction, systems of belief attached to differ
cerns; a third will be to say that there is no choice and that reconstruct ent kinds of record keeping, as well as to oral and visual means of social
ing the past is not a concernfl-om the past but of the present. The lat interactions. These two aspects came together, comparatively, during
ter is the option I have chosen in this book. the first stage of the massive spread of Western literacy that began with
Boturini's enthusiasm for Vieo's concept of historical development the expansion of the Spanish and Portuguese empires and Christianiry.
as a way of correcting rl,e legacy of previous chtonists and historians In the follO\ving chapter I will explore certain aspects of Renais
regarding the Amerindians' lack of history prevented him ftom paying sance codification of knowledge throughout discursive practices. If
attention to their own concepts of chronological development, in history and literature (in Glissant's terms) became complicitous in
stead of imposing the model that Vico engineered based mainly on his imperial expansion after the eighteenth century, during the late Re
experience of the classical tradition. Although Vico was aware of non naissance they had the encyclopedia and letter writing as companions.
Western legacies, Greece is too strong a reference point of his thought However, alphabetic writing (in connivance ,vith Christianiry) was
not to be suspicious. In other words, Vico struggled between the the foundation not only of the massive transmission of information
legacy of the cultural ttadition (Greco-Roman) of which he was a but also, and mainly, of its organization and evaluation. China, Islam,
member and the knowledge he acquired about cultural traditions of and the New World were all evaluated (in their organization and trans
which he was an outsider. Boturini celebrated Vico's new and chal mission of knowledge) with the yardstick of Renaissance discursive
lenging ideas with enthusiasm, yet he did not (and could not) take the genres and their implicit epistemology.
model a step further and recognize that the "idea of a new history" was
not just a new Western idea, but the uncovering of a new way of
keeping historical records, both in the memory saved in the body of
the elder as well as in the graphic inscriptions common to the great
civilization of Mesoamerica and the weaving and knotting of the great
Andean civilizations.
A large and increasing number of studies in the ethnography of
speaking and on folk taxonomy over the past forty years have convinc
ingly demonstrated that the Western categories of genres, so power
fully codified during the Renaissance and transmitted to the colonial
periphery as part of the package of spreading alphabetic literacy, are,
Chapter 4
The event that was perceived by Columbus himself, and by Lopez Peter Martyr's coexistence with the discovery and conquest of Te
de Gomara (1511-64) sixty years afrer the fact in Hispa11ia 1'itrix, as a nochtitlan should not be the only reason to distinguish his De orbe
milestone after the creation of the world had no consequences for 1101'0 decades from otller genres of historiographical writings. Also im
Peter Martyr in comparison with the political crisis the Italians were portant is the fuct that Peter Martyr wrote a history twice removed
enduring. Unlike Peter Martyr, Munon Chimalpain wrote his Reia from his own personal story: first because, as he clearly stated in the
ciollcs originales de CIJalco-A1Ilaqllemeeall in Nahuatl instead ofLatin. letter in which he infonned Borromeo about "someone named Co
And he wrote them toward the beginning of tlle seventeenth century lumbus, from Liguria," such events were alien to him; second, be
in Mexico instead ofat the end ofthe fifreenth century in Barcelona, in cause he was in an even less adequate position to talk about the Amer
the court ofCastile and Aragon. Chimalpain's Rciacioncs, written in a indians. Briefly, neither the Spaniards' deeds nor the Amerindians'
/
customs, society, and religion were part ofthe memoty ofhis people. A anticipated them in a consolatoty letter he addressed to Cardinal Asca 177
comparison with Gnicciardini's histoty ofItaly could be helpful here.
nio Visconti on the death of Cardinal Arcimboldi. Peter Martyr sus
1heDarktr The periods covered by Peter Martyr's Decades and Guicciardini's pected, in a letter dated June 2, 1492, that a war between Italy and Gmresas
Side ofthe histoty are vety similar. The fonner moves from 1492 to 1530, the
France was imminent. But while Peter Martyr was conversing with his Social
Renaissance latter from 1490 to 1534. Guicciardini, contrary to Martyr, wrote the Italian peers about the Italian events, he was also infonning the arch Practices
histoty of his own people, in a moment of historical distress for his bishop of Granada as well as Castilian noblemen about the Italian
country. Guicciardini, who was born in 1483 and died in 1540, was also
political climate. In a letter dated September I, '492, and addressed to
a contemporaty ofthe events he narrated, although he was some thirty
the count ofTendilla:
years younger than Peter Martyr.
Atencion! , ilustre Conde, que circula el rumor de que Alfonso,
I have determined to write about those events which have occurred
futuro sucesor del Rey Fernando en el rcino de Napoles, ha arra
in Italy within our memory, even since French Troops, summoned
strado a su padre a que trate con el Rey Carlos de Francia de arro
by our own princes, began to stir up very great dissensions here: a
jarle del gobierno del ducado de Milan a Ludovico Sforza, porque
most memorable subject in view ofits scope and variety, and full of
se opone a entregar las riendas del ducado al joven Juan Galezzo,
the most terrible happenings; since for so many years Italy suffered
yerno de Alfonso.' 6
all those calamities with which miserable mortals are usually af
flicted, sometimes because of the just anger of God, and sometimes
[Beware, illustrious Count! For rumor has it that Alfonso, future
because of the impiety and wickedness of other men. 14
successor of King Fernando in the kingdom of Naples, has put it
During the same years that the "Italian calamities" were beginning, into his !ather's head to negotiate with King Charles ofFrance with
the aim of ousting Ludovico SfOrza from the government of the
Peter Martyr was celebrating the end of the "Castilian calamities":
duchy of Milan, because he refuses to relinquish control of the
Este es el fin de las calamidades de Espai'l.a, este es el termino de los duchy to Juan Galezzo the younger, Alfonso's son-in-law. ]
felices hados de esta gente barbara que hace-segun dicen-unos
ochocientos ailos, al manda del conde Julian, vina de Mauritania Peter Martyr was becoming increasingly concerned ,vith the Italian
de donde siempre conservaron el nombre de Moros-y optimi6 situation toward the end Ofl492 and the beginning of 1493. The very
cruel y arrogantemente a la vencida Espana. Oh dolor! cuanto fue days in which Columbus approached the Indies, Peter Martyr was
hasta ahora su crueldad, su fiereza e inhumanidad para con los writing about the "presagios" and "pron6sticos" of the Italian crisis.
cautivos cristianos. AI fin, mis Reyes, adeptos a Dics, dcrivan par He observed in a letter addressed to Scanio Sforza, viscount, cardinal,
tierra aquella cruel tirania, quebrantada por los descalabros de anos and vice-chancellor that
entcros.15
Noto, ilustrisimo Principe, que se esta preparando un nuevo es
[This is the end ofthe calamities ofSpain, this is the turning point trepito de armas y escucho con avidez los nuevos y perniciosos
of the good fortune of this barbarous people who-as they say planes que se barajan para llamar a los franceses a Italia . . . . Yo, que
some eight hundred years ago, under the command of Connt me duelo de las cosas de mi pattia-de la cual siempre fueron los
Julian, came from Mauritania, from whose name they are called franceses enemigos encarnizados-opino que no debe meterse en
Moors, and they oppressed and vanquished Spain with arrogance el propio lecho una vibora 0 un escorpi6n para que con su veneno
and cruelty. Oh woe! Their cruelty, their ferocity, and inhnmanity inficione el del vecino,17
against the Christian captives is unsurpassed. Finally, your Majes
ties, under God's auspices, you arc bringing down that cruel tyr [I observe, illustrious Prince, that a new clash of anns is being
anny, which has been broken by years of constant defeat.] prepared, and hear with piqued interest the new and pernicious
plans being laid to call the French to Italy. . . . I, who am pained by
Peter Martyr's celebration of Castilian success did not restrain him the affuirs of my country-of which the French were always bitter
from forewarning ofthe events that would soon take place in Italy. He enemies-hold that one should not admit a viper or scorpion into
"
onc's own bed, so that with its poison it may infect that of its consolidation of the kingdom of Castile and the excitement of trans
neighbor.] oceanic navigations. As an Italian and a humanist, he was concerned
T7JcDarkcr with the political situation of his countty, which he discussed with his Genresns
Side olthe It was the "Italian calamities" that required the attention of a histo p eers in epistolary writing. As an Italian in Spain, he was not con Socinl
Re1Jaissance rian such as Guicciardini, and those were the events being witnessed cerned with the construction of Castilian territoriality along the lines Practices
with a dramatic intensity by Italians in Italy and abroad. In Spain, of peninsular historiography since Alfonso el Sabio (1221-84) and EI
Nebrija was devoting his energy to teaching Latin and the humanities Gerundense (142 1-84 ).
18 Furtller, an Italian in Spain, Peter Martyr
in an Iberian Peninsula that he perceived, after his years of study in was not involved in the exploration and colonization of tile Indies but
Rome, as dominated by the barbarians, and to normalizing Castilian was a witness and an informant from whom his Italian peers requested
orthography. Thus, the intensity of the events was perceived information. His locus Cllltl1ciatiollis was constructed, among other
differently by persons involved in, influenced by, or observing them features, by the voice of a humanist well versed in languages (in the
while writing their "histories" in letter form (e.g., Martyr as an an stttdia hlt1nanitatis), well acquainted with the Greco-Roman tradi
chorman in TV reports) or in a proper historiographical narrative tion, and well connected with the intellectuals and public figures of his
(e .g., Guicciardini writing, circa 1540, the histoty ofItaly from 1494 to time. His discourse about the New World, therefore, was the dis
1535)· All in all, while Guicciardini, by writing the histoty of Italy, course of a humanist interested in understanding and disseminating
joined the voices of previous Italian historians of tile city-states (like information rather than the discourse of the humanist interested in
Bruni or Biondo) and contributed to the imaginary construction of the pragmatic and legal aspect of the conquest, or a historian inter
Italy after the fall of ti,e Roman Empire, Martyr reported about events ested in the construction of Castilian territoriality, such as Florian de
that were happening, so to speak, in front of his eyes and about people Ocampo (Charles V's historian) or Ambrosio de Morales (Philip II's
(Amerindians) he had only the slightest idea about. historian).19 If, as a humanist, he believed in epistolary communica
tion, as a historian he arranged the letters in another discursive genre,
TellIng What Happened and Constructing tile Decades, a narrative fonn strictly related to the book (as sign car
Historical Events rier) and alphabetic writing (as fixation of oral discourse). The Decades
cannot be conceived without the inscription of the letter and the
The distance between the events narrated, the acts of narration, and format of the book. From epistolography to historical writing there
the evaluation of the past are all intervening fuctors in the way social was not much difference: assembling, organizing, and transmitting
interactions began to be construed as historical events. The organiza information in the form of historiographical narrative confronted the
tion, evaluation, and transmission of a setaf events as historical events NewWorld historian with problems radically diflerent from those faced
arc in large scale dependent on the rhetorical restrictions of narrative by his Italian or Spanish fellows, who dealtwith a subject matter deeply
genres as well as on the skill of the person narrating them, in oral or engraved in the historian's (own as well as the people's) memoty.
graphic form. I am concerned, however} with the personal positioning O'Gorman has pointed out the interfaces between epistolography
of the writer or storyteller in the narration of events and how a person and historiography in Peter Martyr. He has also critically examined the
carves his or her locus of enunciation at the intersection of the events common opinion that Peter Martyr has the distinction of being the
narrated, personal stories} and the communicative situation he or she earliest lllstorian of the New World , by asking "in what sense are Peter
put her- or himselfin by writing or narrating an event. In this chapter I Martyr'S Dccades history? "2 0 O'Gorman's answer to his own question
am more interested in genre restrictions than in personal skills for the points toward the links between New World histories, Renaissance
edge. Discursive frames (or genres) are a necessary condition for con�
structing knowledge, as they depend bOtll on regional cultural tradi Podemos decir, en conclusion, que las Decndas seguramente cons
tions as well as on the means of communication (e.g., oral or graphic). tituyen par su intenci6n primaria una obra de indole historiografica
Peter Martyr is, thus, a telling example of the crossroads between del tipo formal renacentista; pero como, al mismo tiempo, exhiben
tile genre legacy of Italian humanism, a personal stoty of the witness in rasgos de una cielta fresca ingenuidad que recuerda el arcaismo de
exile who deplored the situation in his own countty and celebrated tile un Herodoto, es preciso matizar esa clasificaci6n para vincular tam-
180 bien las Decadasa la gran corriente tradicional de los libros de viaje, If we disregard O'Gorman's rhetoric and place the accent on the 181
por mas que su autar no haya pasado a las rcgiones en que tan organization of knowledge rather than on its content, the intuition
----
The Dar/leI' clifusamentc se ocupa. Se trata de un fen6meno en extrema intere tllat Peter Martyr's Decadesis a step back in the history of historiogra- Genres«s
Side afthe sante, merecedor de mas atenci6n de la que ha recibido; es algo asi pby shonld be emphasized. New World histories of the sixteenth cen- Social
Renaissance como Itn saIto atras dentro del desan'ollo ideologico del proceso de la tury, beginning with Peter Martyr's, resembled Herodotus's istol'ia Prnctict'S
historiografia. Pero no un saito atras debido a un reaccionarismo rather tltan the historia of the Romans and humanists, for at least three
impuesto par las cxigencias de nuevas tcmas, de nuevas problemas reasons. The most obvious, which I have already mentioned, is the
qne no encontraban fucil cabida dentro de los moldes forjados por synchrony between the events reported and the life span of the histo-
la emdici6n y el gusto profesionales de la epoca. En apariencia, rians reporting them. The investigation of the historian based on the
pnes, cs una especie de marcha at1'fTs, pero Sit verdnde1'o sentido cstriba report of eyewitnesses (like Peter Martyr) or a combination of eyewit-
en que se inicia asi In renovacion de In problemtitica del conocimiento nesses and direct experience (like Oviedo y Valdes, las Casas, or Acosta)
historico que langttidecia en la ya esteril prision de los cartabones are the most obvious characteristics of sixteentll-centuty historiogra-
tradicionalesy, en efceta, es de notarsc a estc respecto que la gran phy. Asecond reason is the historian's contact with unknown lands and
revoluci6n que en ese campo representa el pensamiento del siblo unknown people, which parallels much of Herodotus's investigation
XVIII, no pudo haberse realizado sin la extraordinaria apertnra de rather tl,an Roman or humanist historians narrating the past of their
los horizontes tematicos debida, precisamente, a los cronistas indi own empire or city-states. A tllird peculiarity is the eucounter between
anos, y que duda cabe, que a Pedro Martyr Ie corresponde nn sitio a person who is able to organize knowledge in alphabetic writing andin
preeminentc en esa emprcsa.2 1 book fOrIll with people without alphabetic writiug whose concept of
the past and whose manner of recording and telling stories about the
past were totally alien to W estern narrative ratiouality.
[In conclusion, we can say with all certainty that, given its primary Since I have already discussed the first reason iu tl,e previous para
intention, the Decades constituted a sort of historiographical work graphs, let's explore further the second and third. W hat distiuguished
of the formal type found in the Renaissance; but since, at the same Roman historians from Herodotus was the fuct tl,at while Herodotus
time, there are characteristics of a fresh candor that recall the archa worked in the boundaries between Greek and foreigu worlds and
ism of Herodotus, it is necessary to sharpen this classification so as cultures, Roman historians were mainly concerned with constructing
to link the Decades to the great traditional trend of travel literature, tl,e space and memories of Roman territoriality. The experiences of
since the author has not been to the regions upon which he vari humanist historians were closer to the latter than to the former.22
ously expounds. We are dealiug with an extremely interesting phe Cities like Florence were fOrIller colonies of the Roman Empire that
nomenon, worthy of more attention than it has previously received; developed into powerful city-states, powerful enough to have origina
it is something ofa leap backward within the ideological development tors and executors of historiographical writing. Cities like Rome, for
oftheprocess ofhistoriography. Yes, it is not a leap backward due to its merly the center of a political and economic empire, became the cen
reactionary nature, a nature imposed upon it by the demands of ter of the Christian world and, tllerefore, powerful enough to justifY
new themes, new problems that could not easily be accommodated the writing of their history. Consequently, when Bmni wrote the his
within the established emdite molds and the professional tastes of tory of Florence and Biondo the histoty of Rome, they were looking
the age. In appearance, then, it is a sort afstep backward, bllt its true back to ten ceuturies of history in the Italian peninsula. Their experi
meaning stemsfrom thefact that itforces tiS to reconsider problems of ence was quite different from a peripatetic historian like Herodotus
historical /mowledge, problems that lalliJltished in the sterile prison of reporting what he saw or heard, or of a sedentary one like Peter Martyr
traditional bevels and, in fact, it is worth pointing out in this respect who received written infonnation from eyewitnesses about distant
that the great revolntion that eighteenth-centuty thought repre lands and peoples, when alphabetic writing was already established in
seuts in this field conld not have taken place without the extraordi a wide range of the popnlation.
nary opening of thematic horizons dne precisely to the Indian lfin historiographical writing (as well as in other discnrsive genres)
chroniclers, and there is little doubt that Peter Martyr plays a pre we can identifY and distinguish three kinds of agents (the originator,
eminent part in this enterprise.] the executor or historian, and the source of infonnation [or infor-
182 mant]) and a set of discursive genres (or frames), then Peter Martyr « pistlliaris) onupiter-:-very much used, also, in the context of g�v
not only has the distinction ofhaving written a history in letter-writing cmfficot as a social practice performed by the cptstttlares( or secretarIes
T7JC Dar/,er
G£1lrcsas
form but also of having been informed by means of letters. There is of the state).
Sidc ofthc then a mirrorlike image between the date the event materialized and Social
Genres, Audiences, and Packaging Information Practices
Reuaissancc was reported in epistolary form by an eyewitness agent, on the one
hand, and the moment when Peter Martyr received a bundle ofletters of the agents
from the New World and wrote futther letters in which he reported to So far I have described the relationship between two
t.
his Italian confreres the events that materialized a few months earlier. involved (the executor, letter writer, or historian) and the informan
Peter Martyr's rapport with this source-based knowledge was quite Let'S explore further the relationship between the executor (letter
different from the negotiations of humanist historians with their writer or historian) and the originators of the letters and the Decades.
first,
sources. Cochrane has distinguished in Bruni's (1369-1444) history of The last seven Decades were dated 1524, thirty years afrer the
Florence the infonnant- or source-based knowledge (medieval when the author was about seventy years old. They were dedicated to
Francisco Mario Sforza, duke of Milan. Peter Martyr opens the last
chronicles and ricordnllzas or memory books written by members of
wealthy Florentine families) and the non-source-based Imowledge or Decade by tracing the history of their originators:
discursive genres, mainly the Roman historians.23 Peter Martyr could
La primera de mis Decadas acerca del Nuevo Mundo dediquela al
not have delved inro the past of the subject matter he was writing
tio paterno de Su Excelencia, el vicccanciller Ascanio, Principe Ilus
about, for the discursive genre that provided him with the source
trlsimo que fue entre los cardenales, y por ninguno aventajado,
pm'que C011 reiteradas illstancias Ute mandaba c01nltllicar a Stt Exce
based knowledge was the same genre in which he had to organize and
transmit Imowledge.
len cia 10 que acollteciera el1 esas regiollcs occidentales. Como insigne
Letter writing is, in the first place, the closest substitute to oral testimonio de 10 que digo te ofrezco Marino Caracciolo, hombre
conversation. When the interlocutors arc not sharing the same physi dotado de todas las virtudes y experiencias, protonotario Apos
cal space (and there are no voice carriers such as the telephone or tape t6lico elecro de Catania, y al presente embajador junto a tu per
recorder), alphabetic writing allows the transmission of ImowIedge sona, el eual era sccretario de Aseania cuanda el Oceano cameI1-
across space. Historiography, which toward the end of the fifteenth zaba a abrirnos sus pucrtas, cerradas desde el principia del mundo
century occupied a particular place next to poetry in the context ofthe hasta nuestros dias. EI cra-y as! 10 declara-quien recibia mis
trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic), rested-as the trivium itself escritos en nombre de Sil senor y redactaba sus respucstas, segun se
indicates-on alphabetic writing and on graphic records (coins, las dictaba.24
medals, architecture, as well as all sorts of written records). Histo
riographical writing was not a mirror image of source-based knowl [I dedicated the first book of my Decades about the New World to
edge, as it was for Peter Martyr, who offered a formidable example of Your Excellency'S paternal unde, Vice-Chancellor Ascanio, Il
the connivance between the letter (i.e., alphabet), letter writing, and lustrious Prince, who surpassed cardinals and all others in excel
historiography in the acquisition, organization, and transmission of lence, for by persistent demand he ordC/'ed me to send report to Y0ltr
knowledge. It is helpful to remember, also, that while istoria in Greek ExcellC11cy ofwhat was happening i1l these H'cstem regions. As distin
meant report of an eyewitness, letter writing (in English) refers to a guished testimony ofwhat I say I present Marino Caracciolo, a man
form of communication that "carries" the voice that cannot be heard endowed with all virtues and experiences, Apostolic notary elect of
in a graphic record that could be read. The Spanish translation ofletter Catania, at present your personal ambassador, who was Aseania's
writing is carta. The Diccio"nrio de attt01'idades (the eighteenth secretary when the ocean first opened its doors to us, which had
century dictionary of the Academy of Spanish Language) reports that been closed since the earth's creation until our time. It was he as he
carta comes from the Latin charta) which means the skin ofan animal himself declares-who received my writings in your lord's name
or the bark ofa tree in which a message to be immediately carried out and wrote the replies, as they were dictated to him. J
to his/her receiver was written down (see chap. 2 ) . Epistola, in Latin,
was used to refer to a written and direct communication between The events of the New World were a theme of conversation and a
people and was semantically and culturally related to a messenger CUriosity that Peter Martyr is in a position to satisfY. Whatever he said,
based on the information he gathered and his learned judgment, had Decades to them. I would like, Illustrious Prince, who was born too
as much to do with the content of the letters he received from the late and came too late to the throne of your elders, to recount to
TIJcDarkcr Indies as it did with what he imagined were the expectations of his you the events that took place.] Genres«s
Side oft", readers, which he construed on the basis of his familiarity with the Social
Renaissance Italian cultural aud historical context. One of the differences between The Decades, very much like the letters he begau to write about Practices
letter writing aud writing histoty is that in the first case the personal Columbus's voyages, were motivated by the curiosity of his Italiau
knowledge ofthe addressee shapes to a cettain extent the presentation acquaintances rather than the Crown of Castile or his own desire to
of the material. However, because the humanists considered letter use his writing about the New World as self-promotion. Peter Martyr
writing a genre that deserved to reach the printed press and the book looked much like Vespucci. Both were Italiaus working for the
form, when Peter Martyr moved from writing letters to writing history Castilian Crown. Both had intellectuals and friends among the Italiau
in epistolary form, he mauaged to keep the personal tone characteris nobility. Their writing, therefore, distinguished them from the writing
tic of personal letters and to reach-at the same time-a larger aud of Columbus (in the case ofVespucci) and of Oviedo y Valdes (in the
more impersonal audience. case of Martyr) not so much in terms of nationality (Columbus was
The reasons Peter Martyr offered for writing the De o,.be 1IOVo also Italian, after all ) , but in terms of the addressees of their writings.
decades were related to the mixed genres, letter writing aud historical Columbus's addressees were the queen and king or served as official
narrative, he had selected. Thus, if according to the historiographical administrators of the Crown (e.g., Sautander). Instead, Vespucci and
principles of the time he stated that one of the reasons for writing the Peter Martyr wrote their letters to friends and acquaintauces in Italy.
De orbe novo decades was "salvar del olvido tan grandiosos aconteci� Oviedo y Valdes, who lived in Santo Domingo from 1514 to 1557 aud
mientos" [to rescue from oblivion such magnificent events], there served as official chronicler after 1532, made of his writing an instru
were also important reasons not necessarily related to the historical ment ofseIVice to the Crown and to his own self-promotion.26
dimension of the events that played an important role in Peter Mar The difficulties of finding a niche among generic categories that
tyr's decision-making process, since it would have been hard for him Peter Martyr'S Dccades presents could be attenuated ifinstead ofmak
to have a "historical perspective" on events that were happening in his ing it fit into one category (letter writing or history), an effort is made
own present. to describe the mobility and the flexibility ofits organization and to
explain why it is so. Peter Martyr wrote under the guidauce of well
Fallecido Ascanio, y caido yo en la desidia por fulta de esrimulos, fue established conventions aud norms. The norms ofletterwriting and of
el Rey Federico, autes de que la fottuna se Ie tomara de madre organizing a long and detailed narrative about a given subject were
carifiosa, en dura madrastra, quien recibi6 seguidas ediciones de mi well established. De o,.be novo decades, then, singled out from the
libra por medio del cardenal de Arag6n, su primo. Estimulado mas outset a topic, a referent and an organization of the material. The
tarde por el Ponrifice Maximo Le6n X y sucesor Adriauo VI, question remains, however: why then have a history in which histo
quienes me aconsejaron salvar del olvido tau graudiosos aconteci riographical principle has been invoked? Was there a necessary con
mientos, les dedique el conjunto de las Decadas que andan im nection between "decades" and "history"? Were they equivalents?
presas. A ti, Principe Ilustrismo, que naciste tarde, y subiste tarde al Did only historical narratives conform to the "decades" format? The
trona de tus mayores, quiera referirte los acontecimientos so reader must forgive me for recalling the meaning of "decade": a
brevenidos.25 discursive type for the organization and transmission of knowledge
according to which each unit (decade) is comprised often subunits
[After the death ofAscauio, when I had fallen into idleness through (chapters), aud the entire book also comprises ten units or decades. It
lack of incentive, it was King Frederick, before fortune took him is a systematic aud symmetric way of organizing knowledge that fits
from his loving mother to his harsh stepmother, who received con the taste for order, equilibrium, and harmony of the Renaissance hu
secutive editions of my book from the cardinal of Aragon, his mauists aud their public. While letter writing allowed Peter Martyr to
cousin. Inspired at a later date by Pope Maximus Leon X aud his correspond continually with his Italiau confreres, the Decades allowed
successor Adriau VI, both ofwhom advised me to rescue such great him to fit a chaotic amount of contemporary information into a well
events from oblivion, I dedicated the entire printed version of the ordered aud harmonious whole. Finally, the invocation of histoty
186 placed his writing in the context of memory against oblivion, One of rians. If Leonardo Bruni has the distinction of marking the beginning
the functions that Cicero attributed to hisrory writing. There is noth of humanist historiography,27 Peter Martyr, a humanist himself, has
771& Darla:,. ing wrong then in accepting Dc orbe lWJ10 decades at the same time as the distinction of inaugurating the kind of writing that will be a dis Gcnresas
Side riftbe decades (the organization of knowledge at the level of the dispositio) tinctive feature of the darker side of European Renaissance and Im Social
Renaissance and letter writing (organization of knowledge at the level of the ap manist historiography: the hybrid cultural products generated by and Practices
pclatio), modeling it according to the specific person being addressed. in colonial situations.
The difficulties exist only ifour goal is to fit every possible text into one Bernardino de SahagUn, whom we have already encountered in the
and only one discursive type, instead ofuuderstanding the complex previous chapters, was a Franciscan who, contrary to Peter Martyr,
ities of a text in the context of the discursive types available to the went to Mexico in 1529 and lived and wrote there the rest of his life.
writer and the audience, as well as the interaction of norms and con Re divided his work into twelve patts instead often, wrote in Castilian
ventions. and Nalmati instead of Latin. The form of gathering and organizing
information considerably changed from one work to the other. But
there are also other fuctors worthy of consideration. Around 1561,
The Truth Is Also Relative to the Locus of Enunciation when SahagUn began to work on the organization of the massive
and the Norms of the Genre: Histories, Encyclopedias, amount of information he had collected about Amerindian culture
and Calepinos and history, Sir Francis Bacon was born in England. By the second half
of the sixteenth century Sahagun was an already mature and seasoned
I have compared Peter Martyr with Guicciardini and have mentioned Franciscan working on the organization of knowledge from cultures
Leonardo Bnlni a couple of times. A comparison between an Italian alien to him, while young Bacon was rethinking the Western episte
from Areto who wrote about Florence toward 1440 and an Italian mological tradition and reorganization ofknowledge.28 The end re
from Milan, who studied in Rome from 1477 to 1487, then moved to sults in both cases were quite disparate, indeed, as they illustrate alter
Spain to fight against the Moors, finally became a priest and "" hombre native conceptions of knOWledge. Nevertheless, both drew from the
de la em·te (a gentieman of the court) and ultimately spent thirty years encyclopedic tradition. Bacon was concerned with reshaping and su
of his life writing about tile New World to his Italian friends, might perseding his own ethnic tradition, the Western organization of
sound somewhat far-fetched. It is not, however, once we recall that knowledge. Sahagun, instead, was concerned with shaping the knowl
tile comparison is being made in order to pin down the differences edge ofa tradition to which he did not belong and had to deal with the
between humanist historiography and New World histories. The setof conflict between his own ethnic tradition and the one he was trying to
questions summarized under who is writing what, for whom, and why, understand. One of the main differences between Sahagun and Bacon
acquires in the comparison a new meaning. New World histories, even is the role they played in rl,e history of the encyclopedia: first, despite
in the form they take in the work of Peter Martyr (a man of letters SahagUn's efforts and achievements, his Florentine Codex has not been
writing in Latin to his fellow Italians about the New World) opened up included in the standard history of encyclopedias;29 second, Sahagun
the gates toward an understanding of the darker side of the Renais used the encyclopedic model to organize information while Bacon
sance and of humanist historiography. The archive (e.g., the rieor critically examined it. Bacon was placed at the crest of Western con
dallza used by Bruni) and the classical authors are replaced by daily struction of knowledge; Sahagun in the periphery of Western expan
information; letter writing is, on the one hand, the document equiv sion. The fuct that Sal,agun has ofren been compared with what an
alent to the ricordallza but without the temporal distance between thropological knowledge would be in the nineteenrll century, a
the moment in which the events took place and the moment they are forerunner of anthropology before anthropology was born, could be
organized, interpreted, and transmitted; on the other hand, letter reexamined in tIns context. However, while Bacon was having a deci
writing is not only the document but also the genre of the scholarly sive impact on the mainstream of Western intellectual life, Sahagun
discourse. Letter writing became, in Peter Martyr, the substitute of was being silenced in the periphery of an increasingly religious, eco
Bruni's well-organlzed narrative based on the source-based knowl nomic, and intellectual consolidation ofEurope and its domination all
edge provided by ,·ieorda1lza and medieval chronlcles and ofthe non over the world.
source-based knowledge furnished by previous Greco-Roman histD- While Peter Martyr collected all his information from letters he
188 received from the Indies, Sahagun's basic information came from oral easily between letters in Spanish coming from the Indies and letters in
contact with Amerindian people (fig. 4.1). Beyond the conversations Latin he was sending to his friends in Italy and in Spain. What in the
The Dal'ker across linguistic and cultural boundaries entertained by Sahagun and previous two chapters were abstract considerations about writing, the Gcnresas
Sideo!the his informants, there was also an interesting cross-play in the Uses of book and tile notion ofhistory during tile sixteenth century, acquired Social
Renaissance languages and writing systems. Not only Spanish and Nal1Uatl, but concrete dimensions and presented daily difficulties for Sahagun: Practices
also alphabetic and picture writing systems were part of tile dialogue
(fig. 4.2): These people had no letters nor any characters, nor did they know
how to read or write; they communicated by means ofimages and
All the things we discussed they gave to me by means ofpaintings, paintings, and all their antiquities and the books they had about
for that was the writing tlley had nsed, the grammarians saying them were painted with figures and images in such a way that they
them in tlleir language and writing tile statement beneath the knew and had memory of the tllings their ancestors had done and
painting.30 had left in their annals, more tllan a thousand years back before the
arrival oftile Spanish in tills land. Most ofthese books and writings
In gathering information, Sahagiln confronted difficulties that were burned at the time of the destruction of the other idolatries,
were not even dreamed of by Peter Martyr, who moved freely and
a b
190 Nahuatl's great cultural possessions.3! First, then, in the village of 191
-----
Tepepulco Sahagun reported tllat
T7Jc Darkcr Genres as
Side of'''c Social
Renaissance In ti,e said village I had all the leaders assembled, togetller with ti,e Practices
lord of ti,e village, Don Diego de Mendoza, an old man of great
distinction and ability, very experienced in civil, military, and politi-
cal and even idolatrous matters. Having met with tllem, I proposed
what I intended to do and I asked that they give me qualified and
experienced persons Witll whom I could talk and who would be
able to answer what I asked. They answered tllat they would discuss
the proposition and give me an answer another day, and tlms they
took leave of me. Another day the lord and the leaders came and,
having made a solemn speech, as they used to do tllen, they pointed
out to me ten or twelve leading elders and told me I could speak
with them and that tI,ey would ttuly answer everything tllat might
be asked of tI,em. There were also four latinists, to whom I had
taught grammar a few years earlierin the College ofthe Holy Cross
in Tlatelolco.
With these leaders and grammarians who were also leaders I
conversed many days, nearly two years, following the order of the
draft outline I had made,32
The governor and the mayor pointed out to me eight or ten leaders
Sahagun left explicit descriptions ofhis working method, They are chosen from among all of them, very skillful in tI,eir language and
very often quoted and are well known by those farniliarwith sixteenth in the things of their antiquities, with whom (in addition tofoltr or
century Mexico. I would like to repeat them, however, in this context. five collegiates, all 0flVho1l1 1V,,'e u'ilingltai), wIllie closed off in ti,e
It should be mentioned, also, that Sahagun had specific questions college for a period of more than a year, everything I had brought
prepared in advance in order to fulfill the main purposes ofhis inquiry: from Tepepulco was corrected and expanded, all ofwhich had to be
to know the ancient religion, to create or inspire texts from which a rewritten from a terrible copy because it had been written hurriedly.
rich vocabulary could be obtained ( eaicpi"o), and to record the (1:106-7)
Finally, Sahagun moved from Tlatelolco to Mexico-TenochtitJan, it'
tI;a/'%.'lz;fIJ/�¥(t£: ft·ff
.. •
193
where he stayed in the Franciscan convent for a period of three years,
r.==::;;;;;;:::====� ;lhftihTlclIJ/. 'l''1CPjcnltit JiJ ..,It�
The Darker still working on his writing, but at this point doing it by himself.33 He 'J'C#jufiUtWI. ",,1u/J}llve/ Genresas
Side oftbe was reaching the point of the final organization where the discursive f,J:/ptk'J }fl"IlC fI1itJUjft. ; lirw'Ili Social
Renaissance genres and patterns of his own cultures would begin to take over the (fiJ.1ti liujltirt!tlid, KMllfl q«ina: Practices
discursive genres and cultural patterns of his informants: , yIlIT/ltfI1l4atfj'IIt!: J'llftH,
IMtI(1[�calli,it: y" dtUltka ,,,
for a period of three years I read and reread these writings of mine
/ldc«j, :yn ""',''''fit{ .1'/1"/M'L
/I"ca! )inn ""'/'1P((j''1l1CiiffIJ
by myself, went back and corrected them, and divided them into
qllijIV, lil111j1<eAMhif tTl!. NainI;
books, into tlVelve books, and each book into chapters and s01l1e books
qJt/rhichipilM , !1tJiph 'lPitMllht
1l1.!rtlM. IIJiu/; fll!t.VImPilflt :1«6
into chapters and paragraphs . . . and the Mexicans added and cor
rected many things in the twelve books while they were being put
U Ilfan.iti'f;': 1111111'1''1'''' Yr'P"'MC411
tttldtltl1: J'H vnarn inko/dll,
into smooth copy, so that the first strainers through which my
, .J"'" ic PIII,AiM,JI1
II���:;::.;*�/(�rA�i:'/I,"n(,/'r" NII:;/
culture in which alphabetic writing and the idea ofthe book merged to
create a visual and cognitive pattern for the organization and transmis
sion of knowledge. It is to this organization that I will devote the
following pages, now that a general idea about how Sahagun gathered
and assembled his information has been related.
It is not without a certain humor that Sahagun reported about
people's queries on the Calepino he was writing. It was not without
surprise that Sahagun replied to his friends, telling them that he was Fig. 4.3. Infonning the Crown, but not reaching the printing press: a page
not writing a dictionary, like Calepino did. Sahagun understood very of the manuscript Florentine Codex, by Bernardino de Sahagun (1578)
well that even if such a work would be useful, he was not in a position
to do for the Nahuatl what Calepino did for Latin. Dictionaries need a opportuniry becanse Calepino took the words and their mcanings,
tradition ofwritten words to become realities. What the missionaries their e1'1'or� and their metaphors from the reading of the poets and
could do was to write vocablliarios(see chap. 1) or, as Sahagun saw his orators and Latin authors, substantiating everything he said with the
project, to do the necessary groundwork to allow others to write dic authors' sayings, a foundation that I have not had due to the lack of
tionaries. Here are SahagUn'S reflections on his and Calepino's letters and w'iting among this people; but whoever would want to
projects: do it could do so with facility, because by my labor twelve books
have been written in the proper and natural language of his Mexi
It would certainly be highly advantageous to prepare such a useful can tongue, which besides being an entertaining and profitable
work [a dictionary 1 for those who want to learn this Mexican lan composition presents all the ways of speaking and all tlle words this
guage, as Ambrosio Calepino did for those wanting to learn Latin language uses, just as well substantiated and sure as those written
and the meanings of its words, but there has certainly been no by VIrgil, Cicero, and the other Latin authors.36
194 What should hold our attention for the next few pages is the taken
Books 195
for-granted beliefthat it was perfectly natural to organize all the infor
1-2 God and ti,e angels
The Darker mation he gathered over the years into twelve books, without asking
3 The soul GCllresns
Side aftbe how ti,e Mexicas themselves organized and transmitted their knowl
4-7 The body and its anatomy, diseases, etc. Social
Renaissance edge. Besides the coincidental or symbolic implications of the twelve
8-9 Astrology, astronomy, time Practices
books, the fact remains that organizing knowledge in units called
IO-Tl Matter, form, air
"books" has strong implications for the complicity between writing
12 Birds and insects
and knowledge, as it has been analyzed in chapters 2 and 3. It also
13 Water and fishes
assumes that ti,e organization of knowledge should be in book form,
14-15 Geography
as was stated in the description provided by Venegas. So the Flormtine
16 Geology
Codex, thus named because of ti,e place where it was found (Florence) Trees and herbs
17
and the name used to refer to bound artifacts in which writing was
18 Animals
collected and preserved (codex), is a unit in twelve books, but what
19 Colors, scents, flavors, liquors
those twelve books amount to is not clear. It has been assumed, how
20 Weights and measures, numbers, sounds
ever, that it is patt history and patt encyclopedia.
Among ti,e many considerations leading to the final version of the
For comparative purposes it will be useful to remark tI,at a Domini
Flomztine Codex, finished toward 1578, there are tI,en one cognitive can friar, Thomas of Cantimpre, compiled a similar work around the
and one pragmatic. The cognitive one is related to genre as cognitive
same time as Bartholomaeus Anglicus, although it was not as influen
patterns for organizing information. Thus, books, history, encyclope De natura reruln was written in France between 1228 and
tial. His
dia would all be indications, during SaI,agun's time as well as in subse and, like the work by Anglicus, had the object of preserving and
1244
quent reading ofhis works, of ti,e genres invoked by the words and by explaining the Christian faiths. Cantimpre arranged his encyclopedia
the form. The pragmatic one is related to the intervention 00uan de
in the follmving manner:
Ovando, in charge of the Council of the Indies and the request to
translate into Spanish all ti,e writings tI,at Sahagun had compiled and Books
written in Nalmatl thus far. The Florentine Codex owes a great deal of 1-3 Man (anatomy, soul, monsters)
its final form to Ovando's program for gathering and organizing infor 4-9 Animals (quadmpeds), birds, ocean monsters, freshwater
mation from the Indies, since 1570, under Philip II.37 Let's explore
and saltwater fish, snakes, worms
these two aspects one at a time. 10-12 Botany (trees, aromatic trees, aromatic herbs)
It has been pointed out that Sahagun'S general plan for the organi 13 Sources of water
zation of the infonnation in written form, and in twelve books, came 14-15 Metals and precious stones
from several sources.'8 Pliny the Elder and BartllOlomaeus Anglieus 16 The atmosphere
(or Bartholomew de Glanville) have been singled out, nevertheless, as 17-18 The seven planets; ti,e motion of the spheres
the most likely and possible sources. But since Bartholomaeus An 19 The four elements
glicus based his own writing on Pliny and Isidore of Seville, it can be
concluded that one of the primary main cognitive models for organiz The form of Sahagtm 's compilation thus had a previous model in
ing information came to SahagUn from these sources through Bar the Christian world to be followed. His purposes, however, were
not
tholomaeus Anglicus, an English Franciscan who became a lecturer at exactly ti,e same as tllOse that might have motivated Anglicus or
Can
Magdeburg in 1230. His De proprietatibus rerum ( 1220-40) was timpre. Sahagun referred continually to his
writing as "this work"
widely read and consulted for over three centuries. It occupied also a (esta ohra), implying "written work," and in the opening paragraph of
distinguished place in the history of European encyclopedias of the his prologue, he compared his own work \vitll that of
the medical
Middle Ages, once encyclopedia was accepted as a word to designate a doctor. In ti,e same way that ti,e doctor has to diagnose
his or her
general collection and organization of knowledge. Bartholomaeus patient in order to reestablish the order in the body,
the missionaries
Anglicus's compilation is organized as follows: had to diagnose theirs in order to restore order
to tlleir soul. The
SahagUn, like Batiliolomaeus Anglicus, began his classificatiou of 197
analogy is certainly illuminating because of its consequences. While
knowledge with heaven and gods and then descended to the natural
one can assume the similarities of the physical bodies across cultures,
one cannot assume the same regatding the souls (using SahagUn's world. Some oftile differences can be detected in the places attributed Gell1'Csas
The Darker
vocabulary). It is at this specific juncture that ethnic and gender to astrology and health in both works. But the most important one lay Social
Side oIt"e
elsewhere. First, Sahagun accounted and organized the knowledge Practices
Renaissance differences acquire a significance latger perhaps than class differences.
coming from a pagan society and, second, he included a chapter on
In fact, Sahagun was not trying to "cure" only people who belonged
rhetoric and moral philosophy, whereas language and ethics were con
to his own culture but people from quite different ones. The diagnosis
of souls from cultures alien to the one to which the doctor belongs templated by neither Anglicus nor Cantimpre. Regarding the first
(following Sahagun's analogy) implies dialogue and mediation. Sa aspect, it is obvious that SahagUn's experience was quite out of the
ordinary and as such he did not have models to follow from his pre
hagun's informants, however, were not properly mediators but just
decessors. The second aspect, the fact that Sahagun's alleged sources
that, informants. SahagUn was trying to know their souls in orderto be
morc successful in their conversion. He was not engaged in a cross did not include either ethics or language, should not be a cause of
dismay. There were other examples, whether or not available or
cultural dialogue between people equally rational and equally correct
known to Sahagun, which did place a great emphasis on language and
in their belief and values. There was not much negotiation in the
emies. A good eXanlple in vernaculat languages was Brunetto Latini,
domain of the organization of knowledge and its significance in both
communities. Sahagun was in possession of the Truth watranted by born in Italy atound 1220 and exiled to France towatd 1263. He wrote
Le livlTs dolt tresor, which was divided into three books (book I: theol
the Divine Book as well as of the metagraph book: the "written work"
in "twelve chapters"; a packaging of the wisdom of onc culture from ogy, universal histoty, physical sciences, geography, agriculture, and
natural histoty; book 2: emics, tile virtues, and sins; book 3: secular
the perspective of the wisdom of another alien to it. From this inter
rhetoric and politics). Long before Latini, leading directiy toward
cultural tension emerged some of the basic differences between Sa
Isidore of Seville, was the Roman Marcus Terentius Vatro (u6-127
hagUn's "work" and the Western encyclopedia that he took as his
model. Sahagun's distribution of the twelve books, as given by the
B.C.) who wrote his DiscipU1Iarllm libri IX, organized according to
me trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) and me quadrivium (geometry,
tities of the books, was as follows:
arimmetic, astronomy, and music).39 He added medicine and atchi
tecture, and thus reached the nine books of his disciplines. Thus, tile
attention mat Sahagun paid to Mexica oratoty (see chap. 2, in this
Books
book) was not coming from me organization ofthe known (as was the
The Gods worshiped by the Natives of this Land of New Spain
case in Pliny and Batiliolomaeus Anglicus) but from the organization
2 Calendar, Fiestas and Ceremonies, Sacrifices, and Solemnities
ofme form ofknowledge (as was me case in Vatro and in the first book
which these natives of New Spain performed in Honor of their
ofIsidore of Seville's Etimologiae). All of which take us back to tile
Gods
question of the encyclopedia.
3 The Beginning of the Gods
Scholats have viewed SahagUn's work as an encyclopedia based on
4 On Judicial Astrology or The Art of Divining used by these
its similatities with models that have been already mentioned pre
Mexicans to know which days Were Fortunate and Which Were
viously. Chiefly, Gaius Plinius Secundus (A.D. 23-79), betrer known
Unfortunate
as Pliny the Elder, wrote one of me first models of encyclopedic writ
5 Omens and Forecasts
ing in me West. His influence on New World writers is vety well
6 Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy
known. Oviedo y Valdes wrote his Gmeral y natural historia de las
7 Natural Astrology
Indias (1537-48) both by following and detaching himself explicitly
8 Kings and Lords; Governments and Kingdoms
from Pliny. Oviedo accepted tl,e model of a general compilation and
9 Merchants and Artisans
ofnatural history, but he rejected Pliny's written sources and replaced
10 Vices and Virtues ofIndian People; patts of tile body, Health
mem with his own direct experience.40 A few decades later under
and Medicine
Philip II a medical doctor was sent to the New World to write a report
II Animals, Birds, Fish, Trees, Grass, Flowers, Metals
On natural reSOurces and tile potential for the exploration and im-
12 The Conquest of Mexico
en Francisco Hernandez w�nt
to the to a mistake made by a copyist who transformed by a stroke oftlle pen 199
.
provement of medications. Wh even tlle Greek expression enkykliospaidcia into one word, enilykliopaideia,
slated thirty out of the thirty-s .
New World, he had already tran Spanish.41 Now,
whICh was translated into Latin as C1Icyclopaedia. However, the idea of GC11l'CSnS
tural Hirt01Y, from Latin into
T7Jc Darker books of Pliny's Na the encyclopedia? a roll or scroll containing all available knowledge and named encyclo Social
Side ofthe how is it that a "na
tural" history became a model for pedia seems to be completely alien to the ancient Greek and Roman Practices
Dictiona lJ, the modern word ellcy
Rmais5al1CC According to the Ox[01'd English sen se worlds.
en/lyillios paideia. Paideia, in the
clopedia comes from the Greek om e mo re rele vant Now, if one looks back to tlle examples upon which the history of
ered (or at leas t, bec
ofeducation, seems to have ent und er Ale xan der an encyclopedia as a genre has been constructed, one can distinguish
after its expansion betwe�n two models: an encyclopedia in which ways of knowing are
in) Greek cultivated vocabulary this par
has been used to denote
the Great (32 4-3 23 B.C .). Paideia g of orgamzed, and an encyclopedia that organizes the known. Two
, and the better-known meanin
ticular age of Greek civilization
have been a derivation om the � �r
st sources of these legacies are Pliny and Varro. Pliny offered a chaotic
paideia as education seems to a giv en stag e m a organization of the known; Varro offered a systematic organization of
the requirements of
meaning: for a person to fulfill all os (ge ner al) the ways ofknowing.42 In tl,e context ofsuch legacies, Sallagun intro
s, the expression ellkyilli
society, education is required. Thu well duced (perhaps without knowing it) a third alternative: tl,e recon
ther translator suggested, "a
paidcia (education) or, as ano the figuration of the known coming from patterns of cultures alien to the
ly associated to education and
rounded education," was original cation com pris ed knower's tradition, resulting in the repression of native categories to
A well-rounded edu
organization of the curriculum. of soph ,a and perform tl,e same classificatory operations. Such a move could have
skill, both in the realm
different kinds of knowledge and had at least two possible interpretations. The first is that in order to
dle Ages the foundation of Greek
of techlte. During the European Mid ) make the alien familiar, it has to be translated into the categories of
roduced toward the ninth century �ne's own c�lture. The second is that by doing so, the risk ofsuppress
education became the trivium (int a
toward the sixth century). Thus,
and the quadrivium (introduced our day ) was mg alternatlve organizations of knowledge is difficult to avoid. Sa
liberal arts education in
well-rounded education (or a n hagun's Floret/tine Codex helped to save the known in Mexica culture
later on took the form of the seve
derived from en/lyklios paideia and hm , etic from oblivio� , at the same time tllat it repressed (altllOugh not sup
and dialectic, the trivium; arit
liberal arts (grammar, rhetoric, n, did pressed) MeXlca ways of knowing.
sic, the quadrivium ). How, the
geometry, astronomy, and mu the mo del for Let's explore the pragmatic aspect of Sahagun's work as related to
ria naturalis) become
Pliny's Natural Hirtmy (Hirto Juan de Ovando's (president of the Council of the Indies) request to
the encyclopedia? re- translate mto Spamsh what he had written so far in NallUatl. The fact
te a hirtoria that was, in many
To judge by the title, Pliny wro rep ort ing , and that the Florentine Codex was finished in 1578, and the date corre
tern of collecti ng,
spects, in keeping Witll the pat s Dc sponds to the years in which the first systematic effort to collect and
eks, and mainly from Aristotle'
classifYing inherited from tlle Gre nat ural organize information from the Indies was being made (engineered
caelo and Historia J111imaiiwlIJ,
that he included in his work on
was not held in as high este�m
as it largely by Juan de Ovando; sec chap. 6 for more details), is a clear
.
philosophy. In Rome, philosophy , less md,catlon that Sallagun's work (which began under the Franciscan
t1tl'al Hist01'y is more descnptIve
was in Greece, and Pliny's Na sto tle wro te project to convert tlle Amerindians) finished as a report requested by
toria allimaliltm. If Ari
philosophical, than Aristotle's His d th �t the Councll oftlle IndIes. As such, Sahagun's work followed the paths
supposedly, because he believe
a history of animals, it was not, dId of tllOusands of offiCIal reports that were used and published or used
ries to preserve, but because he
animals, like humans, had memo say and filed, according to the interests or dangers implied. If tlle artifact
only when one has something to
not tllink tllOt one writes history an soc ieti es. was considered a curiosity or a valnable object, it ended up in the
, human deeds, or hum
about the past of human beings pte r: hands of some members oftlle Royal House or its beneficiaries. Ifit
at I was saying in the previous cha was not, i: landed in the archives oftlle council. It has been suggested
Which is another way to say wh t
only had a meaning quite differen
"history" in the ancient world not was that the bIhngual verSIon of Sahagun's Florentine Codex, with color as
European Renaissance, but it
from what it became during the e. It see ms well as black and white illustrations, ended up in Florence becanse
kind of writing practic
altogether a difterent genre and of en Phihp II offered it as a present to his danghter when she married
eve that Pliny became a model
possible, consequently, to beli s, Lorenzo el Magnifico.
pedia became a genre due, perhap
cyclopedic writing and the encyclo
200 SahagUn's final years and the completion of his masterwork coin Vieo would have been receptive to Sahagun's efforts to understand the 201
cided with the years in which Sir Francis Bacon, in England, was intellectual edifice of people and societies beyond the horizon ofEu
TbeDarker conceiving a radical transformation in the encyclopedia as a way of ropean knowledge. Genresas
Side o/the knowing. He did not call his work encyclopedia but NOJ'" m Organizing the known in a way that encompasses memory and Social
Renaissance O'l]a1lllm (1620). He came up with a clear reconceptualization of current knowledge was ndrl,er a clistinguishing feature of·th.e West Practices
human learning and an organization of knowledge that was intended nor of cultures with a long history of writing practices. Toward the
to solve many problems and inconsistencies he encountered in his eleventh centUlY both the Islamic and Christian worlds as inheritors of
predecessors. His Nov1I'" 01;ga1l",n was an encyclopedia properly the Greek legacy were strong religions of the book and had also
speaking, in the sense that his classification of knowledge was in
developed sophisticated written tools to systematize the known as
tended to change the ways in which knowledge was organized and well as the way of knowing. In the same way that Isidore of Seville (in
transmitted. Bacon's project was to influence education and curricu� the sixth and seventh centuries) made an effort from rl,e Christian
lar organization and to change the medieval legacy embodied in the point of view, one century later Ibn Qutayba (or Kutaiba, A.D. 828-
trivium and the quadrivium. A simplified version, which encom
89) authored a work called Kitab 'Uy"n a!-Akhbal; normally trans
passed all forms of knowledge, is summarized in the following para
lated as The Book ofthe Best Traditions.44 Those translating llitab !aced
graph:
tile same kind of problems encountered when translating amoxtli.
latab would be better translated, in this context, as "the writing" or
The best division of human learning is that derived from the three "the written records" of the best traditions. Beyond the conceptual
faculties of the rational soul, which is the need ofleaming. History differences in the Christian and Islamic worlds regarding writ
has reference to the MelllOlY, Poesy to the Imagination, and Phi ing/kitab and book/al-Kitab, there is also a significant clifference in
losophy to the Reason. . Wherefore from these three foun
. . the way the known is organized.4S God and the heavens are not at the
tains, Memory, Imaginatio1l, and Reason, flow these three em beginning ofIbn Kutaiba's work. His thematic sequence was the fol
anations, HistOlY, Poesy, and Philosophy; and there can be no lowing: power, war, nobility, character, learning and eloquence, ascetM
others.43 icism, friendship, prayers, food, omen. During the ninth century Islam
was at the beginning of its imperial expansion, as was Christianity
when Bartholomaeus Anglicus was influential in Europe as well as
Bacon's effort was based in the Greco-Roman legacy. The dif
during the sixteenth centnry, when SahagUn was outlining Mexica's
ficulties, fur instance, that Sahagun might have encountered in orga
nizing the knowledge he gathered from the ancient Mexicans was knowledge. Unfortunately, no equivalent to Ibn Kutaiba has survived
unknown to Bacon, even when Philip I I of Spain married Mary Tudor from pre-Columbian Mexico, and the examples one can find duting
and became the King of Wales, Ireland, and England. But even if the colonial period (see the next section in this chapter) are hybrids,
Sahagun's works had been available to Bacon, he might not have the result of the survival of ancient wisdom and the spread ofWestern
changed his perspective on the organization of knowledge based on .cultural literacy.
the Greco-Roman tradition. Bacon's main goal was the organization One century after Ibn Kutaiba, a Persian scholar by the name of
of knowledge within the classical traclition as constructed by Euro Al-Kbwarizmi (ca. A.D. 975-97) wrote a work devoted to organizing
pean humanists; Sahagun'S main goal was the organization of know1- ways of knowing ratl,er rllan assembling ti,e known. His work was
edge ofpeople and societies hitherto unknown to the knowing subject entitled Mafatih al-'Ulttm and was translated as Key to the Seimcc,
proposing the organization ofknowledge. Bacon laid out the founda although I would prefer wisdom to seimee, given ti,e years in which
tions for science and epistemology in the modem period. Sahagun, the work was written, unless it is specified that science is understood
negotiating the tensions between an encyclopedic and Christian tracli as a collection of knowledge from oral and written sources. What is
tion for the organization of knowledge, laid out the foundations for relevant to my discussion, however, is that AlMKhwarizmi divided his
human sciences and hermeneutics in the modern period. Vico did not .work in native (or incligenous) and foreign wisdom in the following
know of Sahagun, either. But, as the example of Boturini suggests, manner:
202 Quranic law The Discontinuity of the Classical Tradition: Genres 203
thcological philosophy and Amerindian Organization of Knowledge in the
The Darll£1" Arabic grammar Colonial Period Gcnresas
Side ofthc Secretarial duties Social
Rmaissancc Writing the past Encyclopedia, then, brings us back to education and, consequently, to Practices
genres in the organization and transmission ofknowledge. A second
/ ary meaning of el1kyklios paideia was "teaching in circle," applied to
fixed in alphabetic script that transformed the oral traclition and the Pineiro has described the Spanish eportorio de los tiempos as a very
..
hieroglyphic way of recorcling, organizing, and transmitting knowl popular genre of astrologic literature in which prognoses associated
edge in ancient Maya civilization, it is possible to surmise that Renais with health, agriculture, and navigation were associated with the civil
sance genre categories went together with alphabetic writing. And in and ecclesiastical calendar. Interestingly enough, they were initially
tact, Arzapalo Marin has suggested that the actual form of the Booilsof called IUlIario ( from I""a, moon) and then became established as
Chi/am Balam responded very much to the so-called repe ..torios (or report01io.S6 The fact that the "books" of Chilam Balam also contain
reporto ..ios) de los tiempos, a Renaissance genre characterized by the European material is indicative of their hybrid character and ofthe use
and transformation ( for reasons that should be studied in particular
cases) of European script and genres by native people of the Yucatan
peninsula. As has been discussed in chapter 2, genres and the organi
zation of knowledge in the Booils of Chi/am Balam go back to the
spread of Western literacy; that is, to education, to teaching how to
read and write and to organizing and transmitting knowledge. The
Maya (as well as the Mexica) had their own ways ofdoing these things,
Fig. 4.5- Course of the sun and solar sys
tem as redrawn in the Rays edition of the which were, in part, transformed by the encounter with Spanish mis
Chi/am Bn/am o/Clmmayel sionaries and men ofletters.
One should keep in mind, however, that the kind of "encyclope
dia" or mixture of genres that we encounter in the colonial
Books of
Chi/am Balam presumably existed, before they were compiled in a
single unit, as a cliversity of genres common to pictographic writing
(bookkeeping, time reckoning) without parallel in oral genres. The
colonization of genres in this case was not successful. As time went on,
the European script that the friars were so eager to transmit in order to
more effective in the Christianization of the natives was used by
Amerinclians to stabilize their past, to adapt themselves to the present,
In .. ..hI'" 01
I. ,. ",101>0< '(
1�. """'.0 " " '" ,�. ,"n. " I. ",I to transmit their own traditions to future generations and, in sum
,",0- It 1,10." 01>
..,," h 1010,1' ....
"".ff ••. ,.,,� ","
",.to 'e, .."h ,""
.nd TWO" ,n th•
mary, to resist the colonization oflanguage. Arzapalo Marin advanced
•ftd """'" "" It..
the hypothesis that the Books of Chi/am Balam are an adaptation and
<��"",,..�.id.. o! "....<>,,4. of tho
,... ..tth ...$
achievements (like the Chinese, the Egyptians or later tl,e Islamic elder, tlatolli word or discourse). Moreover, socialization and social
=
civilizations), should not necessarily be taken as the model. control emerged not only in what was being said but in the manner of
Sallagun held the speeches of tl,e Mexica in high esteem botll for saying it. Thus, tl,e emphasis placed in the previously quoted dis
their delivelY as well as for tl,eir moral content. As a result, he called courses, the father to hls son and from the motl,er to her daughter, on
the book in which he collected a sample of their speeches "Rhetoric the manners in which speech should be delivered and its relation to
and Moral Philosophy." Sahagun was rather silent about Mexican the position of the body are not only rhetorical advice but also social
writing systems and organization ofknowledge in written (or painted) norms (fig. 4.6).
form. He might not have been interested in revealing the fact that the The Spanish missionaries and men of letters who studied or de
Mexica were accomplishing, by means of oral discourses, what the scribed Amerindian cultures had a disadvantage in relation to a
Spaniards (as well as other European states during the sixteenth ccn present-day observer. It would have been difficult, if not impossible,
tury) were accomplishing by means of writing. Since rhetoric was tl,e for the missionaries to detach tllemselves from tl,eir own system of
discourse in which the rules and examples for tl,e production of oral beliefu and to observe dlemselves describing the Amerindians. The
and public discourses (oratory) were established, it could be con distance between the missionaries' own descriptions of the Amerin
cluded tllat Sahagun did not collect rhetorical discourses (with tl,C dians ill the sixteenth century and tl,e descriptions humanists or social
scientists provide nowadays of the missionaries describing the Amer- 211
----
indians duriug the sixteenth century facilitates the understanding of
the missionaries in a way that they could have not understood them- Gmres as
selves. It would have been impossible for Sahagun, for instance, to Social
think that Greco-Latin oratorial examples and rhetorical treatises Practices
were not the appropriate yardsticks to measure Mexican discourse
against and to praise them as fur as they approached the model, but
rather that Mexican discourses were equivalent examples to what had
been the experience of the Greek sophists or of Aristotle when he
attempted a written formalization of oral discourses in his Rhetorica.
In other words, Sahagun was not in a position to examine the Greco-
Roman tradition critically from the experience of tl,e formalized oral
discourse among the Mexican leaders, parents, and elders. He had no
other choice than to evaluate Mexica discourses from the perspective
of the Greco-Roman tradition.60
There is, finally, the question of genre as it relates to speech. Ini
tially, the question of genre was related to tl,e lack of (alphabetic)
writing. But in fact, how could someone manage to understand genres
in oral communication when that person had been educated in a liter
ate tradition in which, by tl,e late fifreenth and early sixteentll century,
the question of genre in rhetoric and poetics was so well developed,
and all its development was based on written practices? Beyond tl,e
repeated mention of the lack of history during the sixteenth century,
but with the recognition that the Amerindians had their way of re
cording the past, the true question ofgenre remained implicit. It came
to the foreground quite recently, when Angel Marla Garibay pub
lished his HistOl·ia de la literatltra Nd/matl and confronted the dif
ficulties of organizing Nahuatl literature following tl,e classification of
genres in the Western tradition. Historians and missionaries during
the sixteenth century had more important worries than the question of
genres. As a consequence, the documentation about Amerindian
categories of discourse classification was not easy to find in sixteenth
and early-seventeenth-century source material. At any rate, there are
three aspects in particular that should draw our attention in relation to
the topic under consideration.
First is discourse classification when speech is the main source of
Fig. 4.6. Oral genres in ancient Mexico: Mexica forms ofverbal behavior preservation, organization, and transmission of knowledge, ethics,
as depicted in the Florentille Codex and education, and when speech is also used in the sphere of pleasure
and entertainment ( a sphere of human communication that could be
compared with Western poetry or literature). Although I will limit
myself to historiography, poetry, and rhetoric (three of the major
discursive categories during the Renaissance) and their equivalents in
Anlerindian cultures, the whole sphere of linguistic interactions in
been adapted by Amerindian communities, it 213
212 both traditions could be examined from the same perspective. Leon once the alphabet had ----
written interactions and their conceptualization by tlmse who engage conceptualization of +-+ conceptualization of
in them. Botll alphabetic written interactions and their conceptualiza
oral interactions written interactions
,
tions constitute what I call literacy. 63
Second is discourse classification when the introduction of the al Level of conceptualization
phabet made it possible either to fix preconquest oral composition or of semiotic interactions
allowed Amerindians to adapt ti,e alphabet to their own oral and writ
ten traditions, as we have seen in the previous section. Furthennorc, Fig. 4.7. The semiotic square
a diachronic and syn 215
214 Decreasing restriction of form Controlled heat symbolizes order in both
several symbolic domains
chronic sense. Language is but one of
771eDarker Decreasing restriction of content about in terms ofheat metaphors.71 Genresas
which Chamulas think and talk
Side ofthe Social
,... - ...... The heat metaphor (as in "to speak with
a heated heart") applies
Renaissance Practices
/ " not only to language but
to other domain s of social interactions, as
and cosmology. In Gossen's words,
well as thoughts, religion, ethics,
1o?i1 k'ap k'op sventa puru k'op
ft'wnah yo7nton '"Pure or this
Ii kirsanoe traditlOnallanguage"
ly concerned with
"'Language for includes "'re:ent brings us to the fact that oral tradition is primari
people whose words" and "ancient them. In this sense,
hearts are heated" words" norms and limits of permitted variation within
is a more or less invarian t expressive system
Chamula oral tradition
to deal ,vith more or
that provides information which helps people
It therefore is fitting and
less invariant aspects of the social system.
ula cosmos
consistent that the primary invariable aspect ofCham
guage for talking
Increasing restriction of form the sun deiry-should provide a native metalan
•
oflang uage use.72
Increasing restriction of content about some of the invariable CallOnS
Around 1584, according to the story told by Father Ricci himself, 1 the
Chinese Mandarins visited the first Jesuit mission established at Shao
xing. The Chinese saw, on a wall of the mission-room, what was for
them an astonishing depiction of the earth. Although it is not certain
which map Father Ricci took with him to China, it is presumed that it
was a printing ofAbraham Ortelius's Tip"s orbis terra,."", (1570) (fig.
5,1). The Chinese Mandarins seemed to be astonished by the tact that
the earth looked like a sphere mostly covered by water; and they were
still more astonished when they realized that the Chinese empire,
which up to then tI,ey believed was not only at the center of the earth
but also occupied almost its entire surface, was reduced to a small
portion of land in the upper-right-hand corner of the map. D'Elia
reconstructed this crucial moment in the following narrative:
Ricci had observed that his guests, before looking at the world map
in the European language, displayed on the wall of his residence in
Shao-King, complained when they saw their China on the right
hand side, at the end of the known world, and near the corner,
instead ofat the center of the world as until then they had believed
it was, in the belief that the world was square.2
219
220 truth, he saw no other alternative than merely to change the layout lands of the tributary nobles are surrounded by the zone of pacifica- 221
adopted by the European cartographers. This in fact undermined tion where border peoples were adjusting to Chinese customs. The
T71eDarkcr their world map from that time on by putting the two Americas on land of friendly barbarians follows and, finally, the outermost rect- Ille Movable
Side o!tbe the left ofthe observer, Europe and Africa in the center and Asia on angle separates Chinese civilization from the lands of savages who Gmte,'
Renaissancc the right; naturally China and Japan were represented at the ex have no culture at all. s
tteme right of the map. Rieci, wishing to have a legitimate account Although Father Ricci was in China almost two thousand years
of the susceptibility of his guests, placed Europe and Africa on his after this diagram ofthe world was drawn, it could be assumed that the
world map on the observer's left, with Asia in the center and the surprise expressed by the gentry of the Ming dynasty when they saw
two Americas on the right.3 the Ortelius-like map on the wall of the mission-room was due to the
fuct that their conceptualization of space as well as of the place as
According to scholars of Chinese culture and civilization,' the signed to China in the configuration ofthe earth remained attached to
Chinese conceptualization of space was based on a confederation of the rectangular matrix with China in the center. It may be difficult to
five directions: north, SQuth, west, east, and middle, with China as the believe that the conceptualization of space conveyed by the diagram
Middle Kingdom. The Chinese universe was sometimes (perhaps from the fifth century B.C. was still relevant in China toward the end of
more for political than for cosmological reasons) diagrammed as a grid the sixteenth century. However, the Italian ttaveler Gemelli Carreri
of nested rectangles. In figure 5.2 (a "map" dated around the fifth claimed to have seen, circa 1700, a Chinese "map" vety similar to the
century B.C.), the center stands for the imperial palace and the next center-oriented representation in rectangular form shown in figure
rectangle-reading outward-represents the imperial domains. The 5.2.6 But it is precisely this long tradition that makes special the mo
ment Ricci showed the world map to his Chinese guests. The encoun
ter between two different configurations of the earth looks very
"
I
1 �lit�
� �'ll!{ l
! �nj� 1
I
5.2. An example of
/s:'"'Ilt{ {ii: "1
> ;t:';��;:� �c�Onl ccntric
I r-
1
.,. �
I
r
},;) l description, i
of "map" merging
.C{],smoglraphicalpatterns i I I I I
territorial control
I ott
Fig. 5.3. A latc-sixteenth-century alternative perspective ofthe world: A twentieth-century Japanese perspective: a world map printed in
Ricci's mappa11lolldo in 1988
as and is a downright attempt to deceive people on things which they
introduced by Ricci's redrawing of Western world maps, does the
225
224
eighte enth century . The personally can not go to verifY for themselves. It is really like the
Japanese map shown in figure 5.5, from the
world map began trick of a painter who draws ghosts in his pictures. We need not
Japanese cartographic tradition based on Ricci's
The Movahle
TIle Darker
map of In China , instead , the situation discuss orl,er points, but just take for example the position ofChina
with the Shoh6 w6rld 1645.1 1 Center
Side ofthe
the Jesuits preten ded it was. Ch'en has on the map. He puts it not in the center but slightly to the west and
Rmaissal1cc was not as smooth as Ricci and
met Ricci did not make inclined to tl,e nortll. This is altogetller far from trutll, for China
shown that some ofthe people who reportedly
s" in Chinese should be in the center of tl,e world, which we can prove by the
a distinction between the traditional "western region
Ming dynasty, single fuct that we can see tl,e NOM Star resting at the zenith ofthe
cartography and Europ e.l2 The official history of the
China , does not follow Ricci' s map. In heaven at midnight. How can China be treated like a small unim
written while Ricci was still in
harsh , as can be appreci portant country, and placed slightly to the notth as in this map? This
some cases, criticism ofRied has been quite
really shows how dogmatic his ideas are. Those who trust him say
ated in the following evaluation:
that the people in his country are fond oftravelling afur, but such an
, error as this would certaiuly not be made by a widely-travelled
Lately Mateo Ricci utilized some false teachings to fool people and
. . . . The map of the wor ld man.13
scholars unanimously believed him
us and myster ious,
which he made contains elements ofthe fabulo
It is tempting (at least in my case) to read the preceding paragraph
as a complaint from someone who defends his position although he is
utterly in the wrong. The temptation comes from the natural ten
dency to judge colonial situations from the point of view of what
Fabian calls the "denial of coevalness."14 The impression the reader
gets from Ricci's account is tl,at the Chinese cartographers and intel
lectuals were "behind" in time, not yet quite as developed as their
European counterparts. I S Such an impression stems from the dictum
ofserious and outstanding modern scholars who are able to say, when
describin g Ricci's contribution to Chinese cartography, that "it gave
ilie Chinese a true picture of the world as it was then known." Such
generalizations are based on a denotative concept of tl,e sign and on
the correspondence tlleory of trutll, which disregards th� locus and
ilie subject of enunciation as well as tl,e needs'and fu;'ctio�s of ter
rit�rial descriptions.- Instead, a universal knowing subject is presup
posed and identified with ilie regional European cartographic per
If the dictum "a true picture of tl,e world as it was then
known" is replaced by "the true picture of ilie world as it was tl,en
known by Europeans and Chinese," tl,e statement would do justice
to colonial situations in which at least two perspectives on the world
coexist. The attribution of true value depends on the perspective
taken by the speaking subject, as can be seen in Ricci's as well as in
Chinese scholars' respective accounts. We know today that the Jesuits
toward the end of the sixteentll century were either not aware of or
ignored the changes in the image of the cosmos introduced by
Copernicus. They lived in a universe whose center was the earth and
ctive ofthe world: Ricci's ilie sun. There was a difference between tl,e Jesuit and the
Fig. 5.5. An eighteenth-century Japanese perspe 3<:hine"e scholars, noneilieless, and the difference was relevant not at
perspective recast in a different graphic tradition
226 the level of true correspondence between maps and the world but understand ti,e implications of Ricci's move for ti,e colonization and 227
at the level of powcr.16 Ricci's territorial representation was mOre reconfiguration of space, I soon learned tllat ti,e omphalos syndrome
TbcDarker powerful than that of the Chinese on two accounts: first, because it governing territorial descriptions, bOtll in its spatial aspects (people The ilfOilable
Side Dfthe went together with an economic and religious expansion that allowe d believing tllat they are at the center of the world) as well as its religious Center
Renaissance Ricci to promote the European conception of the world in China ones (people believing that they have been divinely appointed), was
while the Chinese were not in a position to promote their own ter not peculiar to the Chinese but was actually quite widespread. I
ritorial view to the Europeans; and second, because it produced the learned also tllat generally ti,e omphalos syndrome is related to the
effect that the ethnic center was transcended and replaced by body as ti,e model of tile cosmos and the axis ","ndi is related to a
a geometric one when, indeed, geometric projections during the sacred place as tlle center of the world. It became apparent in both
sixteenth century became a new model of a Eurocentric conception of cases that the etlmic center had to be grounded on some basic experi
the world. ence other than the body and the sacred place, such as the east-west
movement of ti,e sun and the moon (as one of ti,e most fundamental
features of spatial orientation), l 8 the perception of space from a per
Cortes, Duran, and SahagUn's Move: The Human Body, sonal rather than a collective perspective in which ti,e human body is
the Sacred Place, the City, and the Shape of the Cosmos located as fundamental reference for territorial representation, or a
combination of these factors. Arnheim's assumptions that some fLln
The Spanish experience in Mexico regarding the conceptualization of damental principles of spatial description are deeply rooted in human
space was different-as should be expected-from Ricci's experience naturel9 and that particular manifestations take place in specific his
in China. Cortes (a man of arms), Duran (a Dominican), and SahagUn toric conditions and under ti,e rules of enduring traditions support my
(a Franciscan) were involved-in one way or another-in (re)draw intuitions , 20 Lumsden and Wilson's plea for a new human science
ing the shape of the city, the earth, and the cosmos. Contraty to Ricci's deserves to be reconsidered from the perspective of ti,e shape human
�
experience in Chin , Mexica intellectuals did not have a chance of beings attributed and continue to attribute to ti,e earth and the cos
expressing their own opinion about the ways in which the Spanish de mos. It is not toward a biological determinism that I am heading, but
scribed their own territory. Their silence does not mean, however, that to the recursive capacity that places all human beings and human
they readily accepted either what was proposed to them or the manner cultures at the same level of intellectual achievements, at the same
in which they were introduced and described to the European au time that it shows their diversity and coevolutionaty transforma
dience to which Cortes's, Duran's, and Sahag6n's writing were ad tions.2! The distinction between ti,e materiality of nature and culture,
dressed. The aim of this section, consequently, is bringing to the fore on the one hand, and the human description of it in their constant
ground coexisting territorialities that have been repressed by Spanish transformation and adaptation to the natural and social environment,
(and European) mapping of ti,e city, the earth, and ti,e cosmos. The on the other, is one way of solving the old philosophical problem cast
section will journey-comparatively-first, through similar founda in terms of realism versus idealism or ti,e conflict between ti,e world
before
tions for the ordering of space and time in different civilizations and ti,e word. The dichotomy vanishes when a distinction is made
the sixteenth ccntmy and, second, will show the survival and
coexis� between existence (or the materiality of what tI,ere is) and the descrip
tence of premodern cosmolog ies with modern cartograp hy. One fu�. tion ofwhat there is. A description of ti,e world is what makes it rele
!s
damental premise of this part of the book (as well as of the chapter) vantto us, not its mere existence. The domains that human beings can
betwee n,
the increasing fissure in the emerging Western civilization perceive or describe are much more limited than what there is. Expand
a concept of rime attached to cosmolog y and re ing knowledge is, precisely, ti,e human capacity of expanding ti,e
on the one hand, .
ligion and a concept of time attached to business and administratlon range of descriptions \vithout exhausting the ontological domains.
and, on the other, a concept of space attached to ti,e body, the . In the particular case of the body and ti,e shape of the cosmos, the
geometnc
munity, and the place and a concept of space attached to correlation between micro- and macrocosmos was a shared belief
projection and arithmetic calculus.l7 among certain intellectuals of the EuropeanMiddle Ages. Such a cor
order to
When I began to read about the histoty of cartography in relation was vety influential in depicting the earth and the universe.22
The micro-macrocosm theory believes that humanity is a little world, Chinese "world map" shown in fignre 5.2, in which the Middle King- 229
and that the world had the form ofa great man (or human being). The dom has a function similar to Jerusalem in Christian iconography. If ----
TbeDarker Christian version of rl,is theory is exemplified by the body of this " map" complies with a political rather than with a religious or TIlt: MOMblc
Side ofthe Christ,23 as illustrated in figure 5.6. The Ebst01fmap (fig. 5.7) pro philosophical organization ofthe territory, rl,e description provided in Center
Renaissance vides a paradigmatic illustration of terrirorial representation in Chris The Book ofLieh-tzzt (about 125 B.C. )24 places the Middle Kingdom in
tian cosmology. While the human body in general suggests the four the center offour oceans and between rl,e southernmost comer ofthe
horizontal directions (head and feet indicating east and west and ex west pole and the norrllernmost corner of the east pole:
tended arms north and south) and the movement ofthe sun and the
moon mark the east-west orientation, Christian cosmology located III the southernmost carner ofthe western pale lies a land that extends
the east (sunrise) next to Christ's head, where Paradise was also no one knows how fur. It is called the Ku-mang land. There the
placed. Jerusalem and Christ's navel coincide, which justifies the met forces of Yill and Yang do not meet, and therefore the contrast
aphor "the navel ofthe world" given to a place that is at the same time between cold and warm does not exist. . . . The people do not eat,
the center of the human body and the center of the cosmos. The
power of the center is very similar in conception to the rectangular
II
III IV Fig. 5.7. The body ofChrist and the ordering ofthe earth: the EbstOlfmap
230 and do not wear garments, but sleep almost all tbe time . . . . The 231
Middle Kingdom lies amidst the Fottr Oceans, to the nortb and
The Darl,Cl' soutb of the Yellow River and to the east and west of tbe Great The MOJlabic
Side ofthe Mountain ( t'ai-shan) in an area fur greater than a tbousand square Center
Rcnaissrl1l cc miles. Dark and light are separated . . . . Nature thrives, tbe ans
and tbe crafts are highly developed. . . . In the northernmost corner
,,[the eastpole lies a land called Fu-lo. It is always hot tbere, sun and
moon shine constandy witb a glaring light. . . . They do not eat
cooked food. They are hard and cruel by nature.25
at the time divided between Lybia (which would become Africa) and updating of the Ptolomaic tradition and the ordering ofspace accord
Europe (which would be identified more and more with the Christian ing to a geometric center. By showing that the geometric center is "
,
West during and afrer the sixteenth century).29 It should come as no movable and that the observer could be removed from the position
established by his/her body, community, or center of power, Ricci
showed that the e�ters (e.g., Christian Europe, Rome) could
coexist without conflict with ge�es (e.g., China, the Pacific).
lib£! <£>ttnUUG Ricci's move has at least two readings. One reading focuses on the
paradigmatic changes taking place in sixteenth-century Europe: the
position of the earth in the umverse was being displaced from
the center to a peripheral orbit. The second reading focuses on the
belief that the ethnic axis 1Il1t1ldi was being replaced by an objective
and geometrically calculated mnpal111mdi. Both readings unravel two
sides of the same coin: ethnic centers remained, as always, attached to
an observer placed at the center ofa community or ofa locus ofpower;
geometric calculus created the illusion that a universal, objective, and
nonethnic observer was possible. The modem idea of science is part
and parcel of the dissociation, in the Western tradition, between an
ethnic center (which became subjective, political, and ideologieal)
and a geometric one (which became objective, neutral, and scientific)
and produces the illusion that geometry is not attached also to a basic
ethnic perspective.
The Dominican friar Diego Duran, also working in Mexico around
the time that Sahagun was writing his Flore1ltine Codex, had a slightly
different version of the Mexicas' four dimensions of time (fig. 5.10).
And their attitudes toward the Mexica were also quite different tllan
the attitude Ricci had vis-a-vis the Chinese. Duran accounted for the
fusion of space and time in the Mexica cosmology and described the
. . �IlI.l'reDfmllnnrobDDP 'of
. ' goil�ofpntptptc{ll Dfal1 counting of the years in relation to tl,e division of tl,e earth:
gtUro a of mel) (! of.nrcp
ornICo!! cUDicilUll of mtD
The round circle was divided into four parts, each part containing
a b thirteen years. The first part belonged to the East, tl,e second to the
North, the third to the West, and tl,e fourth to the SOUtll. The first
Fig. 5.9. Circling the square and reducing the four corners ofthe world to part, belonging to the East, was called the Thil�een Years of the
the three sections of the TjO maps: a, SahagUn's depiction of the wind Reeds, and so it was that each square of the thirteen contained a
against the background ofan (inverted) T/O map; b, a possible modcl, picture ofa reed and the number ofthe yearin tl,e same way that we
Bartholomaeus AngliCllS, Dc proprietatilllls rerum, in the edition of 1492
OMEYOCAN 23 5
T
- p
f;!:c . 1 T
+ JJ Skies 77Je Movable
T Centel'
T
T
I
lE I
T
I
Fig. 5.IOa. Sahagun's a3
Red T � dipo�a T
rendition ofAztec cos� mJ
!u
mology (157 8): The
circle overtaking the Black Tezr�tljpoca
square, and the four jlmtklll!c Blue Te:calhpoc�
comers ofthe world rilbbJl
\\7hire QlIel�3fcoatl
houu
:�:
.L.
Earth
9 UndefU'orlr.ls
a
MICTLAN
Fig. 5.11. The temple, the city, the universe: the Temple of the Sun and the
structure ofTenochtitlan
Since the Mexica themselves divided the world in four parts, Duran
and Sahagllll did them justice not only in modeling the fourth corner
Fig. 5.10b. A pre ofthe world but also in linking space and time. There remained, how
Copernican diagram ofr ever, two dimensions in which the Christian model served to colonize
the universe (from Pete , Mexica cosmology by turning it into Western concepts of space and
Apianus's Cosmograpbia
1539) time. In paintings found in Amerindian codices in which their own
cosmography and cosmology are depicted, the shape of a square or a
rectangle is preferred to that of the circle. The design in the Codex
Ftjir"ary-Mayer (sec fig. 3.6) shows the four directions of the universe
time and space and is the manner in which the Mexica described to
th"m:sel'ves what Sahagun and Duran describe to and for a European
reader. Here, the four directions of space and time stemmed from the
.lelmple of the Sun (or Templo Mayor) (fig. 5.n), which was at the
same time a sacred place and the navel ofthe world: it was the center of
the four horizontal directions; the center of the horizontal organiza
b ofthe universe in thirteen places above (heavens) and nine below,
and, finally, the center of the Fifth Age, or the age of the SUll in which Or perhaps better, the center ofthe world this time was not Jerusalem, 237
the Aztec were living.33 but the Mediterranean (e.g., the middle ofthe earth) ,35 a geopolitical
Beside the sacred places, geopolitical centers had a more limited center around which the main places of the Arab world are located 17" MOl'ffbic
TIle Darker
Side oft"e function, in the sense that, contrary to the "navel of the world" or axis (Syria, Iran, Egypt). As was customary only in Muslim cartography, Cellter
RmaisSlll1ce mU11di, they organize the earthly world without cosmological im� South is at the top and North at the bottom, with empty spaces be·
plications. Let's move to the Muslim world of the thirteenth century. yond the equator (no. 6) and toward the south (no. 5) and north pole
Six or seven centuries after Cosmas and Saint Isidore established the (no. 8o). Ibn Khaldun provided a native point of view of the earth in
foundations for the Christian conceptualization of space, which had a which the center of space and memory is the Arabic world. The appro-
serious effect on the colonization of Amerindian space well into the priation ofPtolcmy in the West, since the fifteenth century, constitutes
sixteenth centUlY, the Muslim Ibn Khaldun was reading the Greek in itself an interesting story, for the Arabic cartographic tradition
historians, philosophers, and geographers (Ptolemy) of the Hellenis· founded in Ptolemy will be marginalized by the expansion of Europe
tic era and writing his famous ptolegomen ( mttqaddimah) to a and European cartography. Europe, as a unit well distinguished in the
description (history) of the Arab people placed in a universal con· TIO map tradirion, was not recognized as such in Ibn Khaldun's
text. 34 It was customary in the European as well as in the Muslim map, in which northern cities are mentioned (for instance, in no. 54,
Middle Ages to include a chapter describing the shape of the cosmos Gascogne; no. 57, France; no. 58, Venice; etc.) but not as part ofa unit
and the form of the earth, and Ibn Khaldun did not change the tradi· called Europe . Even less distinct was a unit called Asia, although Ibn
tion. He included a map of the earth (fig. 5.12) by Al·ldrisi, follow· Khaldun listed a large number of cities east of the Arab world (e.g.,
ing Ptolemy. Since he was born and lived in northern Africa, he western India, no. 40, and eastern India, no. 49). Bernard Lewis re�
placed the Arabic world at the center of the planet (nos. 30, 33, 37) · ports that until the nineteenth centmy "Muslim writers on history and
geography knew nothing ofthe names which Europeans had given
the
continents. Asia was unknown, and ill-defined Europe-spell
ed
Urufa-received no more than a passing mention, while Africa,
Arabi·
cized into Iftiqiya, appeared only as the name ofthe eastern Maghrib,
I i E Y TO T i l E �!AI'
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\[,Sh,';,.,o (Moguuw.1j
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as described in the TIO maps, was indeed a Christian inventio
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not a natural divisiOIlofthe earth suppos�dly kn�'vn--;;;:;daccepte
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diH'erent�s� I15�l<galdun drew a geopolitical map
" Aby"ini. $6 C.hbrl.
57 f....oe.
and wrote a
political-economic histOlY oftl1e',vorlcffrom the Arab
,6 GM",,!.
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n ..-S&. 59
Venn
Gm",nr (Ahllllniph) 4 perspective.'?
60 What Idrisi's map and Ibn Khaldun's comments teach
us is precisely
19 �[Orotnl M,oroonl>
W Tutgi.r 1l! (loho",I,
�1 �,nhij.h "" J.thi>J;y.h
that maps are and are not the territory. They are not, becaus
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at
e they do
�, If,lqiy.h .1.1I.)'laq;n
not reflect any essential realiry of the shape of the
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earth or of the
cosmos. They are because, once they are accept
-lJ Ju';d T.m,;.tl"
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K.",l,
Do..n cf1l<ronit:t:
61
6� 1I,3th'lir> ed, they become a
"� a�
powerful tool for controlling territories, colonizing
the mind and im·
[""", 0.... lIulg'r>
2� t'pp<' Egypt 1 0 1 ''''''''''1>'
'
,0 Egypt 71 St;nk,ng un<!
posing themselves on the members of the
" Ikj. 7i w.... Country community using the map
.ll ll\jh 7Z M,S'lS
as the real territOlY. If it were a one�to
J' Sy,i' H Gino::
7� Tiirgi.h
-one correspondence between
aps and territories, the world would have been
,. Y<men
�n naturally divided
:15 Yamlm.ah 7U Adhkbh
$� .1·n.I,�h TI !(lullukl,
11 7� Geg In three parts according to the natura
l Christian partition of it. How�
'l.lq
�. ..h-Shi\l, 79 liimik
., Omm ao EZlJptyin the ".".,10
Ixa.... <If the cold 3 ever, Islam intellectuals did not see the
W W•.,.m lndi>.
. world divided in three patts,
and If a Muslim navigator had "
discovered America" instead of a
Fig. 5,12. Where the world was not divided in thrcc: Al-Idrisi's map Christian one, the "fourth part" of the
world would not have been
':!' �
'M 'jIf 1l! �f lit \'if 239
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This vast city ofTcnochtithin rises out of this saltwater lagoon, and
b on whichever side one wishes to enter the central part of the city
from dle mainland, one must travel two leagues. There nrc fottr
roads into the city} each one two short lances in breadth and entirely
ThcDarkcl' paved by hand. The city is as large as Seville and C6rdoba. Its
Sideoithc streets, the main ones that is, are most wide, and some of these and
The AfOl'ablc
Rcnaissance all the rest are halfearth and halfwater and the natives travel up and
Center
down them in their canoes; here and there, the streets are inter�
rupted where the water passes from one canal to another, and at
each opening (some of which are velY wide) there is a downbridge
made Out of stout, well-fashioned and robust wooden beams,
bound together, some of them wide enough to bear ten horses
passing side-by-side.39
I
·
calecting �f;;:'formation about the New World, the second step was
th�irilCctOlt y 'mc1iioria '(Instruction and memorandum; hereafter The Indies, the islands and terra firma in the Ocean which are
referr� to as the Memorandum), a list offifry questions distributed to commonly called the New World, are the lands and seas which lie
within the boundaries of the kingdom of Castile, which is a hemi-
- - - --'�-..
--- -- - - --�< �---�--- - ---
-� -- ,----
tJ E c; to R t I' C f O N 0 a L. A S y �, P I .\ 5 tl,C f D L N TA t. J " C9ESCR':;���;;;:;�'
: ,1NJjJ.�-,'
"
T'H!!'.!£f� (�,.."."-
)..,. '"-
''',f.r1''':'
..;.;�"'., -j?�fo;; •
.r-h.k.ll� ;S.,J,J"
fi_""t.�?�
f>'''''_k
'f1'' ��
Fig. 5.15. Mapping the Spanish possessions: the Descripciim y demarcacio11 Fig. 5.16. Mapping the Spanish possessions beyond the "New World": the
de las Indias Occidmtales Ind£ns del Ponient£
sphere, or half of the world, beginning at 180 degrees west from a Spanish administration and spread by the printing press. The second 247
meridian circle which passes through 39 degrees longitude west of refers to a practice perceived during the colonial period, mainly during
17Jc Darkcr the meridian ofToledo.52 the first hundred years, whereby teiTitorial descriptions (or mapping) The MOMble
Side ofthe on the part of the Amerindians cohabit on the same piece of paper or CC11ter
Renaissance However, while in his own geographical discourse LOpez de Ve flat surtace on which the territory has been described.55 We have seen,
lasco concealed native territorialities, in his massive plan to gather in rl,e case of the colouization oflanguage and ofmemoty, that mil
information implemented through the Memorandum, he opened the lions of Amerindians live today guided by the belief system of their
doors-unintentionally, of course-to a discourse (the Rclacioncs ancestors.56 More than eradication of previous belief systems, colo
gcogr/tficas de Indias), which allowed for a reading ofnative alternative nization implied, first, that whoever does not embrace the hegemonic
conceptualization ofspace. Native territorialities, which had been dis values is marginalized and, second, that whoever is spatially marginal
regarded in LOpez de Velasco's report as well as in the subsequent Wirll respect to the values of the metropolitan centers is also behind in
history written by Herrera y Tordesillas and printed in several editions time (see chaps. 3 and 4). Integration by conversion meant, precisely,
between 1601 and 1730,53 emerged, however, in the Relacionesgea moving people from the savage margins to the civilized centers, and
gr/tficas. Although it-like many other colonial writings-did not the idea ofidentifYing the margin with the past began to emerge. The
reach the printing press until the end of the nineteenth century ( dur denial of coevalness that Fabian identified in the philosophical foun
ing the colonial period they did not have any particular force or effect dation ofanthropology in the nineteenth century was already at work
other than providing information for the official chronist or histo in the sixteenth, when religious, intellectual, and economic expansion
rians),54 they allowed-in retrospect-for the mobility of the center, blended comparative ethnology with values and established a hier
which had been fixed in L6pez de Velasco's Descripci6n and repro archy of human beings and human cultures.57
duced and transmitted in Herrera y Tordesillas's official Historia. Indeed, the sixteenth century witnessed several displacements of
the center. Theearth gained a fourth continent i� the view of the
Europeans, who had divided it previously in three, at the same time
Coexisting Territories and Empty Centers that it was removed, by the Copernican revolution, from a central
position in the universe to the more"modest one oftiirning around the
While Ricci in China, Duran and SahagUn in Mexico, and L6pez de sun along \vith the other planets. It could be concluded from this
Velasco as the cosmographer of the Council of the Indies were map transformation that placing the sun at the center of the universe and
ping the cosmos and the earth-according to their institutional im dividing the earth into four continents instead ofinto four corners not
peratives-Amerindians began to negotiate their own traditional only helped identifY differences between cultural traditions, but also
conceptions with the new, imported one. In one way or another, seen implied that one was right and the other was wrong. Differences, once
from an Amerindian perspective the world, more often than not, looks again, were translated into values. But, of course, l;ot all sixteenth
like coexisting territories within the same space. Such a perspective is century European men ofletrers accepted the idea that the sun, rather
quite different ftom the Spanish (and European) one, in which either than the earth, was the center of the universe. For a learned man like
there is not such a thing as coexisting territorialities (like in LOpez de Acosta, writing at the end of the sixteenth century, the earth still oc
Velasco) or, ifthere is, Amerindian cosmology and cosmography were cupied the center. This was true as well for Garcilaso de la Vega, who
reduced to the Christian ones. We will see, in the paradigmatic exam was writing a few decades later. The basic similarities in the way the
ple of Guaman Poma de Ayala, how the world is described from the cosmos and the earth were divided and organized escaped the mis
ftactured perspective ofa subaltern Amerindian, toward the end ofthe sionaries and men of letters, who only had eyes for superficial varia
sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries. tions, which rlley interpreted as radical disparities. Once the New
�i1Jg here means both coexistence in the history of America Continent was added, European, Mesoamerican, and Andean civiliza
since the colonization to the present days and a150-tile coexistence in tions had in common a quatripartite organization of the earth. There
the same graphic spa��_of two territorial descriptions. The first refers were, of course, differences, sllch as the separation of time and space
to the physical usulpation of territories as well as to graphic alterna and the coexistence of an ethnic fixed and a geometric mobile center
tives to Amerindian conceptualization of space implemented by the in European rationalization of space.
In Mesoamerican and Andean cosmologies, as we have already becomes a model for telling of the history and destiny of the uni 249
seen, the center of the four comers of the world coincided also with verse; conversely, the birth of the gods and the establishment of
Thc Darker the present time, or the fifth age succeeding the previous four times their proper realms provides a paradigm for organizing the world 171e Movable
Side afthe when the world was destroyed. Still, it would be erroneous to retain a into vertical tiers and horizontal quadrants.62 Center
Rcnaissance homogeneous picture ofpre-Columbian cosmologies. It is important,
nevertheless, to remember that, despite the differences, the quatripar But the center was also the reference point to organize the past and
tite division of space and time was common to all of them,58 from to tell their own histories. Elzey continues:
which Amerindian people inferred both the order of the cosmos and
The Aztec kingdom is described by one source as "the root, the
the count of the year.59 The configuration of space in Mesoamerican
navel and the heart oftlus whole earthly mechanism." At the "cen
and Andean civilization was largely abstract, in contrast to European
ter" of the world ti,e Aztecs constructed a temple of ti,e tribal god
T/0 maps, which were based on Imowledge ofland configuration on
Huitzilopochtli. The god commanded ti,e priests to "divide the
three continents (Europe, Africa, and Asia) and unconnected with
men, each with his relations, friends and relatives, into four princi
time.6D Furthermore-and as we have already seen-the quatripartite
pal wards (barrios), placing at ti,e center ti,e house which you have
division is valid not only for the organization of space and time, but
built for my rest." Huitzilopochtli's order, in effect, is to constnlct
also for the entire organization of urbanity and social life. Le6n
Tenochtitlan on ti,e model of the horizontal cosmos of the four
Portilla provides the following description of urban organization
quadrants and ti,e four directions, held together in harmony by the
based on the magic nnmber four:
power and authority which issues from the "center."63
Estas cuatro entradas se consideran ��las cuatro esquinas" del
It should not come as a surptise that ti,e Incas, in ti,e Andes, orga
pneblo. En ella se instalan ai llegar la noche cuatro seres sobrenatu
nized space and time along similar lines. They named their territory
rales Barnados Balamanes, los cuales tienen por funcion cuidar el
TallUantinsuyu, which could be translated as "the land of the four
cuadrilatero que forma el pueblo, impidiendo que entre a el es
parts or corners," and its geographical center Cuzco, which Garcilaso
piritus nocivos que alteren el bienestar de sus pobladores. En el
de la Vega rendered as "ti,e navel of ti,e world. "64 Urton, following
centro de la aldea se instala un quinto Balam, conoCldo como thrup
the pathbreaking work ofTom Zuidema, has studied the organization
el que, no obstante su tarnano diminuto, se Ie considera el de mas
of terrestrial space in the community of Misminay, in the Andes.65
poder.61 What tI,is very detailed study of the organization of terrestrial
and
celestial space in a living community shows is that the quatripartite
[These four entrances were considered the four town corners. At
organization is a fundamental cognitive structure that has remain
dawn four supernatural beings called Balamanes occupy each ofthe ed
despite the spread ofWestern cultural literacy (fig. 2.17). Urton
corners and have as their task to watch the square, that is, the town, begins
his book with this wonderful story:
keeping the bad spirits away from the townspeople. The center of
the village is occupied by a fifth Balam known as thmp, who, de Late one afternoon while doing fieldwork in the comm
spite being very small, is nonetheless the more powerful.] unity of
Misminay, Peru, a tllirteen-year-old boy Witll whom I was pastur
ing sheep volunteered the information that, in prepar
The symbolism here also empowers the center as the privileged ation for
planting, everyone in tlle community was watching the stars
place of space (here) and time (now). Among the Aztecs (or MexI �a, called
Collea ("storehouse") very closely each night. I was aware
as they called themselves), one function ofthe center was to symbolIze that ti,e
early part of the rainy season had been extremely
the fifth sun, the present age. It was not the center of the horizontal dry tI,at year
(1976) and only a few people had been adventurous enough
quatripartite division, but the center of the vertical division between to
plant their crop ofpotatoes. There was much discussion
the upper world, the earth, and the nnderworld. Elzey has summa about how
desperate ti,e situation would be if planting did not
rized the Aztec cosmology as follows: begin soon.
Following up on the young man's statement, I asked
why everyone
Time and space are homologized . . . at the abstract level of the was watching Coli ca. His answer, accompanied
by a sharp glance,
structure of the world and the structure of its history. Cosmology was simple: porque queremos vivir ("because we
want to live").66
250 "lower" halves, although the basic matrix, similar to that of ancient 251
Mesoamerica and ancient China, shows that the center a s navel o f the --___
The Dal'kcr world (when the body is used as model or metaphor) or as the axis T7Je MoPnble
Side oftbe l1tundi (when a temple, a city, or a mountain is used as model or Center
Renaissance metaphor) is common to apparently unrelated cosmologies. The tri-
partite, instead of the quatripartite, division of TjO maps in Christian
cosmologies responds in my view to the same ethnic logic in the ratio-
nalization of space. The magic number three, instead of four, was
related to the Christian narrative of the origin of the world and the
postfucto division of the earth based on the magic number tl,ree of the
sacred Trinity and Noah's three sons. For all these reasons, it certainly
would be an inaccurate and unfuir evolutionary judgment to state that
pre-Columbian cultures discovered the power of the center afrer they
met Christian cosmology.It would be more accurate to say that Chris-
tian cosmology was built on an etllllic rationalization of the Cosmos
and of the earth that was complemented by the Ptolemaic car-
Fig. 5.17. Surviving cosmologies: the center path ofMisminay tographic projections during tl,e religious and economic expansion of
in today's Peru
The Darker rationalization of space does not conflict with a second -order ethnic •
Guaman Poma applied the same logic to the organization of space The Movable
rationalization, which kept Rome as the center of the Christian world
to the Pontifical ll11mdo (fig.
Side oftllc 5.19). Spain, in d,e lower part, has been emu,.
Rcuaissallcc even when the center of the geographical world could be placed in depicted as a space witll four corners and a center. The text reads,
China and the Pacific.
"Castilla below d,e Indies." On d,e upper part, d,e text reads, "The
Let's go back to Guaman Poma's map. There are clearly two read
Indies of Peru on the top ofSpain. " The center is occupied by Cuzco.
ings of the map from the perspective I am snggesting. One is marked Castilla, the kingdom, and Spain, the country, are lumped togedler.
by the deep cognitive structure of the four corners and the center, the The "Indies ofPenl," an ambiguous expression from the point ofview
other by the surface strucmre ofEuropean cartography. Following the of the Spaniards, are d,e clear and well-defined regions of the West
works of Zuidema, Watchel has summarized the double spatial struc Indies in LOpez de Velasco's Dcsmpcion. The Pontifical 1l1ltndo does
ture of the "high" and the "low" (high: Chinchaysuyu [I] + Antisuyu the job as well, however. For, if L6pez de Velasco had the right to
[3]; low: Collasuyu [2] + Cuntinsuyu [4]), the fOur quarters of the ignore the Amerindians' conceptualization ofspace, there is 110 special
world, and the correlation between spatial clistribution and social or reason why an Amerindian like Guaman Poma had to get d,e picture
ganization.67 Chinchaysuyu is the privileged quarter for Guaman as LOpez de Velasco would have liked him to have it. However, d,e
Poma, to which he attributes nobility, strength, and dominance. The problem was (and still is) that L6pez de Velasco was closer to the
other pole of the "higher" clivision is the Antisuyu, and its people are "real" shape of the New World than Guaman Poma, and his demarca-
the opposite to the Chinchaysuy1.l: hostile barbarians who eat human
flesh. The inhabitants of the Collasuyu, the quarter of the lower part,
opposite to Chinchaysuy1.l, like their counterpart of the higher part, POIIJTiFiCAL
the Antisuyu, are amoral, lazy, and corrupt, although they are also
rich. Finally, the Cuntinsuyu is the exact opposite of the Collasuyu in
terms of economical values: the inhabitants of the Cuntinsuyu are
extremely poor. In modern terminology, civilization and barbarism Fig. 5.19. Colonial models alter
distinguished the inhabitants of the two upper quarters; while riches native to Western cosmographies:
and poverty characterized the people living in the lower quarters. On the POlltifical 11l1l1ldo of Guaman
the other hand, the poor but virtuous and the civilized are opposed to Poma de Ayala.
the rich and the barbarians. In a world divided in four parts, sub
divided in two, binary oppositions are replaced by a combinatorial
game that organizes rl,e cosmos and the society.
Furthermore, Guaman Poma's title reveals a tension between the
two: by entiding it Mapawultdo del Reilto de las [ltdias, Guaman
Poma identifies the superimposition of tahltalttinSltyu and the Indies
with d,e world. At a deeper level, d,e "map" is governed by a cognitive
structure that could be interpreted as a transformed memoty of the
Inca Tahuantinsuyu, a native cognitive structure, corresponding with
i d,e view of the universe in Andean cosmology.68 At the level ofsurface
I structure, the land surrounded by forest and water in d,e upper part
and by water in d,e lower part, d,e map is a simulacrum of current
world maps widely printed during Guaman Poma's time.69 Whatever
interpretation can be provided to better understand the complexities
of Guaman Poma's world map, I am interested in tlle coexistence of
254 tion became the reality of the Indies under Spanish rule, while Gua reading the experience of Descripcion ydemarcacion de las Indias Oeci- 255
dentales as well as ofthe Relacionesgeogrltficas de Indiasis quite inter-
----
man Pama's demarcation remained in the archives as a curious cul
The Darker tural product for those who knew of its existence. esting. Lopez de Velasco's report was written with the conviction that TlJe .Movable
Side oithe Finally, the center has been emptied. Although Cuzco and the the lands and coasts being mapped were just lumps to which no hu- emtel'
Renaissance Indies of Peru had been distinguished with a place next to the sun, man conceptualization had been applied before the arrival of the
there is still no such coexistence in maps drawn by the colonizer. Spaniards. He contributed to the knowledge of the periphery and to
Ortelius as well as Lopez de Velasco proceeds as if no conceptualiza its incorporation into the ethnic center invented by those who were in
tion ofspace had existed before they were able to map the "new" land. a position to carry on the expansion of imperial Spain and Western
On the contrary, for Guaman Poma as well as for many tlacuilo who Christendom. This is why we can conclude that while Father Ricci-
had the chance to paint or describe their town, they felt that their own with his world map-disdained Chinese cartography and space con-
territory remained but was occupied by someone else. There is a differ ceptualization, Lopez de Velasco-with his map of the Indias Occi
ence, however, in the work of the tlacttilo responsible for many of the dentales-repressed Amerindian territorial representations. How-
pilltllras (see chap. 6 ) in the Relacionesgeogr!r.ficas de Indias and Gua ever, the stronger tradition in Chinese cartography and narrative of
man Poma's mapallumdi and Pontifical 1ll 'I1ldo. The difference is of the past allowed for a stronger (or at least more visible) resistance to
scale and ofcosmographical and cosmological awareness. The tlacttilo Western territorial representations. The liquidation of Amerindian
who painted the maps or the Relacionesgeogr!r.ficas limited himself to nobility and intellectual, however, left few traces of Amerindian re-
what the relaeion (and the public notary who enacted it) requested: a sistance to Western territorial conceptualization.
description of a town where the traces ofthe connection between city Although by the last quarter of the sixteenth century Western car
and cosmos have been erased. "What remains is the coalescence oftwo tographers had displaced the geographic and ethnic center from the
worldviews in the same place. In Guaman Pama's Pontifical mundo Mediterranean to the Atlantic, and Rome began to be more centrally
the coalescence of twO worlds, instead, has been projected into a cos located than Jerusalem, Ricci's move consisted of disjoining the geo
mological diagram linking geography with a transcendent design of graphic from the ethnic rationalization ofspace.7l Certainly this move
the cosmos. did not convince the Chinese, who preferred the way tlleir own car
tographic tradition had solved the problems and satisfied tlle needs of
territorial representations. It did convince Japanese scholars, however,
Coexistence, Coevolution, and the Denial of the Denial as they saw in it the possibility of displacing the geographic and ethnic
of Coevalness center from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The situation was different in
the European expansion to the New World. Lopez de Velasco's map
Lopez de Velasco, contrary to Ricci, was not a Jesuit with the mission of the West Indies presupposed tlle Atlantic as tlle geographic and
of converting the Chinese to Christianity, but the cosmographer of ethnic center. Its successfitl reprinting in Herrera y Tordesillas's Histo
the Council ofthe Indies with the charge of gathering and organizing nagene/'aTile los hechos de los castellanos en las islas y tierra finne del
all relevant information about the Spanish territory in the West Indies. mar oceano (16m) also indicates that Lopez de Velasco's map was
Although I am comparing Lopez de Velasco with Father Ricci because highly satisfactory to those who charted and controlled the admin
both were active during the same years and dealt with the mobility of istration of the Indies. The Amerindian pintllras, contrary to the
the center, their cases per se are quite dissimilar. Velasco, as cosmogra Chinese reaction, suggest that, toward the end of the sixteenth cen
pher of the Council of the Indies, was mapping the Spanish posses tury, the native population was losing its own patterns of territorial
sions or West Indies, not making a world map; Ricci was transforming representation.
Ortelius to carry on the Jesuit mission in China. Furthermore, LOpez Duran and SahagUn, contrary to Ricci, did not entertain a dialogue
de Velasco was not on a mission of conversion but simply in charge of with the Mexicas regarding the shape of the earth and tlle cosmos.
mapping the territories and gathering information about the native They certainly talked to them, but apparently they did not listen in the
population. Because the dialogue entertained between the mission same way that Ricci did. Duran and Sahagun rounded the square, so
aries and the natives was ofa different nature than the dialogue enter to speak, projecting both the figure of the circle and the tripartite
tained by the geographers and public notaries ( tetrados, j1tristas), division of the earth upon a cosmology conceived on the bases of the
square and the world divided in rour. It is in this context that Guaman 257
Porna, in Peru, remains a paradigmatic example to illustrate altema� Pagan World
I7JcDar/wr tive performances in conceiving and describing territories. He also TIle Momblc
Side ofth, allows us to understand that the colonization oflanguage, memory, Cmter
Rmaissallce and space taking place at the same time in the administration COn Christian World
trolled by the Council of the Indies and in the intellectual life of the
court, monasteries, colleges, and universities does not necessarily im�
ply the automatic removal ofAmerindian (implicit) grammars, mem
ories, and spatial ordering. Colonization of language, memory, and
space implies that conflicting concepts, values, and actions directed
toward language, memol)', and space begin to coexist, although social
Circum Mediterranean
and political power is not equally distributed.
Ricci's move illustrates how ethnic centers could be divided in sa�
cred (or ideological) and geometric ones. His attitude not only reveals
the differences between the two but also suggests that one is prefer
able to the other. The colonization ofspace (as well as oflanguage and
memory) took, during the sixteenth century, the form ofan evolution Orbls (The World)
ary ptocess in which certain kinds of territorial representations (lan
guages and ways of recording the past) were considered preferable to Fig· 5 .2oa. Premodern time-space
others. Differences were translated into values. What Pagden de
There
scribed as the origin ofcomparative ethnology could be recast in terms Civilization Now
England Here
of what Fabian elaborated as a denial of coevalness.72 During the
sixteenth century a transition took place, in Europe, in the organiza�
tion of space that impinged on the conception and evaluation oftime.
.... . .
... . . .....--_ ........ .
-- . .
. .. -
...- ......
--
. . . ..
about the conflict between two different concepts of space and late
eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century England, which is Fabian's
paradigmatic example? mind in which the regional could be universalized and
taken as a
What happened was a long intellectual process that Maravall beau yardstick to evaluate the degree of development of the
rest of the
tifully reconstructed as the emergence of the idea of "progress" in the � uma race. The supposediy progressive point of view taken
� by mis
Enropean Renaissance.73 Maravall stressed the importance of the SlOnanes and men ofletters in the sixteenth century manife
sted itselfin
"dis�eries" fur the consolidation of the differences and the need to terms ofspreading the right religion, the right custom
s, and the right
integrate a fourth part of the world into a Eutopean consciousness. ways ofleaming. This point ofview was supplemente
d by the concept
Th�s;n()t onlyd1ci the C'';;;Cept ofexperience become crucial in the of evolution, which continued to influence the human
ities and the
vocabulary of the time, but the i<iea of proj';r��s also began to emlC.rl\" social sciences into the nineteenth century
, .
in the comparison between the a n�j�;:;i ;;:;d the modern and oCI:up" ed
a large part of the intellectual life and energy of rl,e late Renaissance.
! Colonization of space (of language, of memory) was signaled by the Concluding Remarks
, belief that differences could be measured in values and values mea
sured in a chronological evolution. Alphabetic writing, Western histo I argued, in this chapter, that human
transformation does not neces�
riography, and cartography became part and parcel of a larger frame of Sarily move froll], ethnic to geometric ration
alization of space; that
cartography does not suddenly emerge as a rational enterprise from
previous irrational organization of space; and that history does not
emerge from myth. I made an effort to show that alternative tertitorial
TIle Darker
Chap ter 6
Side oitile orderings coexist in different forms and intensities. The ge9mct�ic
RcnaisJa1lce rationalization ofspace that took place during the sixteenth century, in
the context of a much larger epistemic transfonnation in Western Putting the Americas on the Map :
Europe, did not replace the ethnic ones. It redistributed them in sig_
nificant ways: first, by retaining an ethnic center (Spain, Rome)at the Cartography and the Colonization
same time dec�ntralizing if(that was Ricd's move); second, by lca�ing
out as none:rlStet;i:'alte';ilative territorial conceptualizations (thai ,��s of Space
L6pez de Velasco's move). However, resistance and opposition
brought to the foreground what had been left out by showing that
alternative cosmographies and cosmologies had not been suppressed
or substituted for by Western cartography (and those were the
Chinese and Amerindian moves). Comparative approaches and a plu
ritopic hermeneutics could offer, then, an alternative to the success
enjoyed by the Darwinian model (which explained the functioning of
the natural system as well as the changes oflife) in the social sciences Fixing the Center Again
and the humanities. Fabian's expression "denial ofcoevalness," which
he used to describe this process, needs a change of perspective in the That lands and peoples unknown to a European observer should be
politics of intellectual inquiry and a move toward a "denial of the called "New World" simply because the observer had no prior knowl
denial of coevalness." I explicitly argued, in this chapter and the pre edge of tl,em brings to the foreground the larger issue of the ar
vious ones, in favor ofsuch a move and will reiterate it in the following rogance and ethnocentrism of observers for whom what is unknown
and final chapter. does not exist. Misunderstanding went together with colonization.
Once something was declared new, and the printing press consoli
dated the idea among tl,e literates, the descriptions of people for
whom nothing was new about the place they were inhabiting, except
fur the arrival of a people strange to them, were suppressed. Space and
place followed patterns similar to time and memory, already discussed
in chapters 3 and 4. The presupposition tl,at history was recorded
alphabetically and tl,at res gestamm was indistinguishable from res
gestae complemented the idea that space was not mapped among the
Amerindians. There were dissidents, of course, among the Spanish
missionaries, but they were not strong enough to replace the more
accepted and powerful versions of what history was and what visual
descriptions ( tabula, descriptio, later on called "maps") of the earth
implied. Putting the Americas on tl,e map and administrating the
West Indies are good examples of coexisting territorialities and po\ver
relations.
The previous chapter focused on epistemological transformations
that occurred when the rise of Christianity and mercantilism intro
duced new tenitorial dimensions over previous and coexisting ter
ritotialities of highly developed civilizations ( China, Mesoamer
ica,
259
260 the Andes, medieval Christian Europe). Transformation does not Nile, the sea of Azov, and other bodies of water. These water masses 261
----- mean suppression of what was there before, but a rcdistriblltipn of separate Asia from Aftica and Europe while the stem of rlle T repre-
sents the Mediterranean Sea partitioning Africa from Europe. The
e.?�v�r,relations. It has been suggested that among the most important
The Darfur Pltttillg the
Side oftbe changes introduced with the rise of capitalism were in territorial con- crossbar and the stem meet at the center afthe circle, where Jerusalem Amcricasoll
Renaissance ceptions e:r'ptying sgaces (of which LOpez de Velasco ofters a good is located. These maps were not drawn necessarily with the pnrpose of the Map
.
example) and in obscuring sources of power by multiplying the bu conveying geographical knowledge, for the center of the world was
reaucratic apparatus (of which the Crown, the Council of the Indies not determined geographically but ideologically.
and the House ofTrade are a good example; see below).' Thus, thes � It wonld certainly be wrong to think that Martellus's map at the
new territorial dimensions did not conceal other alternatives but over end of the fifteenth century had the same convincing power that a
powered them in the international arena. The first part of this chapter world map has for us today. It would be more accurate to believe that
is devoted to the efforts made by European men ofletters and geogra �
it was one o ll1anY ways o��C:PE�s��!:i�g,J:!1,e wo�ld, on�,\Vith no partic
phers to put the Americas on the map. The second part is devoted to ular significance for members of non-Enropean cultures. That is to
mapping, naming, and administering the Indies, one of the main re say, it was only in Europe where the Martellus world map was mean
sponsibilities of the Council of the Indies. And the third brings to the ingful. Certainly, our hypothetical edncated European had the right to
foreground territorial conception and "mapping" from the Amerin believe that Martellus's map depicted the world as it was, just as the
dian perspective, a repressed locus of observation (perspective) that is Chinese had the right to believe that the world took the shape of a
at the same time a locus of enunciatioo (speech, writing, painting). cluster of nested rectangles or, later on, was centered on the Pacific
From the Am"rinciia n perspective, territoriality consisted ofel1lPtying instead of the Atlantic, as we have also seen in the previous chapter.
the center rather than ofemptying the space. The memoty that"rnight But none ofthis was known to tlle hypotlletical European observer,
have survived among Amerindians of territoriality as a way of govern Jiving with the images provided by Mjl..rtelIns (ci)h e C�ristian 1:'/9
ing, defining social relationships, and organizing populations had to
negotiate the new reality of complex bureaucracies, of having their
space emptied or negated, and of figuring out the new and disguised
sources of power.
The image of the earth that an educated European living toward
the end of the fifteeoth century might have had is illustrated by Hen
ricus Martellus's map, composed circa 1490 (fig. 6.1). The map invites
us to imagine that a hypothetical person, living about five hundred
years ago, could have guessed that the distance ftom the extreme West
(the Iberian Peninsula) to the extreme East (Japan and the coasts of
China) was the same on both the front and the back of the map. Thus,
our hypothetical person might have surmised that the East could be
reached by navigating West and that the distance between West and
East on the unknown side would be similar to the distance between
West and East on the known side of the map. AccorcJing to such a
calculus, that hypothetical person would have thought that the center
of the known part of the earth was a hypothetical point halnvay be
tween West and East, and between North and South.
The center of the world had not always been determined that way.
About seven centuries before Henricus Martellus's world map, an
edncated Christian might have had a different picture ofthe world and
its center, as illustrated by the T10 maps cJiscussed in the previous Fig. 6.I. A European perspective ofthe world before the Atlantic
chapter.2 In T/O maps, the crossbar of the T represents the Don, the explorations: Martcllus's world map
maps. For a person coexisting with such geocosmography, China ex
isted in the way it had been conceptualized by Europeans, and Ana
T7JcDal'ker lmac or Tahuantinsuyu Amerindians did not exist at all because they
Side ofthe were not in the European's horizon. The Chinese seem to have had
RmaisJallce more vague ideas about Europe than Europeans had about China,
which should not necessarily be interpreted as less knowledge but,
rather, as having no need to know. Amerindians, on the other hand,
were as ignorant about the existence of Europe as Europeans were
abollt the existence of Anahuac or Tahuantinsuyu. The world, how
ever, existed in its diversity despite the mutual ignorance among
members of different cultures. It is important to remember that each
culture puts itself at the center of the world, and whoever belonged to
that culture "naturally" believed tilat this was so. Our hypothetical
European observer was just one observer among many, with a different
knowledge of the parts of the world and their configurations than
known in other cultures.
Fig. 6.4. Waldsccmlillcr's Tabula terre nove (1513) Fig. 6.5. Apianus's Tiplls orbis twiJ'crsnlis
268 of Spain and its domains for the rest of the centmy. However, I am
ent and Orientalism is quite different from the idea of ti,e Western 269
most interested in underlining the scope of tlus image of the world l:Ie§l§p!i;re;:createdand
;- enacted by intellectuals from both Americas ----
17JcDarkcr and in clarifYing why I said tI,at for many people on this planet, the
in order to distinguish themselves and tlleir territory from what Eu- Putting the
Side ofth, world today looks as it did in the seventeentll century. rope invented and constnled as the New World. As was already sug- Amcricaso1J
Rcnaisfnllcc For an educated person in Japan and probably a large part ofAsia, gested, it was not only geographically that the Americas began to be the Mnp
ti,e world today looks as it did tor a person educated in the sixteenth or
put on the map. In the process, tI,ere was also the politics of naming
seventeenth century. Certainly, there is not much difference between
and representing the barbarians, briefly tonched on in the example of
Agnese's map and the Japanese world map shown previously (fig. 5.5)
Novus Orbis, Terra Nova, and America on the one hand, and with the
with the exception that the Americas are not in the extreme West,
e.xamp!e ofthe cannibals on the other. Let's then go back to the end of
where they have since been situated, but in the extreme East. From the fifteenth century and trace some of tI,ese steps.
such a perspective, Asia is not the Orient, as has been constructed by
European intellectuals since ti,e eighteenth century,4 but ti,e center of
the world. It is still placed to the east of Europe, although it can hardly populating the Borders with Imaginary Worlds
be construed as the Orient only when there is still an enormous mass
of land further east of Asia. The Orient, consequently, is the Orient Tbename Harmann Schedel is perhaps less familiar to a contemporary
from the perspective of our hypothetical European observer, bllt not reader than the title ofthe book he edited, The N"re1lluCllJ Ch" Ollicle, a
necessarily from the point ofview ofpeople living in China and Japan, compendium widely read in Ius own time. The text has been described
who would perceive the Americas as the Orient. The case of the Ori- as an an1algam oflegend, fancy, and tradition interspersed with occa-
C,J"y
Fig. 6.6. Munster's NOl'lIs orbis {I54o) 6.7. Agnese's world map (1546)
270 sional scientific facts or authentic pieces ofmodern learning. A world
-----
map could not be lacking in a chronicle of such a type and time (fig.
The DarllC/' 6.8). His world map, drawn approximately three years after Mar
Side oft};e teUus's, shows a dilierent shape and proportion of land and water
Renaissance masses, although the land distributions are similar in both maps. Spain
and the Atlantic coast ofAfrica were placed in the extreme left, while
India and China were in the extreme right. However, the interest the
map holds for us today docs not lie so much in the shape in which the
world was depicted, as in the curious inhabitants of its confines. In
the left-hand border tl,e map shows outlandish creatures and beings
that were believed to inhabit the furthermost part of the earth: a six
armed man; a six-fingered furry human being, male or female; a cen
taur; a four· eyed man; and a hermaphrodite. In late-fifteenth-century
Europe, as in China, the outermost corners of the world were sup
posed to be inhabited by such creatures or by ferocious barbarians.
Nor was it surprising that Columbus was reported to have heard of
dog-headed and pig-tailed people.
ocrll.'ll:fjt
Fig. 6.8. Inventing the other: world map illustrating Tllc NurclIIbcIZl
Chronicle
Imagining the other and defining the self-same: Blaeu's
" i1mericae nova tabula
272 During the first halfofthe seventeenth century the French-German Willen Blaeu and showed costumed figures, whom he took from trav 273
cartographer Willen Blaeu published his Americae 110M tabtlla (1630) elogue narratives and illustrations published previously. The tradition
TbeDnrker as part ofhis well-known atlas (fig. 6.9)· A significant change ofname continued in Amsterdam in 1639, when Janszoon Visscher published Putting the
Side ofthe can be noticed in this map. The northern and southern parts have been his world map, in which the border acquired a new and significant Americas on
Renaissancc named America Septentrionalis and America Meridionalis, respcc� dimension in the European process of putting ti,e Americas on rl,e t"eMap
tively. Furthermore, the image of the cannibals and dog-headed peo map (fig. 6.11).
ple has given way to a more humane perspective of the inhabitants of Let's first take a look at ti,e four corners of ti,e map. Europe and
the unknown lands, although the less civilized image has not been Asia are represented by \vell-dressed ladies, while Africa and America
changed. The borders oftl,e map are illustrated with people and cities are represented by semin����d womeg. Comparing the representation
of the Americas. Once the outermost unknown parts ofthe eartll were ofEurope with that ofAsia, a difference emerges in position. Europe is
explored, there was no longer reason to believe that outlandish crea� sitting on the ground, while Asia is sitting on a camel. Thus, while Asia
tures inhabited tl,em. By that time our hypothetical European ob is similar ro Europe in tllat both are well-dressed ladies, they differ in
server had a more concrete idea of the habitants of ti,e Americas and the surface on which they are sitting. However, Asia is similar to Amer
was also able to represent them more "realistically." Between 1626 and ica and Mrica, since both these seminaked women are sitting on ani
1676 in London, John S p� published his America with those known mals, the armadillo and tl,e crocodile, respectively. Asia, because she is
parts ill that tlnlwmp"-1l'orld-both people and ",a/l1m' ofbuilding ( fig. well dressed, resembles Europe, while she also resembles Africa and
6.10). Speed supposedly rook the idea of illustrating tl,e borders from America because she is sitting on an animal.
Fig. 6.10. Speed's America lPitlJ those kllowne parts in that 1tllk1l0Jl111C
",orlde (1627) Fig.6.II. Visscher's Nopa totus terral'um orhisgeograplJica (1639)
274 America, depicted as a naked or seminaked woman with bow and like the sbell ofa tOl'tuga, but it is the very propomon of all al'lIted 275
----
arrows and sometimes with a decapitated head in her arms, was part of b01-se for this shelle hangeth downe by his sides and afore his brest
TIle Darker the latc-sixteenth- and seventeenth-century iconology accounting for moving as it were hanged by gynowes hinges, or rnoche like the Putting the
Side afthe the fourth part of the world. The drawing shown in figure 6.12 was lappes of a complete harneis. It is an admiration to behold it. Hit A1JJcricasoll
Rellaissal1ce signed by Camelis Visscher, a Dutch painter from the first half of the fedeth like a horse and his taile is like a pigges taile, saving it is tbe Mop
seventeenth century. The inscription under the portrait refers to straight.s
America as the most strange of all the known continents and states
that people in the Americas live in the wilderness without laws. Why
the armadillo becomes the emblem (or at least one of the most distinc This quotation shed new light about the use ofanimals on maps, on
tive ones) is a story that deserves to be retold, because it impinges on the status of the armadillo as a New World emblem, and on the rela
the process of putting the Americas on the map. Roger Barlow tions between the armadillo, the tOl'tllga (tume), and the horse. Say
described the armadillo in his Brief Smmlle af Geographie ( 1540), a ing that the armadillo is like a horse, and that America rides him
translation ofMamn Fernandez de Enciso's SlIma degeografia (1519) , instead of a horse, illuminates the northern European imagination
as follows: when it came to invent the New World. Much before Visscher's il
lustration and some twenty years after Barlow's translation, Francisco
There is a kinde ofsmall beastes no bigter than a pigges ofa moneth Hernandez-who was appointed by Philip II to write the natural
olde, and the fete, the hede and the eares be like a IJ01�e, and his history of New Spain-identified the armadillo by its Nahuatl name
bodi and his head is all covered saving his eares with a shell moche (ayotocbtli) and by a Spanish synonym ( 0 calleja clIclIbil-til1o).6 Her
nandez's analogy between the armadillo and the rabbit certainly de
tracts from the analogies ,vith tile horse proposed by Barlow and chal
lenged the ideological underpinnings of the imagery used to depict
America as tile fourth part of the world. It was certainly a challenge
whose effects in the European population went unnoticed.
In fact, Hernandez's manuscripts, as many others frOI!Lthe New
World, remained unpublished. Instead, Theodore de Bry's Grand
Voyages (1590-1634) circulated widely at tile beginning Df the seven
teenth century, putting the Americas on the map in a very particular
way. America, instead of New World, became the preferred designa- ,
tion fo�·!,�otestant collIltrie§ cagerto oppose the cruelries of Ca tholi�
oiles ; Spainand-Portugal. 7 Among tl1e many attractions of Bry's col
le�tions are two aspeds rdevant to tl1e process ofputting the Americas
on the map. The first is tI,at several world maps and maps of the
Americas are included.8 Most interesting for our purpose are the ones
shown in figures 6.14 and 6.15. The caprion of figure 6.14 reads
"America sive Novus Orbis respectu Europaeorum inferior globi ter
restris pars" (America or the New World, inferior [lower? 1 part of the
Jerrestrial globe with respect to the Europeans nations). "Inferior"
could be interpreted as "placed in a lower part according to such and
such geographical orientation" or as "less developed, or oflesser qual
ity." In the context ofBry's pictorial narrative, it clearly is both. Once
the Americas have been placed in the context ofthe world (fig. 6.14), a
detailed map is reproduced four plates later (fig. 6.15). This new map
Fig. 6.12. Riding the armadillo: Comelis Visscher's America (ca. 1555) of America, in which America Septentrionalis is disringuished from
America Meridionalis, is contemporary to the maps printed by Blaeu and putting the Americas on the map in such a way? Spaniards and 277
and Speed. portUguese were neirl,er accountable for the presumably cannibalistic
TIlt: Dar/zer The second aspeet is the emphasis on the depierion of cannibalistic practices among Amerindians, nor for the supposedly (in the eyes of NcbriJa il1 tbe
Side ofthe scenes, on the !!]Jdity of the inhabitants of the New WOrld:;;,d 0;' J;e Bry, certainly) outlandish citizens oftl,e New World. The explanation New World
Renaissance survival ofmonstcrsand ourlandish creatures populating it. The inclu might have to do with the conuections between degraded human
sion of mon"S"ttr; in Bry's illustrations should not come as a surprise if nature as the resnlt of degraded human behavior. This connection
one remembers that in the sixteenth century such creatures were still between ethics and nature was described in detail, in the sixteenth
alive and well. What is surprising is that when Bry published the first century, in Ambroise Pare's Des monstres etprodiges( 15 73),'0 and Juan
volume in '590, enough explorations had been achieved to know Maldonado's Des Anges et des demons (1603) and, above all, tl,e pub
quite well that no one saw such creatures. But, of course, such a read lication in 1575 of Andre "I.�- Cosmographic Imiverselle, from
ing will presuppose a correspondence theory of truth, instead of a which both Pare and Jean LOry (1585) borrowed several examples.
performative one, applied to iconographic representation.9 The ques There are at least two universes of meaning cutting across the discus
tion, then, is what was Bry trying to achieve by spreacling such images sion of monsters, prodigies, angels, and demons. One is ethical and
Fig. 6.13. Placing the Americas in the "lower part of the world": Bl)" s Fig. 6.14. Correcting the drawing, keeping the place: de Bry's America
America sive Novtls Orbis (second part, 1590) lloviter delilleata (third part, frontispiece)
has to do with the control of sexual behavior, and the other is eth ence felt in mapmaking, and the cannibalistic feast one can see under 279
nographic and has to do with the conceptualization of the New Mexicana and Peruana (bottom left corner of the map) had been
The Darher World. The monsters, together with the cannibals and naked people, inspired by one of Bty's designs, of which three of the thirteen parts Putting the
Side oft", offer a strong complement to the geographical place that America had already been published by 1594 (fig. 6.16). A111cricnsolJ
Rmaissancc occupies in the map: inferior with respect to Europe and the Euro� Finally, it should be noted that all these maps have something in t",Map
peans.1 1 common: in a cultu��th....11phaberk,
.! writing, where conventions
�
__
Let's now go back to figures 6.11 and 6.12 and look at the two sides have established that reading proceeds from left to right and from top
and the top and bottom borders. Asians, Africans, and Americans_ to bottoffi, a-hierarchy for a meaningful dis;;iburlon of objects on the
men and women-are standing on their fcct, while Europeans are space ofIile"{5age has aIso been established. The places where the four
represented by males mounted on beautiful, aggressive horses. One continents were located arc highly significant, reinforcing the mean
should notice, also, that the men are actually riding the horses while ing already expressed by clothing and sitting positions. Europe, of
the women are just sitting on top of the animals. And one could course, is at the upper left corner. Following in hierarchical order, we
limher observe that the horse was, at that time, a highly valued animal, see well-dressed Asia in the upper right corner. Africa and Asia seem to
very much a part of civilized life, related to war, conquest, and have been given equal weight in the hierarchy of the four corners, for
power. 12 Finally, it should be noticed that males mounted on horses America appears on the left in Linschoten's voyages, while it is on the
are not anonymous male types, but well-identified heroes in the his right on Janszoon Visscher's map. Africa, ofcourse, has been placed in
toty of the West. The map is not only making a statement about an inverted position suggesting that both America and Africa were in
gender and ethnic differences but about historic and cultural distinc
tions as well. The contrast between women sitting on wild animals and
men riding highly valued horses, in addition to the contrast between
men riding horseback and people standing on their feet, creates an
other set ofimportant disrinctions in the process ofputting the Amer
icas on the map and constructing the image of the other by defining
the self-same.
Janszoon Vissch.er's map was chronologically preceded by the first
known map �i�h' elaborate borders, printed in LiI1:schoten's''Voy�
ages" in 1594 (fig. 6.15 ). ' 3 This map introduced .change in the pro
cess ofnami;:;g the lands and people that had already been emerging in
Ruysch's, Waldseemliller's, and Apianus's maps, as if in a dream.
America Mexicana and America Pcruana are the names used to distin
guish southern from northern lands. Magallanica (or the South Pole)
appears here as the fifth part of the world. The representation of the
four continents, however, is the same as the onc we saw in Janzsoon
Visscher's map, to which Magallanica has been added, at the bottom
between America and Africa. The lady representing Europe is sur
rounded by fruits and has one of her feet on top of a T/0 map, thus
suggesting that Europe dominates the world. Asia and Magallanica
are dressed but sit on wild animals. America and Africa are also sitting
on wild animals, but seminaked. The America Peruana and Mexicana
have their feet on a box full of gold. Two s�-�mir;gly idyllic scenes are
depicted, although I would not be surprised if what is being cooked
are parts ofhuman bodies, turning the loctts amOC1Htsinto a cannibalis Fig. 6.15. The influence ofBry in cartographic imagination: Linschoten's
tic feast. Of course, Bry's Gra1ld Voyages was already making its pres- 01'his tcrrarU111 tipus (I594)
equally exchangeable places at the bottom of the map, while Europe with the name of New World in the consciousness ofAmerican intel
and Asia remained in fixed positions, with Europe occupying the most lectuals, both from the North and the South. My hypothetical Euro
The Dar!?'cr significant one. pean observer would have to be complemented with a hypothetical PUttil1g the
Side ofthe Maps are not territories, as the dictum goes. We could follow the American observer. Neither the American nor the European is a Amcricasoll
Renaissallce chronology of this process up to the eighteenth and nineteenth cen monolithic entity but complex agencies divided by language, religion, the Map
turies, looking at the changes in cartographic representations when and economical projects. Although I will not pursue this development
mapping was not only in the hands ofEuropean cartographers but also further, I will return to it at the close of this chapter.
those who became engaged in the process of nation building, in
North, Central , and South America as well as in the Caribbean. But
this process would take us too far afield and would require a change of Mapping by Mandate and by Questionnaires: Putting the
topic. The focus would no longer be the emergence ofthe "Americas" Indies on the Map
in the European consciousness, but the emergence of the idea of the
Western Hemisphere, and the replacement of the ideas associated Putting the Americas on the map from the European perspective was
not necessarily a task devoted to finding the ttue shape of the earth; it
was also related to controlling territories and colonizing the imagina
tion of people on both SIdes of the Atlantic: Amerindians and Euro
p�;;;:;;. The spread of European literacy in the New World colonies
transmitted a conception of the world projected in European car
tography. The spread of cultural literacy in Europe showed the edu
cated European the nature of an unlmown continent. Economic
expansion, technology, and power, rather than truth, is what charac�
terized European cartography carly on, as well as the national car
tography of the Americas at a later date.
From the perspective of the Council of tl,e Inclies (founded in
1524) and the House ofTrade (founded in 1503), tl1eir need to put the
Indies on tl,e map was quite differ"l1t from that ofnortl1ern European
cartographers and m.en ofletters, So far I have primarily paid attention
ti{tlie!Jrocess ofintegrating tl,e fourtl1 part ofthe world with the three
already known. I did not emphasize the process of mapping the details
oflarger totalities, a clistinction made by Ptolemy in his Cosmography
and followed by Renaissance cartographers. Ptolemy clistinguished
geography, concerned with tl,e entire lmown world, from chwogra
@y;I§ficerned with particular places. 1 4 Ptolemy suggested tl1at geog
raphy was like depicting the head, chorography like depicting one
ofits parts (the eyes, the ears, tl,e nose). When Pettus Apianus pub
lished his Cos1llographia, he took Ptolemy'S metaphor at pedem lit
terae and explained the distinction between the two witl1 parallel
designs in which a world map was printed next to a human head and
the map of a city next to a design of the human ear (fig. 6. 17). But
when it comes to maps and mapmaking, the question remains
whether chorography should be applied to the mapping of a countty
Fig. 6.16. An example of the model: Ety's Outillac wilitcs Itt cacsis hostibllS within a continent or a city or place within a countty. In what follows I
utalltllr (How the soldiers ofOutina handle their enemies) will use Ptolemy's clistinction as parallel to the distinction between
Philip II was replaced by Philip III. The official version depended on 283
DE LA C O S M 0 G. Fo.lIIl. the Council of the Indies. The other was an individual and opposi- ----
The Darker La Geographie. La Similitude dieelle. tional act of mapping tI,at remained unknown to the general public Pllttillg tbe
-�
until ti,e twentieth century. The first belongs to the name of L6pez de
Side oftbe Americas 011
Velasco and the Relncianes geograficas, the second to Guaman Poma
Renaissance the Map
d ; Ayala and his Nueva coranica y bltCll gabi,,·na.
Sometime around l�ip� n..XS'SB!..ested a visitation to the
Council of the Indies and appointed Juan de Ovando, from the Gen
eral Council of the Inquisition, to be in charge of the evaluation.
Ovando appointed Lopez de Velasco as his assistant. As a result of the
[I
,
La Chorographie de Ia particuliere defctiption dung lieu.
legal matters began to hold posirions of increasing importance.27 As letrado-humanist; the bureaucrat took over the organization of so
they gained in social status so the meaning of the word letrado shifted. cietyand left the discussion ofideas to the intellectual. The Council of
They became a caste that detached itselffrom both the medieval cler;
the Indies, which was the supreme institution for affairs concerning
the Indies and the administration of the New World, had executive,
cus and the Renaissance humanist. In the context of the colonization
of the New World the letrados (men ofletters) were in charge of the
judicial, and legislative functions. It consisted of cloak-and-dagger
intellectual legitimation ofthe conquest, whereas the letrados( experts councillors on one side and robed councillors on the other. Men of
arms and men of letters. The latter dominated the council through
sheer force of numbers and through their experience in the affairs of
the Indies, since many of them had been judges in high courts or had
filled government posts in the New World. All fucets of life were sub
ject to the jurisdiction of the council, from high politics to detailed
information on geography, political history, natural history, and so
Fig. 6.19. How a on.2s The Ordenanzas de Indias are good examples of this situation
humanist may have and, also, of the increasing role played by literacy in the colonization
looked: Sebastiana del of the New World. Ordenallza I, fur example, contains a philosophy
Piombo's Portmitofa for the administration, and it is made clear that if the members of the
Humanist (ca. 1520), Council of the Indies were honest persons of noble stock and reputa
National Gallery,
Washington ble lineage ( "personas aprobadas en costumbres, nobleza, y limpieza
de linajes"), it was because they were selected according to their
knowledge (letters) and prudence ( "escogidos en letras y prudencia").
It was also specified in the constitution of the Council of the Indies
that the president would be advised by eight comejeros let/-ados, who
were men of letters related not to science but to law. Ordellallza 27
was entirely devoted to underlining the significance of reading and
writing letters as a regular affair ofthe council. Colonial administrators
were aware that the technology of writing provided by the alphabet
made it possible to effectively conduct business (like the telephone
and electronic mail of today) and take control of rl,e people and the
land by compiling a huge set of regulations (01-dC1lfl11zas) and a ques
tionnaire (the Memorandum), which generated a massive amount of
information ( the Rclaciollesgeogrrijicas de I1ldias). Let/-ados and cos
mographers joined forces to trace the boundaries (in words and maps)
ofnewly acquired domains (fig. 6.20).
de Velasco was the first on the desk of a notaty public, who would gather a representative 293
The Council of the Indies, ofwhich L6pez
locus for the organi number of Spanish and native people who, at their turn, would pro-
official cosmographer, was the main institutional
massive information vide the answer to each question orally, while the notaty public would Putting the
zation, planning, and implementing of the
fix them in writing and send them to his superior.30 After passing
171eDarker
There was, howev er, an asymm etric relation to Americas 011
Side ofthe gathering operation,29
through several steps of the administrative hierarchy, the relacion the Map
Renaissance technology between the Mcmoralldl t11z) on the one hand, and the
t1Il ended up in the hands of some tetrado in the council.3l The tenor of
"elacion, on the other. While the Me1ll01'al1d, enjoye d the benefits
related to the power ex· the letter sent by the king to his governors was as follows:
of the printing press (which was "naturally"
ercised by the council), the memoria! were
handwritten and never
THE KING:
edition was that of Jimenez de la Es
printed in their time. The first
the understanding Know ye, OUf Governor of . . .
on f or
pada, in the spirit ofpublishing documentati
ission of information or
of the past rather than printing as a transm Those of our Council of the Indies having at various times dis
opinion influential at the time that it was
�
produced. The rel ciolles, cussed the procedure that should be established in order that
draw n. How ever, for those m con within it there can be cettain and detailed information about the
thus, were handwritten and hand
empir e in the New World, the
trol of the administration ofthe Spanish things of the said Indies, so that the council can attend to their
of information for
relacioncs represented an important source good government, it has seemed a proper thing to decree that a
il in order to write histo
chroniclers and cosmographers of the counc general description be made of the whole condition of our Indies,
ries and chart new territories. islands, and their provinces, the most accurate and certain possible.
The fifty questions listed in the Memorandu
m generally ended up
In order that you properly aid in forming such description, you will
comply with the Instructions that have been drawn up for it, in
printed form. They are herewith being sent to you. Because it is our
will that such descriptions be made specifically in each province, we
command you to make a description ofthat city in which you reside
and of the places within its jurisdiction as soon as you receive this,
our Cedula.
You shall collect the repotts rI,at may be made in each place. You
sball send them, together with rllOSe you yourselfhave prepared, as
promptly as possible to our Council ofri,e Indies, for review. It will
advise us if there are faults in them, and for what cause, and make
appropriate recommendations.
or painting the space depicted (or invented) and the way ofdepicting of origin to the actual habitat, there are obvious differences between
The Dar/leI' (or inventing) it are interrelated, althongh at clearly distinguished the two. Hnman figures in the Mapa Sigiimza respond less to indige- Nebrija in the
Side Dfthe levels. The first corresponds to the level of action; the second to the nous patterns thm ti,e Tim de la peregrinacion. In the latter ti,e Nell' World
Rmaissfl-1Jce relations between signs and their content; the third complies with a counting of the years is clearly indicated and the signs are similar to the
given way ofdoing things with signs and cognitive patterns. numerical signs encountered in otl,er codices from the Valley ofMex-
The well-known Mapa Sigiienza (fig. 6.22) is a fine example of ico. In ti,e Mapa Sigl.mza the years have not been indicated. The
Amerindian pintltms from the mid-sixteenth century. Although the years shown in figure 3.Ib, in arabic numerals, have been added and
events and space described and the patterns of descriptions sup represent a scholarly reconstruction rather than an original colonial
posedly snrvived from preconquest times, the act ofpainting itselfis a chronological listing. We know, however, as seen in chapter 3, that the
colonial one and, therefore, a case of colonial semiosis. The Mapa pre-Columbian ruling class had developed sophisticated mems of
Sigtlmza traces the territory in its spatial as well as temporal bound time reckoning that they applied to place social events in time and to
aries: the chart of the space from the legendary Azthin to the Valley of keep record of the past.
Mexico and the chart of the peregrination of time from the point of When compared with European maps, the Mapa Sigiiel1za is very
origin (Aztlan) to ti,e point of arrival (Chapultepec).38 When com imprecise as far as location (longitude and latitude) is concerned. TIllS
pared with ti,e Tim de III peregrinacion (fig. 3.1) one would tend to kind of geographical "imprecision" has been interpreted in negative
believe that the former is colonial wIllie ti,e latter came to us as a (e.g., what the Amerindians did not have) rather thm positive (e.g.,
what the Amerindims did have) terms. Territorial conceptions among
the Aztecs were, of course, dissimilar to those of the Spanish . Garda
Martinez reports that the territorialiry ofthe altcpetl( rtlt, water; tepctl,
hill) encompassed both the natural resources as well as ti,e memory of
humarl history.39 Contrary to Europem maps, ti,e altepetl did not
imply a precise delimitation of geographic boundaries. Geograplllc
limits were fuzzy and variable and it was often the case that between
two rtltcpctl there were disputed lands as well as empry spaces. Garcia
Martinez concluded that it was during the process ofcolonization that
a more defined sense of space, law, and history was projected onto the
altepctl. I am not snre whether we should conclnde tI,at what the
Sparliards perceived as a "lack" was dne to the fact that the Mexica
were simply unable to match the Spmiards' territorial conceptualiza
tion or ratl,er tI,at they really did not "lack" anytiling because tI,ey had
different ways of fulfilling similar needs. The fact remains tI,at loca
tions are determined by the Illstorical and sociological significance of
an event in the collective memory '�inventing" the peregrination and
charting of the Nahuatl world. To place ti,e point of origin (Aztlan)
and ti,e point of arrival (Chapultepec) in two opposite corners is m
indication not only of a peregrination in time but also of a conscien
tious use of graphic signs to indicate that the two points, of departure
and arrival (e.g., Tim de la pC1wril1aciol1, my addition), are ti,e most
distant in space. In the words ofRadin, "It is not an annual account set
down year for year, but, like the Tira Boturini, shows unnlistakable
evidence of systematization. "40 On the other hand, Aztlan md
Fig. 6.22. Alternative territorialities: Mapa Sigiiwza (ca. 1550), origin
and peregrination of the Aztecs Chapultepec are the sites to which more space is devoted in the pil1-
300 turn: they arc not only points ofdeparture and arrival; ofall the places writing and painting: the tlacztilo was a more versatile social role than 301
indicated by the peregrination, they are the most significant. the geographer and the histolian. -----
TIle Dar/�el' Duverger suggests that the peregrination of Azthln was an "inven There is one more important element in Amerindian territorial Putting tbe
Side afthe tion" after the arrival at the Valley ofMexico, 4 1 An obvious statement, conceptualization and depiction that is not obvious in the previous Amcricaso1J
Renaissance perhaps, although a necessary one for the understanding of colonial three peregrination examples. This single important element is tl,e the Map
semiosis and Amerindian "mapping" during the precolonial as well as "four corners of the world" discussed in chapter 5 , We have seen that
colonial period. If during the expansion of the Mexica empire maps this aspect transcends specific legacy and traditions and is found in
like these satisfied peoples' need to reassure themselves and their own Mesoamerica, in the Andes, among the Navajos, in ancient China, and
tradition in front of rival communities, it is no less relevant that the in Jewish and Christian cosmologies.4S It organized the world and the
ruling class of Amerindian civilizations moves from being in power to communication between earth and heaven when information about
being disempowered. Construction of ethnic (eth11os, we) identities, distant places on earth and techniques for calculating those distances
however, is not limited to power, On the contrary, acts of opposition were neither available nor necessary, The connection between the
and resistance and the will to sunrive require a strong sense ofindivid� cosmos and the ear�h, ,instead,.Qf space and time, is what manifests
ual and communal identity. itselfi� territorial depiction in pre- or noncapitalist civilizations. The
In our next example, the four pil1tlll'aS of Cuauhtinchan42 have a fuur corners of the world is a fundamental cognitive pattern, which
more complex history than the previous two, not only because there becomes blurred once ethnic centers in the West are disguised under
are four maps but also because of their obscure connections with the geometric projections (see chap. 5). One remarkable example of tlle
Historz'a toltcca-chichcmcca) a narrative account of Amerindian com� connection between cosmos, earth, and human territoriality is pro�
munities from the Valley ofPuebla.43 Map no. 2 (fig. 6.21) is one more vided by the Texcocan historian Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, at tl,e
example of the "migration theme" (the Toltec's peregrination from beginning of the seventeenth centl11Y, in a narrative account of how
Chicomoztoc to Cholula), ofwhich the Mapa SigtJenza and Tim de fa the four-comer pattern offered to his ancestors a model for territorial
peregrinaeion are good Aztec examples. All three maps arc picto ordering and control. Ixtlilxochitl, a member of the Texcocan no-
graphic registers of events, of persons participating in the events, of bility, devoted a great deal of his life to tracing tl,e genealogy and
spatial boundaries and locations of legendary origin, as well as the history of his people. What follows is his narration of how X610tl (a
actual habitat. leader of the Toltec-Cluchimec people) took possession of the land
The fact that space and time are combined in the same pint1lras five years after the decline and fall of the Toltec empire:
might appear strange to a Western educated person of the twentieth
century accustomed to a straightforward distinction between geogra� When X610tl was building his new city of Tenayuca, in the same
phy and history, between maps and narratives. To an educated person year of IOIS, he decided to take possession of the entire land, from
living in eleventh-century Europe, these pintztl'as would have been one sea to the other, and for this purpose he gathered together . . .
rather familiar. At least one type ofmedieval map was a combination of Ius vassals . . . and he told them . . . tllat he wished to take posses
spatial boundaries with narrative elements." The fact that one of the sion of the land, placing his bouudary markers on the highest
major sources of medieval 11lappaemtmdi was Orosius's History peaks; and gatllering bundles of long grass which grew in the
against the Pagans is already a telling example of the complicity be mountains . . . he set light to them, for without any opposition he
tween geography and history, oftracing boundaries and telling stories. considered the land his own, without having to take it from any�
It was not until the sixteenth century that geographers and historians one, now Witl'0ut breaking the word of Icauhtzin, his great
would be clearly distinguished. When L6pez de Velasco, fOr instance, grandfuther, for the Toltecs had long since come to an end, and if
was appointed c/;ronista ojieial oftlle Council ofthe Indies in 1571, the any did remain, tlley were few and were left land which was to their
position implied botll tasks, geographer as well as chronicler. In 1596, liking, where they and tlleir descendants might settle; establishing
however, the post was divided in two, one for a geographer and the and distributing villages and towns, provinces and cities, with the
other for a chronicler or historian. Herrera y Tordesillas became the formalities and rites and ceremonies which befit this task, and in
chronicler�historian, while his forerunner, Lopez de Velasco, was a order to subsist they created common land and forests for all som
geographer-chronicler. Thus, the mixing of space and time in ter of hunting.
litolial ordering parallels the mixing of social roles associated with X610tl's resolution and mandate was accepted by his lords and
302 vassals, and then he personally, with his son, prince Nopaltzin and territorial patterns before the conquest but they also illustrate their 303
some others, nobles as well as commoners, went forth from the city survival during the first century after the conquest. The increasing
The Darker and went straight to a mountain called Yocotl, which lies to the repression of Amerindian communities since then has gone hand in Puttillg tbe
Side ofthe west of that city and is vety high. They climbed to the top of the hand with the suppression of native graphic traditions and modes of AmericaSOl1
RC1JaiSSImcc mountain and tlley were the first party who performed the rites communication.48 But suppressing written and graphic modes ofter- the Map
which they would use: a Chichimeca lord shot four arrows with all ritoria! ordering does not necessarily result in the suppression of cog-
his might into the four comers of the eartll, east and west, nOM nitive patterns rooted in the collective memory, beyond what graphic
and south; and then, tying the bundle of grass at its tip and setting signs can preserve and transmit. Severa! examples ofsurviving Amerin-
fire to it, and other rites and ceremonies of possession which they dian communities and cultures that have maintained the ancient
used, they descended the mountain, which is in the town of Amerindian model of territoriality could be mentioned:'9 The New
Xocotitlan . . . and tI,ey went to another mountain of great height World, when it was not yet "new," was mapped before European
which is called Chihnauhtecatl, whence to Malinalco, where tlley navigators and cosmographers devoted themselves to the task of
performed the same ceremonies, and before descending the first charting what they took as a lump without meaning. It is now time to
mountain, which was called X610tl, four lords were dispatched to move toward the second kind ofAmerindian ten'itorial representation
tile four comers of the world, and in keeping with the custom they during the colonial period and to the paradigmatic example of colo-
fired tile arrows as a sign that they had taken possession ofthe entire nial semiosis: the coexistence in the same graphic space of two con-
land, which had belonged to the great Topiltzin, from one sea to cepts of territoriality (e.g., tributary and capitalist) and a reversal of
the other. . . . dependency relations (e.g., the Amerindian mlers and nobles moved
Afrer having marked the boundary limits determined by X610tl, from being in command to being commanded).
and having sent the four lords to take possession of all the remain
ing land from one sea to the other, and having arrived by this time
at his city, X610tl ordered tllat all the land which fell witllin tile first Fractured Territorial Ordering: Displacing the Locus
boundaty be distributed among his vassals, giving each noble his of Enunciation
share ofpeople, and a town which he might found with them, and
he fixed tins first demarcation in order to settle it first Witll the While the previous examples are associated with tile survival of native
people he had, and to the second demarcation, which extended nobility and tile ruling class, and witll acts of territorial depiction de
across the entire land from one sea to the other, he sent the fouf signed to maintain and protect their material possessions as well as the
lords so that tI,ey might multiply, and so that those who might memories of their ancestors, the pintltras associated with the relaci
come would gradually adapt and settle the entire land, as afterwards o1les and with land litigations have a different pedigree. First, these
his descendants settled there, naming each town after the noble pilltlt1'ascould have been drawn by eitl,er Amerindians or Spaniards.
who founded it, and in the places marked by the Toltecs, such as ti,e Second, they contained either information requested in the Memo
cities, no new names were given, and tIus is what was done, as can ralld"m or claims (land litigations) provoked by Spanish autllorities.
be seen in the demarcation of the city ofAzcaputzalco, which went .And tllird, because of bOtll the increasing implementation of Euro
to a nobleman by the name ofIzputzal.46 pean writing systems and the existence ofa new generation ofAmerin
dians who, by 1580, in places like Mexico, were at least two genera
Because the four "wings" or '�corners" of the world are also found tions removed from the early years of ti,e colonization process. The
in the Bible,47 it is tempting to say that the Christian influence had end result was that the pil1t1trasof the second and tllird period (from
made its way into the Ixtlilxochitl narrative. I would prefer to say (as I 1577 to 1615, roughly) were more than Amerindian territorial descrip
suggested in the previous chapter) that the four-comer cosmology is tionswith Spanish influence. They were properly hybrid cultural prod
common to both ancient Mexicans and ancient Hebrews and that dus ucts which, from the Amerindian point ofview, illustrated the coexis
basic human way of organizing the territory had different develop tence ofterritories while, from the Spanish point ofview, such coexist
ments in unrelated cultural traditions. In any event, all tile examples ence was suppressed by geographical description and mapmaking.
commented on in this section not only suggest Amerindian cognitive First, let's approach the pinttlras attached to the relaciones, and
304 then the pintllras attached to settlements and land litigations . The the filct is that the represented territory remains a homogeneous space
reiacioncs, as it has been mentioned in the previous chapter, were a bounded to the story oftile communiry (Aztec or Toltec-Chichimec).
T7Jt: Darker repott by mandate, guided by the fifty questions prepared by the This is not the case in several of tile pintllrns from the relaeiones and Putting the
Side ofthe Council of ti,e Indies, and eventually printed and distributed among from land settlement documentation. Americas OIl
Renaissance the administtators of ti,e Spanish possessions in the West and East Let's tal" the example of the Re/aeiol1 de Chima/lmaClin Atoyae, a theMnp
Indies. A great deal of the answers were provided by these "indios" town in the state of Mexico, and introduce question 16, which com
although the final written version was the responsibiliry of a notary plements questiou 10 by requesting a verbal description of the place:
public. The pinturas attached, according to question 10, were quite
often drawn by "indios viejos y principales." Question 10 ofthe Mem Describe all towns, ofSpaniards or ofIndians, whether ti,e town is
orandum (in which the fifty questions are laid out as well as instruc situated in a mountain, valley or open plain, and the names of the
tions for completing the questionnaire) requested, specifically, a pin mountains or valleys and district in which it lies. Record ti,e native
turn: meaning of each of these names.
Describe ti,e site and state ti,e situation of said town, if it lies high The answer to this question, in the written version of the notary
or low or in a plain, and give a plan or colored painting showing the public, reads as follows:
streets, squares, and other places; mark the monasteries. This can
be easily sketched on paper, and shall be done as well as possible. It Como estO dicho, el asiento deste pueblo es a la falda del dicho een'o
is to be noted which part of ti,e town faces North and which de Chhnalhuacan, y esm asentado en la derecera del poniente; no
South.50 esra trazado en pueblo formado. Hay en el un monasterio de re
ligiosos de la Ordel1 del SetIOl' Sallto Domingo, como se vera por la
From the beginning, the question itself imposes a cosmological pinrura que esta hecho, que esta al cabo y fin desta relaci6n. s 2
orientation that is not aligned with what can be considered Amerin
dian orientations. While in Mesoamerican (as well as early Christian) [As has been said, tI,is town is located at the foot of the said Hill of
cosmology spatial orientation was determined by the sunrise and sun Chitnalhllac/m, and it is located in the direction of the west; it is
set, European cartography of the late Renaissance preferred North laid out in a town already fOrI11ed. In ti,e town there is a monastery
and SOUtll. The direction of the snn's movement and the sacred place of monks of the ordel' of Saint Dominic, as can be seen in ti,e
(Paradise) were replaced by modern technology and the compass. 51 A painting.]
deeply rooted pattern for spatial orientation, based on cosmological
experience and religious connotations, had been replaced by a more The pintlll'« attached to tI,is relaeion (fig. 6.23 ) shows much more
concrete need for charting navigation and measuring distance with than tile verbal description suggests. The deep structure of territorial
the Arctic and Antarctic poles as reference points. On ti,e other hand, depiction is not hinted at in the verbal report. Reading ti,e painting
when the pil1tllras were drawn by the Amerindians, they showed a instead of the verbal description, we perceive, first, two clearly delin
distribution ofspace that is not fonnd in the pinturas shown in Tim de eated spaces facing each other. The two main objects, the hill and the
/£1 peregrinaeion, Mapa Sigttenza, or Mapas de C"allhtil1ehtill. I sus monastery, have been drawn in inverted top-bottom positions. At the
pect that the differences could be read both in a chronological and a top of ti,e hill (inverted position) we see ti,e "casa de idolatria," indi
communicative context. Chronologically, the pi11tltl'aS of the 1'e/a cated also by the design ofan Aztec temple. The hill is represented by a
eiones were produced at ti,e eud of the sixteenth century when ti,e glyph very common in Aztec pictographic writing that is generally
Castilian conquest of the territory was well advanced, while the Map" found in the extant codices. AltllOugh it is not always a religious place,
Sigiiel1zn, Tira de la peregrinacion, and Mapas de Cuallhtinchal1 are it is often so. In tI,is particular case ti,e religious dimension is marked
all from tile first half ofthe century. Whether tI,ese three pilltltrnswere by the temple. Facing the sacred Amerindian space we see ti,e sacred
drawn for the internal use ofthe community (as seems to be the case in Spanish space, occupied by ti,e monastery. Both hill and monastery
the Historia tolteca-chichemeca), or drawn to inform Spanish mission compete in size and relevance and occupy spaces clearly divided by
aries about their past (as seems to be ti,e case of the Mapa Sig'tellZfl), roads. The roads are indicated by footsteps, which usually distinguish
roads from rivers and are commonly found in other "maps" to indicate
case the relevant objects could be placed toward the bottom left in
the direction of migrations. At first glance, it is possible to conclude
stead ofthe upper right. But, in any case, what is striking in the overall
TIle Dm'!ur that although the spaces are well delimited, the monastery occupies a organization of the space is the conflicting coexistence of the Amerin PUttil1g the
Side aft"c more prominent position in the pintltra than the hill. This conclusion
dian and Spanish ethnic spaces, a telling example ofa hybrid terrirorial Americas 011
Renaissance may be due to our Western reading habits (left to right and top to
representation in the context of colonial semiosis. t", Map
bottom) . From the direction in which some of the ancient genealogi The pintltra of Chimalhuacan is not an isolated case. Although
cal codices were drawn and interpreted, however, this first impression morc examples could be extracted from the 1'eiacio1tcs) I am more
could be proven wrong. A '�boustrophedon" reading has been sug
interested in suggesting the general dimension of the phenomenon
gested for the understanding of several genealogical codices, in which that could be also illustrated in maps found attached to land litiga
tions. In the pintllra ofHuastepec (fig. 6.24) the positions occupied
by the houses of Christian and Amerindian religious practices have
been inverted (the temple on the top left and the monastery on the
bottom right). The center of the map is left empry, either as no man's
land or as the place in which Amerindian and Castilian spaces interact.
The pi1ltltra was drawn toward the end ofthe sixteenth century in the
state of Oaxaca. Although the context of the relacioncsand of the land
settlements and litigations are different, the cognitive patterns of spa
tial conceptualization ftom the Amerindian perspective, roward the
Fig. 6.23. Fractured territorialities: the pillt1t1"a ofChimalhuacan-Atoyac Fig. 6.24. Fractured territorialities: the pintttm of Huastepec
308 end of the sixteenth century, make it clear that the pinturasin which a co's map has not only been inverted, but has been redrawn from a
still properly Amerindian terrirory was depicted was being replaced by four-pillar cosmology according to which the Indies and Castile are
TbeDarker pi1lttwasin which the territory is divided and the center either emptied boti' at the center of the world.54 Putti11g the
Side oftbe or shared. 53 The existence oftwo centers is the best example I can provide ofthe Americasol1
Renaissance Finally, there is the r"ct that the center has been emptied. Ortelius coexistence of territorial representation from the Amerindian point of t"eMap
as well as L6pez de Velasco proceeded as if no conceptualization of view. It is also a paradigmatic example of colonial semiosis and hybrid
space had existed before they were able to map the "new" land. On cultural products: while Lopez de Velasco as well as other European
the contrary, for Guaman Poma as well as for many tlaettilo who had mapmakers emptied the space in order to chart the Spanish possessions
the chance to paint or describe their town, they felt that their OWn (West Indies) or a New World, Amerindians emptied the center in
territory remained but was occupied by someone else. There is a differ order to accommodate their sense ofinvaded territoriality, coexisting
ence, however, in the work of the tlacuilo responsible for many of the with foreign ones. And emptying the center also means, in tllls context
pinttwas in the RelacionesgeogY/ifteas de Indias and Guaman Poma's ofdescription, changing ti,e locus ofenunciation. While the Pontifical
PontifieaI 1lltt1tdo. The difference is ofscale and of cosmographical and "'It"do is placed at the beginning of the Nlteva c01'oniea y bltC11
cosmological awareness mainly. The tlaettilo who painted the map of gobi,,.,,o, the mapa11lttndi is placed toward the end and followed by
Chimalhuacim-Atoyac limited himself to what the relaeion (and the about sixty drawings ofPermtian towns, some oftl1em quite similar to
notary public who enacted it) requested: a description of the town pintll1'fts from the Relaeionesgeog1'liftea (fig. 6.25). If one takes into
where the traces of the complicity between city and cosmos have been account this section, it looks simiiar-altilOugh inverted-to LOpez
erased. What remains is the coalescence oftwo worldviews in the same de Velasco's general map of the Indias Occidentales, followed by thir
place. In Guaman Parna's Pontificnl l11undo the coalescence of two teen detailed maps of different audiencias. In both cases, a general
worlds, instead, has been projected into a cosmological diagram link picture of the Spanish domains or the world is shown, and then fol
ing geography with a transcendent design of the cosmos. However, lowed up by the parts of the totality (e.g., the eyes and ti,e head).
the pintltra of the anonymous tlacttilo and Guaman Poma's Pontifical When one reads the 1Ilapa"" mdi and the sixty town drawings to
"'tt1tdo are complementary indeed. While the first is grounded On the gether with the Pontifical 11l1wdo) the sense that a new locus ofenunci
conflicting merger of the nltepetl (Amerindian organization and ad ation is being carved by putting the Indies of Peru (instead of the
ministration ofland, space, and memory) with the encomienda (Span Americas or ti,e Indias Occidentales) is reinforced. But alternative loci
ish organization and administration of land possession and produc of enunciation without the support of institutional power ofren are
tion), the second is grounded on the conflicting merging between the not heard when ti,ey speak their present, although they are freqnently
four comers and the center, on the one hand, and the coexistence of reclaimed as forgotten or suppressed examples to understand the past.
the Indias del Peru with Castile, on the other.
What is more impressive, however, is the sustained effort of Gua�
man Poma de Ayala to map the world and contest the Relneio"es One Space, Several Territories, Many Actual Worlds
geogY/ifteas from an Amerindian perspective. Let me expand on these
two aspects one at a time. And allow me to refer again the drawing of Putting the Americas on the map from the Enropean perspective was
rl,e Pontifical 11lundo (fig.
5.19), which has already been analyzed from not necessarily a task devoted to finding the true shape of the earth; it
a different perspective in the previous chapter. The depiction of Pon was also related to controlling territories, diminishing non -European
tifical """,do shows an organization vety much like the one seen in the
I
conceptualization of space, and spreading European cartographic lit-
pintttms of Chimalhuadn-Atoyac and Huastepec (figs. 6.23 and eracy; tl1IlS colonizing the imagination of people on both sides of the
6.24 ). The space between the two worlds has been lefr empty in order Atlantic: Amerindians and Europeans. This is not to say that the efforts
\.
to describe their coexistence. Much like the temple and the monas to expand Western cultures did not engender opposition and re- \
teries in the previous examples, the Indies (Las Indias) at the top ofthe sistance. It is simply to recognize that the power ofthe economic and
picture emphasizes the East where the Sun (the Inca God) rises; below religious expansion and tI,e force of the printing technology have
the empty space dividing the two worlds is placed Castilla. The sym been the most persuasive among all possible imaginable alternatives.
bolic richness of this pintttra also lies in the fact that LOpez de Velas- The spread of European literacy in the New World colonies transmit-
ted to educated Amerindians and Creoles their own territorial aware- 3 1I
----
ness and the idea that America was the fourth part of the world. Cer-
tainly, sllch a perspective was neither necessarily shared by everyone, Putting the
nor the only possible alternative, but obviously by those who had the Americasoll
power and controlled chains ofcommunication and programs ofedu- tbe Map
cation. Had Islam, instead of Christianity, "discovered" unknown
land and people, not only might America not have been America, but
it would not have been the fourth part oftile world because, from the
perspective of Islamic geography and cartography, the earth was not
divided in three parts. Economic expansion, technology, and power,
rather timn truth, characterized European cartography early on, and
national cartography of tile Americas at a later date.
From the point ofview of the Amerindians of the past as well as of
the present, their cosmographic and cosmologic traditions were and
arc what rcally count as territorial organization. Urton has shown the
continuity ofInca cosmology in contemporary Peru, and Gossen has
shown a similar pattern among the Chamulas of southern Mexico (fig.
6.26). S5 They provide good examples ofcommunities fur whom, even
today, the Americas does not have the same meaning it had for our
hypothetical European observer,56 or for the intellectuals and nation
builders at the beginning of the nineteentil century who reversed the
a Fig. 6.25. ft, One of the many
European perspective by putting the Americas on the map not as
pil1tums of towns attached to
Relacioncsgeogrdficnsj b, one of America in the New World but in tile Western Hemisphere.57
the sixty towns drawn by Chamula, the city and the place, is at ti,e center of ti,e earth. For the
Guaman Pama, placed after dlC people who live in this cosmology, America is still not on the map.
mapa1JJ1tndi They inbabit tile same space, altilOugh tiley live in a different world
an ,nli an alternative territory. Amerindians in South and Central
America as well as Native Americans in ti,e United States have kept
their traditions alive and terrirorial organization is for them, as for
anybody else, a fundamental aspect oftheir cultural identity. They are
constantiy teaching us not only that maps are not the territory, but also
that the process ofinventing and putting the Americas on the map was
not an everlasting episode oftile past, but an open process toward the
future.
Concluding Remarks
�' �
-'\Wf!' lif t,JM
' " " I � , other, their cosmopolitical uses ofterritoriality to organize and govern
� o", Sun or
F,.,h"
j( .
were overpowered by a territorial conception attached to complex
bureaucracies and disguised sources ofpower that emptied spaces by
i
Third Lay r of the Sky
ignoring previous existing territorialities. European maps and Spanish
territorial administration historically became the "true representa
tion" ofa New World and the Indias Occidentales. Looking at them
as social and semiotic interactions and territorial control instead
of as representations of an ontological space (as L6pez de Velasco
described the Straits of Panama) opens up new ways ofunderstanding
in which cognitive patterns become embedded in social actions and
representations become performances of colonization.
Fig. 6.26. Chamula's ordering of the world, in the second half of the
twentieth century
Afterword
What follows has emerged from notes taken in the process ofwriting
the previous portion ofthis book. These notes have resulted in a list of
issues I feel the need to address but have lefr out of the argument
because they are too complex to be addressed in a footnote or would
require significant diversions from the argument I have articulated.
The underlying concern throughout the book has been undoing the
Renaissance foundation Eurocentrisffi.
First ofall, then, the need to understand the past in order to speak
the present continued to haunt me as I tried to clarity for myself the
differences between understanding the past and the practice of colo
mal cultural studies as a discipline. My research was a conscientious
effort to understand the past, although I did not plan or feel, at any
moment, that I was writing a history of New World colonization. I
have written the book with the strong persuasion that the late Euro
pean Renaissance (the early modem period), a landmark in the idea of
modernity, was the beginning ofan effort to constitute homogeneous
linguistic, national, and religious communities, which have begun to
disintegrate at the end ofthe twentieth centllry. The successful efforts
made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by Nebrija and Al
drete to think about territories on linguistic grollnds, the complicity
ofhistoriography (of Spain and of the New World) and mapmaking in
the configuration of cultural identities under the economic and legal
rules of the empire (prolonged in the eighteenth and nineteenth cen
turies by England and France), are no longer useful to understand the
connections between languages and territories at the end ofthe twen
tieth century. This is true, first, because Amerindian (in South and
Central America) and Native American (in North America) cultllral
31 5
and linguistic legacies are becoming part and parcel of the construc Although I shared Perry Anderson's enthusiasm when I first read 317
tion ofmnlticultural and heterogeneous traditions and the emergence this paragraph,2 I was also disappointed, as I was already well into the
TbcDal'kcr of n�,;'_ identities, all of which have been suppressed both by colonial ideas that shaped this book. In Berman's description of "modernity" I 011
Side oft"e regimes and postcolonial nation builders. Second, human migrations missed its darker side, the differential experiences ofspace and time, of Modemity,
Renaissa1Jce imply migrations of the languages and memories upon whICh human speech and writing, "shared by men and women all over the world" Colonizatio1J)
communities are built, communities that may flourish within a ter who lived in peripheral colonial and postcolonial situations. Even if and tbe Rise of
ritorial structure alien to the language and culture of the migratory one can accept tliat._l:here are few remaining areas of the globe un Occidmtalism
peoples. Such has been the case of Latinos or Hispanics in the United rOUcl1edby·t:h�·expansion of the West, this does not mean that who
States, who are in the process of destabilizing not only the structure of ever is touched by Western expansion becomes automatically a West
traditional Anglo-American culture but also traditional Spanish ern person who experiences space ancf t:tme,_ �P�.����·.and w�"�Ei.n�l
American culture. It would certainly be a mistake to look at the Latino Kerala or in the Andes in the same way that a person experiences them
experience in Anglo America as an accomplishment of the expansion in Paris, Bombay, or Buenos Aires. If one can assume, for instance,
of the Spanish culture and not also as the end of Nebrija's and Al that territoriality is universally constructed according to similar hu
drete's dream in the uniry oflanguage and territory. Since my explora man experiences of language, location, and memories, one can also
tions have centered on the colonial period, I have not paid much argue that self-descriptions vary not only across witt/res in colonial
attention to the double bind of the ideologues of nation building in situations but within imperial and national environments as well.
SpanishAmerica during the nineteenth century, who played an impor However, the Western expansion initiated in the sixteenth century
tant role in the conflictive proeess of negotiating the Spanish legacy brought to the foreground the need to negotiate differences across
and celebrating the Amerindians' pre-Spanish past while at the same cultures and to rethink the links between differences and values. Al
time suppressing its burning present and flirting with new forms of
though we human beings all inhabit the same world, not everyone
economic (English and German) and cultural (French Enlighten
lives in the same territory. Modernity is a period, in the history of the
ment) imperialism.
West, in which contact and domination between human cultures
In the context of the darker side of the Renaissance (or the early
reached their peak. Thus, reflections on colonial experiences are not
modem period), what I have tried to articulate throughout (while
only corrective exercises in understanding the past but helpful tools in
insisting on comparative analysis and pluritopic hermeneutics to chart
speaking the present. Critical perspectives on Western values and ways
the coexistence of differential loci of enunciation in colonial situa
ofthinking have much to gain from understanding colonial situations:
tions) could be recast in the influential description of modernity and
the darker side ofthe European Renaissance and Western modernity,
the modern experience articulated by Berman:
perhaps, but also the brighter side of a utopian future.3
The first half of the book deals with the basic issues of speech and
There is a mode ofvital experience-experience ofspace and time,
writing and the second with space and time. Chapter 3 serves as a
ofthe selfand others, oflife's possibilities and perils-that is shared
transition between the question of writing to writing history, invok�
by men and women all over the world today. I will call this body of
experience "modernity." To be modem is to find ourselves in an ing the concept of time. The last two chapters emphasize the notion
environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, of space as it centers on the mapping of the world. The four
transformation of ourselves and the world-and, at the same time, concepts-spe�ch, writing?_ t!�.�,�.�!1��-together serve as a
that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, ' loose framework to analyze the spread ofWestern literacy and one of
everything we are. Modern environments and experiences cut its major consequences, the Occidentalization of the globe. Such a
across all boundaries of geography and ethnicity, of class and na larger set of concepts would require a much lengthier examination to
tionality, of religion and ideology: in this sense, modernity can be trace the scholarly genealogy of each of them. I will limit myself,
said to unite all mankind. But it is a paradoxical unity, a unity of instead, to a few observations to contextualize the main arguments of
disunity: it pours us all into a maelstrom ofperpetual disintegration the book.
and renewal, of struggle and contradiction, of ambiguity and an Several times I have been asked to comment on Jacques Derrida's
guish. To be modern is to be part of a universe in which, as Marx Dc la grammatologic (1967) in connection to my own approach to
said, "all that is solid melts into air."l literacy and colonization. Derrida's pervasive analysis ofa long-lasting
philosophical construction of the relationship between speech and
Western Jewish tradition and not from Hebrew writing before the 319
writing in the Western tradition (which is at the same time how the
configuration of the modern idea of the West, a configuration that
The Darker Western tradition came to be conceived as it is today) was an interven
could be traced back to ti,e eleventh century, when ti,e Christian West 011
Sidc ofthe tion into the language- and writing-oriented discussion that had been
Renaissa1Jce taking place in Paris since the late 1950s. If, on the one hand, Levi had to affirm itselfin order to confront the increasing expansion of the Modernity,
Strauss contributed to it with his "Lec;on d'ecriture"4 the very notion Islamic world. Colonizatio1J,
My main debt to Derrida, then, is his emphasis on the ideology of alld tbe Rise of
of ee"it""c (writing) began to dominate and move across disciplines
alphabetic writing and its dislocation of the veI)' notion ofwriting in Occidmtalism
and activities, from anthropology to metaphysics, from linguistics to
Western moderniry. My first departure from his explorations is in the
literature, from literary criticism to the philosophy oflanguage. Thus,
attempt to go beyond the evolutionary model srill dominant in the
Derrida's concern with writing merged a dominant linguistic and
various histories of writing and from which Derrida did not Com
semioric tradition defining the sign as a compound of signifier and
pletely escape, The titie of the first part of 011 Gmmmatology ( "Writ
signified as well as a philosophy oflanguage that conceived ofwriting
as a surrogate of speech. To demolish (or deconstruct) a long-lasting ing before the Letter") suggests tilat with the invention of the alpha
conceprion of writing that impinges on epistemology as well as on bet the history of writing took a new path and alternative forms of
metaphysics, Derrida created a set of concepts (well known by now, writing were supersedcd. I prefer to emphasize a cocvolutionary
although not necessarily well understood) and chose a few key exam model and ti,e idea of writing without letters,6 which acknowledges
ples. Among his examples, there is a big chronological leap: from Plato both nonalphabetic forrns of writing and alternatives to Greco
and Aristotle, at one end of the spectrum, to Rousseau, in the eigh Roman alphabets. My second departure is by selecting Nebrija, in
teenth century, before reaching Saussure and Levi-Strauss in the t:wen stead of Rousseau, as a cue oftile Western philosophy and ideology of
tieth century. Being a French philosopher himself (born in Algeria), it alphabetic writing. For Nebrija the question of ti,e letter was not
is natural that Derrida preferred to begin with the history of meta related to ti,e representation of the voice-one of Derrida's primaI)'
physics in Greek philosophy and to skip over the Italian and Spanish concerns-but to tile taming of ti,e voice, crucial for boti, the Con
Renaissance in order to arrive at Rousseau and the French Enlighten stitution oftcrritoriality in modern imperial states and nation�states as
ment and Hegel and German philosophy.s Nor is it a surprise that well as in the colonization of non-Western languages (chap. I).
from Rousseau he made another jump to Ferdinand de Saussure and Nebrija's concern with alphabetic writing was political (in tile narrow
Claude Levi-Strauss, since these two authors provided him with tell sense of the word), ratiler than plulosophical or cognitive. My third
ing examples of the survival of the Western logos and the secondary departure from Derrida stems from the fact that the example chosen in
role attributed to writing over speech. The Italian and Spanish Renais his deconstluction of logocentrism remains within the tradition he
sance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, however, offered an deconstructs, Looking at conflicting writing systems during tile early
interesting approach to the philosophy and practice of writing that colonial expansion and tile confrontation between people practiCing
prevailed in the colonization of languages during the sixteenth and different kinds of writing (some of them loosely related to tile repre
seventeenth centuries. sentations of speech sounds) brings new light to the ideology of the
Part 1 of all Grammatology, entitied "Writing before the Letter," letterin the Western tradition. My fourth departure is tilat tile discon
suggests, on the one hand, that Derrida is working witiun an evolu tinniry of the classical tradition (in all its forms) is of the essence
to
tionary concept of wriring (Le., that once the letter was invented, understanding colonial situations; and that Western logocentrism
alternative forms of writing lost importance) and, on the other, sug shows its limits when confronted witil forms ofknowledge and
under
gests from the beginning who his enemy is: alphabetic writing and its standing built upon altemarive plulosophies oflanguage, and alterna
aftermath. One soon realizes, however, that it is not alphabetic writing tive speaking practices and writing systems, My fifth departu
re is lo
that is Derrida's main concern, but the emerging idea of the sign cated in disciplinary configurations and tile history ofproblem
s proper
divided into a signifier and a signified, and the complicity between to each discipline. Derrida's main concern is the history
of Western
alphabetic writing and Western foundations ofknowledge. Notlung is plulosophy and in the ways that metaphysics functioned
in ti,e foun
said about non-Western alphabetic writing and alternative organiza dation of Western knowledge and the concept of science
. For a phi
tions of knowledge, such as the Arabic language and culture. Refer lologist and a comparatist interested in colonia and
l postcolonial
ences are made to Hebrew, although he employs examples from the situations, attention is located in understandin
g and comparing a1ter�
320 native forms ofknowledge and the structure ofpower that allowed the A few years before the publication of Derrida's inflnential On 321
practice of alphabetic writing and its ideology to create a hierarchy Gl'am matology, a no less influential article on the consequences of
across cultures that was fairly successful in spreading the image of its literacy, "The Consequences of Literacy," was published by Jack 011
The Darller
superiority. Goody and Ian Watt. TillS article and its afrermatil are more relevant Modernity)
Side ofthe
Renaissance This having been said, I do not intend here to construct my five to the question oftile philosophy, politics, and materialiry ofwriting I Colollizatioll,
departures as a criticism ofor radical alternative to Derrida's proposal; raised in the first two chapters. The article caught my attention during and tbeRise of
nor am I so foolish as to embark on a self-promotional campaign by a s entinar in anthropology, taught by Jose Cruz in 1964 at the Univer Occidt1ltaliS11l
comparing myself with Derrida. I am interested in clarifying my siry of Cordoba, in Argentina. We read it in connection with Levi
agenda and in satisfying the almost obvions natural questions when Strauss's "Le�on d'ecriture." Since I had also recently had a seminar in
someone decides to explore issues such as speech and writing. The semiologywitil Luis Prieto, I was transfixed by tltis article as I began to
agenda underlying my research is the understanding of the role played see the scope ofwriting beyond speech and became intrigned by what
alphabetic writing could have done for the history ofhumaniry. When
by the practice and the philosophy of writing in spreading Western
literacy and colonizing non-Western langnages and memories. The several years later I began to read colonial texts, I suddenly ran into the
paradigmatic Western examples are, on the one hand, Nebrija and the Spanish concern about Amerindian writing systems and its implica
lightenment and, on the other, colonial situations in the margins of tile centers, and as students in the College of Philosophy and Letters
the Western world instead of a long-lasting European trajectory mov in Cordoba in the late 1960s, we also read Derrida's De la gram
ing from Greece to Geneva and Paris, serving as a gniding principle to matologie outside of tile classroom and discussed it not \vithout pas
understand trajectories going from Seville to Mexico or from London sion, although perhaps with limited understanding. However, it had a
One more important observation should be made in relation to disagreement with most of the basic thesis advanced by Goody and
Derrida's concept of writing. One of his main efforts was to dissolve Watt. These authors oriented my tltinking toward the social and polit
the distinction between speech and writing and to conceive of
writing ical dimension of writing rather than to its metaphysical underpin
in
as the production of dijferances (differences and deferrals ). Writing nings; and they also opened up for me new vistas in nonalphabetic
necessar ily related to visible signs but to writing systems. Perhaps it was easier for me to relate the conse
Derrida's conception is not
of
the production of dijfiranee, which is also achieved by means quences ofliteracy formulated by Goody and Watt with the problem
move
sounds. For reasons that should be clear in the book, I needed to of colonization raised by Frantz Fanon's Los eondenados de la tierra
ry
in a different direction . Since I placed a heavy accent on the materiali [The wretched of the earth], whose first edition in Spanish was pub
(as individu als and commun ities) lished in 1963 (the second in 1965); and witil the social dimension of
of cultures and on human beings'
the literature and intellectual life raised by Antonio Gramsci's Letteratnra
own self-description of their life and work, I needed to maintain
distinction between semiotic interactions involving the mouth
and e vita nazionale (Literature and national life) (1952) and Gli intel
two
the ears from those involving the hands and the eyes. That these lett/ali e I'organizzazione della ellltllra (The intellectuals and the or
that they can ganization of culture) (1955), translated into Spanish in 1961 and
activities do not have to be practiced successiv ely, but
. Now recogniz ing the 1960, respectively, and eagerly read by my fellow students.
take place at the same time is certainly obvious
material difference between these two kinds ofactivities does not force It was not until tile early 1980s that Goody and Watt's article,
n logic
you to call writing the latter and not the former, as a Derridea which remained dormant for almost fifteen years in my unconscious,
to use ll riti !!1to refer to the produc began to reemerge. I began to realize, at tile same time, the ideologi
will suggest. But there is no need ' '
written word.9 sity. How to go beyond it? Finnegan suggests creating a new myth
with a wider view of communication and human interactions, and the
I would hurty to add that Scribner's description corresponds to one demystification of the ideology of the written word, the power of
ideology ofIiteracy, the ideology of those who constructed literacy as a literacy-as-state- of-grace. It is needed to get away from the evolution
state of grace, detached from political and economic parameters. Lit ary model at the basis of the consequences of literacy thesis and to
eracy as a state of grace, in other words, erases its links with economic learn from comparative studies and from cultural coevolution. This,
in
structures and with literacy as power, because the exercise of power general, is my starting point regarding literacy and imperial expansion
dwells, precisely, in its apparent disconnection with it. Literacy as a during the sixteenth centuty.
state of grace is perhaps one of the most lasting legacies of the Euro Regarding studies of the darker side of the late European Renais
sance (or early modern period), the question ofoccident
pean Renaissance and one of the mOst powerful ideologies in the alization and
process of colonization, extending itself to the European Enlighten occidentalism have seldom been discussed by Renaissan scholars. 12
ce
The reconfiguration of space and time becomes
ment. relevant here. If, in
current discussions in the United States, Occiden
Perhaps it is the third ofScribner's metaphors that best snmmarizes talism was a natural
response to Edward Said's Orientalism ( 1
the mythic Western story ofliteracy as the quantum leap in the history 978), in Latin America it was
already being discussed in the late 1950s, when Edmundo O'Gorman Locke, nor a social contract or industrial revolution, was taken as
published his La invcllciim de Amc1'ica: La 1t1liversalisaci6n de la proof d,at Spain remained untouched by the Renaissance and the
17Je Darker CtlltltYa occidental (1958) ( The Invmtion ofAmerica: An Inqltily into Reformation.14 In a nutshell, occidentalization is an issue for those 0"
Side ofthe the Historical Nattt,.e ofthe New Wo,.ld and the Meanin;!! ofItsHistory, who place themselves at its margins, not for those who place them A-[odemity,
Renaissance 1961). Leopoldo Zea devoted a chapter to the same topic in his Ame,. selves at its center. However, such a dichotomy is not clear-cut, for, as Colonization,
ica en histo,.ia and focused on liberal institutions and the industrial Maravall's work bears witness, Spain in the sixteendl century-and at and theRise of
system of commodities and comfort as two features of the Western the peak ofits glory-began to lose its position in d,e configuration of Occidmtalis1JJ
model. O'Gorman, instead, emphasized the Occidentalization of modern Europe and began to be placed-borrowing Leopoldo Zea's
Western cultures in connection to the colonization of the Americas. expression-"at the margin ofthe West." But Zea's interest is located
More recendy Serge Gruzinski, a French ethnohistorian working on in America, not in Europe and Spain.
the colonization of Mexico, published his La colonisation de I'imagi- It is not by chance, then, d,at occidentalization and accidentalism
1laire: Societes indighw et occidentalisation dans Ie Mexiqlte espagnol, as a distinctive feature ofsixteendl-century European expansion (and
XVle-XVIlle siecles (The colonization of the imaginary: Indigenous its afrermath) were brought to the foreground by philosophers of
societies and occidentalizations in New Spain) (1988). And the Bra cultures thinking from "marginalization and barbarism" and from
zilian historian Janice Theodoro devoted two studies to the connec European ethnohistorians studying colonial Mexico.l s Recendy, it
tions between Renaissance, "discoveries," and Occidentalization has been a common topic ofdiscussion among anthropologists in this
(Descob1-immtos e colonizacao [Discovery and colonization], [19891 country. 1 6 13 cfore Orientalisll1. dey.;.IQp.ed...;J!Lil massive discu��r
and Descobl'imcntos e renasci11lcnto [Discovery and the Renaissance], mation during the eighteentlU!}.4Jlin�teenth centuries, a similar
.-�---.• ,�� � .
[1991] ). Seen from the perspective of Latin American scholarship (or imaginary constrllction flourished with the inclusiQll_of Indias Occi-
French scholars working in close connection with Latin American d;:ntruesiil theiiI�p�an(Ldle::slili�uent i';v�ntion ofAmerica. Spain
. �.-
----- --- _.
ones, such as Gruzinski), the European Renaissance and its relation to and the rest of Europe began to look West to build an extension of
colonial expansion look different from d,e classic perspective of d,e their own destiny by enacting the ambiguity between Indias Orien
European Renaissance scholars whose field ofinquiry was mainly Italy tales and Indias Occidentales. From the point ofview of d,e Spanish
(as in Paul Oskar Kristdler's Renaissance Tholtght and the Ans, 1980), Crown, overseas possessions were always conceived, from beginning
as well as from the Spanish perspective oOose Antonio Maravall," to end, as Indias Occidentales and not as America, as could be seen in
justifYing the Spanish contribution to d,e European Renaissance. Oc all relevant legal documents. One ofthe most significant collections of
cidcntalization was not an issue in these studies. And the attention official documents was called Recopilacion de las Leyes de Indias( Com
that Maravall paid to the "discovery ofAmerica" in the context of the pilation ofthe laws ofthe Indies), in force from their first compilation,
European Renaissance did not bring to d,e foreground the expansion in 1542, until the end ofthe Spanish empire. The Indias Occidentales,
of the West in terms of the universalization of occident, as did Zea, we should remember, were not limited to the so-called New World
O'Gorman, Gruzinski, or Theodoro. Naturally, it is not just the per but included part of the "Old World" as well. The Philippines were
spective (a way of seeing) d,at is at stake but the locus of enunciation part of the Spanish empire and were located among the Indias del
(a way of saying). What I am proposing here and dIroughout d,e PoniclIte (or East lndies). The sixteenth century was a cruciarmoment
entire book is that we must look for d,e place (physical as well as in the consolidation of the idea of E.urope as Christian ancLWestern.
theoretical) from which a given statement (essays or book) is being If d,e idea of the West was not properiYl.lo1'11·d�ri';g-the sixteenth
pronounced. What are the desires, the interests, the alliances, and, century, it was certainly shaped in a lasting fashion. During d,e nine
briefly, d,e politics ofintellectual inquiry implied in a scholarly work as teenth century, the expansion ofthe French Empire under Napoleon I '
well as in a political discourse? IfMaravall cannot completely embrace generated among the intellectuals the name of Amerique Latine,17
Kristeller's perspective, neither can Zea embrace Maravall's. Maravall which integrated the Spanish-speaking independent nations, as well as
was mainly interested in charting the distinctive Spanish contribution Brazil and the recendy conquered Martinique, Guadalupe, and part of
to the European (mainly Italian) Renaissance, which had been d,e Guyanas. Parallel to it, starting at d,e beginning of the eighteenrll
downplayed (and continues to be) in the scholarly tradition ofRenais century, the idea of the Western Hemisphere began to take shape
sance studies. The fact d,at Spain produced neid,er a Hobbes nor a among American intellectuals (both north and SOUdl), geared toward
distinguishing themselves from Europe and the idea of the West as it does not. It is appropriate to talk about cultural relativism, Olive ar
was associated only with Europe.ls The tensions and conflicts during gues, when there is some degree of inC01nmCl1stt1'ability between two
TheDarkcr the nineteenth century between the idea ofLatin America and that of or more conceptual frameworks. Otherwise, cultural diversity or plu 0"
Side ofthe the Western Hemisphere are too complex to be analyzed here (al ralism would be a more appropriate term to refer to heterogeneous ModemityJ
Renaissance though they do come up in the last chapter). When, toward the end of communities with dissimilar beliefs and value systems, but with similar Colollizati01lJ
the nineteenth century, the Cuban writer and political activist Jose conceptual frameworks. One could ask, according to such a distinc and the Rise of
Marti launched the expression "Our America" to distinguish North tion, whether from the beginning of rlle colonization the histoty of Occidentalism
from South, one cannot forget dlat Europe as the "enemy" of both the Americas is the histoty of the transformation ofcultural relativism
Americas was too recent to have been completely forgotten. The ex into cultural diversity. To turn the question into a hypothesis, one has
ample provided by the "Indias Occidentales" through the politic of I
to assume that both Amerindian and Native American legacies and rlle
languages, tile writing of history, and mapping and its transformation American version (Nottb, South, and the Caribbean) ofWestern civi- i
into "Latin America," "Western Hemisphere," and "Nuestra Amer� lization have been transformed to the degree in which the initial in- !
ica" is a picture that should be kept in mind, while the construction of commensurability between conceptual frameworks has been con- /
tile idea of Europe and Europe as tile West is at the other end of tile verted into cultural diversity by means of dialogues between rationa d
spectrum. The coincidence of the final expulsion of the Moors in individuals, violence between communities generated by the posses- )
March of 1492 by the Spanish monarchs and the "discovery" of the sive needs of Western economic expansion, and confrontations be* !
Indias Occidentales in October of the same year are emblematic mo tween conceptual frameworks. I
ments tracing tile end of an era (the threat of tile Islamic East to the One can accept, then, that in the Americas, during the sixteenth
Christian West). The unification ofCastile was a landmark in tile Con and seventeenth centuries, the problem of cultural relativism as con
solidation of Christian (or Western) Europe. frontations of incommenSltlnble conceptual frameworks was indeed
Perhaps one of the best ways ro summarize the complex process the case. It is in such a context that the denial ofcoevalness is justified.
leading to the transformation of the mythical idea of Europe into tile However, a new problem arises at this point. In order to make the
land ofJapheth (Christendom in tile Middle Ages) and later on into cultural relativism understandable one has to suppose a third party or
an identification of tile republica ciJ" istiana (in tile Renaissance) with observer who does not belong to any of the two or more conceptual
Europe is to begin by mentioning the gigantic fignre ofEnea Sylvio de frameworks in question and who can determine their incommen
Piccolomini. When he became pope (Pius II) in 1458, he became an surability. One can ask how could that be possible, since the observer
instrumental figure in placing the idea ofa Christian community ( re cannot be detached from one (or more) conceptual framework( s).
publica christiana) in consonance witil a geographical area, Europe. The historical problem turns here into a logical one. Before elaborat
In 1459 Pius II convened a congress in Florence to discuss the Turkish ing on it, let's go back to tile historical situation of the colonizing
menace. Castile was still a few decades away from tile beginning ofthe process. From which locus of enunciation was the denial ofcoevalness
era of the Catholic monarchs, and Pottugal was consistentiy resisting possible? Who was converting differences between conceptual fran1e
the Moors. The Christian world had in Pius II its most perceptive works into successive stages in the history of humanity? The answer is
ideologue, while Portugal and Spain boasted the most valuable armies certainly obvious: tilOse who described themselves as carrying civiliza
on the frontier with the Muslim world. If "epublica christiana became tion and Christianity over the world and who were able to accept the
located geographically in Europe, Europe would not only become connection between Christianity and civilization. What is less obvious
more and more located in tile West as opposed to the East occupied by is why time became a factor in recognizing the value of diverse con
the Islamic world but would create a distinction between Western and ceptual fran1eworks. Ifwe can imagine a thought experiment in which
Eastern Christians.19 Thus Indias Occidentales became both a geo the Maya had arrived in Europe and encountered an unlmown conti
graphical location and a location where the Western republica chris nent and unknown people, it is not sure that the Maya would have
tiana would continue to grow. interpreted the differences in conceptual frameworks in terms of
Let's tilen bring the difficult issue of cultural relativism to the fore different stages in time, in such a way that less civilized was equivalent
ground. Leon Olive has distinguished between situations in which the to "back in time." Western expansion-and colonization, in the six
notion of cultural relativism applies and similar situations in which it teenth century, coincided with a radical transformation of the concept
oftime that impinged on the concept ofhistory and created the neCes tions as observers from our descriptions as participants by underlining
sary condition to place different conceptual frameworks somewhere in and maintaining the discontinuity between "our" (as scholars edu
TbeDarker a temporal scale that had its point of arrival in the present, sixteenth cated in the Western traditions and practitioners of academic 0"
Sid, oft"e century Christian European civilization. To Mesoamerican people disciplines) conceptual framework and that of "our" ancestors. Thus, Modemity,
Rmaissnnce discovering the land of Japheth, translating differences into values constructing loci ofenunciation and building, on the one hand, on the Colonization,
based on a time frame would have been impossible because the Maya discontinuity ofthe Western tradition as enacted in colonial situations and tile Rise of
placed more emphasis in a cyclical calculus of time and the computa and, on the other, on the discontinuity of Amerindian legacies were Occidcntal;sm
tion ofhuman life according to the rhythm ofthe universe, rather than transformed and became part of the lived experiences (or, better, of
in the progressive story of human life itself( e.g., self, autobiography), the domains of interactions constructed as lived experiences) in the
as was the case in the European Renaissance.3D To move beyond cul Americas during the colonial period. Constructing such loci of enun
tural relativism implies dealing with both the question of the observer ciation implies that the rules ofthe disciplinary practices (literary stud
and the spatialization of time. ies, philosophy, history, anthropology, etc.) are grounded in the per
First, then, the question ofthe observer. Currently there is a signifi sonal (auto )biography of the scholar or social scientist. This brought
cant amount of knowledge about pre-Columbian civilization in ti,e to scholarship the heavy load of participation in everyday life that was
modern-day Americas, although the way in which Amerindians and chased out on the glorious day when scholarly and scientific pursuits
Native Americans from the early sixteenth century on imagined Euro were conceived as detached from the personal story of the scholar and
peans in tI,eir conceptual framework is far less documented than is ti,e the scientist. A plurit��.��r!fl�,l�,e�gcs assumes a constant movement
reverse. One of the most important reasons for tllls is the incommen between the scholar as observer and participant as well as between the
surability between the European humanist and the Amerindian and moments of discontinuity ofpast and present conceptual frameworks.
Native American concepts and uses o f knowledge and wisdom. The And what of the second part of the equation, the question of spa
literate legacies of Spaniards as well as northern Europeans are cer ti alizing time! The overall conception of this book, more clearly
tainly massive. What is morc important, ho\yevcr, is not the quantity developed in the final two chapters, is to read temporal arrangements
but the ways in which negoriations between participants and observers (e.g., denial of coevalness) into geographical distributions. Let me say,
have been handled. The dialectic between Europeans as participants before expanding on this idea, that the difficulties of attaching con
il1 the process of colonization and Europeans as observers o[tlle pro ceptual frameworks to geographical spaces in what Berman calls "a
cess was constant and persistent. As pm1icipal1ts, Spaniards and Euro
mode of vital experience" and in our postmodem age of constant
peans in general lived and acted according to goals, desires, and needs
migrations and relocations of communities were not necessarily pres
prompted by a given conceptual framework (or, if you wish, a set of
ent during the early modern period. Conceptual frameworks ,�ere
conceptual frameworks). As obsm'crs, Spanish and European literati
indeed more attached to geographical locations than they are now;
became the judges able to compare and evaluate incommensurable
such was the-ctrorr-madO by impedal lntellectuals and by nation
conceptual frameworks. One of the crncial points in the constmction
builders. Thus, one of my main efforts was to postulate a denial of the
ofotherness was, precisely, this disguised movement between describ
denial of coevalness by spatializing time and by suggesting coevolu
ing oneself as belonging to a given framework and describing oneself
tional1' histories as alternatives to evolutional1' ones told from a locus
as belonging to the right one. Scholars of today, inheritors of the
of enunciation constructed as the master locus. The construction of a
humanist legacy, have not only the ethical obligation of describing
Western perspective was then the construction of a master locus of
incommensurable conceptual frameworks, but also the hermeneuti
c"t;unciation in which the vcl1' conception and writi�goturiiVersal
cally difficult task ofreestablishing the lost equilibrium between what,
histoiibecame entrenched with colonial expansion and warranted
at one level, were alternative conceptual frameworks and, at the other,
imperial and the nation-state apparatus.
became organized in a hierarchy of values established by those who
were at the same time participants and observers. By playing both roles At this point the question of spatializing time becomes related to
the question of the observer, pluritopic hermeneutics, and the politics
at the same time, European intellectuals were able to implement
(from Europe or from the New World) rl,eir observer's descriptions ofintellectual inquity. The processes of colonial expansion d,at began
and to tie them up with the exercise ofimperial power. Thus, practic in the sixteenth century run parallel to d,e growing consolidation of
ing a pluritopic hemleneutics may be a way of detaching our descrip- d,e knowing and understanding subject placed in a given geography,
330 constructed over the ruins of two Western languages attached to This may be the dilemma of the West Indian writer abroad: that 331
knowledge and wisdom (Greek and Latin), and situated in a growing he hungers for nourishment from a soil which he (as an ordinary
TIlt: Darfter idea of a progressive or evolutionary time frame. Such a development citizen) could not at present endure. The pleasure and paradox of 0"
Sidc afthe ruled out the possibility ofimagining that alternative loci of enuncia my own exile is that I belong wherever I am. My role, it seems, has kfodc1IJity,
Renaissance tion and coevolutionary histories were also possible. From the early rather to do with time and change than with the geography of Colonization,
modem period to the eighteenth century the consolidation of a way of circumstances; and yet there is always an acre ofground in the New and the Rise of
knowing as a mirror of nature, critically reviewed by Richard Rorty, World which keepsgrowing echoes ill my head. I can only hope that Occidentalism
was put in place.2l My assumption in this book is that such a con these echoes do not die before my work comes to an end.23
solidation of ways of knowing implies the complicity between the
regional locus of enunciation of a participant in Western European A second example is provided by persons placed in between differ
culture and the universal locus of euunciation of science and philoso ent languages and traditions, contrary to the case of Lamming in
phy of a subject placed outside time and space. This is more precisely which the language of the colony is the "same" as the language ofthe
what I have earlier (and elsewhere) called the universalization of the metropolitan center. When the scholar-scientist (and writer) as ob
regional concepts of science, philosophy, and knowledge. What one seIVer is placed in a space in between, the space in which the univer
witnessed in the sixteenth century during the early encounters be sality ofWestern reason encounters different rationalities, cultural rel
tween European literati and intellectuals of non-European cultures ativism becomes transformed: from relative conceptual frameworks
grew, coalesced, and reached its peak after the eighteenth century, that could be compared and analyzed, to hybrid conceptual frame
with the expansion of the British and French empires.22 Ccrtainly, works from which new ways of knowing emerge. At tilis point the
universal ways of knowing have been called into question from within question is no longer how to use the enlightening guidance of West
the Western tradition (Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida) and not only em notions of rationality in order to understand colonial, POSt
from rlle colonial periphery. At this point "from" is not just a geo colonial, and Third World experiences but, rather, how to think from
graphical location, but mainly a geography ofexperiences "from peo hybrid conceptu"al fram�w()rks and spaces in between. This has been
ple living there," "who cannot live there," or "who would like to live the lesson for me ofcolonial situations, com:plemented and expanded
there." Scholarship and social sciences, at this point, approach the today by writers and artists (African-Americans, Latinos, women of
position developed by literary writers engaged with "the language and color, etc.) and by former intellectuals from the margins, like Frantz
the place." Fanon or Cosaire in the Caribbean or Rodolfo Kusch in Argentina.
One example is provided by George Lamming. In an article written I proposed a comparative and philological methodology and a plu
in the late 1950s, he asked why West Indian writers from Barbados, ritopic hermeneutics as justification, in order to deal with problems
Trinidad, and Jamaica preferred living in London to the British Carib related to cultural relativism, construction of the other, and under
bean, and from there negotiating the place of the writer and her or his standing subject. My main assumption is rl,at in order to deal with
literature in relation to his or her language and region. I am more cultural differences cultural relativism is necessary but not sufficient.
interested in the second paragraph, but the first is necessary to under While a philological approach allows me to understand the best I can
stand the second more fully: culture-relative constructs, comparatism allows me to go beyond and
to understand differences in the context ofcommonality ofsimilarities
In the Caribbean we have a glorious opportunity of making some ofh1tman agency. And it allows me to identifY specific issues in which
valid and peffilanent contribution to man's life in this century. But Amerindian cultures were misunderstood and misinterpreted by Eu
we must stand up; and we must move. The novelists have helped; ropean literati precisely because of their recognition of universal sim
yet when the new Caribbean emerges it may not be for them. It will ilarities in human beings. (Although the reverse certainly took place as
be, like the future, an item on the list ofpossessions which the next well, it was not symmetric and we do not have the same quantity of
generarion of writers and builders will claim. I am still young by records.)
ordinary standards (thirty-two, to be exact), but already I feel that I Representation is a notion I have tried to avoid as much as possible
have had it (as a writer) where the British Caribbean is concerned. I in my argument. In say that I was interested in how European peoples
have lost my place, or my place has deserted me. and communities constructed the idea of the self-same instead of in
how they "represented the other," it is because my interests are lo
saty, first, to question the locus of enunciation from which the notion 333
332
cated more in enactment than in l'cprescntationj Of, if you wish, in
of cultural relativism has been produced; second, to question the
The Dm'ker representation as mactme1lt.24 But this formula may defeat the pur
model or culture used as a reference point to illusttate cultural relativ 011
Side ofthe pose of chauging the perspective ofaualysis by chauging the premises
ism aud to constantly change the topos of comparison; and finally, to Modcmity,
Reuaissallce under which the analysis is carried out. Representation in the humau
explore cultural relativism in colonial situations where cultures are not Colonization,
ities rests on a denotative philosophy oflauguage according to which
only different but struggle for imposition, resistance, adaptation, and and tbeRise of
names represent things and maps represent the territories. There is a rrausformation. Occidentalism
second meaning of representation, morc common in the social sci Thus, the notion ofenactment inste�d ofrep:,e,�,�g��yg�X�����s on·
ences, used to refer to persons speaking or being in place ofothers. In ��
the locus of enunciatiori-\v re r��re��E::�,�� , cms ar�J}roduced instead
this case there is not a relation of'�conceptual or visual likeness" that of th;-;:;';;figu rag()li�QLwIj�t3s: !?eI�� r�£,:,:,�el1te<i. By enactment I
bounds the representation to the represented but a relation of what mean, first, an alternative conception ofcognition. While cognition as
both notions have in common, namely "being in place of something representation presupposes a world outside ti,e organism that is either
else." The first fOcllses on the similarities between the representation mentally or grapllically represented, cognition as enactment implies
and what is represented, while the second rests on the delegation of that the organism constitutes and places itself in the world by con
responsibility from a larger group of people to one person or to a structing an environment through a dynamic domain ofinteraction
smaller number of "representatives." Going back to the notion of neitller the world first and then the organism's mind representing it,
representation in the humanities, the concern with the representation nor the organism first representing what is outside ofit. The old alter
of the colonized (its accuracy or inaccuracy, its rights aud wrongs) native between realism and idealism vanishes as soon as one recog
emerged from within the same cpisteme for which the notion ofrepre nizes that the oQJanism is "ot otttside ofthe lVorld bllt part 0fit and tllat,
sentation is such a crucial one. Thus, the concern with the representa therefore, the question whether the organism represents the world or
tion of the colonized focuses on the discourse of the colonizer, aud theworld leaves its imprints in the organism has to be transcended. An
one forgets to ask how the colonized represent themselves, how they orgauism is such not only because of its structural organization but
depict aud conceive themselves as well as how they speak for them also because of its coupling with other elements of the world out of
selves without the need ofself-appointed chronists, philosophers, mis which the organism creates its environment.
sionaries, or men of letters to represent (depict as well as speak for) Ifwe take tllis general assumption to the realm ofliving organisms
them. To ask how the Mexica represented the Spanish is a difficult known as humau beings aud to the domain ofinteractions known as
question, first because of the lack of documentation aud second be culture, the preference for enactment over representation can be bet
cause it is not clear that such a notion was established among the ter understood. If humau beings are conceived not as the mirror of
Mexica. It is unfair to ask members of a culture different from ours nature (e.g., being in aud knowing ofa world outside tllemselves) but
how they do something we do. It is not fair because it assumes that as developing activities in order to avoid death, to reproduce, to have
whatever we do has a universal value and, as such, every culture on pleasure, aud to expaud their domain of interactions (in any of ti,e
earth has to do it, one way or another, if they pretend to be human. diverse possible forms such an expansion may take), then the realm of
And tllis brings us back to the question ofcultural relativism. Ifwe enactments rather than tlle realm ofrepresentations takes precedence
assume that every culture in the world has to have activities similar to in understanding human cultures.
ours, although differently conceptualized, we have a false start, since In what sense could enactment be more useful thau representation
one culture (the one to which the humauities aud the social sciences in understauding colonial situations? One of the particularities in col
belong) is attributed a universal value, and the possibility oflooking at onization processes is that people from quite different cultures COme
tllings otherwise is automatically ruled out. Thus, while comparisons fuce to face and fight to preserve or appropriate territories, both as
continue to be made from the European perspective, questions in a possessions and conceptualizations of space. Thus, understauding
different direction are seldom asked. How, for instance, did Euro colonial situations implies understanding different kinds of activities
peans conceivc what among thc Mexica was rcfclTcd to as amoxtli or performed by persons belonging to different communities and, conse
huehuetlatol/i? So cultural relativism is not enough, ifall there is to it is quently, with different programmed needs and domains of interac
tI,at different cultures are different. To go beyond relativism is neces- tion. If one looks at representations instead ofat enactments, one can
334 say-as colonizers from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, from
Spain to Britain said-that certain representations or lifestyles are in
TIlt Da1'ker ferior or barbarous. If one looks at enactments instead of representa
Side ofth, tions, and cognition as enactment, one can not only escape the hier
Renaissance archical description of culture but, more important, look at activities
across cultures in a different light. For instance, a twentieth-century Notes
observer can surmise, when comparing an illumiuated medieval codex
or a wonderful Renaissance book to a painted Mexica codex, that
while the latter is a piece to be admired, it cannot be put at the same
level as the medieval codex or the Renaissance book. Books, in the
West, became entrenched with writing and with truth, be it the ttuth
of God by divine revelation in the Holy Book, or be it the truth of
human beings by written narratives in historical books. The Mexica
codices, instead, remained as curious objects related to devilish
designs or mythical imagination. If one looks at cultural objects as
results of activities responding to human needs rather than attifacts by INTRO D U C T I O N
means ofwhich the mirror ofnature is extended and the nature of the
world is captured in visible signs, then enactment becomes more rele Unless othenvise indicated, all translations are my own,
vant than representation. What one can achieve by this means is to 1. The changes in literacy scholarship inviting a rethinking the field of
look, first, at colonial situations from the perspective of cognitive en literary studies have been examined in the context of North American and
actments and human activities in different societies and, second, to European scholarship by Leah Marcus, "Renaissance/Early Modern Stud
look at the transformations of activities and cognitive enactments into ies," in Rcdrawing the Boundaries of Litel'aty Study in English New York:
Modem Language Association, (1992), 41-63. A forceful argument in favor of
instruments of power, control, and domination. Thus, the book is
revisiting the notion ofRcnaissance, to account for Western colonial expan
about such transfOrmations in the domain of speech and writing, in
sion as one of its distinctive features, has been advanced by David Wallace,
the domain ofinterpreting the past and anticipating the future, and in
'�Carving Up Time and the World: Medieval-Renaissance Turf Wars; I-Iisto
the domain of charting space and building territories, during the early
riography and Personal History," (working paper II, Center for Twentieth
modern period, as well as about the transformations ofways ofseeing, Century Studies, University ofWisconsin, Mihvaukee, 1991). I have examined
saying, and understanding, today and in the future. recent scholarly works on and in the New World that have contributed to
rethinking the Renaissance in literary scholarship in '"The Darker Side of the
Renaissance: Colonization and the Discontinuity of the Classical Tradition,"
Renaissancc QJ-lartcrlY45, no. 4 (1993): 808-28.
2. Robert L. Collison, Encyclopaedias: Their Hist01)I throughollt the Ages
(Ncw York: Hafner Publishing Company, 1964).
3. I am thinking ofCornc1 West's persuasive articulation ofthe politics of
intellectual inquiry in '"The New Cultural Politics of Difference," in Mar
ginalization a1Jd COlltempol'my Culturcs, ed. H Fergusson et al., 19-38 (New
.
..
33 5
I492-I797(New York: Methune 1986); and "Subversive Archipelagos: Colo expansion as movement toward the peripheries-that, of course, from the 337
nial Discourse and the Break-up of Continental Theory," Dispositio) special perspective ofa European observer (see Chapter 6), From the perspective of
issue on Colonial Discourse, cd. R. Adorno and Walter D. Mignolo, 36-38
Notes to Pages the European peripheries, the center remained where it was, although in Notes to Pages
7-8 (1989): 1-24. danger of radical transformations. I take the center/periphery dichotomy
8-9
7. Pop Wit}: Libro del tiempo, trans. Adrian 1. Cha.vez (Buenos Aires: from Immanuel Wallerstein, 17Je Modern World-System: Capitalist Agricul
Ediciones Sol, 1987). An anthology ofMayan literature with commentaries is tlJre and the Origins oftbe European World-Economy in tbe Si.'l:tewth Cmtmy
Literatu1'a Maya, cd. Mercedes de la Garza (Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho (New York: Academic Press, 1974), vol. I, although I am aware of the criticism
1980). For an English translation see Popol Vuh, trans. Dennis Tedlock (Ne\ ; to which Wallerstein has been subjected, mainly for denying to peripheral
York: Simon and Schuster, 1985). formations their own histories. Sec, for instance, Ernesto Ladau, "Feudalism
8. Or "discourse ofcolonialism," in Homi K Bhabha's expression, "The and Capitalism in Latin America," New Left Review 67 (1971): 19-38 and
Other Question: Difference, Discrimination, and the Discourse of Colonial Robert Brenner, "The Origins of Capitalist Development: A Critique ofNeo
ism," in Literature, PaNties, and 17Jeory: Papers from the Essex Conference Smithian Marxism," New Left Review 104 (1977): 25-93, One of the main
[976-[984, F. Baker er aI., 148-72 cd. (New York: Methuen, 1986). goals ofthis study is, precisely, to bring to the foreground the "histories" and
9. For a thorough description of the quipus, see Marcia Ascher and the "centers" that European missionaries and men ofletters denied to people
Robert Ascher, Code ofthe Q;ttjm: A Stttdy in Media, Atfathematies, and Cul from colonial peripheries, Only within an evolutionary model ofhistory could
ture (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1981). center and periphery be fixed and ontologized. Within a coevolutionary model
10. Colonial semiosis is not suggested to replace the notion of colonial and a pluritopic hermeneutics, centers and peripheries coexist in a constant
discourse but to create a wider context of description, of which colonial struggle ofpower, domination, and resistance.
discourse is an important component. Colonial semiosis is suggested, finally, 14. Jose Ortega y Gasset, "The Difficulties ofReading (trans, Clarence E.
with the intention of redrawing the boundaries of a field of study mainly Pannenter)," DiogmesNo. 28 (1959); 1-17, and Man and People (New York:
inhabited by texts alphabetically written by the colonizers or in their lan W. W, Norton, 1963); M, M, Bakhtin's concerns with philology and with
guages, in order to open it up to a wider spectrum ofsemiotic interactions in language in action, relevant to the present discussion, are expressed in "The
Amerindian languages and in nonalphabetic scripts. Problem of Speech Genres" and "The Problem of the Text in Linguistics,
II. The forgotten connections between text and textile have been ex Philology, and the Human Sciences: An Experiment in Philosophical Analy
ploited by Dennis Tedlock and Barbara Tedlock, "Text and Textile: Language sis," in Speee" Gwres and Other Late Essays, trans. V. W, McGee, 60-131
and Technology in the Arts of the Quiche Maya," Journal ofA11thropological (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986),
Research 41, no. 2 (1985): 121-46. 15. I am indebted to Alton Becker for calling to my attention Ortega y
12. The Latin alphabet introduced by the Spaniards, the picto-ideographic Gasset's "new philology" and for showing to me its significance for under
writing systems of Mesoamerican cultures, and the quipus in the Andes standing semiotic practices across cultural boundaries. See Alton Becker,
delineate particular systems ofinteractions that took place during the colonial "Text-Building, Epistemology, and Aesthetics in Javanese Shadow Theatre,"
period. Ifwe were to limit the use ofthe term discoltrseto oral interactions and Dispositio 13-14 (1980): 137-68.
reserve text for written interactions, we would need to expand the latter term 16. Michel Foucault, Les mots et les chases: Une archcologie des sciC1lces hu
beyond the range ofalphabetically written documents to embrace all material mai",s (Paris: Gallimard, 1966), 355-98.
sign inscriptions, By doing so we would honor the etymological meaning of 17, Paul Ricoeur, Her111weutics and the Human Scieuccs: Essays 011 Lan
text ("weaving," "textile?') and justifY the insertion ofthe quipus into a system guage, Action, and Interpretation, ed. and trans, John B. Thompson (Cam
in which writing had always been understood as scratching or painting on bridge and Paris: Cambridge University Press; Paris: Editions de la Maison des
solid surfaces, but not as weaving. Two metaphors come to mind: the Latin Sciences de l'Homme, 1981).
analogy between writing and plowing, on the one hand, and the modern 18. A social science approach to colonial situations was proposed by
similarities between text and textile. As an activity, writing has been conceived George Balandier, " La situation coloniale: Approache theorique" (1951),
and compared with plowing; as a product, the text has been conceived and trans. D. Garman as "The Colonial Situation: A Theoretical Approach," in
compared with the intricacies of textiles. The Sociology ofBlack Africa: Social Dynamics ill Cmtral Africa (New York:
13. I am using throughout this book the dichotomy center/periphery. I Praeger, 1970), 34-61. Recent developments have been collected and edited
am not using it on the assumption that there is one ontological center (Eu by George W, Stocking, Jr" Colonial Sitttatio1lS: Essays on the C01Jtextualiza
rope) and various ontological peripheries (the colonies). I hope to show that ti011- of Ethnographic Knowledge (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press,
the center is movable (see chap, s), as is the personal pronoun "I," and as are 1991), esp. 3-6 and 314-24, Fora more developed argument on the contribu
the notions same and tbe othel: It so happened, however, that during the tion of the human sciences (or humanities) to understanding colonial situa
sixteenth century Europe began to be construed as the center and colonial tions, see Walter D. Mignolo, "On the Colonization of Amerindian Lan-
guages and Memories: Renaissance Theories ofWriting and the Discontinuity in the human sciences in escaping universalization, d��i.nated as s.cho.lars
ofthe Classical Tradition," Comparatil1e Studies in Society and Hist01Y 34, no. 339
-----
NotestoPages 2 (1992): 301-30. have been by modem European paradigms for the acqulSltlOn, orgalllzatlon,
10-12 19. See Donald Robertson,
Mexican Man1lscript Painting ofthe Em-I), Col� and distribution ofknowledge. .
Notes to Pagcs
28. For a detailed critique of Dussel's liberation philosop�y VIs-a-VIS 12-15
onial Period: The Metropolitan Schools (New Haven: Yale University Press, .
Mal'XlSm, see Ofelia Schuttc, '''Origins and Tendencies of the PhIlosophy of
1959), 179-90. . . ofDussel's Eth'IC," PIJ110-
20. Hans-George Gadamer, Philosopbical Hermeneutics, trans. and ed. Liberation in Latin American Thought: A CrItIque '
glophone Caribbean Poetly (London: New Beacon, 1984). For a crIncal a�alY
1988).
23. EnriqueD. Dussel, Philasopb)' ofLiberatiollJ trans. Aquilina Martinez sis of Ngugi Wa Thiong'Os position, see Kwame Antll�ny App.�ah, To
and Christine Morkovsky (Mal)'knoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1985). pologies of Nativism," in In kfy Father's House: Africa tbe PhIlosophy of
t1l
24. Horacio Cerutti Guldberg, Filasojia de In liberacion lati1JDamericana
Cuit"re (London: Methuen 1992), 47-72.
(Mexico City: Fonda de Cultura Economica, 1983). .
30. Michelle Cliff, The Land of Looll Behind (Ithaca, N.Y.: Firebrand
25. I would like to note, for the reader not familiar with Dussel's work,
that there is no contradiction between his hermeneutic and Marxist reflec Books, 1985), 13·
31. Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands/La frolltera: T7Je New J;fcstiza (San
tions. Dussel's detailed reading ofMarx's Grundrissc(La produccifm teoricadc Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute, 1987).
J;farx: Un comc1Jtnrio a los «GruIJdrisse» [Mexico City: Siglo XXI, 1985]), is
32. I am referring herc mainly to Rodolfo Kusch, America profunda
contextualized in Dusscr's own concept of "a Lacinamerican Marxism" (Buenos Aires: Hachette, 1962), and El pellsa111iento illdigena ), popular C1J
grounding "a Latinamerican liberation philosophy." What may sound like a America (Buenos Aires: Hachette, 1973)·
contradiction from thc point of view of contincntal European philosophy 33. Roger Chartier has underscored the fact that we can no longer postu
(how could one mix henneneutics and Marxism?) seems to be a common late in our understanding a general subject such as "thc French man," and we
philosophical practice in the postcolonialAmericas. Cornel West has convinc have to work on the particularities ofmultiple subjects. Howcver, Chartier has
ingly analyzed this phenomenon in North American philosophy in TlJeAmcri limited his obsetvations to the " subject ofstudy or to be understood" and has
can El1asio1l ofPbilosopby: A Gmealogy ofPragmatism (Madison: University of
not emphasized the need to take a similar position vis-a.-vis the knowing or
Wisconsin Press, 1989).
26. Dussel, La produccion teorica, 108-31. See also "Teologia de la libera
undcrstanding subject. See "Intellectual History or Sociocultura� History?
The: French Trajcctories," in Modem European Intcllcctual Hzst01Y: Re
appraisals a11d New Perspectit1esJ cd. D. La Capra and S ' L Kap��n, 13-46
d6n y marxismo," Cwzde1710s America1JosJ n.s. 12, no. I (1989): 138-59, and
keep in mind that Dusscl develops two parallel arguments: Marxism and phi
losophy of liberation and Marxism and theology ofliberation. (Ithaca: Cornell U nivcrsity Press, 1982). A source ofCharne. �;s pOSltI�n could
I am indebted to Mario Saenz, who perceived the similarities between my
be found in Pierre Bourdicu, La distil1ctiall: Critique socwle du )ltgC11Jent
idea ofa pluritopic hermeneutics and Dussel's analectics. Our personal con (Paris: Minuit, 1979), 13-46.
34. The distinction was introduced by Habermas (1970) in his reply to
versations have been complemented by my reading ofsome ofhis unpublished Gadamer: "Hcrmencutics refcrs to a 'capability' which we acquire to the ex
papers, in particular, "Memory, Enchantment, and Salvation: Latin American tent that we come to "master' a natural language. . . . Thc art ofinterpretacion
Philosophies of Liberation and the Religions of the Oppressed" (October
1991, mimeographed).
is the counterpart ofthe an ofconvincing and persuading in situations w�ler:
27. The specification "disciplinary postcolonial loci of enunciation" un
practical questions are brought to decision. . . . Philosophical hermencuncs IS
derlines the fact that itis in the disciplines (e.g., the human sciences) where the a different matter: it is not an art but a critique-that is, it brings to conscious
construction of authoritative voices beyond the universalization of Western ness in a reflective attitude experiences that wc have oflanguagc in the exercise
epistemology was, and stilI is, difficult. The practicc ofliterature has been, in of our communicative competence and thus in the course of social inter
general, the possibility for postcolonial intellectuals to make their voices actionwith othcrs through language." JGrgen Habermas, "On Hermeneutics's
heard. And, in general, literary writers have been more successful than scholars Claim to Universality," in Mueller-Vollmer, TlJe HermenC1ttics Rcade1; 2.
Mypositionvis-a.-vis Habermaswill besimilartothe position I am takingvis-
tions of Language (New York: 341
;l·vis Gadamcr. Habcnnas's concepts of " communicative competence" and 43. Eric Lenneberg, Biological Fo1t1zda
340
, "Principle of Categorization," in Cognition and
"universal pragmatics" have been articulated without taking into account Wiley, 1967); Eleanor Rosch
N.J.:
�ross-cultural communication and alternative locus of enunciation. Sec, for Categorizatioll, cd. Elean
or Rosch and B. B. Uoyd, 28-49 (Hillsdale, Notesto Pages
Notes to Pages ion Research in
genstcin and Categorizat '9-23
16-19
Instance, "What Is Universal Pragmatics?" in Communication and tlic Evolu Lawrence Erlbaum, 1978), "Witt
ing and the Growth of Under standing: Witt
tion ofSociety, trans. Thomas McCarthy, 1-68 (Boston: Beacon Press, 1979). Cognitive Psychology," in Mean
e for Dcvelop111wtal Psychology, ed. M.
Chapman and
35. Panikkar, "What Is," 131; italics mine. gensteinJs Significanc
Lawrence Erlbaum, 1987).
36. Hans-George Gadamer, "On the Scope and Function ofHermencuti R. Dixon (Hillsdale, N.J.:
from Anci&1Jt Soutbern Mexic o
cal Reflection" (1976), in Philosophical Hcrmweutics, 28; italics mine. 44. Mary Elizabeth Smith, Picture Writing
oma Press, 1973) ·
37. Edmundo Q'Gonnan, La invmciim deAmerica: El tmivcrsalismo de In (Norman: University of Oklah
Up Time ," 1.
cuimra occidental(Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico 45. David Wallace, "Carving
1958), translated as The Invention ofAmerica: All Inquiry into the Historica l 46. Ernst von Glasersfeld, "An
Introduction to Radical Constructivism,"
Nature ofthe NelP Worldalld the MeaningofltsHist01y(Bloomington: Indiana tructing a Reality," in The Invented Reality:
and Heiz von Foerster, "On Cons
rJlctivism,
University Press, 1961). Recent perspectives on the universalization ofWestern We Believe We KnolV? COiltributions to Const
HolV Do We J(1JOlV What
culture have been developed in Mexico by Leopoldo Zea, Discurso desde la 41-61 (New York: W. W. Norto n, 1984) .
cd. P. Watzlawick, 17-40 and
Conoc er: Lascim cias
mml/iuaco1J Y la bal'barie (Barcelona: Anthropos, 1988); and in Egypt by Samir 47. lam bOlTowing"enactive" from
Francisco Varela,
gh the conce pt of cogni
Amin, Euroctmtrism, trans. Russell More (New York: Monthly Review Press
cognitivas (Barcelona: Gedis
a, 1990), 87-n6, althou
1989). I mention these two books here because Leopoldo Zea belongs to th� tion thus baptized has already been
proposed in Umberto Mamrana and Fran
r
same intellectual milieu as O'Gonnan and because Samir Amin's book was ge: The Biological Roots of Human Unde
cisco Varela, The Tree of Knowled
translated into Spanish and published in Mexico by the same group ofintellec y, 1987). More recently, these ideas have
stnndillg (Boston: New Science Librar
tuals (EI eltrocentrismo: Critica de U11a ideologia, traducci6n de Rosa isco Varela, Evan Thom pson, and Eleanor Rosch et al., The
been recast in Franc
Cusminsky de Cendrero [Mexico: Siglo XXI, 1989 J). More recently, Vasilis e and Human Experimce (Cambridge:
MIT
Embodied Mind: Cognitive Sciwc
Lambropoulos, The Rose ofEuroctmtrism: Anatomy ofI1JterpretatioTJ (Prince
Press, 1991), 147-84.
ton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1992). Local Knowledge: Further Essays in
48. See, for instance, Clifford Geertz,
38. Edmundo O'Gorman, CrisisypOrVCTJi1' de la cimcia bistorica (Mexico Basic Books, 1983) ; David Harvey, Tile
11Itel'pretiveAnthropoiogy (New York:
lY into the Origins of CuiturnI Cbang
City: Imprenta Universitaria, 1947). The Spanish translation ofHeidegger's e
Condition ofPostmodel1tity: An Inqtli
Sein lmdZeit(1927) was published in 1951, in Mexico. It was translated by Jose ell, 1989) ; Pauline Marie Rosen au, Post
(Cambridge, Mass.: Basil Blackw
Gaos, a Spanish philosopher in exile under Franco, who was very influential in ts, Im·oads, and Intrltsiom (Prince
Mode1'1Jiml and the Social Scimccs. Insigh
Mexico. O'Gorman's critique of the positivistic conception of history owes
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992).
ton,
much to section I, chapter 5 and section 2, chapter 5. His deconstruction of Semiotic Study of Cultu res (as
49. Juri Lotman et al., " Theses on the
European history on tlle "discovery ofAmerica" emerged from the theoretical Semiotics ofCult1m:, cd. Jan
Applied to Slavic Texts," in St1'tectm'e ofTexts and
position he developed from Heidegger (La idea deldescubrimientodeAmcl'ica:
van der Eng and Monni Griga r. 1-28 (The Hague: Mouton, 1973); Juri Lot
Historia de &sa interpretacion y crftica de susfimdamcntos [Mexico City: Uni les systemes de signcs (Brussels:
man and Boris Ouspenski, cds., TmvatlX sur
versidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 1951]). The 1llvmtio11 of America
Universe ofthe Mind: A Semiotic
Editions Complexes, 1976); Yuri M. Lotman,
stemmed from the same foundation. a University
e, trans. Ann Shukman (Bloomington: Indian
Theory of Cllltltr
39. Hans-George Gadamer, "On the Discrediting of Prejudice by the
Press, 1990).
Enlightenment," in Mueller-Vollmer, The Hermmeutics Reader, 259.
ion: FOllr Essays, ed. Michael
50. M. M. Bakhtin, The Dialogic imaginat
40. Hans-George Gadamer, "The Hermeneutics of Suspicion," in Her
ist (Austin: University of
mellctJtics: Qpestions and Prospects, cd. Gary Shapiro and Alan Sica (Amherst:
Hoiquist, trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holq-u
University of Massachusetts Press, 1984), 57. Texas Press, 1981), and Speech Genres.
51. Jacques Derrida, De lagram11latologie (Paris:
Minuit, 1967), '"Semi
41. Sylvia Winter, "Etlmo or Socio Poetics," in Etlmopoetics: A First Inter
Kristeva, J. Rey
national Symposium, ed. M. Benamou and R Rothemberg, 78-94 (Boston: ologie et grammatologie," in Essays il1 Semiotics, cd. Julia
r, 11-27 (The Hague : Mouto n, 1971), MallIes de la
Boston University Press, 1976); Michele Duchet, Anthropologie et historie au Debove, and D. J . Umike
Allthropologic strUc
sihle des ImniCres (Paris: Maspero, 1971); Anthony Pagden, The Fall ofNatlJral philosophic (Paris: Minuit, 1972); Claude Levi-Strauss,
Man: TIle American indian and the Origins ofComparative Ethnology (Cam tItrale, 2 vals. (Paris: PIon, 1958; (969).
52. Michel Foucault, Val'c/Jeologie du salloir (Paris:
Gallimard, 1969) and
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
42. Francois Hartog, The Mirror ofHerodotus: An Essay on the Represwta Vonlre du discours (Paris: Gallimard, 1971).
Episte mology of
tion of tbe Otber (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 53. Humberto Maturana, "Biology of Language: The
ill Honor of
Reality, in Psychology and Biology ofLanguage alld Thought: Essays
n
1988), 212-59.
342 Eric LC1lllcbc13] cd. G. A. Miller and Eric Lenncbcrg, 27-64 (New York: from the moutll). Domingo de Santo Tomas, Lexicon
a vocablliario de la 343
Perti (Lima: Edici6n del Instituto de Historia, I951).
Academic Press, 1978), fmgttagmeral del
Notes to Pages 54. Maturana, "Biology ofLanguage," 29. For a more detailed discussion 7. Purist "literacy" scholars are troubled by the confusion between lan Notes to Pages
\vith maintaining the purity ofthe
24-31 of this topic sec Walter D. Mignoio, "(Re)modcling the Letter: Literacy and guage and literacy. I am less concerned here 32-36
Literature at the Intersection ofSemiotics and Literary Studies," in On Semiotic distinction than with the fact that, on the one hand, learning to read and write
to speak Castilian and, on the other,
Modeling, ed. M. Anderson and F. Merrell, 357-94 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1991). in Castilian went together with learning
55· Abundant have been the publications on the topic in the past decade. I that Castilian learned orally implied illiteracy. So, in both cases, language and
have benefited from the reading of George W. Stocking, Jr., cd., Observers literacy are two sides of the same coin.
Ohsenlcd: Essays 011 EtlmograpbicField Work (Madison: University ofWisconsin S. Huayna Capac, Inca king, was the futher of Huascar and Atahualpa.
arrested the latter
Press, 1983); James Clifford and George E. Marcus, cds., Writi1w Culture: The The conquest ofPeru began in 1532 when Francisco Pizarro
Poetics and Politics of Ethnography (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of and killed him in Cajamarca,
California Press, 1986); George E. Marcus and Michael M. J. Fischer, An 9. Manuscript at the John Carter Brown Library, Brown University.
thropology as Cultural Critique: An Experimental lrfo11tent ill the Hllman 10. Antonio de Herrera y Torclcsillas, Historia gme,.al de los becbos de los
Sciences (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986); James Clifford, TIle castellanos C11 las Islas de Tierra Finne del mar oceano, 8 vols. (Madrid: Im
Predicament o/Culture: nvelltieth-Centmy Ethnography, Literature} and Art prenta Real, 1601-15) .
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, I988); Jean-Loup Amselles, Logiqlles II. I am paraphrasing and commenting o n the following quotation: "'Por
metisses. Anthropofogie de Pidelltite ell Afrique et ai//curs (Paris: Payot, 1990). que conuiene aduertir, que los Romanos hallaron mui de otra manera a Espana,
que los Espanolcs hallaron las Indias, en las quales ninguna nacion estrangera
CHAPTER I
auiaentrado primero, que elIos, i assi aquellas gentcs carecian de toda sucrtc de
I. Bernardo Josc de Aldrete, Del OI"igel1 yprincipia de la Imgua castellana letras, i consiguientemente de las ciencias, i estudios deltas, i de la policia, que
o rommzce que oi se usa ell Espaiia, ed. Lidio Nieto Jimenez (Madrid: Consejo las acompafia, i biuian a guisa de fieras desnudos" (book I, chap. 12).
Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, I972-75). Subsequent references are 12. It has been reported that Queen Isabella's last wish was to "convert
given in the text. them to our Holy Catholic faith" and to send prelates and clergy "to indoctri
2. Sec, for instance, the anthology compiled by German Bleiberg, An nate them and to teach them good customs," Quoted by Carlos Pereyra,
tologla de elogios de la le1Jgtta espaiiola (Madrid: Ediciones de Cultura His Breve bistoria de Ame1"ica (Santiago: Editorial Universitaria, 1938), 1:20S-9.
panica, I951). In the eighteenth centUiY, the well-known grammarian and 13. Vives's De ratione studii puerilis (1523); Erasmus's De civilitate
historian Gregorio Mayans y Siscar published his own narrative of origins, morU111 puerilitt111 (1530), in which signs of changes in social behavior could
preceded by a compilation ofprevious writing about the same topic ( Orige1Jes be seen next to the preservation of medieval manners.
de la le1Jgua espaiiola [Madrid: Ediciones Atlas, 198r]). 14. Norbert Elias, TIJe Civilizing Process, trans. E. Jephcott (New York:
3 · Historians have divided the period of the invasion of northern Com Urizen Books, 1978), 1:78-79.
munities into the Iberian Peninsula in three stages: 409 to 506, a century of I5. Elias obselVes that "The concept of civilite received tlle specific stamp
chaos, the disintegration of the Roman Empire, and the invasion and settle and function . . . in the second quarter ofthe sixteenth century." He attributes
ment ofnorthern communities; 507 to 624, power increasingly moving to the to Erasmus's treatise De civilitate mOl"tt11t pueriliu11l a fundamental impor
hands of the Visigoths, who settled in Toledo; 625 to 7II, a century in which tance in redefining the term. The treatise focuses on the way people look:
Visigoths took control ofpower and ended Roman imperial domination. The "Bodily carriage, gestures, dress, facial expressions-this ·outward' behavior
year 71I also marks the beginning of the Islamic invasion from the south. with which the treatise concerns itsdfis the expression ofthe inner, the whole
Historia de Espmla y America: Social y economica, coordinated by J. Vicens man." TIJe CiJlilizing Process, 1:56.
Vives (Madrid: Editorial Vicens-Vives, 1971), 1:178-80. 16. Bythe second halfofthe sixteenth century two influential grammars of
4· I translate as "West Indies" the Spanish expression ofthe time, Indias Nahuatl and Quechua had already been published. In Mexico Alonso de Mo
Occidentales (sometimes Indias), used quite consistently during the sixteenth lina published his Arte de In lenguamexicanR y castellana (1571); and in Peru
and early seventeenth centuries by Spanish writers. The "West Indies" were Domingo de Santo Tomas published his Gramatica a arte de la IC1zguagmeraf
the entire Spanish possessions, from Florida and Mexico in the north to Pata de los Indios de los Reynos del PerIl (1560). In botll cases the discrepancy
gonia in the south; from Santo Domingo in the east to the Philippines in the between the sounds ofAmerindian languages and the codification ofthe Latin
West. In chapter 6 I will discuss the contexts in which "West Indies" and alphabet became apparent, as did the tensions between the logic of grammar
"America" were used. and the ideology of conversation. See Walter D. Mignolo, "Nebrija in the
5 · Bernardo Jose Aldrete, Vmias alltiguedades de Espmla, Africa y otras New World: The Question of the Letter, the Colonization of Amerindian
provincias (Amberes: A Costa de Iuan Hasrey, J6J4), 73. Languages, and the Discontinuity ofthe Classical Tradition," LJHo11lmeI22-
6. R,wa: human being, person; Simi: mouth, words (sounds emerging 24 (1992): 187-2°9.
344 17. It is accepted today among historians ofwriting that the Latin alphabet Israel to the New World (Compendio y description de las Indias Occidentales 345
was derived from Etruscan. Sec Mauro Cristofani, " L'alphabcto ctrusco," in [Madrid: Ediciones Atlas, 1969], 3'14)·
Notes to Pages Popoli e civilta deWltalia antica, vol. 6, Liugue e dialetti (Rome: Biblioteca di 27. Ascensio, "La lengua." Notes to Pages
Staria Patria, 1978), 403-6, and "Recent Advances in Etnlscan Epigraphy 28. Lorenzo Valla, "In sex libros e1egantiarum preafatio" in Prosatori La�
37-40 40-47
and Language," Itnly before the Rama1ls (London: Academic Press, 1979), tini al QJtattrocento, cd. E. Garin (Milan: Mondadori, 1952).
378-80; Rex Wallace, in "The Origins and Development ofthe Latin Alpha· 29. With the exception ofthe union ofPhilip the Handsome and Juana la
bet," in The Origins a/Writing, cd. Wayne Senner, 121-36 (Lincoln: Univer Loca, who gave birth to Charles, future Charles I of Aragon and Castile and
sity of Nebraska Press, 1989)· emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the rest were unsuccessful.
18. The supremacy or the tyranny of the letter is perceived today as an 30. Nebrija, Gramatica castellana, book I, chap. 10, Reglas de la or�
obstacle to understanding histories ofliteracy and ofsemiotic transactions and tografia en In lengua castellana (1517), second principle.
owes much of its force to the European Renaissance legacy. See Geoffrey 31. Nebrija, Gramatica castellana, book I, chap. 2.
Sampson, Systems of Writil1g (London: Longman, 1987); Roy Harris, The 32. Nebrija, Reglas de ol'tografia, book I , chap. 2; italics mine.
Origin of Writing (La Salle, IlL: Open Court, 1986); Walter D. Mignolo, 33. Condillac, Traite des sellSatio1lS ( 1754); Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Essais
"Teonas renacentistas de la escritura y la colonizaci6n de las lenguas nativas," Sllr Porigine des langues(1756); Maupertius, Rejlexiollsphilosophiques sltr fori�
in I Simposio de filologia Iberoamerica1Ja (Zaragoza: Libros Porticos, 1990), gine des langues et de la signification des mots (1748). See also Hans Aarsleff,
171-201. "The Tradition ofCondillac: The Problem of the Origin of Language in the
19. Humanism underlined the relevance of "literary studies" in the sense Eighteenth Century and the Debate in the Berlin Academy before Herder"
of interpretation of the written word (littera) in education. Humanists drew and "An Outline of Language�Origins Theory since the Renaissance," in
from the Roman grammarians and developed the idea that grammar is inte/� From Locke to Samsure: Essays O1J the Study ofLanguage and Intellectual His�
lectll poetarmtt and recti scrihC1ldi loquendive ratione. Francisco Rico, NehriJa tory (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982), 146-209, 278-92.
contra los barbaros: EI calion degrat11Jiticos nefastos en laspolbnicas del hlJmal1� 34. "Barbarae sive Barbaricae linguae praeter Graecam et Latinam dicun
ismo (Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, 1978). On Nebrija's project see tur mores. Nos etiam Hebraican excipimus, quod ea cum anqiquissima ac
also Luis Gil Fernandez, Panorama social del hllmanismo espaiiol ([500- instar parentis aliarum tum sacra et divina sit lingua," Konrad von Gesner,
f800) (Madrid: Alhambra, 1981), 98-II7· Mithridates, cited by Claude Gilbert� Dubois, Mytbe et language alt seizieme
20. Gral'mitica de la lengua castellana (Salamanca, 1492; London: Ox sieclc (Paris: Editions Ducros, 1970), 64·
ford University Press, 1926). 35. Nebrija, Gramatica castellana, book I, chap. 2.
21. See, for instance, Eugenio Ascensio, "La lengua compafiera del im 36. Juan Bautista Pomar, Relacion de Tezcoco, ed. Joaquin Garcia Icaz
perio: Historia de una idea de Nebrija en Espafia y Portugal," Revista de ba1ceta (Mexico City: Biblioteca Enciclopedica del Estado de Mc.xico, 1975),
Filologia £Spa" ola 43 (1960): 399-413; Jaime Garda de la Concha, cd., chap. 16. See chapter 6 for the general context in which the relaciol1esde Indias
NebriJa y la introdttccion del rmacimiento C1l Espa,-ja (Salamanca: Actas de la were written.
Academia Uteraria Renacentista, 1981). 37. Translated by Maureen Dyokas.
22. Nebrija, Gramatica castellana, preface. 38. Joaquin Garda Icazbalceta, Nueva colecciol1 de dOC1t11lelJtos para la
23. A good example ofthe network ofprocesses by which the missionaries bistoriade Mexico. Vol. 2. Cadice Franciscal10 (Mexico City: Editorial Salvador
appropriated and tamed Amerindian language is the Jesuits' "reduction" of Chavez, 1941).
Guarani and the transformation ofit to a lingua franca in the Jesuit mission 39. Thus, the question of to read. In Nahuatl, for instance, amoxitoa can
quite different from the Guarani spoken by the Amerindian population. See be translated as "to read." The word comes from amoxtli (a kind of tree that
Bartomeu Melia, EI Guarani conquistado y redttcido: Ellsayos de ethl1ohistoria, flourished in the lakes, in the Valley of Mexico) and toa (a verb that could be
vol. 6, Biblioteca Paraguaya de Antropologia (Asuncion: Universidad translated as "to narrate" or "to tell"). The members of a culture without
Cat6lica, 1985). letters tell or narrate what they see written on a solid surface, although they do
24. The City of God, trans. Eva Mathews Sanford (Cambridge: Harvard not necessarily read in the sense we attribute to this word today. Eugenio
University Press, 1970), book 16, chap. II. Coseriu pointed out to me that the case is similar in Latin: legere means basi
25. Juan Luis Vives, De tradendis disciplines (1531) (Totowa, N.J.: Row cally '''to discern." The synonymity between to discern and to read came about
man and Littlefield, 1971). when the use of the verb was restricted and applied to "discern" the written
26. Sec, for instance, Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa's narrative (1620) in words (see chap. 2).
which he "naturally" harmonized the history of Amerindian languages with 40. Horacia Carochi, Arte de la lengua 111exica11a (Mexico City: Juan
the confusion of tongues after Babel and the migration of the ten tribes of Ruyz, 1540), chap. I, secs. 1-2.
41. Santo Tomas, Gramatica, 10. G6mez Canedo, EIJaJWelizacion y conquista: Experiencia jrallciscana en 347
42. Ascension Leon-Portilla, TepuztiabCllilolli: Impl'csos en Nahuatl America (Mexico City: Porn.':ta, 1977); Pilar Gonzalbo Aizpuru, Historia de la
(Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 1988), 1:6. edllcacioll ell Mexico en la cpoca colonial: El mUlldo illdlgma (Mexico City: El
Notes to Pages Notes to Pages
43. Ignacio Osorio Romero, Colegios y pro/csores jcsuitas quc ellseiiarol1 Colegio de Mexico, 1990), hereafter El 1111tl1do illdfgmaj Ignacio Osorio
48-53 53-54
Latin in Nueva Espa11a 1572-I767 (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Au Romero, La ellSClJallZa de/latin a los Indios (Mexico City: U niversidad Nacio
tonoma de Mexico, 1979), Las bibliotcca 1l0vohispallas (Mexico City: Sccre
nal Autonoma de Mexico, 1990).
taria de Educacion Publica, 1986). 52. It is useful to keep in mind the linguistic distribution according to the
44. Miguel Mathes, Santa Cruz de Tlate/olco: La primera biblioteca aca religious orders. What follows should not be taken as a clear-cut distribution
demica de las Americas (Mexico City: Archivo Historico Mexicano, 1982}j with rigid frontiers but, rather, a general tendency. Thus, the Dominicans
Ignacio Osorio Romero, Las biblioteca 1l0vohispanas, and Historia de las bib/i concentrated on languages of southern Mexico and Guatemala, like lvlixtec,
otecns en Pllcbla (Mexico City: Secretaria de Educacion Publica, 1986). Chabafial, Mixe, Tzotzil, Zapotec. Franciscans devoted themselves to the
45. Francisco Rico, "Leccion y herenda de Elio Antonio de Nebrija," in major Amerindian languages, like Maya, Nahuatl, and Otomi in Mesoamerica
Concha, Nebrija, 9.
and Quiche in Peru. The Jesuits, who arrived in Mexico in 1572, devoted
46. Ottavio Di Camillo, EI hllmanis1JJo castella110 del siglo XV (Valencia:
themselves to minor languages like Tarahumara and Totonac. See Irma Con
Fernando Torres, 1976); Gil Fernandez, Pa1Jorama, 98-186.
treras Garcia, Bibliografia sobre la castellal1izacio1J de 10sglllpos il1dfgmas de la
47. Valla, "In sex libros elegantiarum preafatio" (Six books on the ele
Rept'iblica Mcxicalla, vol. 2 (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autonoma
gance of the Latin language); Ascencio, "La lcngua"; Ottavio Besomi and
de Mexico, 1985).
Marigncli Regoliosi, Lormzo Valla e 1'lmmancsil1lO italiauo (Padova: Editricc
53. Robert Ricard, La cOllquista espiritual de Mexico: Ensayos sobre elapos
Antenore, 1986).
tolado y los mCtodos misiolleros de las ordmes mmdica1Jtes en la Nueva EspmJa
48. Jose Antonio Maravall, "La concepci6n del saber en una sociedad
de [523-24 a 1572, trans. A. Maria Garibay (Mexico City: Fondo Cultura
tradicional," in
Estudios de historia del pe11Samiento espfl1Jol (Madrid: Edi
Economica, 1986); Jose Maria Kobayashi, La educacion como cOl1quista: Em
ciones Cultura Hispanica,1967), 1:201-60.
pl'esa/rallciscana en Mexico (Mexico City: EI Colegio de Mexico, 1974).
49. Martin de la Cruz, Libellus de medici1Jaliblls iudorum herbis (1552),
54. Alberto Maria Carrefio, La real y Pmltificia Unipersidad dc Mexico, 2
trans. Juan Badiano (Mexico City: Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social,
vols. (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico, 1963).
1964).
SQ. We should remember, in this context and in relation to our previous
55. Javier Gomez Robledo, Hmllallismo Cl1 Mixico en el siglo xvi: El sis�
tt:ma dt:l colegio de San Pcdro y San Pablo (Mexico City: Jus, 1954); 1. Osorio
analysis ofNebrija's program and Aldrete's concern about teaching Castilian
to Amerindians, the ideological celebration ofCastilian language as well as the Romero, Colegios y proftsol'esjesuitas.
critical perspective that it is necessal)' to take today regarding the continuity of 56. Rccopilacicm de Leyes de los 1'eill0S de las Indias, mal1dadas imprimir y
the language of the empire in postcolonial independent nations. Regarding publicaI' por ia Magestad catollca del rey Don Carlos II (Madrid: Boix, 1841),
the first aspect, the classical studies are by A. Morel Fatio, "L'espagnol langue libm I, 2U-I2; libro I, tit. xxiii, ley ii.
universelle," Bulletin hispa1Jique 15 (1913): 207-23; Ram6n Menendez Pidal, 57. Ceballos and Huerta, La alJabetizaciollj Heath, La polftica del
La lmgua de Cristobal Colon (Madrid: Austral, 1942), 101-19, and Castilla, la lcnguaje) 68-96; Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran, LCllguasverllaClllas: SIt IIS0 Y desllso
tradiciou y el Idioma (Madrid: Austral, 1945), 169-216; and Manuel GarcIa en la e1tSC1Jal1Za (Mexico City: Edicioncs de la Casa Chata, 1968), 45-66.
Blanco, "La lengua espanola en la epoca de Carlos V," Dismrso de claltsurfl del 58. Teaching Latin was mainly devoted to the children ofSpanish descent,
mrso de extranjel'os de la Ullivt:rsidad Menhzdez Pelayo [1958] (Madrid: Es all over the New World. In Colombia (or New Grenada), it was studied in
celieer, 1967), II-43. For the second aspect, see Eugenio Coseriu, "EI espanol detail by Jose Manuel Rivas Sacconi, and a chapter of his work is devoted to
de America y la unidad del idioma," I Simposio de Filologfa Iberoamericamt the influence ofNebrija's Latin grammar and vocabulary in the New World.
(Zaragoza: Libras Portico, 1990), 43-76. See EI Latin el1 Colombia: Bosquejo historico del hU11lal1ismo colombiano
51. Both the Crown's politics of language and its educational practices (Bogota: Instituto Cam y Cuervo, 1949), 141-54. Teaching Latin to the
have been studied. For the politics oflanguage in Mexico, see ROmulo Velasco Amerindian was limited in place (mainly to the Colegio Santa Cruz de
Ceballos and Miguel Maldonado Huerta, eds., La alfabetizacioll en la NueJ1a Tlate1oIco) and in time (after 1560, under Philip II). For more detail about
EspmJa: Leyes, cedulas reales, ordmauzas) brendos, pastoral y otl'os dommmtos this topic, however, see Ignacio Osorio Romero, La enSelJallZa del Latin a los
(Mexico City: Secretaria de Educaci6n, 1945); Shirley Briee Heath, La politica Indios (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 1990).
del lenguaje el1 Mexico: De la colollia a la nacion (Mexico City: Secretaria de 59· The ethnic and social distinctions are quite interesting in this quota�
Educaci6n, 1972). For the politics oflanguage in Peru, see Bruce Mannheim, tion: "siguiendo en toda la autoridad del Concilio Tridentino manda . . . a los
TIle Language o/the Inca since the European Invasion (Austin: University of cspanoles y a los negros esclavos, aun a los que son solo por parte de uno de sus
Texas Press, 1990). For the educational Franciscan practice in America, Lino padres (mulatos) y a los chichimecas, ensefiese la doctrina en lengua
castellana; mas a los Indios en su propia lengua materna" (Marian
o Galvan Larsen, 15-37 (Copenhagen: Akademiske Forlag, 1989); J. R. Clammer, Lit 349
Rivera, Concilio III Pr01lincial lvfexicano (1585) (Mexico City:
alld Social Challge: A Case Study ofFiji (Leiden: E. Brill, 1976); and V. Y.
Notes to Pages �
1 59), 187 �hichimeca, as a categol}' distinct from Indians
:
Maillefelt
, seems to kee �
eracy
Mudimbe, The [flvmtioll ofAjhca: Gllosis, Philosophy, afld the Order ofKflolvl- Notes to Pages
edge (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, :988) . .
54-63 alIve the distmco.on, made by the Mexica of Mexico City-
Tenochtitlan, bc� 64-65
71. Bt'bliotheca trfeximllfT, sive eruditorm1J h'��rta VZr01'tH1J. �ltt "� �11lerlC�
tween them and the "barbarian" Chichimecas. .. .
60. Ceballos and Huerta, La alJabetizacionj Richard Konetz
ke, Coleccion Boreali llati) vel alibi genitlJ in ipsam I?.
�
01nt t1tO aut Studt)s mcwJ qtta tS
.
�
/."'glIa scripto aliquid tradiderzt1l (MeXICO
de docmn&11tos para la historia de la formacion CIty: Ex nova Typographla In
social de Hispano�Amb-iell-,
. . .
1493-1 BIo (Madrid: Consego Superior de Investigaciones
Cientificas y Tc� Aedibus Authoris editioni Ejusdem Btbhothccae
desnnata, 1770 ) . The b1'bl'I-
.
nicas, 1953) 1:30-41, 272-75, 571; 602-3, etc. (anteloquia). And the ennre
othecft is introduced with a series of prologues
61. Pilar Gonzalbo AizpUnl, EI m1tudo iudfgena, and Historia de
la educa work was introduced by Vincentio Lopez (Aprl!is dialoglts, Autore Patre Vin
cioll ell Mexico ell la cpoca colonial: La educacio1J de los
eriollosy la vida urbana centio Lopez, Corduvensi, theologo, e Societate Jesu, apud Tribunal fidei
(Mexico City: EI Colegio de Mc.xico, 1990), hereafter La edttcaci
fm. nsore) a Jesuit from Andalusia, who moved to Mexico in 1730 to teach
62. Heath, La politim del lmgllaje, 52-53. �; �
ading d writing in the Colegio de San Gregorio, devoted to the children
63. Mathes, Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco. of tlle Amerindian population.
64. Another revealing example is the phrase by Don Pablo Nazareo
"in� 72. Such tension is not among persons born here or there, but between
cited by O�orio ideologies embraced by persons born here or there. Lopez's Aprilis dialogusis
dies latinista," in his Latin letters addressed to Charles V,
Romero, La emenallza del Latin, 1-34. a case in point. Lopez was a peninsular who supported Eguiara y Eguren
65. Osorio Romero, Colegiosy proftsoresJesuitas, 152. against the position defended by Manuel Marti.
66. Alde Scaglioni, The LiberalArts and theJesuit College System 73. Ramon Pane, Relacion de las antiglledades de los indios (1493), ed.
Juan 10seArrom (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Econ�mic�, 1974)? Ju� de
(Amster
dam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1986).
67. The Jesuits were also concerned with teaching Spanish to the Torquemada, Monarquia iudiana (1615), 6 vols. (MeXICO CIty: Umversldad
Amerin�
dians (Romero, La emefia1Jza del Lati1J] 59). However, their eff Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Investigaciones Filol6gicas,
orts to achieve
this goal did not reach the same splendor as their achievements 1977), 1:3. We should remember, in this context, the the�is advanced by
in higher
education. Furthermore, a clear social distinction was made between Erasmus in his De recta Graeci et Latini sermonis pr01l111lciattolle (1528). The
"popu
lar" and "high" education (Gonzalbo AizpUnl, El mtmdo indfg dialogue between Urns and Leo develops in such a way that the reader is
e1Ja and La
educaeion)' Canedo, Evangelizaciou y cOl1qllista ). convinced that the "humanity" of human beings depends on the letters.
68. A second aspect ofthe value attributed to the letters could Ursus, for instance, departs from the fact that the Latin word to designate
be seen in
their use beyond the realm ofthe voice. Geoffroy Tol}' worked speech is se11no. He proves that, etymologically, se1'11l0 comes from serendo]
on the relations
between the letter and the human body ( Champflemy: Attquel which means "to sow." Consequently, the analogy between "to sow" and "to
est contemJ
Pan et science de la deue et vraye proportion des lemes speak" allows for the interpretation ofspeech as the sowing of the letters. We
attiques] quJon dit
autrementlemesalltiques et vulgairementfemes romaine are facing a near-total inversion, in which the letter takes precedence over the
sproportioncesselol1 Ie
corps ct visage hmnain [Paris, 1529 J). Albrecht Durer
voice and justifies, indirectly, the belief that "humanness" depends on the
looked into the geo letter and alphabetic writing rather than the voice and speech. This Renais
metrical proportion of the letters ( Illstitutiol1U11J geometricarum
libn! [Paris, sance meaning is in striking contrast with the medieval analogy between writ
1535 J). And, in the age of the printing press, handwriting acquired
a new iug and plowi1W (Ernst Robert Curtius, Em'opean Llterat1tre and the Latin
dimension in the pedagogical and civilizing process. See Jonatha
n Goldberg, Middle Ases, trans. Willard E. Trask [New York: Pantheon Books, 1953]),
WritilW Matter: From the Hands ofthe English Renaissance (Stanford:
Stan which underlines the physical aspect ofscratching solid surfaces in the act of
ford University Press, 1990). See also Berhard Teuber, "Europ
aisches und writing, rather than the relationship between the voice and the letter (Walter
Amerikanisches im friihneuzeiltlichen Diskurs uber Stimme
und Schrift " in Mignolo, "Signs and Their Transmission: The Question of the Book in the
Romallistik il1 Gescblchte lmd Gegemvart (Hamburg:
Helmut Buske Ve;lag, NewWorld," in Writillg without Words: Alte17Jative Literact'es ill MesoamCl'ica
1989) 24:47-59·
and the Andes, cd. Walter D. Mignolo and Elizabeth H. Boone [Durham,
69. Francisco Antonio Lorenzana y Buitron, Cartas pastorales
y edictos N.C.: Duke University Press, 19941, 220-70).
74· Take, for instance, Bartolome de las Casas's four kinds of barbarians:
(Mexico City: Imprenta Superior de Gobierno, 1770). Transla
tions from
"La segunda manera a especie de barbaros es algo mas estrecha, yen esra son
Lorenzana are by Maureen Dyokas.
70. Louis-Jean Calvet, Lillgllistique et colollialisme: Petit traitc aquellos que carccm de literal locucion que responda a su lenguaje como
de glot
tophagie (Paris: Payot, 1974), and Laguerre des lan
gues et les politiques lin responde a la nuestra la lengua latina; finalmente, que camzca1J de ejercicios y
gut'stiqlles (Paris: Payot, 1987); Maurice Bloch, "Literac
y and Enlighten &StUdio de las len'as] y estos tales se dicen ser barbaros seClt1ldu11J quid] conviene
ment," in Literacy alld SodetyJ cd. Karen Schousboe and Mogens a saber, seg(tn alguna parte 0 calidad que les falta para no ser birbaros."
TroIIe
35 0 Apologtftica hist01'ia stemariaJ cd. Edmundo O'Gorrnan (Mexico City: In
Rapids, Mich.: William B. Erdmans Publishing Company, 1968), 215-16. 35 1
stituto de Investigaciones Hist6ricas, 1967), 2:638; italics mine. 3. Jean Glenisson, Lc livre all Moyen Age (Paris: Presse Universitaire de
Notes to Pages 75. The bibliography in this respect is quite large. A sample from the
CNRS, 1988); Lucien Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin, L'apparitioll du lilJre] Notes to Pagcs
Yucatan peninsula (both in Guatemala and Mexico) arc the works ofJudith
66-70 [450-[800 (Paris: Albin Michel, 1958). 7[- 76
Friedlander, Being Indian il1 Hueyapal1: A Study ofForced Identity in COl1-
4. Frederic G. Kenyon, Books and Readers in Ancimt Greccc and Rome
tC111pormy Mexico (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1975); and Kay B. Warren, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1932), 86-119; L. D. Reynolds and N. G. Wilson,
TIle Symbolism afSubordination: Indian Idmtity ill a Guatemalan Town (Aus
SCl'ibesand Scholars: A Guide to the Trammissiol1 ofGreell alld Latin Litemt1l1'e
tin: University of Texas Press, 1978). Several articles in the volume edited by (oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), 122-63.
Carol A. Smith arc relevant to this issue: Guatemalan Indians and the State: 5. Thomas Skeat, "Early Christian Book Production: Papyrus and
1540 to 1988 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990). An overview of the
Manuscripts," in TIJC Cambridge Hist01] ofthe Bible, ed. G. N. Lampe, 54-79
question in Latin America is in Greg Urban and Joel Sherzer, cds., Nation� (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1969).
States and ludiam ill Latin America (Austin: University ofTexas Press, 1991). 6. Scrcen�folded, scroll, and wall-hanging narratives from China and Ja�
76. Gary Gossen, Cha111t1las itl the World ofthe Still: Time and Space in a
pan arc reproduced and described in the National Gallery's catalog edited by
Maya Oral Tmdition (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974); Beltran, J. A. Levenson, Circa [492.' Al'tin the Age ofExploratioll (Washington, D.C.:
Lenguas IJermiwlas; Joanne Rappaport, "Mythic Images, Historical Thought, National Gallery of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991), 305-62.
and Printed Texts: The Paez and the Written Word," ]ournal ofA1ltlropologi�
But, alas, they arc presented as art and painting not as books. This image was
cal Rescarch 43, no. 1 (1987): 43-61. already in place in fiftecnth�century Europe. Roger Bacon observed that "The
77. From the perspective ofthe tensions between an idiomatically defined people in Cathay to the cast write with the same instrument with which
Hispanic America and a culturally conceived Latin America, it is helpful to painters paint, forming in one character groups of letters [1], each group
remember the three main stages of Castilian languages from the colonial representing a sentence." TIle Opus bIajlls ofRoger Bacon, trans. R. B. Burke
period to the present. The first stage, the colonial period, is explored in this (New York: Russell and Russell, 1962), 389.
chapter; the second stage could be framed as the period ofnation building and 7. Among the many examples available to illustrate this assertion, the
the coalition between the Spanish language and national identities; the third best comes from the Canadian-Australian movie Black Robe, about the Jesuit
stage, whose beginning we are currently witnessing, brings to the fore the mission among the Hurons, around 1630. Black Robe, the French missionary,
multilingual and pluricultural nature of Latin America and can be illustrated writes down on a piece of paper a sentence pronounced by an Amerindian and
Witll examples ofan emerging linguistic�cultural paradigm: Chicano literature then takes the piece of paper to another French member of the expedition to
as exemplified, among others, by Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands/La Frontera; read. He reads it out loud, surprising the Amerindians, who do not under�
the cultural unity of the Caribbean beyond its linguistic diversity, as illustrated stand how the words spoken could have been carried that distance and pro
by Brathwaite, History ofthe Voice; the pluricultural nature ofcountries such as nounced by someone who did not hear them.
Peru, brought into focus in Vargas LIosa's novel El bablador (1987). 8. Diego de Landa, Yucatan before and after the Conquest, trans. and cd.
William Gates (New York: Dover Publications, 1978), 82.
CHAPTER 2 9. Landa, Yucatan, 13.
10. Michael D. Cole, in his helpful The Maya Scribe and His World (New
I. Alejo Venegas, Primera parte de las diferencias dc libros que hay C1l cl York: Grolier Club, 1973), provides several examples of different surfaces on
Imivel'so (Toledo, 1546; reprint Barcelona, Puvill Libros, 1983). which writing was inscribed. He includes also a description of the Grolicr
2. This idea is far from original in Venegas. It has a long and rich history, Code",-, one of the four supposedly pre�Columbian codices from the Yucatan
related both to Jewish and Arabic holy traditions. Widengren has summarized peninsula (the other three arc Dresdm, Madrid, and Pm�is, which is a folding
the trajectory of the idea of the archetype or heavenly book from Babylonian screen painted on bark paper coated with stucco [150 ]).
Tablets of Destiny to Jewish literature, to the Koran. He has also traced the II. Toribio de Motolinia, Me11l0riales (Mexico City: Luis Garda Pimentel,
trajectory of the manifestation of the Heavenly Book in outward form (the 1903), translated by Francis Borgia Steck as MotoliniaJs Hist01] oftbe Indians
metagraph book), in Venegas's conception: "There are accordingly two ofNew Spain (Washington, D.C.: Academy of American Franciscan History,
different conceptions of the outward form in which the Heavenly Writing is 1951).
written: it is eithenvritten as a sheet, or a scroll, or as a Idtab] a real book, or 12. Landa, Yitcatall] 13.
even in a way-at least partly-identical with a special Jewish�Christian Book, < 13· Manuel Garcia Pelayo, "Las culturas del libro," RCl'ista de Occidentc
the single zabur, or this Heavenly Scripture is not a book, but tablets, or rather 24-25 (1965): 45-70; S. G. F. Brandon, "The Holy Book, the Holy Tradi
one tablet, lallb. George Widengren," "Holy Book and Holy Tradition in tion, and the Holy Ikon," in Bruce and Rupp, Holy Book, 1-20;
Wtdengren,
Iran, in Holy Book and Holy Tradition, cd. F. F. Bruce and E. G. Rupp (Grand '�Holy Book," 210-36; Johannes Pederson, ThcAl'ablc Book,
ed. Robert Hill-
35 2 enbrand, trans. Geoffrey French (Princeton: Princeton University Press , 'derives from the material of which it is made, plus the name designating a
353
1984), 12-20. place in which the object is stored.
Notes to Pages 14. Cole has observed: "Maya hieroglyphs are obviously highly pic 21. One can surmise, after this collection of words, that there was a mo
Notesto Pages
76-79 torial. . . . Because of these factors, tbe Maya calligrapher was basically a ment in the configuration of the system of representation of differcnt cultures
80-87
painter, and probably both proftssio1lS )Vere joined i11 the same man. This is in which the name of a tree was used to designate the medium in which
reminiscent of China, of course. As in China, brush pens of various sizes were graphic signs were inscribed and transmitted. The Spanish Diccionario de
used. It is likely that for the relief caIVing of a text the master calligrapher autoridades, published in the eighteenth century, describes book (libm) as vol
would first brush on the characters, the rest of the job being finished by the ume ofpaper sawed and covered with parchment or something else. It is quite
sculptor; in the case of carved pottery, the calligrapher himself may have in interesting to note that eighteenth-century Spanish has already eliminated the
cised the still-damp day" (Colc, Maya Scribe, 8; italics mine). David N. connection between Latin liber (the inner bark of a tree on which surface the
Keightlcy has observed that "Literacy in China involved not only a profound ancients wrote) and has retained only the equivalence between book and lVork
knowledge of the written classics but also the ability to wield a brush effec� (obra) or treatise. Here I have in mind the comment made by Diringer after
tively, either to paint a landscape, usually with a poem inscribed at its side, drawing the etymological map of the word book: "The exact connection," says
or to write Chinese characters in their meaning but also their aesthetic vital Diringer, "between 'book' and 'beech tree' is not known" ('flJC Book before
ity and the taste of their composer." "The Origins of Writing in China: Scripts Printing, 24-25). The comment draws attention to the semantic and not to
and Culmral Contexts," in The Origins of Writi1w, ed. W. Senner (Lincoln: the phonetic aspect of the word. I suspect a connection could be suggested by
University of Nebraska Press, 1989), 171-72. If indeed the Maya were fully departing from the system of representation associated with the words, instead
literate, to be literate in such a society meant something different than being oftaking into account only the change of their meanings.
literate in the European Middle Ages. The materiality of signs, communica 22. Curtius, European Literature, quotes a Greek epigram engraved on a
tive interactions, and the discourse about them had a different configuration. stone of a bibliotheke that reads: " Say that this grove is dedicated to us, the
15. Antonio de Ciudad Real, Relaeion brevey verdadera de alglmas cosas de Muses, and point to the books (ta biblios) over there by theplane tree-grove. We
las 11luchas lJue SIlcedieron al Padre Fray Alonso de Ponce (Madrid: Imprenta de guard themhere; but let him who truly loves us come to us: We will crown him
la Viuda de Calero, 1873), 2:392. with ivy" (306; italics mine).
23. Remi Simeon, Dicti01maire de la langue Nahuatl ou Mexicaine(Paris:
16. David Diringer, Writing (New York: F. A. Praeger, 1962), 84.
Imprimerie Nationale, 1885), gives as a first meaning of amoxtli, "Plante
17. David Diringer, The Book before Printing (1953) (New York: Dover
abondante dans Ie lac de Mexico" and, as second meaning, "livre, ouvrage."
Publications, 1982).
24. I cannot resist the temptation to recall that according to Curtius (EtJ�
18. Diringer, Writing, 86.
ropcan Literature, 313), exarare (to plough up) could also mean "to write,"
19. A. L. Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia (Chicago: University of
which, on the one hand, explains the comparison between book and field and,
Chicago Press, 1964), 230ff. ; Piotr Michalowski, "Early Mesopotamian Com
on the other, the fact that legere is used in noncultivated Latin in the sense of
municative Systems: Art, Literature, and Writing," in Illvestigating Artistic
Itgathcring and collecting."
Environments in the Ancient Near East, cd. Ann C. Gunter, 53-69 (Wash
25. Curtius, Europea11 Literature, 315.
ington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1990). A clear presentation of Egyp" 26. "Lingua mea calamus scribae velociter scribentis" (My tongue is tile
tian writing is Henry George Fischer, L'ecritttre et Part de PE:!Jyptc tlnciC1lIJc: pen ofa ready writer). Curtius, European Literature, 3Il.
Q}tatre ICyons sttr la paleographic et Pepigraphie pharaoniques (Paris: Presses
27. Jacques Lc Goff, Les intellectllels au Moyen Age (Paris: Editions du
Universitaires de France, 1986). Seuil, 1957); 90-97; Glenisson, Le livre, II5-63.
20. A roll was conceptualized in terms of the frame where either it stopped 28. Jack Goody, The Interface between the Written and the Oral (New
orwas cut and was called t011los(a cutting); hence our idea of "tomes," Spanish York: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 5 .
tomos. The Romans translated it as volttmen, a thing that is rolled or wound up. 29· Jose de Acosta, Historia natural y moral de las Indias (1590), ed.
Since long inscriptions, such as those dealing with the law or theological Edmundo O'Gorman (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1940),
narrativcs, needed more than one volume, they were called "voluminous." book 6, 285-90.
The Greeks also coined the word bibliotbeke to name tile place (boxes or 30. Translated by Maureen Dyokas.
rooms) in which biblos or papyrlls rolls were kept. The ancient Mexicans also 31. Acosta, Historia, book 6, chap. 8; italics mine.
named the object after the material it was made from, a11loxtli, and they 32. Translated by Maureen Dyokas.
derived from it the name for the place where it was stored, amoxpialoya, 33· Ascher and Ascher, Code ofthe Q]lip1l, 61-62.
a11lotlacentccoytl1l. The logic of naming is the same: the name of the object 34· Paul Zumthor, La lettre et la vob:: De la CfUterature» medievale
(Paris:
354 Editions du Seuil, 1987), r07-54; also Jean�Claudc Schmitt, La raison des nahuatl/' in Toltecayotl: Aspectos de la cultltra lUi/matI (Mexico City: Fonda
355
gutes dans t)Occident medieval (Paris: Gallimard, 1990), 239-51. de Cultura Economica, 1980), 53-71.
35. 11lstrltccio1J del Yllga D. Diego de Cam'o Tho Cuss; Yitpangui, cd. 52. There arc no unified criteria specifYing the name of the person in
Notes to Pages Notes to Pages
Maria del Carmen Martin Rubio (Madrid: Edicioncs Atlas, 1988), 128. charge of the military apparatus and the sovereign head ofa well-organized I04-9
87-[04
36. ilmallta, which Garcilaso de la Vega ( Co111clltarios reales de los Incas, religious and military community. Some suggest tlatoauij others tlatoqlli (plu
ed. Angel Rosenblatt (Buenos Aires: Emcee, 1943], book 2, chap. 27) trans� ral tlatoque). What is important, however, is that both are skillful in speaking
lares as '"philosopher," is not clear. The word is not registered before Gar and their names have the same root, tlatoa, which means "to speak," and also
cilasa. Some Andcanists surmise that it might have been Garcilaso's invention. to sing (Simeon, Dictiommire). The relationship between being skillful in
Either that or, because of the image of the lctrada (men oflctters) in Spanish speaking and being in a power position is well known in case studies of the
society, carly missionaries failed to see the similarities between those, in the ethnography of speaking.
Andes, who had the wisdom of the word (which Garcilaso called amamas) 53. Johannes Fabian, Time and the Other: HoJV Anthropology lvlal�es Its
and those, in Castile, who possessed the written word. Object (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983).
37· Bernardino de Sahagun, Florentine Codex (1578), trans. and ed. 54. Martin de Murua, Histrwia ge1Jeral del Pent (1590), ed. Manuel Bal
Charles E. Dibble, Arthur Anderson, and J. O. Anderson, 13 vols., bilingual lesteros (Madrid: Historia 16, 1986), book 2, chap. II.
edition (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press; Santa Fe: School ofAmeri 55. Translated by Maureen Dyokas.
can Research, 1956-69), book 6. In this edition, each volume corresponds to 56. It has been observed that in the European Middle Ages ·'reading" was
one of the twelve books. an activity quite different from that understood today. Sec Pierre Riche, Ecole
38. Sahagun, FlorC1ltine Codex, book 9. For more details, see chapter 4. et e1Jseigm:mC1lt dans Ie haut MoyCII Age (Paris: Den6cl, 1979); Fran�ois
39. An area located southeast ofMexico-Tenochtithin, between Mexico Richaudeau, La lisibilitc (Paris: Den6el, 1969); Zumthor, La lettre.
and Puebla. In colonial times Chalco was under the administration ofMexico, 57. Sahagun, Coloqllios, 90A; italics mine.
both in economic and religious matters. 58. Although according to the Christian idea the verb does not become
40. Don Francisco de San Anton Munon Chimalpain Cuahtehuanitzin, book (as is believed by Jews and Muslims, Pedersen, The Arabic Book) but
Rclaciolles originales de Cllalco Amaquemecan, ed. and trans. Silva Rendon flesh, and it reveals itselfin the words and deed of Christ, the idea of writing
(Mexico City: Fonda de Cultura Economica, 1982), 20-21. and the book is incorporated into Christian ideology with the New Testament
41. Translated by Maureen Dyokas. (Pelayo, "Las culturas del libro").
42. Chirnalpain, Rclaciones originales, 20-21. 59. Curtius, European Literature, 301-48.
43. Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochit, Obras historicas, ed. Edmundo O'Gor 60. Alfredo LOpez Austin, Educacion mexica: Autologia de documC1Jtos
man (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autonorna de Mexico, 1975), 1:527. sahag1t1Jtillos (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico,
44. Translated by Maureen Dyokas. 1985 ).
45. Jose Pau y Marti, ed., "El libro perdido de las phhicas 0 Coloquios de 61. "Otherness," like personal pronouns, is an empty and movable
los doce primeros misioneros de Mexico," in Estratto della Miscellanea Fr. categoty. It is not just Europe, the '"self-same," and the rest, the '"others"! See
EiJ,./c III (Rome: Tipografia del Senato, del Dottorc G. Bardi, 1924). Walter D. Mignolo, "Anahuac y sus otros: La cuestion de la letra en el Nuevo
46. "The Aztec-Spanish Dialogues 1524," trans. J. Jorge KIor de Alva, Mundo," Rel1ista Latinoamel'icmm de C,itica Litcraria 28 (1988): 28-53;
Alcheringa/Etl111opoetics 4, no. 2 (1980): 52-193; Los diaIogosde [524seg/il1 cl also Fritz Krammer, "The Otherness of the European," Cultltre and Hist01Y
texto de Fray Be171ardi1Jo de Sabagltn y SItS colaboradores il1digellas, cd. Miguel 16 (1989): 107-23.
Le6n-Portilla (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico, 62. Sabine MacConnack, "'Atahualpa and the Book," Dispositio 14 (1989):
1986). In IGor de Alva's translation, the first verse quoted here has the number 36-38. Henty L. Gates has perceived a similar phenomenon in nineteenth
770 instead of761. century slave narratives and used the metaphor ofthe talking book to describe
47. Brenth designates oral discourse, speech. In the codices it is generally communicative situations across writing boundaries. Gates's essay indirectly
indicated by the depiction of air escaping from the mouth. shows that similar episodes related to the interpretation ofwritten signs repeat
themselves in colonial situations. The talking book is an ur-trope ofthe
48. Sahagun, Coloquios y Doctrina Christiana (1565), trans. and intra. Anglo
Miguel Le6n-Portilla (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de American tradition that reveals the tensions between the Black vernacular and
the literate white text, bet\vcen the oral and the printed form of literary
Mexico) , 1981, chap. 6, B; italics mine.
discourse: "Literacy, the very literacy of the printed book, stood as the ulti
49. Translated by Maureen Dyokas.
mate parameter by which to measure the humanities of authors struggling to
50. Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario C1J lellgua castellana y 11lexica1Ja y me
define the African selfin Western letters." The SignifYing Monkey (New York:
xical1a castellana (1571) (Mexico City: Editorial POrrUa, 1971); Simeon, Dic
Oxford University Press, 1989), 131.
tiommire.
51. Miguel Leon-Portilla, '"EI testimonio de la historia prehispanica en 63. Clarnmer� Literacy and Social CIJallgeJ' Mudimbe, The Im'C1ltio1]
3 56 ofAfrica; Bloch, "Literacy and Enlightenment"; Calvet, Linguistiquc et colo� either/or positions. I perceive a complementary rather than a contradictory 357
nialismcj Martine Asticr Loutfi, Litternture et colonialisme: L'expmlSio1J CO� relation between them. At one level, it is possible to say that '"we human
Notesto Pages loniale vuc dans la litterature romanesqu£ francais£, 1871-1914 (Paris: beings are speech," taking speech as one of the features that distinguish Notes to Pages
Mouton, 1971). different species of living nervous systems. At another level, it seems quite
J09-IS 118-21
64. Sahagun, "Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy," Florentine Codex' obvious that human beings have turned speech into an instrument of human
book 6. semiotic interactions, including the organization and transmission of know1-
65. The Spanish version ofthis expression reads: " Todas las nacioncs, par edge and education, the organization ofsociety, the expression ofagreements
barbaras, y de baxD metal que ayan sido." Sahagun, Florentine Codex, 1:65. and disagreements, the control ofpeople and exercise of social power, and so
66. SahagUn, "Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy," part 7.
on.
67. Torquemada, Monarquia indiaua, book 13, chap. 6. 82. Derrida, De lagrammatologie.
68. Translated by Noel Fallows. 83. Jonathan Goldberg, Writi,W Matters: Froul the Hands ofthe E1Wlish
69. Juan Bautista Hue/met/atoll;: Testimonios de la antigun palabra Renaissance(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990); Mignolo "Coloniza
(1600), trans. Libando Silva Galeano (Mexico City: Secrctaria de Educaci6n
tion ofAmerindian Languages."
Publica, 1991).
84. This is nothing new. The fact that Aztec books were different from
70. Nahuatl specialists have studied these authors in relation to the
Spanish books is quite obvious. Robertson, for instance, places the word
httehuetlatolli in a precolonial context: Josefina Garda Quintana, "EXhorta
within quotation marks, but then proceeds to compare pre-Columbian paint
ci6n de un padre a su hijo: Texto recogido par Andres de Olmos," Estttdiosde
ingwith the European Renaissance(!). The problem does not lie in the "per
Cllltllm Nih/latin (1974): 137-82; Angel Maria Garibay, Histo"ia de In lit,,,
ception" ofthe different but in thinking within its framework. Robertson does
Mitra milmatl, 2 vols. (Mexico City: POmla, 1954); Thelma Sullivan, "The
perceive the difference, although his description ofthe Aztecs' "'books" makes
Rhetorical Orations, or Hllehlletlatolli," in Sixteenth-Century Mexico: The
one doubtful. See Mexican MantlScript Painting, 29ff.
Work ofSahag{m, ed. Munro S. Edmonson, 79-110 (Albuquerque: University
85. For a perspective on the practice, transmission, and conceptualization
ofNew Mexico Press, 1974); Don Paul Abbott, "The Ancient Word: Rhetoric
of writing in the Arabic world, see the wonderful book by Pederson, TIJe
in Aztec Culture," Rhetorica 3 (1987): 251-64.
71. See also Angel Garibay, La literattlm mihttat4 vol. I.
Arabic Book. Pederson is writing for a Western audience and naturally uses the
word book in the title. According to the previous discussion, the title should
72. See note 69. See also Walter D . Mignolo and Colleen Ebacher, "Al
have been The Arabic Kitab and al-Kitab, where the emphasis is put on
fabetizaci6n y literatura: Los huehuetlatolli como ejemplo de semiosis co·
human and holywriting rather than on the object that results from the inscrip
lonial," Aetas del XXII Congreso de Litemtztm Iberoamerieana 1992, ed. Jose
Ortega, (forthcoming). tion ofgraphic signs.
73. Maurice Bloch, cd., Political Language and Oratory in Tmditional 86. Ananda Wood has transcribed several autobiographical accounts from
Society (London: Academic Press, 1975). Keraia, in which learning the alphabet was coupled \vith the ritual ofhaving
74. Garibay, La litemtllra milmatI, 1:426. the letters inscribed on the tongue.
KnolVledge before Printing and Afte1': The
75. Translated by Noel Fallows. Indian Tradition in Changing Kerala (Bombay: Oxford University Press,
76. Maravall, "La concepcion del saber," 201-60; Roy P. Mottahedeh, 1985)·
The Mantle ofthe Propbet: Religion and Politics in Iran (NewYork: Simon and 87· John C. Eeles, Evolution o[the Brain: Greation o[the Self (London:
Schuster, 1985); Pedersen, TIJe Ambic Book. Routledge, 1989), 71-97; Derek Bickerton, Language and Species (Chicago:
77. Maravall, "'La concepcion del saber, 227-31, 239-50. University of Chicago Press, 1990), 164-97. I am following the approach
78. Pelayo, " Las culturas del libra," Revista de Occidente; Roger Chartier developed by Maturana and Varela, TIJe Tree ofKnolVledge, in particular, '"Lin
'"Distinction et divulgation: La civilite et ses livres," Lectures et lecteurs dans fa guistic Domains and Human Consciousness," 205-39.
France de PA1Jciw Rfgime (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1987) 45-86; Ulrich 88. By "restructuring of thought" I am not referring to the supposed
Gumbrecht, "The Body versus the Printing Press: Media in the Early Modem qualitative jump achieved by alphabetic writing. One ofthe difficulties of this
Period, Mentalities in the Reign of Castile, and Another Histoty of Literary thesis is that the paradigmatic example is always tlle classical tradition in the
Forms," Poetics 14, nos. 3-4 (1985): 209-27; Mignolo, '"Signs and Their West (see, for instance, Erick Havelock, "The Aftermath of the Alphabet," in
Transmission." The Literate Revolution in Greece [Princeton: Princeton University Press,
79. Sahagun, Florentine Codex, book 6, chap. 22. 1982], 314-50). I am rather referring to the extension of brain function once
80. SahagUn, Florentine Codex, book 6, chap. 22. visual means for recording and classifYing information began to be developed
81. An argument could be made that we human beings do not hm'e speech in human cultures. See Robert Claiborne, The Birth of Writitw (New York:
but that we are speech. This principle cannot be easily reconciled with the Time-Life, 1974). And for a more sophisticated approach, although heavily
"instrumentalist" view of speech because both have always been presented as rooted in the ideology of the consequences of (Westem) literacy and in Greek
3 58 "beginnings," sec D. Dc Kerchove and Charles J. Lumdscn, cds., The Alpha N.C., Duke University Press, 1994], 45 -66), See also her "Migration Histories 359
bet and the Brain: The Lateralizatioll of Writilw (London: Verlag, 1988), in as Ritual Performance," in To Change Place: Aztec Ceremonial Landscapes, ed.
particular, 235-32I. D. Carrasco, 121-51 (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1991).
Notes to Pages Notes to Pages
13. It is understandable that the practices of decoding signs would be
[25-32 [33-38
CHAPTER 3 conceived according to the materiality of coding signs and that in an alpha�
betically oriented society, decoding will mean decoding letters (see, for in�
I. An overview of this debate is presented in the collection edited by stance, Richaudeau, La lisibi/id). The point I am trying to make throughout
Patrick Gardiner, Theories ofHistory (Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1964), 344- this book is that the universalization ofregional semiotic practices is relative to
540. a locus of enunciation constructed in the process of analysis and not of a
2. Hayden White, TIJe Tropics of DiSCOll1'St': (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins transcendent or objective perspective.
University Press, 1978). More recently, and from the perspective of literary 14. Tovar'S letter to Acosta has been reproduced in Joaquin Garda Icaz�
studies, Lionel Gossman, Between History and Literatm'c (Cambridge: Har balcera, Don Fray JlIal1 de ZlIman'aga, Primer Obispo y Arzobispo de Mexico
vard University Press, 1990). A more extensive exposition of my own views on (Mexico City: Antigua Libreria de Andrade y Morales, 1881), 2:263-67.
the interrelations between history, literature, fiction, and truth could be found 15. Such a perspective could be found in every standard history ofwriting.
in Walter D. lvlignolo, '" Dominios borrosos y dominios te6ricos," Filologia 20 As we saw in chapter I, note 67, Geoffroy de Tory correlates "les lettres atti
(1985): 21-40, and "L6gica de las semejanzas y polfticas de las diferencias: qlles" with "les lettres
antiques." A cultural perspective has been developed
Sabre la literatura que parece historia y antropologia, y viceversa." Literl1tura morc recently by Erick Havelock in The Muse Learns to Write: Reflections on
e Historil1 na America Latina, cd. 1. Chiappini and Flavia Wolf de Aguiar Orality and Literacyfrom Autiquity to the PrcsC1lt (New Haven: Yale Univer
(Silo Paulo: EDUSP, 1993), lI5-34· sity Press, 1986) and The Literate Revolution in Greece and Its Cultural Co1lSe�
3. Walter D. Mignolo, "Literacy and the Colonization ofMemOty: Writ qtJences (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982).
ing Histories ofPeopie without History," in Literacy: Interdisciplinary C01l� 16. Joseph Naveh, Early Hist01Y of the Alphabet: An Introduction to West
versatiol1s, ed. Deborah Keller-Cohen (Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, 1994), 9I-u4. Semitic Epigraphy and Paleography (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1982); Harris,
4. Ranajit Guha, " On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial The Origin ofWl'iting; Senner, The Origins of Writing.
India," in Selected Subl1ite17l Studies, ed. Ranajit Guha and Gayatri C. Spivak 17. Ibn Khaldun, TIle Muqaddiwah: An Iutroduction to History, trans.
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 7-46. Franz Rosenthal, 3 vols. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1958).
5 . For a reflection on the historiography of colonial India, see Gayatri C. 18. Titus Livius, Ab ttrbe coudita, trans. B. O. Foster (Cambridge: HalVard
Spivak, "Subaltern Studies: Deconstructing Historiography," in Guha and University Press, Loeb Classical Library, 1919), I:4-U; Flavio Biondo, Histo
Spivak, Selected Subalte1'1l
Studies, 3-44· riamm ab illclinatione l'oma1J01'1lJll decades (Venice, 1484), translated by
6. Edouard Glissant, Caribbean Discourse: Selected Essays (1981; reprint Achille Crespi as Le decadi (ForH: Zauli, 1963), On Biondo's concept of his
Charlottesville: University Press ofVirginia, 1989), 64, 75, 76. tory, see Eric W. Cochrane, Hist01'iam and Historiography in the Italian Re�
7. Pane, Relaciollj Torquemada, MOllarquia indirwa. l1aissance (Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1981), 34-41. On las Casas's
8. Torquemada, frfolll11'quia indiana, book I, chap, II; italics mine. concept of history see his introduction to Historia de las Indias (written to
9. Nebrija, Reglas de 017ograjia, prologue. ward 1560).
10. L1.S Casas, Apologetica bistoria, 2:638; tran�. Noel Fallows. 19. Eric W. Cochrane, Historians and Historiography, and Florence il1 the
II. The opinion that history is made up of words and things ran through F01;gOttC1J Centuries, 1527-1800: A History of FlorC1Jce and the F/orC1ltilles in
those who merged a rhetorical philosophy of history grounded on Cicero with the Age of the Grand Dufus (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973);
a denotative philosophy of language predicated by Plato. For a summary of Donald J. Wilcox, The DevelOP111C1lt ofFlorentine Humanist Historiography il1
such perspective in the Italian Renaissance, see Giorgio Spini, "I trattatisti the Fifteentb Ceutmy (Cambridge: Hanrard University Press, 1969); Nancy
dell'arte storica nella Controriforma italiana," in C01Jtributi alia storia del Struever, TIle Language ofHistolY in tbe R£1laissancc: Rhetoric and Historical
COllcilio di Trento della COlltroriforma (Florence: Vallechi, 1948), 109-36; COllSciotlmess in Flormtine Huml111ism (Princeton: Princeton University
Girolamo Cottoneo, "I trattatisti deW Ars historica" (Naples: Francesco Press, 1970).
Giannini Editore, 1971). On New World historiography, see Walter D. Mig 20. An ovelView ofthis process from the perspective ofthe Arabic world is
nolo, "El metatexto historiografico y la historiografia indiana," Modem lan Amin, Eurocmtris11J, 89-117. The impact ofthe '"discovery" ofAmerica in the
guage Notes 96 (1981): 358-402. construction of Eurocentrism has been discussed extensively in O'Gorman,
12. I am indebted here to Elizabeth Hill Boone's lecture on "Aztec Pictorial The Inventio1J ofAmerica.
Histories: Record Keeping withoutWords" (delivered at Dumbarton Oaks on 21. Isidore of Seville, Etymologies, cd. Jacques Andre (Paris: Les Belles
March 22, 1991, published in Writing without Words: Altematil'e Literacies in Lcttres, 1981). Spanish translation by J. Gonzalez Cuenca (Salamanca: Uni
Mesoamerica and the Andes, ed, E. H. Boone and W. D. Mignolo [Durham, versidad de Salamanca, 1983).
22. Marcus Terentius Varro, On the Latin Language, trans. Roland G. 34- Leon-Portilla, Toltecayotl, 58ff. biographie" and
Kcnt, 2 vols. (Cambridgc: HalVard University Press, 1951). 35. Simeon translates tlatollotlas: "Historic, proces, vie, to the " biography"
NotestoPages 23· Isidore, Etymologies) book I, chap. 3. makes the distinction between different ways ofreferring Notes to Pages
24· A splendid ovelView ofliteracy and education during these centuries of different linguistic roles involved in tlle process of commun ication: 142-44
138-42 proccs; itlatollo , son
could be found in Pierre Riche, Education et clllture dans FOecidellt barbare motlatollo, ton
"notlatollO, mon proccs, rna biographasie;"proces,
6e-& siedes (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1962), translation by John Contreni a� prods." And he translates tetlatollo the problema vic, histoire de quelqu'u n"
Education and Culture in the Barbarian West, Sixth through Eighth Centurles (Diett"mmaire). What all this amounts to is tic concept of the self
(Columbia: University ofSouth Carolina Press, 1976). Chapter 6 is devoted to in Western and Mexican culture. Klordel de Alva ("Contar vidas: La auto
education oflaymen in Gaul and Spain. This chapter, as well as the book, offers biografia confesional y la reconstruccion serself nahua," Arbor 515-16 [1988]:
a contemporary perspective on many of the issues addressed by Aldrete in his 49-78) suggests tlmt the Western concept of was transmitted to Amerin
study on the origin ofCastilian language. dims through the Christian confession. mine.
25· Isidore, Etymologies, book 1, chap. 4. 36. Le6n-Portilla, Tolteeayotl, 60; italics
26. When Isidore has to identifY the origin of history, he does not rank 37. Translated by Maureen Dyokas. discur
Herodotus in first place. Since he has established that Greek and Latin letters 38. The distinction I am using here between discursive typesreand (Migno lo,
both originated in Hebrew (book I, chap. 3), it was natural to consider Moses ed elsewhe
siveconfigurations (or "formation") has been develop of discursive struc
the first historian who wrote about the beginning of the world: Herodotus "Que clase," and "Semiosis"), together with the notion
was just the first Greek historian. tures. The reason behind this distinction is to have a vocabula,rywithout that would
27· There are early fonnulations ofthis problem in Alan Dundes, "Meta allow us to compare discursive landscapes in diffe rent cultures get
folklore and Oral Literaty Criticism" Monist 50, no. 4 (1966): 505-16; Dan Western categorie
tinginto tlle difficulties ofusing culturally loaded or novel, as discursive s (history
Ben-Amos, "Analytical Categories and Ethnic Genres," Folklore Gem'cs 28 or literature, as discursive configurations; biography
(1976): 215-42; and Genevieve Calame-Griaule, Ethnologie et Inllgage: In, types) as theoretical constructs. en Espaiia,
parole chez Ie Dogon (Paris: Gallimard, 1965). An approach to genre criticism 39. Marcelino Menendez Pelayo, Histm'ia de las Meas esteticas as, 1974); An
from this perspective is found in Walter D. Mignolo, "Que clase de textos son 2 vols. (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investiga ciones Cientific
generos? Fundamentos de tipologia textual," Acta Poetica 4-5 (1982-83): tonio Garda-Berrio, Formacion de la tem'fa literaria modema , 2 vols.
25-51, and "Semiosis, Coherence, and Universes of Meaning," in Text and (Madrid: Planeta, 1977-80).
Diseollrse Couuectedness, ed. Maria-Elizabeth Conte, J. S. Petofi, and E. Sozer, 40. Several discursive types in several Amerindian languages are described
and presented in Munro S. Edmonson, ed., Literatures: Supplement Press, to the
483-505 (Amsterdam: John Benjamin, 1989). Universit y of Texas
28. Miguel Leon-Portilla, Toltecayotl: Estudios de wltura nahuati (Mex Handbook of Middle American Indians (Austin:
ico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1982). Of particular interest for our pur 1985). The tenn literature here is certainly a misnomer, according to the
poses are the following chapters: "TolteC<iyotl, conciencia de una herencia de perspective I am developing in this chapter. The discursive practice that in thea
cultura," 15-35; "EI Mexico antiguo, capitulo de la historia universal?" 36- West after the eighteenth century has been baptized literature is, like history,
52; "El testimonio de la historia pre-hispanica en Nahuatl," 53-71; "Una regional discursive practice whose universality went together with the spread
categorizacion de la historiografia Nahuatl y de la que a csta siguio en el siglo ofWesternliteracy. In sixteentl1-cenrury Europe poetrywas the term to identify
XVI," 72-100. a discursive practice that became "literature" (belles lettres). For more details,
29· Tula was the center ofToltec civilization around the ninth century, see Walter D. Mignolo, "Discllrsos pronunciados con el corazon caliente:
preceding the Mexica development, in the Valley of Mexico, between the Teorias del habla, del discurso y de la escritura," in America Latina: Palabra,
thirteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries. cu!tura, litemttlra, ed. Ana Pizarro (Sao Paulo: Memorial de America Latina,
30. Leon-Portilla, Tolteeayotl, 23; italics mine. 1994).
31. Leon-Portilla, Toltecayotl, I8. 41. This section departs from research I pursued in the late 1970S and
two
32. A Latin Dictionary, rev. Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (Ox papers published during the early 1980s. See "EI metatexto" and "La historia
ford: Clarendon Press, 1980). de la escritura y la escritura de la historia," in De la cronica a la mu:va narra
33· "La sociedad nahuatl prehispanica se sentia verdaderamente cn pose tive mexlcana, cd. M. H. Forster and J. Onega, 13-28 (Mexico City: Oasis,
sian de una herencia (toplaliz), de plena significacian cultural (yuhcatiliztli), 1986).
&Uto de la accion de los antepasados que debia proseguirse para fortalecer 10 42. Bernardo Boturini Benaducci, Idea de una 1lueva historiageneralde la
mas valiosos del propio ser." [The prehispanic Nahuatl society felt in posses America Septentrionnl (1746) (Paris: Centre de Documentation "Andre
sion ofa legacy (topializ), offull cultural signification (ytlhcatiliztli). They also Thcvet," 1933).
felt that their mission was to preseLVe and to continue such a legacy in order to 43. All quotations are from Tutte Ie opere di Giambattista Vico (Milan:
strengthen their own mode of being.] Leon-Portilla, Toltecnyotl, 17. Amoldo Mondadori Editore, 1957). PSNrefers to the 1744 edition Pl'i1lcipi di
Sciellza Nuova, and SNPto the 1730 edition, La scienza 1lttova prima. English
he e stata da
tutti finor creduta 'narrazione falsa.' Logos (}..Dy0S') si deffi�isce
translation by Thomas Goddard Bergin and Max Harold Fisch as The New ; vera parlarc, ' c volgann
cnte significa 'origine' overo 'istoria di VOCl'; .C
. . , "
Science ofGiambattista Vico, from the 3d cd., 1744 (Ithaca: Cornell University pervenute finor, dt aSSal poco soddlsfano 1 tntendl- Notes to Pages
Notes to Pages l'etimologie, quali ci sono
i delle case da esse voci significate" 154-66
145-54 Press, 1948).
� ento per le vcre istoric dintomo all'origin
44. "AlIa qual lingua corrisponciona i gerogUfici degli egizi, avera i loro ). Thus, ifthe Greek meaning ofJavola could be
(SNP' book 3, chap. 1, 895-96
caratteri sagri (de' quali s' intendevano i soli sacerdoti) . . . talche appa gli 11l1ltllS, and the favolewere the first expreSSIons ofthe
translated into the Latin'
egizi, greci e latini, si fatti parlari divini davettero essere ritruavati da' poeti . �
primal human bemg, lCO ncludcs �c � .
tIl t tIliS was a "parIar lmmuta
' 1 e."
b'l
teologi, che furono quelli della prima eta poetica, che fondarono queste tre 58. Boturini here IS ObVIOusly refcmng to
��
SNP (b o 3, chap. �5, 8 9-
nazioni" (SNP, book 3, chap. 25, 927-28). Vico explains the discovery of the pnnclp1e. of abstractI On
90) , in which
45· Vico, New Science, book 4, chap. 5, 306. ("carattcri poctici"), which was the
� � �
vocabuIary 0f thc '" nacl nc g nu '1cs "
46. Vico, New Science, 307. [heathen nations]. VicD gives the
example of the letter a, whIch �:.
1Od c tes a
. .
d on different occaSIOns and dif ferent
47. The language of the age of gods is expressed in hieroglyphs; the lan diversity of similar sounds produce
to
guage of the age of heroes in symbols or heroic enterprises (PSN, book 2, the triangle , a geometr ic abstract ion that indicates the diversity of
ways; or
occasions and in different ways.
chap. 4, 186). Vico is not clear on this point in the SNP. It is helpful to read , similar forms produced on different
PSN ('tLa seconda fu per impresse eroiche, con Ie quali parlano l'armi; la cual 59. SNp, book 2, chap. !.
favella, come abbiam sapra detto, reto alIa militar disciplina"). The language 60. Boturini, Idea, 32; italics mine.
of the age of men (or human beings), which Vico perceives in every nation at 61. For more detail about this topic see chapter 2.
the first halfof
his own time, is the articulated language, '"la lingua volgare" (prose), and the 62. !tis time to remind the reader that Vico, writing during
the basic premises of humanist
"letteri volgari" (alphabet). the eighteendl century, was rethinking some of
48. C. A. Burland, TIle Four Directions afTime: Al1Acco1t1Jt afPage One of and Renaissance men ofletters. See the classic study
by Andrea Sorrentino, La
Codex Feje1wuy kfayer (Santa Fe: Museum of Navajo Ceremonial An, 1950), eOllcezione estetica del lil1guagio
retotica e la poetica di Vieo: Ossia la prima
he could be linked
Burr Cartwright Brundage, TIle Fiftb Sun: Aztec Gods, Aztec World (Austin: (Turin: Fratelli Bocca, Editori, 1927), 1-73. In this regard,
University ofTexas Press, 1979), 3-30. In chapter 5 I will return to this topic to Valla's and Nebrija's philosophy oflanguage.
in relation to organization ofspace. 63. Juan Jose de Eguiara y Eguren, Bibliotbeca mexicana . . (Mexico .
49. There are unquestionably striking similarities between Vieo's City: Ex Nova Typographia in Aedibus Authoris Editioni Ejustem Bibli
Nacional Aut6n
Derrida's concepts ofwriting, and it would be interesting to know how much othecae Destinata, 1770; reprint Mexico City: Universidad
the anxiety of influence made Derrida bring Rousseau to the foreground and omade Mexico, 1986), 1:56.
relegate Vico to a couple offoomotes on the margin of the page. Sec Jurgen 64. Translated by Maureen Dyokas.
Trabant, "Parlare sel'ivenda: Deconstructive Remarks on Derrida's Reading 65. When discussing the conditions of truthfulness, sixteenth- and
need to
ofVico," in New Vieo Studies (New York: Institute for Vico Studies, 1989), seventeenth-century theoreticians of historiography accentuated the
them
7'43-58. match dle trudl ofthe narrative with the truth of the things (or events)
50. The diagram indirectly shows how alphabetically oriented arc mast of selves. From the beliefthat the truth is both in the narrative and in the events,
the current discussions on orality and literacy. it followed that history was made ofboth words and events. Good examples in
51. PSN, book 2, chap. 4, 190; italics mine. the Spanish world are provided by Cabrera de Cordoba, De bistoria pam
52. Vico, New Science, book 2, chap. 4, par. 435. entelldel'lay esel'ibil'la (16n), cd. Santiago Montero Diaz ( Madrid: Instituto
de
de la historia
53. Boturini, Idea, 2. Estudios Politicos, 1948); and Jeronimo de San Jose, Gmio
54· Boturini, Idea, 5. (1651), cd. Higinio de Santa Teresa (Vitoria: El Cannen, 1957). For a general
5 5 . On encyclopedias and their complicity with alphabetic writing, see the discussion of the topic, see Mignolo, "EI metatexto."
following chapter on genres and organization ofknowledge. For an introduc 66. Francesco Patritio, Della hist01'ia dieee dialogui: Ne'qMli si mgiolla di
tion to the nature and functions of Egyptian writing system, Henry George tuft Ie cose appal'tmmti all'hist01'ia, e alto scriverla, e all'ossel'val'la (Venetia:
Fischer, LVeritm'c et [Jan de fFgypte allciclllle: Qpatre fef01lS sttr la pa Andrea Arrivabenc, 1560).
/Cographie et fepigraphie pha1'ao1Jiqucs (Paris: Presses Universitaircs de 67. Jean Bodin, Metbodus ad faeilem histo1'ia1'lt111 eog1Jitionem (Paris:
France, 1986) and "The Origins of Egyptian hieroglyphs," in Senner, The M. Iuuenem, 1566). For the place ofJean Bodin in the sixteenth century and
Origins a/ Writing, 59-76. his influence in eighteenth-century concept of history, see Julian H. Franklin,
56. Boturini, Idea, 7. Jeal1 Bodin and the Sixtemth-Cmtll1Y Revolution iu the Methodology of Law
57. "Muros si difinisce 'narrazion vera,' e pure resto a significarc 'favola,' and History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963); see also,
Cotroneo, I trattatisti, and, more recently, Simone Goyard·Pabre
343-84; Janso Xthe Lca17led ofCastile and His Thirteenth�CC1ltttry Renaissance (Phila
'
Jean Bodiu et Ie droitde la Republique (Paris: Presses Universitaires de Prance, delphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990). On EI Gerundense, see Be
Notes to Pages 1989). nitO Sanchez Alonso, Historia de la historiografia espa1lola: E1l5nyo de lin ex· Notesto Pages
68, On Patrizi see Spini, "I trattatisti"j and Cotroneo, I trattatisti, 205- amen de conjimto (Madrid: Culrura Hispanica, 1944), vol. I; Robcrt Brian 179-94
166-79
64· Tate, Ensayos sobre ia historiografia peninsular del siglo Xv, trans. Jesus Diaz
69. A masterful summary is Elena Artaza, EI ars narralldi C1J el siglo XVI (Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1970).
espallol: Teor!a y practica (Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, 1989), 19. On the historians and historiography under Charles I of Spain and
Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, see A. Morel-Fatio, Historiographic de
CHAPTER 4 Charles 0,illt (Paris: H. Champion, 1913).
20. Edmundo O'Gonnan, Cuati·o historiadores de Indias, siglo XVI:
I. Pedro Martir de Angleria, Epistolario: DocmnC1Jtos ineditospam ia his Pedro MartiI' de Angleria, G01Jztilo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, Bartolome de
toria de Espalla, ed. and trans. Jose Lopez de Toro (Madrid: Imprenta las Casas, Joseph de Acosta (Mexico City: Secretaria de Educacion Publica,
G6ngora, 1953), 129, Januaty 5 , 1493, 9:235-36.
letter 1972), 13.
2. Gil Fermindez, Panorama, 231-90. 21. O'Gorman, ClIap'o bist01'iadores de Indias, IS .
3. Javier Malagon-Barcclo, "The Role of Letrado in the Colonization of 22. Wilcox, Florentine Humallist Historiography.
America," AmericaS I8 (1961): 1-17· 23. Cochrane, Historians and Historiography, IS-3D. See also Hans
4. Vega, C0111C1Jtarios, part I, ix, 29. Baron, From Petrarch to Leonardo Bruni: Studies ill Humanistic and Political
5. Ars rbet01ica, in Rheto]"es latini millOl'es, ed, Charles Halm, 371-448 Lit,ratttre( Chicago: Newberry Libraryand University of Chicago Press, 1968).
(Frankfurt: Minerva, 1964). 24. Martir d e Angleria, Decadas del Nuevo Mundo, decade 7, book I,
6. James V. Murphy, "An dictaminis: The Art of Letter-Writing," in chap. 1 .
Rhet01ic in the Middle Ages (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Califor 2 5 . Martir de Angleria, Decadas del NlIel'o Mundo, decade 7, book 1,
nia Press, 1974), 194-268; John Siegel, "Prom Dictatores to the Humanists," chap. !.
in Rhetoric and Philosophy in RmaisJallce Hllmanism (Princeton: Princeton 26. Juan Bautista Avalle�Arce, "Las memorias de Gonzilo Fernandez de
University Press, 1968); Cannen Castillo, "La epistola como genero literario: Oviedo," in Dintomo de una epoca dorada (Madrid: POmla Turanzas, 1978),
De la antigiiedad a la edad media latina," Estlldios ClasicoS I8
(1974): 427-42; 101-19.
J. N. H. Lawrence, "Nuevos lectores y nuevas generos: Apuntes y observa 27. Cochrane, Historians and Historiography, 15-16.
ciones sobre la epistolografia en cl primer Renacimiento espanol," Academia 28. Lisa Jardine, Francis Bacon: Discovery and the Art ofDiscourse (Cam
Literaria Rwacmtista 5 (1988): 81-99· bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974).
7. See, for instance, Juditll Rice Henderson, "Defining the Genre of the 29. Collison, Encyclopaedias.
Letter: Juan Luis Vives' De Conscribmdis Epistolis," Renaissance and Refor 30. Sahagun, Flol'entine Codex, 1:105-6; italics mine. The fact that Sa
mation 19, no. 2 (1983): 89-105. hagUn's manuscript ended up in Florence should corne not as a surprise after
8. Paul Oskar Kristeller, Renaissance Thought and the Ans (Princeton: the previous discussion.
Princeton University Press, 1980), 9. 31. Alfredo L6pez Austin, "The Research Method of Fray Bernardino de
9. Peter Martyr, De o1"be novo decades (Akahi d e Henares, 1530). Trans. SahagUn: The Questionnaires," in Edmonson, SixteC1lt!J-Ccntmy Mc'deo, 111-
Joaquin Torres Asensio as Decadas del Nuevo Mundo (1892; reprint, Buenos 49·
Aires: Bajel, 1944), 105. 32. SahagUn, Florentine Codex, 1:105-6.
10. Translations from Martyr are by Maureen Dyokas. 33. Luis Nicolau d'Olwer, Fra.'V Bemardil10 de Sahagltn (1499-[590),
II. Martir de Anglcria, Epistolario, lettcr 130, May 14, 1493, 9:236-37. trans. Mauricio J. Mixco (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1987).
12. Chimalpain, Relaciones originales, II4. 34· SahagUn, Florentine Codex) 1:106-7; italics mine.
13. Translated by Maureen Dyokas. 35. John B. Glass, SabagltTl: Rem;ganizatioll of the Mamlscr#o de
14. Francesco Guicciardini, The History of Italy (1561), trans. and cd. Tlatelolco) 1566-1569) Contributions to the Ethnohistory of Mexico, no. 7
Sidney Alexander (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), book I. (Lincoln Center, Mass.: Conemex Associates, I978).
15. Martir de Anglcria, Epistolario, lctter 92, March II, 1492, 9:171-72. 36. Sahagun, Florentine Codex} 1:31-32; italics mine.
16. Martir de Angleria, Epistolario, letter II4, September I, 1492, 9:2IO-Il. 37· See chapter 6 for more details about Juan de Ovando's contribution to
17. Martir de Angleria, Epistolario, letter 121, October II, 1492, 9:220. gathering and organizing infonnation about the Spanish Indies.
Curiously enough, this letter, predicting the Italian ruin and wondering abollt 38. Donald Robertson, '"The Sixteenth-Century Mexican Encyclopedia of
the French attirude, was written the day before Columbus's landing. Fray Bernardino de Sahagun," Cahiers d'Historie Mondiale 9 , no. 3 (1966):
18. On Alfonso el Sabio, see Robert Bums, ed., Emperor of Culture: AI- 617-26 .
39. F. G. Ritsch, De M. Termtii Varronis Disciplillaru11l libris commcn� 48. There is another dimension ofliteracy and resistance illustrated by the
tariolts (Bonnae, 1845), opusc. 3, 352-402.
documentation related to testaments, land litigations, and other forms oflegal
Notes to Pages 40. Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, Gencral y natural historia de disputes whose integration in my argument would force a long detour. Sec, Notes to Pages
las Indias, islas y tierra:firme del mar oceano, 4 vols. (Madrid: Imprenta de la
I97-204 however, F. Karttunen, "Nahuatl Literacy," in The Inca and Aztec States: 204-7
Rcal Academia de la Historia, 1855). Two of the classical articles on Oviedo y 1400-I800, cd. G . A. Collier, R. Rosaldo, and j. D. Wirth (New York: Aca
Valdes are O'Gonnan, Cuatro bistoriadores de Indias, 47-86; and Juan demic Press, 1982), 395-417; and A. Anderson et al., Beyond the Codices: TIle
Bautista Avalle¥Arce, Dil1t017lO de una epoca dorada (Madrid: Porma Nahuatl View of Colonial Mexico (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
Turanzas, 1978), 101-36. For the place of Oviedo y Valdes in the context of California Press, 1976). I am limiting my examples to the philosophy of writ
New World historiography, see Walter D. Mignolo, "Cartas, cr6nicas y rela ing (and therefore to the sphere of "high culture") and the frame it provided
ciones del descubrirniento y la conquista," in Historia de la literatura bis� for writing grammars of Amerindian languages and histories of Amerindian
panoamel'icana: Epoca colonial, ed. Inigo Madrigal, 57-n6 (Madrid: cultures, rather than to the consequences manifested in particular cases in
Catedra, 1982). On the organization of and other discursive aspects of the which Spanish grammarians and historians could have been transformed by
Hist01'iageueral, see Stephanie Merrim, '''Un Marc Magno e Oculto': Anat� intercultural experiences. At the same time, I am limiting my examples of
amy of Fermindez de Oviedo's Historia general y natuml de las Indias," resistance to the sphere of interactions framed by members and representa�
Revista de estudios hispallicosIl (1984): 101-19; and on its encyclopedic charac rives of Spanish literate culture. While I hope that my argument does not
ter, the chapter that Jose Rabasa devotes to Oviedo y Valdes in his IuvC11ting convince the reader that I am celebrating "high culture," at the same time I
America (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993). hope the reader will understand that a critical examination ofits phenomena is
4I. Francisco Hernandez, Historia natural de Cayo Plinio Segundo, trans. no less relevant than exploring more "popular" ones.
Francisco Hernandez (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mex 49. Some ofthe basic studies on the issue are Bernard Weinberg, Hist01y of
ico, 1966). A master summary of scientific practice in colonial Mexico and the Literary Criticism ill the Italian Renaissance (Chicago: University of Chicago
role played by Hernandez can be found in Elias Trabulse, "Tres momentos de la Press, 1961); Antonio Garcia Berrio, F01'111acion de la teoria litera ria 1110dc1'1Ja:
heterodoxia cientifica en el Mexico colonial," Revista Latinoamericana de Reuacimimto Europeo (Madrid: Plancta, 1977); and Barbara Kiefer Lewalski,
Hist(wia de las Cimcias y la Tecnologia 5, no. 1 (1988): 7-18. cd.) Renaissance Genres: Essays 011 TIle01Y, Hist01Y, and Interpretation (Cam�
'
42. Ritsch, Disciplinarum libris commmtarius; Francesco Della Corte, bridge: Harvard University Press, 1986).
Varrone, il terzo gran lume romano (Genoa: Francesco M. Bozzi, 1954); 50. European intellectuals and political leaders are becoming aware ofthe
Jacques Fontaine, Isidore de Seville et la culture classique dam FEspagne challenge of a multiethnic world to the classical tradition. Fonner British
wisigothique (Paris: Etudes Agustiniennes, 1983). prime minister Margaret Thatcher, in her Burger speech, invoked the com
43. Francis Bacon, Novum 01;gm11t111 (1620), vol. 4 of TIle Works of mon experience rooted in the European classical tradition and celebrated
Francis Bacou, ed. J. Spedding, R. L. Ellis, and D. D. Heath (London, 1857- (without apologies) the story of how Europeans explored, colonized, and
74), 292-93; italics mine. This very idea was already expanded on in The civilized much of the world, as a venture of talent, skill, and courage (see
Adl'allcemC1Jt ofLeaming (1605), book 2, chap. 1, and further developed in Yasmin Alibhai "Community Whitewash," Guardian, January 23, 1989). A
De Augmentis Scimtiamm (1623), book I, chap. I. I have benefited mainly telling example of the perpetuation of fractured symbolic worlds in colonial
from two studies on Bacon and the organization of knowledge: Jardine, situations is provided by Lucy R. Lippard, Mixed Blessings: Nelli Art in a
Francis Baco1J; and Antonio Perez� R.."lmos, Fra ucis Bacon's Idea a/Science and Multicultural America (New York: Pantheon Books, 1990).
the kfaker}s Knowledge Tradition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988). 51. Mercedes de la Garza, Litemtum maya (Caracas: Biblioteca
44. For a useful overview of 11111 al�Tarij", an expression embracing both Ayacucho, 1980), prologue; Victoria Bricker, "'Yucatecan Maya Literature,"
annals and biographical narratives, from the third to the thirteen century, see In Literatures, supplement to Handbook o/kfiddle American Illdiam{Austin:
Hamilton A. R. Gibb, Studies flU the CiJlilizatioll ofIslam (Princeton: Prince� University of Texas Press, 1985), 3:44-63.
ton University Press, 1982), 109-37. 52. Recent editions of these two well-known Books of Chilam Balnm,
45. For the meaning of kitab and its social and ideological dimensions in Munro S. Edmonson, ed. and trans., TIle Ancicnt Future ofthe Itza: The Book
the Arab tradition, see Pederson, The Arabic Book, 12-19. af Chi/am Balnm of Tizimil1 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982), and
46. Gonzalbo Aizpuru, El mUl1do indigC1Ja; Romero, La ensefJa1tza del Heaven Born Merida and Its Destiny: The Book ofChilam Bnlam ofClmmayel
Latin. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986).
47. See the masterful summary by Enrique Florescano, "La reconstruc 53· fullph L. Rays, The Baal, oj' Chiiam Ba/am oj'ClJ1I11layei (Washington,
cion hist6rica elaborada por la nob1cza indigena y sus descendientes mes D.C.: Carnegie Institution ofWashington, 1933).
tizos," in La memoria y el olllido (Mexico City: Secretaria de Educaci6n Pllb 54· Royce, Boo!? of Chilam Bala11l, 3.
lica, 1985), II-20. 55 · Ram6n Arzapalo Marin, '''The Indian Book in Colonial YUCatan" (pa-
per presented at the conference The Book in the Americas, John Carter Brown the similarities between the current ideology on tlle magical power ofliteracy
Library, Providence, R.I., June 18-21, 1987, mimeo).
with those of French encyclopedists and Spanish missionaries and men of
56. Jose Maria Lopez Pinero, Ciencia y tecnica en la sociedad &spmlo/a de
Notesto Pages letters. Notes to Pages
207-13
los siglos XVI y XVII (Barcelona: Labor Universitaria, 1979), 192-96. 68. Roland Scollon and Suzanne Scollon, Linguistic Conve1lJence: An 2[3-22
57. Marin, "Indian Book."
Ethnography of Speaking at Fort Chipewyan (New York: Academic Press,
58. Geronimo de Mendieta, Historia eclesitistica indiana (1597) (Mexico 1979) ; Calame-Griaule, Etlmologie et lal1gage; Richard Bauman and Joel Sher�
City: Parma, 1954), book 2, chap. 20.
zer, eds., Explorations ill the Etbnography of Speaking (Cambridge: Cam�
59. Maravall, "La concepcion del saber," I:220ff.
bridge University Press, 1974); Gary Gossen, "To Speak with a Heated Heart:
60. While this kind of perspective is understandable in the sixteenth cen� Chamula Canons of Style and Good Performance," in Bauman and Sherzer,
tury, its persistence in the twentieth century is more troublesome (Abbott, Explorations, 389-413.
"The Ancient Word"). It suggests that in the realm of linguistic behavior, as 69. Victoria Bricker, "The Ethnographic Context of Some Traditional
well as in other aspects of the colonization, sixteenth-century images of the Mayan Speech Genres,'" in Bauman and Sherzer, Explorations, 369-87. More
Amerindian are still alive and well. recently, the question of genres in the Yucatan peninsula has been undertaken
61. Leon-Portilla, Toltecayotl, and "Nahuatl Literature," in Edmonson, by William Hanks . Sec, for instance, his "Discourse Genres in Theory and
Literatures, 3:7-43. Practice," American Ethnologist 14, no. 4 (1987): 668-92, and "Elements of
62. Folklorists have provided useful insights into the general issue of Maya Style," in Word and Image in Maya Cllltllre: Explorations in Lal1guage,
discourse classification while avoiding Western genre history and theory. Sec, Writing, and Representation, cd. William F. Hanks and Don S. Rice, 92-III
for instance, Dundes, "Metafolklore"; and Ben�Amos, "Analytical Catego� (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1989). For Bakhtin, see Speech
ries." I find Bakhtin's perspective as expressed in Speech Genres, 60-102, akin Genres, 60-102; and Mignolo, "Semiosis."
to Dundes and Ben�Amos. I have dealt witll some of the theoretical problems 70. Gary Gossen, "Chamula Genres ofVerbal Behavior," in Toward New
of discourse classification, taking Dundes, Ben�Amos, and Bakhtin as a start� Perspectives in Folklore, cd. A. Paredes and R. Bauman, 145-67 (Austin: Uni�
ing point, in "Que clase de textos son generos? Fundamentos de tipologia versity of Texas Press, 1972).
textual," Acta Poetica 4-5 (1982-83): 25-51, and in "Semiosis." 71. Gossen, Cha11lu/as, 89·
63. Mignolo, "(Rc)modeling the Letter," 357-94· 72. Gossen, "To Speak," 412.
64. Dennis Tedlock, The Spokel1 Word and theAnoflnterpretation (Phila
delphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982). CHAPTER 5
65. If, on the one hand, there is a general agreement on the nonexistence
of "metalanguages" (and prejudice against them), the use of language (or I. Pasquale d'Elia, cd., II mappamondo cinese del p. Matteo Ricci
discourse) to describe the uses oflanguage (or discourse) is different from the (Pechino, 1602) (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1938), 25;
uses oflanguage to give order or to describe nonlinguistic (semiotic) interac Fonti Ricciallc (Rome: Edizione nazionale delle opere edite e inedite di Mat�
tions. On the other hand, the logic of the diagram does not work according to teo Ricci, 1942), vol. I.
the standard "semiotic square": conceptualizations of oral and written inter 2. d'Elia, II mappamol1do cinese, 27·
actions, being themselves eitller oral or written, cannot be interpreted as con 3. Ricci's world map as reprinted in d'Elia, II mappamolldo ciTuse, 25.
tradictory with the level of oral and written interactions. 4. Joseph Needham and Wang Ling, Science and Civilization in China
66. This thesis has been advanced in the influential article by Jack Goody (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959), 3 :50Iff.
and Ian Watt, '"The Consequences of Literacy," Comparative Studies il1 So 5. For a more detailed, sophisticated analysis of the "nested square
ciety and Histmy 5 (1963): 304-45. Some of the ideas have been revised and map," in the context ofancient Chinese cosmology, see John S. Major, "The
expanded in Goody, Intelface. In the humanities, tlle question was considered Five Phases, Magic Squares, and Schematic Cosmography," in Explorations in
by Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing o[the Word (Lon Em-Jy Chinese Cosmology, Jom'llal ofthe A11lenCall Academy ofReligion Studies
don: Methuen, 1982). For critiques of the position defended by Goody and 2(1984): 133-66.
Ong, sec Brian V. Street, Literacy il1 Theory a1ld Practice (New York: Cam 6. Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Carreri (1651-1725), Giro del Mondo
bridge University Press, 1984), 19-128; and Ruth Finnegan, Literacy and (Napoli, 1699); my reference is to the French translation, Voyage dtt toltr du
Orality: Studies in the Tee/mology of Communication (Oxford: Blackwell, monde (Paris: E . Ganeau, 1719), vol. 4·
1988). 7. I have to resist the temptation to compare the conversations between
67. Maurice Bloch has traced contemporary thinking about the conse dle Franciscan friars and the Mexica principales with the conversation in
quences of literacy back to eighteenth-century French philosophes and en China between the Jesuits and the Chinese mandarins, almost a century later.
cyclopedists in '"Literacy and Enlightenment." It is not difficult to perceive See Bernard Hung-Kay Luk, "A Serious Matter of Life and Death: Learned
3 70 Conversations at Faoehow in 1627," in East Meets T-Vest: The Jesuits in China, 16. John Brian Harley, "Maps, Knowledge, and Power," in TIle iconogra- 3 71
[S82-I773, cd. Ch. E. Ronan and Bonnie B. C. Oh, 173-207 (Chicago: phy of Landscapes: Essays Oil the Symbolic Representation, Design, and Use of ----
Notes to Pages Loyola University Press, 1988). PastEmdr01l11lC1Jts, cd. D. Cosgrove and S. Danicis,277-312 (London: Cam- Notes to Pages
8. The invention ofthe globe to depict the shape ofthe earth emphasizes bridge University Press, 1988), and "Deconstructing the Map," Car-
222-25 226-30
the mobility of the geometric center. This example does not contradict my togl'aphica 26, no. 2 (1989): 1-20. See also Walter D. Mignolo, "Comments
argument but rather reinforces it. This is so, first, because the mobility of the on Hadey's 'Deconstructing the Map,' " Cmtographica 26, no. 3 (1989):
geometric center attained in the tcrraqueous globe cannot hide the fact that 109-13.
the globe was a Western invention at a particular point of its history (toward 17. For the changing conception oftime during the thirteenth century and
the cnd of the fifteenth century and at the beginning of the age of explora the emergence ofthe idea ofprogress, sec Robert Nisbet, Histmy ofthe Idea of
tions). Second, when the globe is depicted on a flat surface some place has to Progress (New York: Basic Books, 1980), 77-100. For the changing concep
occupy the center. Ricci's move suggests that the center is not only dctcr� tion ofspace toward the end of the fifteenth century, see W. G. L. Randles, De
mined by ethnic and cognitive reasons, but by political strategies as well. la terre plate nIt globe ten-estre: Une mutation tpistcmologique rapide [480-
9. David Woodward has described a drastic change in the European or [520 (Paris: Armand Colin, 1980).
dering ofspace toward the beginning ofthe fifteenth century witp. the transla r8. Alexander Marshack, TIle Roots of CiJlilization: The Coglliti11e Begi1J
tion into Latin of Ptolemy's Geography, the increasing uses of geometric llillg of Man)s First An-, Symbol, and Notation (New York: McGraw-Hill,
projections, as well as the flourishing period oftransoceanic explorations. See 1972).
his " Maps and the Rationalization of Geographic Space," in Levenson, Circa 19. RudolfArnheim, The Power ofthe Cellter: A Study ofComposition in the
1492, 83-87. This fact does not place European cartographers in any priv VisllalAlts, 2d ed. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press,
ileged position, however. Needham and Ling, Science and Civilization, 533 - 1988), H2, 36-50.
61, move away from a uniform and evolutionary history of human civilization 20. The dialectic between place as a reference point and space as a net
and compare diverse rhythms of cultural developments in China and Europe. work of places and emptiness has been discussed by Yi-Fu Tuan, Space alld
Quantitative and geometric ordering of space was not alien to the Chinese, Place: The Perspecti11e of Experience (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
although they did not usc it in the same way that Europeans did. The Chinese Press, 1977), 34-50.
did not have the interrupted tradition of geometric cartographic projection 21. Charles Lumsden and Edward Wilson, Promethean Fire: Reflections Oil
described by Woodward, but a continuous one from the first century A.D. to the .origin ofMind (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983). For a more
the arrival of the Jesuits. Ptolemy, on the other hand, was known in the Arab suggestive formulation of the problem I am trying to sketch here, see Varela,
world much sooner than in Christian Europe. See below, the section on Ibn Thompson, and Rosch, TIle Embodied Mind, 147-84. I will come back to this
Khaldun. issue in the Afterword.
10. See Helen Wallis, "The Influence of Father Ricci on Far Eastern Car 22. Leo Bagrow and R. A. Skelton, Hist01Y of Can-ography (Cambridge:
tography," Imago Mundi 19 (1965): 38-45; Kenneth Ch'en, "Matteo Ricci's Cambridge University Press, 1964), 33, reported that a manuscript by a Mile
Contribution to, and Influence on, Gcographical Knowledge in China," jour sian scholar from the sixth century B.C. was recently discovered and that this
llal ofthe American Oriental Society 59 (1939): 325-509; Edward Heawood, manuscript describes the supposed composition of the earth in seven parts:
"The Relationships of the Ricci Maps," GeographicaljoltY1Jal 50 (1917): 271- head and face in the Peloponnesus, backbone in the isthmus, diaphragm
76. For a general account of the Jesuits in China sec George H. Dunne, in Ionia, legs in the Hellespont, feet in the Thracian and Cimmerian Bos
GeneratiollS ofGiants: The St01yofthejemits in China in the Last Decndcsoftbe phorus, epigastrium in the Egyptian sea, hypogastrium and rectum in the
Millg Dynasty (Wcst Lafayette, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1962). Caspian.
n. Wallis, "Influence ofFathcr Ricci," 42-43. 23. Armin Wolf., "News on the Ebstorf World Map: Date, Origin, Au
12. Ch'en, "Ricci's Contribution" thorship," in Geographie du moude au Moym Age et a la Rcnaissance,
13. Chang Wei-hua, quoted by Ch'en, "Ricci's Contribution," 348. cd. Monique Pelietier, 51-68 (Paris: CTHS, 1989), and "Die Ebstorfer Wclk
14. Fabian, Timc and the Othc1: karte als Denkmal eines Mittelalterlichen Welt- und Geschichtsbildes,"
15. This image is preserved, perhaps unwittingly, when scholars pay atten Gcschichte in Wisscllschaft lind U1Jterricht 8 (1957): 316-34; Aaron Gurevich,
tion only to the European side of the coin, studying, for example, the Euro Categories ofMediCJIal Culture (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985),
pean impact in China (Theodore N. Foss, "A Western Interpretation of 41-92 .
China: Jesuit Cart0brraphy," and Harriet Vanderstappen, "Chinese Art and the 24. A . C . Graham, "The Date and Composition ofLiehtzyy." Asia Majm;
Jesuits in Peking," both articles collected in Ronan and Oh, East Meets West, n.s., 8 (1961): 139-98.
209-51 and 103-27, respectively) without looking at the resistance to it or 25. A. C. Graham, The Book oJLieh-tzll (London: Murray, 1960), 67-68.
the Chinese's own uses, adaptations, and transgressions ofEuropean borrow 26. On the center in religious thought, see Mircea Eliade, Patterns in
ing as well as the Chinese impact on European culture. Comparative Religiol1 (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1958), 367-87; and
this regard it is important to
37 2 James Dougherty, The Fivesqttarc City: The City in the Religiolls Imagination tems, record keeping, and territorial ordering. In 3 73
(West Lafayette, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1980). For the Andes keep in mind, for instance, what we could call the "two Ptolemaic traditions."
Notesto Pages see Joseph W. Bastien, Mountain of the Condor: Metaphor and Ritual il1 an In the Arabic world, Ptolemy was rehearsed by AI-Idrisi (born around the Notes to Pages
Andca1J Ayllu (Minneapolis: West Publishing, 1978); and Lawrence Sullivan, beginning of the twelfth century), while he entered the " West" toward the
230-36 237-40
of
"Above, Below, or Far Away: Andean Cosmogony and Ethical Order," in second half of the fifteenth centuI)'. See S. Maqbul Ahmad, "Cartography
CostnogollY and Ethical Order: NeJV Studies in Comparative Ethics, ed. R. W. a1_Sharlf-a1-Idrisl," in 17" History JCarto
o graphy: Cartograpby in the Tmdi
Lovin and F. Reynolds, 98-131 ( Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985). tional Islamic and South Asian Societies, ed. J. B. Harley and D. Woodward
For the relationships established by humans between the structure of the (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 2:156-74.
cosmos and record keeping, see Mircea Eliadc, Cosmos and History (New 35. See A. 1. Wensinck, The Ideas of the Western Semites Concerning the
York: Harper and Row, 1959). Navel of the Earth, Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wet
27. Alfredo Lopez Austin, Cucrpo humano c ide% gia: Las concepciones de ernschappen te Amsterdam, n.s., vol. 17, no. I (Amsterdam: Mdeeling Let
los allti,gllos naJmfls (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexi terkunde, 1916).
co, 1980), 1:397-99. 36. Bernard Lewis, TIJe MttSli11l Discovery of Europe (New York: W. W.
28. Cosmas Indicopleustes, Topographie chrctienne (A.D. 547-49), ed. Norton, 1982), 59-60.
Wanda Wolska-Conus (Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1968), I: book 2, pars. 24- 37. On the significance ofIbn Khaldun's history writing, see the previous
28. chapter, and Yves Lacoste, Ibll IChaldtm: The Bi1th ofHistory and the Pastofthe
29. See Denys Hay, Europe: The Emel;gence ofan Idea (Edinburgh: Uni Third World (London: Verso, 1984).
versity of Edinburgh Press, 1957). 38. The plan ofTenochtitlan appeared in the first edition of Cortes's let
30. Isidore of Seville, Etimologiarttm sive originttm: Libri X, ed. W. M. ters published in Nuremberg in 1524. The information was supposedly pro
Lindsay (19U; rpt. London: Oxford University Press, 1957). vided by Cortes himself.
31. Also Indicopleustes, Topographie chretiemu, I:book 2, par. 24, for the 39. Hernan Cortes, Cartas de Relacion de la COllquista de la Nueva Es
naming of the three continents. T/0 maps were one of the four types ofmaps pana al Emperador Car/os V, 1529-2?, trans. A. Pagden as Hernan Cortes:
or "descriptio." See David Woodward, "Medieval Mappmntwdi," in The His Letters from Mexico (New York: Grossman, 1971), hereafter cited as Letters
tory of Cartography, ed. B . Harley and David Woodward, 1:286-369 from Mexico.
(Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1987). I emphasize them because they 40. On the possible connections between the Spanish administrators
are largely responsible for the sixteenth-century idea that a fourth part of the (Council of the Indies) and the Roman tradition of mapping and land sur
world had been discovered. Neither the Chinese nor the Arabs conceived the veyors, see the next chapter. Regarding the Roman innovations in land survey
world divided in three parts. ing, sec O. A. W. Dilkc, TIJ£ Roman Land Surveyors: An Introduction to the
32. Diego Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar Agrimemores (Newton Abbot: David and Charles, 1971), and "Maps in the
(1581) trans. and ed. Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden (Nonnan: Uni Service ofthe State: Roman Cartography to the End ofthe Augustan Era," in
versity of Oklahoma Press, 1971). Harley and Woodward, The History oJ Cartography, 201-11.
33. A classical description ofthe first page of the Codex Fcjervary-Mayer, 41. "I immediately set about building four brigantines, which I finished
which depicts the four (or five) directions of time, is in Burland, FOllr Direc veI)' quickly, and they were made so that they could carty three hundred men
tions ofTime. A reconstruction ofit, placing the Templo Mayor, is in Eduardo to the shore, and bring the horses whenever the need arose." Cortes, Letters
Matos Moctezuma, The Aztecs (New York: Rizzoli, 1989), 93-110. For a from Mexico.
general discussion ofthe "shape oftime" as applied to Mesoamerican cultures, 42. Nigel Cameron and Brian Blake, Peking: A Tale oJThree Cities (New
see Clemency Coggins, "The Shape of Time: Some Political Implications of York: Harper and Row, 1965), 119. For useful comparisons between
the Four-Part Figure," American Antiq1lity 45 (1980): 727-39. A detailed ceremonial centers in China and the New World (among others), see Paul
description also appears in Miguel Le6n -Portilla, "C6dice mesoamericano Wheatley, The Pivot of the Four Q!eane1's: A Preliminary EnqttilY into the
Fejervary-Mayer," in TOllalamatl de los Pochtecas (Mexico City: Celanese Me Origins and Character ofthe Allcimt Chinese City (Chicago: Aldine, 1971).
xicana, 1985), 29-31. 225-43·
34. The reader may be wondering what is the justification for bringing an 43. What Wheatley calls "cosmo-marginal thought" I here refer to as
Arabic thinker into the discussion. There are several. First, Columbus brought "ethnic rationalization of space." I am interested in underlining alternative
a translator who knew Arabic on his first voyage; second, the discussion on modes of rationalizing space instead of looking at it in chronological, evolu·
Aldrete in the first chapter underlined the presence of the Arabic world in tionaty, and hierarchical order. For a useful comparison of ancient Chinese
Christian Spain. And, finally, one of my goals in writing this book is to work and ancient Mesoamerican cosmologies, see John Carlson, "A Geometric
across cultures, in a nonevolutionary way, looking at coexisting writing sys- Model for the Interpretation of Mesoamerican Sites: An Essay in Cross-
3 74 Cultural Comparison," in Mesoamerican Sites and Wo1'id� Views, cd. Elizabeth scholars. Acuna between 1984 and 1989 published over 150 relacio1l&s ofMex 3 75
P. Benson, (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Libraty and Col ico, all ofthem from the sixteenth centul)'. Solano edited a considerable num
Notes to Pages lections, 198!) 143-216. ber of relaciolles geograjicas from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Notes to Pages
241-46
44· David Carrasco, "City as Symbol in Aztec Thought: The Clues from 55. Studies such as those ofGal)' Urton, At tbe Crossroads ofthe Earth al1d 247-49
the Codex Mendoza," History ofReligiol1S20 (1981): 199-223. the Sky (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981), and The History of a lrfyth:
45. The Western four cardinal points arc an easy way to place the colors Pacm'itambo and the Origin of the Inkns (Austin: University of Texas Press,
and symbols ofAztec cosmovision, but they arc also misleading because they 1990), are telling examples ofsuch survivals. See also Alfonso Villa Rojas, "Los
belong to a different worldview. From a Western perspective, one runs the risk conceptos de espacio y tiempo entre los grupos rnayances contemporaneos,"
of believing in the ontology of the four cardinal points and saying that, in in Tiempo y renlidad C11 el pe1lSamimto Maya, ed. Miguel Lcon-Portilla, II9-
Duran's calendar, "Unlike the European system, cast appears to the north" 68 (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico, 1986); and
(Duran, Book ofthe Gods, 329). Gossen, Chamulas.
46. Wheatley, PilJot, 428. 56. See, far instance, R. V. H . Dover, Katharine Seibold, and J. H .
47. Edward Calncck, "The Internal Structure of Tenochtitlan," in The McDowell, cds., Andean Cosmologies through Time: Persistmce and Emer
Valley of .Mexico, ed. Eric Wolf (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico gence (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992).
Press, 1976), 287-302; Miguel Leon-Portilla, Aztec Thollght and Clllture 57. Fabian, Time and the Otht1; 27·
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963), 44-50; Brundage, The Fifth 58. Anthony Aveni, Empires of Time: Calmdars, Clocks, and Cultures
SlIl1, and TlVo Heave1ls, Two Eartbs: A1J Essay C01Jtrasting tbe Aztecs and the (New York: Basic Books, 1989).
Incns (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1975), 20-34. 59. Clemency Chase Coggins, "The Zenith, the Mountain, the Center,
48. Dilke, "Maps," 201-12; and Claude Nicolet, Space, Geogmphy, a1Jd and the Sea," and Johanna Broda, " Astronomy, Cos11l0vision, and Ideology in
Politics in the Early Roman Empire (Ann Arbar: University ofMichigan Press, Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, both in Ethnoastro1tomy and Al'chaeoastrol1omy
1991), 189-208. il1 the Americall Tropics, ed. Anthony Aveni and Gal)' Urton, IlI-24 and 81-
49. A manuscript copy ofthe Descripcion can be found at the John Carter nO (New York: New York Academy ofScience, 1982). An analysis ofthe Maya
Brown Library, Brown University. space directions, based on the movement of the sun (independent ofthe four
50. R6mulo Carbia, La cl'o1licn ojicial de las Indias Occidentales: Estudio Western cardinal directions, East, West, South, and North), is Coggins, "The
histo1'ico y attico acerca de la historiografla mayor de Hispallo Amb'ica ell los Shape of Time. "
siglos XVI a XVIII (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Buenos Aires, 1940), 109-49. 60. Nancy M. Farriss, "Remembering the Fumrc, Anticipating the Past:
5r. The Relaciones geograjicas de Indias have been recently studied by History, Time, and Cosmology among the Maya of Yucatan," Comparative
Howard Cline in "The Relaciones geograjicas of the Spanish Indies, 1577- Studies il1 Society and History 29 (1989): 566-93; see also Clemency Chase
1586," Hispanic American Historical Review 3 (1964): 341-74, and "The Coggins, "The Birth ofthe Bakmn at Tikal and Seibal," in Vision and Revision
RelaciollesgeograjicasofSpain, New Spain, and the Spanish Indies: An Anno in Maya Studies, cd. FloraS. Clancy and Peter D. Harrison, 77-98 (Albuquer
tated Bibliography," in Handbook of Middle American Indians, gen. ed. que: University of New Mexico Press, 1990).
Robert Wauchope (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964-76, vols. 12-15, 6r. Leon-Portilla, Tiempo y rcalidad, 131. Ofparticular interest in the same
Guide to Ethllobistorical Sources, ed. Howard F. Cline, 12:370-95. For the volume is the chapter by Rojas, "Los conceptos de espacio."
significance of the Relacionesgeogrtijicas in the context of colonial letters and 62. Wayne Elzey, "Some Remarks on the Space and Time ofthe 'Center'
texmal production, see Mignolo, "Carras," 61-66, "El mandata y la ofrenda: in Aztec Religion," Estlldiosde Cu/tura Ntihuatll2 (1976): 318-26. A similar
La Descripcion de lap1'ovillciaycilldadde Tlaxcala, de Diego Munoz Camargo cosmological conception could be found in ancient India, where the center
y las Relaciones de Indias," NUClla Revista de Filologia Hispanica 35, no. 2 was located in Mount Meru (on Sumeru), commonly identified with Mount
(1987): 451-84, and "La gratia, la voz y cl silencio," Inmla 552 (1990): 11-12. Kailasa (Kailas) in Tibet, considered as the axis mundi. See Joseph E.
52. LOpez de Velasco. Geogmfta y descripcion 1tuipersal de las IndiaS) Schwartzbert, "Cosmological Mapping," in Cartography in the Traditional
recopilada pOI' el cos11Jografo cronista, Jua1J LOpez de Velasco, desde el ana IS7! a Islamic and SOllth Asian Societies, cd. J. B . Harley and D. Woodward
1574- Published for the first time in Boletin de la Sociedad Geograjica de (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 2:332-87.
Madrid (Madrid: Justo Zaragoza, 1871). 63. Elzey, "Remarks," 319.
53. Herrera y Tordesillas was appointed official chronist in 1596. He used 64. Vega, Comentarios, book I, chap. 11.
and expanded Lopez de Velasco's Description in one volume of the Historia 65· Urton, Crossroads; R. T. Zuidema, The Cequc System of Cuzco: The
gmeral. Social 0'lJanizatio1J ofthe Capital ofthe Illca, trans. Eva M. Hoykaas (Lciden:
54. Jimenez de la Espada published several relatio1Jesgeognijicas ofPero. E. J. Brill, 1964).
Since then the relaciones geograjicas have received more attention from 66. Urton, Crossroads, 4.
67· Natham Wachtel, "Structuralisme et histoire: A propos de I'organiza principale cite de son royaume", Jerusalem, qui etait la cite royale et sacer 377
tion sociale du Cuzco, Annales2I(1966): 71-94, and "Pensee sauvage et ac dotale de la Judee. A moing que, peut etre, l'Esperit Saint, qui parlait para
Notes to Pages culturation: L'espace et Ie temps chez Felipe Guaman Foma de Ayala et l'Inca la bouche du prophete, n'ait voulu donner a cette expression aucun sens Notes to Pages
Garcilaso de la Vega," AlIl1ales 26(1971): 793-837. material ou spatial, mai exclusivemente un sens spirituel. De cette facon de
252-55 256-75
68. Tom Zuidema (personal conversations, April and May of 1992) penser, je n'ecrirai rien pur Ie moment.
doubts whether the quatripartite division in the mappamtmdi comes from 72. Pagden, Fall of Natural Manj Fabian, Time and the Other.
Andean cosmology or from European (in his words) tradition. As in the case 73. Juan Antonio Maravall, Losfactores de la idea de progreso en el Rwaci
of Ixtlilxochitl (see next chapter), I tend to believe that such cosmographic miC1lto espaliot (Madrid: Real Academia de Historia, 1963). Maravall opposes
and cosmologic grids are common to different cultural traditions, not that a the idea developed by Bury, according to which the idea of progress, an
world, kingdom, or empire conceived in four parts was an Amerindian adapta eighteenth-century invention, cannot be found in the Renaissance (T. B.
tion of ancient models imported by Franciscans, Dominicans, or Jesuits. The Idea ofProgress: An Inquily into Its Origin and Growth [London:
Buty,
69. See, for instance, Martellus's world map, fig. 6.1. Macmillan, 1932 J). Maravall also advances and opposes the more radical
70. For an in-depth analysis ofthe correlations between the structuring of claim that the Renaissance lacked a sense ofprogress deVeloped by Nisbet in
the mappamtmdi and the rest of Guaman Poma's text, see- Rolena Adorno's Idea ofProgress. In the context ofmy argument, the idea ofprogress emerges
insightful studies, "'Paradigm Lost: A Peruvian Indian Surveys Spanish Col in the domain of alphabetic writing, the idea of history and mapping in
onial Society," Studies in the Anthropology of VtSllal Comnumication 5, no. 2 conjunction with the denial of coevalness. Bury'S and Nisbet's idea of pro
(1979): 11-27, " On Pictorial Language and the Typology ofCulture in a New gress seems to correspond very much to its nineteenth-century formulation.
World Chronicle," Semiotica 36, nos. 1-2 (1981): 51-106, and Guaman Poma: One classical example is Lewis H. Morgan, "Ethical Periods," in the first
Writi1Jg and Resistance in Colollial Peru (Austin: University of Texas Press, chapter of his Andcnt Sodety, or Researches in the L£nes of Human Progress
(986), 92ff. from Savagery through Bal'barism to Civilization (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr,
71. John de Mandeville recognized, before Ricci, the conflict between the 1910). For a more recent discussion of the idea of progress, see David H.
ideological and geometric dimensions of ethnic centers. Based on a pure geo Hopper, Technology, Theology, and the Idea ofProgress (Louisville: John Knox
metric calculus, he questioned the idea that Jerusalem occupied the center of Press, 1991).
the earth:
CHAPTER 6
Car si nous considerons la largeur estimee de la terre entre les deux poles, il
es certain que la Judee n'est pas au milieu, car alor eUe serait sout Ie cercle I. Robert David Sack, Human Territoriality: Its Theory and Hist01y (New
equatorial, et Ie joury semit l'egal de la nuit, et Pun et l'autre poles seraient 1986), 28-51.
York: Cambridge University Press,
a l'horizont, ce que n'est nullement Ie cas, parce que pour ceux qui habi 2. See, for instance, Jonathan T. Lanman, "The Religious Symbolism of
tent la Judee, Ie pole articque est tres au dessus de l'horizon. En sens the Tin T-O Maps," Cartographica4 (1981): 18-22; David Woodward, "Real
contraire, si nous considerons Ia largeur estimee de la terre depues Ie Pa ity, Symbolism, Time, and Space in Medieval World Maps," Annals of the
radis terrestre, c'est-a-dire depues Ie lieu Ie plus digne et Ie plus cleve, Associatioll ofAmerican Geographers75, no. 4 (1985): 510-21, and "Medieval
jusqua son nadir, c'est-a-dire jusqu'au lieu qui lui es oppose sur la sphere de Mappaemtmdi."
la terre come si la Judee etait aux antipodes du Paradis, il apparait qu'il n'en 3. A more detailed account of mapping, Columbus, and the age of
est pas ainsi parce que, alors, pour un voyageur allant de Judee au Paradis, discovery is Kenneth Nebenzahl, Atlas ofColumbus and the Great Discoveries
la Iongeur de la route serait la meme, qui'il se dirige vcrs I'orient ou vers (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1990).
l'occident. Mais cela n'est ni vraisemblable ni vrai, ainsi que l'a prouve 4. Edward Said, Orientatism (New York: Vintage, 1978).
l'experience de beaucoup de gens. Quan a moi, il me semble que dans la 5. Roger Barlow, A Brief S"mme of Geographic (1540), ed. E. G. R.
susdite inscription prophetique, l'expression "au milieu de la terre", c'est a Taylor (London: Hakluyt Society, (932), a translation ofMartin Fernandez de
dire "pres du milieu de notre oecumene" peut etre interprete de la facons Enciso, Suma degeografia (Seville, 1519) (Madrid: Joyas Bibliogcificas, (948).
suivante, a savoir que la judee est exactemente situe entre Ie Paradis et les 6. Francisco Hernandez, Historia naturalde Nueva Espana, ed. German
antipodes du Paradis, e qu'e lie est eloignee de 90 aussi bien du Paradis en Somolinos (Mexico City: Universidad NacionalAutonoma de Mexico, 1959),
direction de l'orient que des antipodes du Paradis en direction de I'occi 3:296.
dent. 7. Michele Duchet et aI., LJAmerique de Theodore de Bry: Une collection
au bien cette expression peut etre intepretee aisin, a savoir que Daivd, de voyagesprotestante du XVIe. sieele (Paris: Editions du Centre National de la
qui etait roid de Judee, a dit "au milieu de la terre" c'est a dire "dan la Recherche Seientifique, 1987).
8. The first edition comprised thirteen units of books (pars). A selection and Michel Mollat Jourdin's Les portula1lS: Cartes marines du xiiicme alt 3 79
ofthe entire work has been published in French by Duchet et al., L'Amerique; xviieme siecle (Fribourg, Switzerland: Nathan, 1984), plate 5 5 , 2 35-36.
Notes to Pages and in English, by Michael Alexander, DiscoJ'eri1Jg the New World (New York: 20. Velasco, Descripcion, 407. Notesto Pages
275-85
Harper and Row, 1976). 21. Although I am not exploring this aspect here, it should be remembered 285-94
9. See the Introduction for a detailed explanation of these notions. that one important function ofmaps is finding one's way. The so-called porto
10. Ambroise Pare, Des m011st1'es et prodige) ed. Jean Ceard (Geneva: Li� lands are precisely of this kind. Sec Roncicrc and Jourdin, Lesportulans.
brarie Droz, 1971), English translation by Janis L. Pallister, On Monsters alld 22. Alonso de Santa Cruz, Obm cosmograjica (1560), ed. Mariano de la
Mal1,e/s (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982). Cuesta (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cicntificas, 1983), 288.
II. On Bry's uses of monsters interpreted as a way of placing Asia and 23. German Latorre, La C1lseiJallza de lageografta w la Casa de COl1trata
America at the same level, see the interesting article by Daniel Defert, "Collec� cion (Madrid: Establecimiento Tipografico de Jaime Rates Martin, 1915);
tions et nations au xvie. siecle," in Duchet et aI., L'Ameriqlle, 47-67. On the E. 1. Stevenson, "The Geographic Activities of the Casa de Contrataci6n,"
sixteenth�century theorization of monsters and prodigies, see Arnold I. Annals of the Association ofAmerican Geographers 7, no. 2 (1927): 39-60;
Davidson, "The Horror of Monsters," in The Boundaries ofHllmanity: Hu- Emesto Schafer, EI cOl1sejo real y supremo de las I1Jdias: Sit historia, ol;gal1iza
111ans, Animals, Machines, ed. James J. Sheehan and Morton Sosna (Berkeley dim y labor adm£mStrat£J1a hasta la term£nacioll de la Casa de Aust1'£a, 2 vols.
and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991), 36-68. For a general (Seville: Publicaciones del Centro de Estudios de Historia de America, 1935).
background, see, of course, Jean Delurneau, La pellr en Occident: Ulle cittc 24. O'Gonnan, La hJlIwcioll de America, 28.
assigie (Paris: Fayard, 1978), and Le peche et la pettr: La culpabilisatioll &11 25. M. B . Parkes, "The Literacy ofthe Laity," in TIle Medieval World, ed.
Occide1lt(Paris: Fayard, 1983). David Daiches and A. Thorlby, 555-77 (London: Aldous, 1973). For mOre
12. Between 1615 and 1621, Rubens devoted a great deal oftime to painting detail, see his Scribes, Scripts, and Readers: Studies in the Commuuication,
hunting scenes in which horses, of course, played a great role. See David Pres£1ltatio1J, and Dissemination of MediCI?al Texts (London: Hambledon
Rosand, "Rubens's Munich Lion Huut: Its Sources and Significance," An Press, 1991); Jose Antonio MaravaIl, "La formaci6n de la conciencia estamen
Bulletin 51 (1969): 29-41. I am thankful to Laurie Winter for calling this article tal de los letrados," ReI1ista de estudios politicos 70 (1953), reprinted as "Los
to my attention. 'hombres de saber' 0 letrados y la formaci6n de la conciencia estamental," in
13. Maps with paneled borders on three or four sides were popular toward Estudios de histor;a del pellsami£1lto espmiol (Madrid: Ediciones de Cultura
the first halfof the seventeenth century. They were issued separately or bound Hispanica, 1967), 345-80; Michael T. Clanchy, "Looking Back from the
in large atlas volumes. Invention of Printing," in Literacy in Historical Perspective, ed. Daniel P.
14. The distinction between space and place has been theorized, recently, Resnick (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1983), 7-22, and From
by Tuan in Space and Place. Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson have offered Memory to WrittC11 Record: England 1066-1307 (London: Edward Arnold,
important insights on the logical organization of space from a perspective of 1979)·
urban planning in TIle Social Logic ofSpace (New York: Cambridge University 26. Gil Fernandez, Panorama, 231-98; Maravall, "Los "hombres de sa-
Press, 1984). See also the issue of CulturalA1Ithropoiogy (7 [1992]) devoted to ber.'"
Space, Ide1ltity, and the Politics ofDifference. 27. Maravall, "Los 'hombres de saber,''' 334.
IS. Juan L6pez de Velasco, Geografta y descripcion universal de las Illdias 28. Malag6n-Barccl6, "The Role of"Lctrado.'"
(Madrid, 1894). 29. Cline, "Relaciones Gcograjicas, 1577-1586," "RelaC£ones of Spain,"
16. Carbiu, La cronica ojicial. and " The Relaciolles Geogrltjicas ofthe Spanish Indies, 1577-1648," in Cline,
17. Herrera y Tordesillas, Historiageneral. Guide to Ethllohistorical Sources, 12:183-242.
18. Juan L6pez de Velasco, Descripcion y demarcacion de las Illdias Occi 30. Mignolo, "Cartas," and '''El mandato"; and Serge Gruzinski, La colo�
dentales (1574), published for the first time in Coleccion de dOCU111wtos illed· llizatiol1 de Pimagillarie (Paris: Gallimard, 1988), 101-38.
itos, rclatipos al deswbrimiwto, cOllquista y O1;gal1izacio1J de las alltiguaJ pose 31. Mignolo, "'EI mandato," 456-62.
siones espafwlns de Am61ica y Oceania, sacados de los Archipos del Reino, y mlty 32. Quoted by Cline, "Relaciones geograficas, 1577-1648," 12:233.
especial111C11te de/de Il1dias (Madrid: Jose Maria Perez, 1871), 405; italics mine. 33. Teuber, '"Europaisches und Amerikanisches"; Mignolo; '"Coloniza
19. Andreas Homen's UniJlerse ac navigabilis totius Terrarll1ll orbis tion ofAmerindian Languages."
Descriptio (1559) covers the same earth surface as L6pez de Velasco's Descrip 34. For a modem edition of this text, see Paul Kirchhoff, Lina Odena
cion (1574). However, Homen is charting Atlantic and Pacific navigations Guemes, and Luis Reyes, cds. and trans., Historia tolteca-chichemeca (Mexico
rather than the possessions of the Spanish kingdom. A reproduction and City: CISINAH, 1976). For a study of the maps of Cuuuhtinchan, see Bente
description ofHomen's planisphere can be found in Monique de la Roncicrc Bittman Simons, Los mapas de Cllallhtillchlt1J y la historiatolteca-chichimeca
(Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, 1968); and 47. Louis Jacobs, "Jewish Cosmology," in Blacker and Loewe, Ancient
Kciko Yoneda, Los mapns de ClIauhtinchan y la historia cartografica prew Cosmologies, 66-84·
Notes to Pages hispanica (Mexico City: Archivo General de la Nadon, 1981). 48. Charles Gibson, The Aztecs ,,,,der the Spanish Rules: A History of the Notesto Pages
297-302
35. John B. Glass, "A Survey of Native Middle American Pictorial Manu Indial1so!the Valley ofMexico, 1519-1810 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 302-15
scripts," in Cline, Handbook, 14:3-80; and John B . Glass and Donald 1964); Nancy M. Farriss, Maya Society tender Colonial Rules: The Collective
Robertson, "A Census ofNative Middle American Pictorial Manuscripts," in Enterprise of Sltn'ival (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984); Karen
Cline, Handbook, 14:81-252; Eulalia Guzman, "The Art of Map-Making Spaulding, Hllarochiri: An Andean Society under Inca and Spanish Rules
among the Ancient Mexicans," Imago Mundi 3 (1939): 1-6. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1984); Birgit Scharlau and Mark
36. More examples of these kinds of "maps" can be found in Robertson, Munzel, QjlClqay: Mtmdliche J(ultur tmd Schrifttradition bei Indianerm La
Mexican Ma11tlScript Painting, 134-41, 179-82, and "The 'pinturas' (maps) teinamerikns (Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag, 1987); Gruzinksi, La colo
of the Relacionesgeograjicas) with a catalog," in Cline, Guide to Ethnohistori nization.
cal Sources, 12:243-78. 49. Gossen, Chamulas, and Gal)' Gossen, ed., Symbol and Meaning be
37. See, for instance, Ducio Sacchi, "Imagen y percepcion del territorio yond the Closed Com1mmity: Essays in Mesoamerican Ideas (Austin: University
seglin los mapas mixtecos (1595-1617)," Historia 15 (1986): 19-30; Serge of Texas Press, 1986).
Gruzinski, "Colonial Indian Maps in Sixteenth-Centul)' Mexico," Res 13 50. Cline, "Relacionesgeograjicas, 1577-1586," 366; italics mine.
(1987): 46-61; Joyce Baddcl Bailey, "Map of Texupa (Oaxaca, 1579): A 51. Marshack, The Roots ofCivilization; Lanman, " Religious Symbolism."
Study of Form and Meaning," Art Bul/etilt 54 (1972): 452-72; Arthur G. 52. Rene Acuna, ed., Relacionesgeogl"ajicas del siglo xvi: Mexico (Mexico
Miller, "Transfonnations of Time and Space: Oaxaca, Mexico, circa 1500- City: Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico, 1985), 6:159.
1700," in Images of MenlOry: On Remembering and Representation, ed. 53. Gisela von Wobeser, La!m'macion de la hacienda en la cpoca colonial
S. Kuchler and W. Melion, 141-75 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Instituw (Mexico City: Universidad Nadonal Autonoma de Mexico, 1983); Bailey,
tion Press, 1991). "Map ofTexupa."
38. Angel Garda Conde, "Aztlin y Tenochtitlan, 0 sea breve ensayo pal· 54. Tahuantil1myu, let's remember, means "the four comers ofthe world
eografico de las peregrinaciones Nahoas," Memorins de la Sociedad Cientifica unified among tllemselves." More specifically, tasa means "four," myo means
Alttonio AIzate 45 (1926): 309-52. "place," and ntin means the "unification ofwhat is different." The Spaniards
39. Bernardo Garda Martinez, Los pueblos de la sierra: EIpodery eI espacio translated it as "empire." Compare the notion of altepet4 the organization of
entre los indios del norte de Puebla hasta 1700 (Mexico City: El Colegio de land, space, and memol)'. in the NahuatlMspeaking world.
Mexico, 1987). 55. Urton, Crossroads, and Gossen, Chamulas.
40. Paul Radin, The Sources and Authenticity ofthe History ofthe Ancimt 56. Thomas Abercrombie, " To Be Indian, to Be Bolivian: �Ethnic' and
Mexicans (Berkeley: University Publications of American Archeology and 'National' Discourses ofIdentity," in Urban and Sherzer. Nation-States and
Ethnology, 1920), q:I. Indians.
41. Christian Duverger, L'origille des Azteques (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 57. Arthur Preston Whitaker, The Weste17l Hemisphere Idea: Its Rise and
1983). Decline (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1954); Lesler D. Langley, America
42. Simons, Los mapas de Cuauhtinchan; Yoneda, Los llmpns de Cuauh and the Americas: The United States in the Westent Hemisphere (Athens: Uni
tinchan. versity of Georgia Press, 1989).
43. Cuauhtinchan is a town adjacent to Puebla and the place oforigin of 58. For a particular example of this case, see Jose Piedra, "The Game of
both the mapasand the Historia. Historia is not, ofcourse, the original name Critical Arrival," Diacritics 19 (1989): 34-61; Fernando Coronil, "Discover
of this text. The Nahuatl name employed was xiutlapoualli or "counting of ing America Again: The Politics of Selfhood in the Age of PostMColonial
the years." The sOMcalled mapa no. 1 traced the Chichimec conquests. Mapa Empires," Dispositio 36-38 (1989): 315-31.
no. 2, like the Mapa Sigt1enza and the Tira, tracked the peregrination from
Chicomoztoc (another name for Aztlan) to Cuauhtinchan. Mapa no. 3 traces AFTERWORD
community migrations, and tnapa no. 4 draws the boundaries of the sel10l"io of
Cuauhtinchan. The final version of the conclusion was written toward the end of the fall
44. According to the typology established by Woodward in "Reality, Sym semester 1992, while I was teaching an interdisciplinal)' graduate seminar,
bolism." Beyond accidentalism: Rethinking How the West Was Born, at the UniverM
45. Cannen Blacker and Michael Loewe, eds., Ancient Cosmologies (Lon sity of Michigan with Fernando Coroni!. Since parts of this book were
don: Allen and Unwin, 1975). discussed in the seminar, I benefited enormously from the discussion. I am
46. Ixtlilxochitl, Obras historicas, 2:295-96. indebted to Coroni! as well as to the twentyMfour students enrolled, whose
enthusiasm, commitments, and critical skills taught me to see my own project 2I. Richard Rorty, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nat1lre (Princeton, N.T. :
in a new light. Princeton University Press, 19BI).
Notesto Pages 1. Marshall Berman, All That Is Solid lvlelts into Air: The R�perieilce of 22. A recent overview is provided by the articles collected in Nicholas B.
Notes to Pages
3[6-28
Modernity (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982), IS. Dirks, cd., Colonialism and Culture (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
2. Perry Anderson, �<Modernidad y revoluci6n," in EI debate 330-32
Press, 1992 ).
11Jodernidad/post�111Oder1tidnd, cd. Nicolas Casullo, 92-u6 (Buenos Aires: 23· George Lamming, '"The Occasion for Speaking," in 71JC Pleasures of
Punto Sur, 1989). Exile (1960; rpt. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992), 2-50;
3. I am thinking ofCornel West's persuasive articulation ofthe politics of italics mine.
intellectual inquiry, in his "New Cultural Politics." 24. While in the Introduction of this book I exploited some of the ideas
4. Claude Uvi�Strauss, Tristes tropiqlles (Paris: Flammarion, 1958). advanced by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, in this conclusion I
5. Goldberg's Writilw Matters makes a case for seeing the philosophy of mainly benefited from Rosch ct aI., TIJe Body)s Milld.
(hand)writing in the English Renaissance within the framework advanced by
Derrida. I take a different road, according to which the concept of writing, as
articulated by Nebrija, is no longer a surrogate of speech but a way of taming
the voice.
6. For more details about this position, see Elizabeth H. Boone and
Walter D . Mignolo, cds., Writing without Words: Literacies in Mesoamerica
alld the Alldes (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1994).
7. Harvey Graff, Literacy ill Hist01Y: An Illterdisciplillmy Research Bibli
ography (New York: Garland, 1981).
8. Sylvia Scribner, "Literacy in Three Metaphors," Journal ofAmerican
Edttcatiol193 (1986): 6-21.
9. Scribner, "Literacy in Three Metaphors," 16.
10. Marshall McLuhan, Ullderstalldilw Media: 71Je ExtC1lsiOll of lvlan
(London: Sphere Books, 1967), 93-94.
II. Ruth Finnegan, "The Myth of Literacy" (paper presented at the con�
ference Literacy, Culture, and Mind, University of Michigan, October 1991).
12. See Mignolo, "Darker Side."
13. Jose Antonio Maravall, Losfactores de la Idea de Prqgl'eso ell el Renaci
mimto espmiol (Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 1963).
14. Bernice Hamilton, Political Thotlght il1 SixtcC1lth�CC1lttt1j1 Spain (Ox
ford: Oxford University Press, 1963); Otis H. Green, Spain and the Western
Tradition (Madison: University ofWisconsin Press, 1968), vol. 3.
IS. Leopolda Zea, America en la historia (Mexico City: Fonda de Cultura
Economica, 1958), and Discurso.
16. Fernando Coronil, "Beyond accidentalism" (paper presented at the
conference Power: Thinking across Disciplines, University ofMichigan, Tanu�
ary 1992), Critical Inquiry, forthcoming.
17. Arturo Ardao,El nombre y la idea de America Latina (Caracas: In
stituto Andres Bello, 1978).
lB. Arthur Preston Whitaker, The Western Hemisphere Idea: Its Rise and
Decline (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1954).
19. Francis M. Rogers, 71Je QJlest for Easter1J, Christians: Travels and
Rumors ill the Age ofDiscovery (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
1962).
20. Farriss, Maya Society.
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Index
41 5
and pluritopic henneneutics, II-I, 257- Eguiara y Eguren, Juan Jose dc, 64, 65,
Azcaputzlco, 302 67,71,97, 141, 171, 174, 175,179,185,
416 58, 331-42 163,165
Azuoio, 130, 132, 240, 242, 297. 298, 299, 245, 253, 285, 288,308, 3°9, 326
Condillac, Etienne Bonnot dc, 43 Egypt, 42, 72, 143, 144, 237
300 Ce-CaUi,90
Conrad, Joseph,12 Elias, Norbert, 34 Index
Iudex Central America, 13, 266, 280, 315
Copernicus, 225 Elzey, Wayne, 248, 249
Central Mexico, 60
Bacon, Sir Francis, 187, 200, 20I Cordoba (Argentina), 321 Enactement (perfonnance)
Cesairc, Aime, 331
Badiano, Juan, 56 Cordoba (Spain), 240 and colonization, 333
Chalco-Amaquemecan, 88
Bakhtin, M. M., 8, 22, 214 Cortes, Hernan, 31, 46, 59, 226, 237, 240, and epistemolob'Y, 23-25
Chamula, 3I1, 312
Bandinello (Cardinal), 292 242,266 and living organisms, 24-28, 332-34
Chapultepec, 130, 298, 299
Barbados, 330 Cosmologies and representation, 312-13, 331-35
Charles I ofSpain (Charles V), 34.45, 46,
Barcelona, 174 Andean, 232-40, 248-50 Encyclopedias, 186-203
50,53,56, 69,97, 179, 202, 239,267
Barlow, Roger, 274. 275 Mesoamerican, 232-40, 248-53 England, 18, 144, 187, 200, 256, 315
Charles (King of France), 177
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 12 Cruz. Jose, 321 Erasmus, 34, 39,40
Chicomoztoc, 300
Benavente, Torbio dc, 74. See also Cruz, Martin de la, 56 Espada, Jimenez de la, 292
Chiconc6huac, 89
Motolinia Cuauntinchan, 294, 295, 297, 300, 304 Espanola (La), 263, 265, 286
Chihnauhtecatl, 302
Berman, Marshall, 316, 317, 329 Cuba, 264, 265 Estrcmadura,31
Chihuahua, 130
Biondo, Flavia, 136, 137. 178, 181 Cuntinsuyu,252 Ethnicity
Chile, 14
Blacu, Willen, 271-73 Curtius, Ernst Robert, 81, 82 and centers, 219-25, 255-58
Chimalhuadn, 305, 307
Bodin, Jean, 166 Cuzco, 160, 161, 230, 249, 253, 254 and geometric centers, 243-50, 255-58
Chimalhuacan-Atoyac, 306, 308
Bolivia, 13, 14 and history, 178-80
Chimalpain Cuahtehuanitzin, Francisco de
Bombay, 317, 320 Decolonization/postcolonial theorizing, and rationalization of space, 226-30,
San Anton Mun6n, 88-93. 161, 162,
Borges, Jorge Luis, 122 10-28, 315-34 238-44
174, 175,204
Borromeo, Gilberta, I7l, 173 d'Elia, Pasquale, 219 and territoriality, 242-45
China, 18, 71, 83, 84, 169, 219-26, 233,
Borrameo, Juan (Count), 171, 174, 175 Denial of coevalness, 136-60, 225-30, Europe, 13, 18, 20, 35, 38,41, 46, 49, 77,
240. 243, 245, 246, 251,252, 254,
Boturini Benaducd, Bernardo, 3, 130, 143- and cultural relativism, 326-30 87, 89, 103,137,138, 171,187, 190,
259, 260,262,268,270,285, 301
65.168, 200 denial ofthe, 249-51, 254-58, 329-30 201, 220, 224, 231,231-33,237. 248,
Chinchaysuyu, 252
Boundaries Derrida Jacques, 22, u8, 317-21, 330 256,257, 260-62, 264, 268-70,
Cholula, 300
of civilization, 271-79 Diaz del Castillo, Bernal, 77, 103 273, 278-81, 286, 296, 300, 325-28
Christ, 228, 229
and colonized spaces, 30S-II Differences and values, 247-50, 317-20 European Renaissance/eady modem
Cicero, no, III, 135, 136, 138, 166, 173, 186,
cultural boundaries, 23-26 Diringer, David, 77-81 period, I, 14, 38, 315-16, 323-34
193
ofhumanitics, 270-77 Disciplinaritylinterdisciplinarity and alternative legacies, 163-68
Cities 236-43
Brathwaite, Edward Kamau, 12, 13 and colonial cultural studies, 315-17 and the book, 77, 82-83
and cosmos, 235-43
Brazil, 325 configuration of, 319-20 darker side ofthe, 1-7, 317-18, 323-28
Ciudad Real, Antonio dc, 77
Bricker, Victoria, 214 and loci ofenunciation, 329-31 and theory ofwriting, 134-36
Clanchy, Michael T., 289
Britain,334 training, 22-25, 321-22 and writing, 82-83, 86
Classical tradition (discontinuity of)
British Caribbean, 330 Discursive genres, 140-43, 183-86
and epistemology, 320-21
Bruni, Leonardo, 137, 178, 181, 182, 186, and alphabetic writing, 171-75, 208-IO Fabian, Johannes, 104, 225, 247, 256, 258
and genres, 203-IO
187 and Amerindian organization ofknowl- Fanon, Frantz, 321, 331
and languages, 46-47, 59, 67
Bty, Theodore dc, 275, 277-79, 280 edge, 203-16 Fen;indez, Gil, 290
and memories, 140-63
Buenos Aires, 14, 317 and audiences, 183-86 Ferdinand ofAragon, 29, 30, 37, 38,41,
and space, 240-58
Byzantium, 137 and cognition, 194-96 58,171,202,288
Cliff, Michelle, 12
and encyclopedias, 186-203 Fernandez de Enciso, Martin, 274
Cochrane, Erich W., 136
and folklore, 212-16 Finnegan, Ruth, 223
Cajamarca, 108 Collasuyu, 252
and grammar, 55-57 Flanders, 46
Calepino, Ambrosio, 192, 193 Colonial
and locus of enunciation, 186-202 Florence, 181, 182, 186, 194. 199, 326
California, 130 cultural studies, 315-16
and speech, 2II-16 Florida, 4, 32, 244
Cantimpre, Thomas of, 195, 197 discourse, 7-9
semiosis, 7-9, 20, 29 passim (see Trans
and truth, 186-202 Foucault, Michel, 5, 22
Capac, Huayna (uGauainacapa"), 32, 33
Domain ofinteractions, 23-24 France, 18, 144, 174, 177, 197, 237, 315
Caracciolo, Marino, 183 lation)
and colonial semiosis, 15-29 Freire, Paulo, 322
Caribbean, 12, 13, 127, 244, 265, 280, 327, situations, 19ff., 332-34
and the observer, 24-25
330,331 Columbia, 265
Douglass, Federick, 108 Gadamer, Hans-George, 16-19
Carochi, Horacio (TIle Jesuit), 47 Columbus, Christopher, 29, 127, 171-77,
Durin, Diego. 226, 233-35, 241-43, 246, Galezzo, Juan, 177
Carreri, Gemelli, 221 185,262, 263, 270, 286-88
255 Gante, Pedro de, 45, 46, 55, 92, 104
Casas, Bartolome de las, III, 129, 136, 181, Comparatism
Dussd, Enrique, n, 12, 16, 17, 19 Garces, Julian, 163
216 and loci of enunciation, 226-40, 303-9
Duverger, Christian, 300 Garcia Martinez, Bernardo, 299
Castile, 29-31, 38-41, 46, 50-53, 58, 59, and philology, IO-II, 331-34
GardJaso de Ia Vega, Inca, 150, 159. 160, Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio, 33, 246, Isabella (Queen of Castile), 29-31, 37-39, Leon-Portilla, Miguel, 97, 102-5, 1.11, 1·13,
418 419
161, 172, 204. 247. 249 255,285, 300 41,46,58, 177, 202, 288 212, 248
Garibay, Angel Maria, u6, 2U Hesiod, 145 Isidore ofSeville, 137-40, 194, 197, 201, Lequias, 285
Index Gascognc,237 Hispania , 1 3 7 233,236 Lei)" Jean, 277 Index
Gaul , 3 2 3 History Italian Peninsula, 181 Letter-writing, 171-75, 178-208
Gccnz, Clifford, 22 and alphabetic writing, 135-40, 229ff. Italy, 37, 40, 41, 50, 136, 137, 140, 144, and encyclopedia, 208
Gender and Amerindian calendar, 151-63 166, 171, 174,176-78, 185, 197, 324 and history, 129-70, 208
and education, 38, 1I5-I6 and (males, 135 Ixtlichochitl, 104 and the scene ofspeaking, 182-83
and mapping, 273-76 and (construction of) historical events, Izputzal, 302 Levinas, Emmanuel, II
and speech, Ii2-IS 178-83 Levi-Strauss, Claude, 22, 318, 321
and the state, 37-43 edmic, 175-76 Jamaica, 330 Lewis, Bernard, 237
and writing, 93-95 and fiction, 125-27 Japan, 71, 220, 224, 260, 267, 268 Liguria, 174, 175
Geneva, 320 and literature, 125-27 Japanese Islands, 285 Lima, 54, 172
Germany, 18 and memory/record keeping, 129-32, Japheth, 231, 233, 326, 328 Linguistic unification, 41-46
Gcrundcnsc (El), 179 140-71 Jerusalem, 222, 228, 229, 231, 233, 237, Lisbon, 144
Gesner, Konrad von, 44 and people without, 127-35 243, 255 Literacy
Glissant, George, 126, 127. 169 and 1·icordaIlZfl, 137 Jimenez de Cisneros (Cardinal), 46 alphabetic, 294
Gonzalez, Tomas, 58 and self-definition, 135-40 Juan Bautista, 112, 113, n6 alternatives, 58-68, II5-24
Goody, Jack, 82, 321 and subaltern studies, 126 and discursive genres, 212-16
Gossen, Gal)', 214. 215, 3I1 and understanding the past, 136-38 Keat�, Jaim, 12 and history (see History)
Graff, HalVcy, 320 and writing, 143-71 Kerala, 317 logographic, 294
Gramsd, Antonio, 321 ofwriting, 143-71 Khaldun, Ibn, 136, 236, 237 and mapping (see Space)
Granada, Luis dc, 82 Hobbes, Thomas, 324 Klor de Alva, J. Jorge, 97, 103 and numeracy, 138-40
Granada, 29. 37. 41, 56, 177 Holland, 6, 18 Knowledge and teaching Castilian, 53-55
Greece, 17. 135, 143. 145, 168, 198, 320 Holy Roman Empire, 40 constructivist concept of, 21 theories of, 321-23
Gruzinski, Serge, 324 Homer, 19, 145, 146, 148 and epistemology, 21 uses of, 65ff.
Guadalupe, 325 Hong Kong, 223 and loci ofenunciation, 23-25 and Western expansion, 43-52, 65-66
Guanahami, 175 Huastepec, 307, 308 objective concept of, 21 Livy, Tito, 79, 135, 136, 137
Guatemala, 205, 213 Huitzilopochtli, 132, 240, 249 organization of 3, 171ff. Locke, John, 323
Guha, Ranajit, 126, 127 Hulme, Peter, 7 and participant/observer, 23, 24 Locus of enunciation
Guicdardini, Francesco, 174. 176, 178, 186 Human body Knowledge and social roles and cultural relativism, 327-29, 332-33
Guyanas, 325 and geographical centers, 230-32 humanist, 289-91 definition, 5, 6
and letters, 51-53 len'ado (man ofletters), 289-91 differential, 316-17, 330
and the omphalos syndrome, 227-30 Kristeller, Oscar, 173, 324 and disciplinary practice, 329-33
Ham, 231, 233 and sacred places, 226-30 Kusch, Rodolfo, 13-15, 331 and fractured spaces, 303-9
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 318 Kutaiba, Ibn (Qutayba), 20l and knowledge, 21, 23-25
Hcidegger, Martin, 17, 330 and participants/observers, 328-34
Hermeneutics Iberian Peninsula, 29-33, 50, 137, 178, Laet, Jan de, 148, lSI and the politics oflocation, 15, 311-13
analectic medlOd of, 1l-I7 260 Lamming, George, 12, 330, 331 and represenration, 333-34
and colonial semiosis, 15-20 Icauhtzin, 301 Landa, Diego dc, 62, 71, 73-76 and tradition, 18
and comparatism, 258-59, 326-34 India, 18, 126, 237, 270 Language and truth, 186-202
and cross-cultural understanding, 107- Indias del Poniente, 244, 325 and colonial expansion, 63-64 London, 272, 32o,330
10 Indias Meridionales, 244 and civilization, 34-35 Lopez, Diego dc, 58
and differential loci ofenunciation, 316- Indias Orientales, 325 and clothing, 34-35 L6pez Austin, Alfredo, 230
18 Indias Occidentales, 309, 313, 325, 326 across cultures, 29, 32, 61-64 LOpez Calixto, Mariano, 312
and misunderstanding/colonization, lndias Septentrionales, 244 and geography, 33-40 L6pez de G6mara, Francisco, 5, 31, 174,
259-65 lndicopleustes, Cosmas, 236 and labor, 35-37 216
monotopic, 17-22 Indies (East), 148, 243, 246, 286, 304, 325 and the law, 50ff. LOpez de Velasco, Juan, 4, 32, 33, 243,
and panicipant/obselVer, 329-31 Indies of Peru, 253. 254, 308, 309 and medicine, 50-52, 57-58 244,246, 253-57, 260, 282, 285-87,
pluritopic (definition), 12, 15-18, 331 Indies (West), 30-34, 148, 177, 188, 194, and nation, 35, 67 292, 296, 297, 300, 3° 8, 3°9, 313
and sensibility, 315, 329-30 199, 243-45. 253-56, 259. 260,281, ranking of, 44 Lopez Pinero, Jose Maria, 207
Hernandez, Diego Ayopochtzin, 90, 91 282,285, 286, 291-94, 3°0, 304, and territoriality, 30, 48, 59-60, 65-67 Lorenzana y Buitron, Francisco Antonio,
Hernandez, Diego Moc11intzctzalollllatzin, 308, 309. 313,325 Lanuchi, Vicencio, 57, 58 59-64
90 Iran, 237 Latin America, 6, 13, 18, 250, 323, 326 Lotman, Juri M., 22
Hernandez, Francisco, 198, 275 Ireland, 200 Latini, Brunetto, 197 Lucan, 163, 164
Herodotus, 19, 135, 136, 179, 180, 181 Isabcla, 265 Lebrixa, Antonio dc, 42. See also Nebrija Lumsden, Charles, 227
420
Index
Lybia, 232
Macer, Liciniu5, 79
Madrid, 144
Magallanica (South Pole), 278
NapoJcon I, 325
Navarre, 31
Ncbrija, Elio Antonio dc, 2, 29-31, 37-58,
65, 67, 76,103,128, 129, 147, 153,
178, 315, 316, 319, 320. Sec also
I
,
i
Pare, Ambroise, 277
Paris, 317, 318, 320
Parkes, M. B., 289
Patagonia, 244
Patrizi, Francesco, 3, 143, 163, 165-68
Rome, 40, 58, 64, 97, 129, 134, 135, 137,
166, 173, 178, 181, 186, 198, 222,223,
252,255, 256, 264, 265,288
Romero, Osorio, 57
Ratty, Richard, 330
421
Index
Chapter 3
Fig. 3,la, CodexSeldCf1J Bodleian Library, Oxford. Figs, 3.1b and 3,2. Ikprinted from
Musco Nadonal de Antropologia, Peru. Fig. 3.3. Ikprinted from Bernardo Boturini
Benaducci, Idea de mla ntu:va hirtoriageneral de la America septentrional. Paris: Cen
tre de Documentation "Andre Thevet," 1933. Fig. 3.4. Reprinted from Diego de
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Durin's Hi 0ria de las indias de Nucva £pana. Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid. Fig.
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National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside (Liverpool Museum). Fig. 3.7. Re
Fig. 1 . 1 . Reprinted from S. Gregorius Magnus, Moralia in Job, Citcaux, twelfth cen
printed from the Codex Borgia, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome. Fig. 3.8. lk
tury. Courtesy Bibliothequc Municipalc, Dijon. Fig. 1.2a. Reprinted, by permission,
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Patrizi, Della historia died dialoghi. Venice: Andrea Arrivabene, 1560, The Newberry
Reprinted, by permission, from Jesus YhmoffCabrera, Los impresos mexiuwos delsiglo
Library, Chicago,
XVI C1J In Bib/ioteca NaciotJaI de Mfxico. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autonoma
de Mexico, 1990. Fig. 1.3. Reprintedbypennission from Geoffroy Tory, ChampPlcury.
Chapter 4
Paris, 1529, British Library. Fig. 1.4. Reprinted from Codex Vaticanu.r, plate 3738, by
permission ofBiblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome, Fig. 1.5. Reprinted from Michael
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Seguro Social, 1964. Fig. 1.7. Reprinted, by pennission, from Mary Elizabeth Smith,
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F�ClSCO del Paso y Troncoso. Fig. 404. Reprinted, by pennission, from Book ofthc
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Chil m Balam of Ch"maye� Princeton University Libraries. Fig. 4.5. lkprinted, by
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Universidad Nadonal Aut6noma de Mexico, 1986.
Bernadino Sahagun. Florentinc Codex. The School of American lksearch a d the �
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Chapter 2
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Henry G. Fischer, L Ecritttre et Part de PEcJypte ancienne. Paris: Presses Universimires
Chapter 5
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The Newberry Library, Chicago. Fig. S.13b. Frontispiece to the sixth part ofTheodor
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versity ofTexas Press. Figs. 5.18 and 5.19. Reprinted, by pennission, from Guaman
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Chapter 6
Fig. 6.1. Henricus Martellus Germanus's world map, 1490. Courtesy ofThe British
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Royal Geographical Society, London. Fig. 6.10. Courtesy of the Huntington Library,
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6 . 1 8 . Reprinted from M. Cuesta Domingo, Alonso de Santa CrtiZ y Sit Obra
Cosmografica, Madrid: Consego Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, " Institute
Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo." Fig. 6,19. Sebastiano del Piombo, Portait ofa Hu
manist. Samuel H. Kress Collection, © 1994 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C. Fig. 6.20, Sebastiano del Piombo, Cardiltal Bandimllo Sauli,
His Secretary, and TIvo Geographers. Samuel H. Kress Collection, © 1994 Board of
Trustees, National Gallery ofArt, Washington, D.C. Fig. 6,21. Archivo General de la
Nacion. Fig. 6.22. Musco Nacional de.Antropologia, Peru. Fig. 6,23. Archivo Gen
eral de Indias, Seville. Fig, 6,24. Reprinted by permission of the Benson Latin Ameri
can Collection, The University ofTexas at Austin. Fig. 6,25ab. Reprinted, by pennis
sion, from Guaman Poma de Ayala, Nne�'a coronica y btmlgobierno, ca. 1615. The
Royal Library, Copenhagen. Fig, 6.26, Reprinted from Gary Gossen, Cham"lasr,1 the
World ofthe Slm: Time aTid Space in a Maya Oral Traditio1J. Cambridge, Mass" Harvard
University Press, 1974.
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