Editor’s note: This content is archival.
Nahua Newsletter
February 1991, Number 11
The Nahua Newsletter
With support from the Department of Anthropology
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
A Publication of the Indiana University
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Contents
- Nahua Newsletter News
- Items of Interest
- Lost Newsletter Subscribers
- Call for Illustrations
- Directory updates
Nahua Newsletter News
Welcome to the 11th issue of the Nahua Newsletter. The first thing you may notice is
the new look of the NN. I am happy to report that the Indiana University Center for
Latin American and Caribbean Studies under its director, Russell Salmon, has agreed to
contribute financial and editorial support for future issues. Previous issues depended
on hit-or-miss funding that sometimes had to be pieced together from several different
sources. The Center has not yet located a permanent source of support but with a little
luck we hope that the new arrangement can be continued. Another important advantage of
affiliation is that the Center has access to equipment for reproducing the NN as well
as assistance for preparing each issue for mailing. We all owe Russell Salmon a vote of
thanks for lending his support to the NN and for making it possible to continue distributing it to interested scholars free of charge.
In this issue there is news of upcoming events, new publications, a report on a
situation in Mexico that affects Nahuas of Guerrero, and an update on readers’
activities. I would like very much to report on your activities regarding Nahua
language, history and culture so please continue to mail news, announcements, requests
for cooperation, changes of address, and suggestions to the following address:
As editor, I will continue to handle all correspondence so please do not use the Center’s address for matters relating to the NN.
Items of Interest
1. From Mexico, Eustaquio Celestino Solís writes:
Por medio de ésta le hago llegar información para difundirla entre los
miembros de The Nahua Newsletter (de la cual formo parte). Creo que el asunto es de
suma importancia para todos nosotros, ya que el problema atenta contra los bienes
culturales, partrimoniales y científicos, no sólo de los grupos
indígenas nahuas directamente perjudicados, sino también de la
nación mexicana como país pluriétnico y de la ciencia en general.
Se trata, pues, de la construcción de una Planta Hidroeléctrica
denominada San Juan Tetelcingo, en el estado de Guerrero, en la cuenca del Alto Balsas,
a cargo de la Comisión Federal de Electricidad.
Al respecto algunas de la instituciones de gobierno han respondido asegurando que la
construcción de la obra depende del préstamo financiero del Banco Mundial
o del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, en tanto que los trabajos de “estudio
previos” siguen avanzando en el sitio indicado.
Por nuestra parte, como afectados, en la región del Alto Balsas (ante la
amenaza de afectación y de desintegración como parte de una etnia mayor
hablante de Nahuatl) el 21 de octubre de los corrientes nombramos a nuestros
representantes ante tal situación, bajo el nombre de “Consejo indígena
nahua del Alto Balsas,” integrado por autoridades y representantes de las 22
comunidades directamente afectadas.
El Consejo y pueblo de afectados (del cual también formo parte) en reuniones
pasadas acordamos rechazar enérgicamente la construcción de esa obra,
porque en lugar de beneficiarnos a los más de 30,000 habitantes de la
región, nos afectaría (como hemos visto en varios de los casos) en
cientos de hectáreas de tierras de cultivo, iglesias y centros ceremoniales
(montes, cuevas, panteones), recursos naturales y agostaderos, vetas de tierra para la
alfarería, plantas medicinales, huertas, etc.; además, una zona
arqueológica de primera magnitud, como es la de Teopantecuanitlan de origen
Olmeca, en el municipio de Copalillo, Gro., la cual ha venido a revolucionar la
teoría arqueológica por los grandes descubrimientos.
Al respecto algunas de las dependencias de gobierno supuestamente creadas para la
defensa de los grupos indígenas y del patrimonio cultural muestran
interés ajeno al nuestro. El Instituto Nacional Indigenista ante tal problema
prefiere callar; mientras que el Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
de la Unidad Regional Guerrero, opina sobre el asunto diciendo que, si con la
construcción de la presa El Caracol (en el Balsas Medio), se inundaron noventa
sitios arqueológicos, que importa que se pierda una más; además,
la cultura Olmeca en el estado de Guerrero no es el ombligo de la cultura madre, como
opinan algunos investigadores.
Por otro lado, nuestro Consejo en su entrevista con el gobernador del estado de
Guerrero Francisco Ruiz Massieu (29-XI-90) sobre el asunto hidroeléctrico, no
fue reconocido al levantarse el acta de la sesión. Y para el seguimiento
informativo sobre la obra, asentó dos de sus dependencias más allegadas a
él, el presidente municipal y un “vecino” de Copalillo (que bien podía
ser nuestro Secretario General del Consejo, según el secretario particular del
gobernador), pero sin hacerlo explícito en el documento.
En fin, el Consejo analizará el documento del gobernador y planeará
las acciones a tomar en días posteriores para seguirse manteniendo en lucha,
defendiendo su patrimonio familiar, arqueológico, histórico y
ecológico; y mantener su postura de NO A LA CONSTRUCCION DE LA PLANTA
HIDROELECTRICA DE SAN JUAN TETELCINGO. Además, a la autoridades del gobierno se
les hizo ver otras vías posibles de obtener electricidad, como QUEMAR LA BASURA
O APROVECHAR LA ENERGIA SOLAR o construir obras en sitios realmente despoblados, sin
tener que afectar a tanta gente, sobretodo cuando las indemnizaciones son manejadas
arbitrariamente y las compañías constructoras manejen materiales de
construcción en las viviendas de muy baja calidad y a la velocidad de los
contratos. Además, sabemos que al no tomar en cuenta el parecer de los pueblos
perjudicados, se están violando los derechos humanos con los proyectos
nacionales, según los acuerdos de la asamblea celebrada en Ginebra, Suiza.
Sin más por el momento, reciba un cordial saludo mío y del “Consejo Nahuatl.”
2. From the U.S., Herbert Harvey writes:
In response to your request for news, I am enclosing two items. The first concerns
my new edited volume to be released by the University of New Mexico Press in the Spring
of 1991. It is entitled Land and Politics in the Valley of Mexico: A Two-Thousand Year
Perspective and it will sell for $35:
Index
H.R. Harvey: “Introduction”
Jeffrey R. Parsons: “Political Implications of Prehispanic Chinampa Agriculture in
the Valley of Mexico”
Elizabeth M. Brumfiel: “Agricultural Development and Class Stratification in the
Southern Valley of Mexico”
Susan T. Evans: “Architecture and Authority in an Aztec Village: Form and Function
of the Tecpa n”
Pedro Carrasco: “The Territorial Structure of the Aztec Empire”
Mary G. Hodge: “Land and Lordship in the Valley of Mexico: The Politics of Aztec
Provincial Administration”
Susan Schroeder: “Indigenous Sociopolitical Organization in Chimalpahin”
H.R. Harvey: “The Oztoticpac Lands Map: A Reexamination”
Barbara J. Williams: “The Lands and Political Organization of a Rural Tlaxilacall i
in Tepetlaozt oc, c. A.D. 1540”
Woodrow Borah: “Yet Another Look at the Techialoyan Codices”
Thomas H. Charlton: “Land Tenure and Agricultural Production in the Otumba Region,
1785-1803”
S.L. Cline: “A Cacicazgo in the Seventeenth Century: The Case of Xochimilco”
Teresa Rojas Rabiela: “Ecological and Agricultural Changes in the Chinampas of
Xochimilco-Chalco”
3. The second item is the program for Fred Hicks and Herbert Harvey’s symposium for
the 47th International Congress of Americanists to be held in New Orleans next July.
The program begins at 9:00 a.m. one day and carries through the next morning. We don’t
have the exact dates yet. The ICA meets from July 7th through the 11th.
HIGHLAND MEXICAN SOCIETY AT SPANISH CONTACT
Pedro Carrasco: “Los Palacios de Acolhuacan”
Elke Ruhnau: “The Political Organization in Prehispanic Chalco”
Carlos S. Paredes: “Intercambio y Comercio en Michoacan al momento del contacto
europeo”
Thomas H. Charlton and Cynthia Otis Charlton; “Material Culture and Conquest: Signs
of the Times”
Susan D. Gillespie and Scott O’Mack: “Cortes and Alvarado: Recasting Aztec Dual
Sovereignty”
Susan Schroeder: “Malintzin’s Daughter: A Sorrowful Legacy”
Jerome A. Offner: “Tributes for the New King: The Wealth of Nations”
H.R. Harvey: “A Native Pictorial Account of Tribute in Huexotzingo, 1531”
S.L. Cline: “An evaluation of the Spiritual Conquest from Early Nahuatl
Documentation”
Barbara J. Williams: “Lands in Early Colonial Tepetlaoztoc: House Plots, Gardens,
and Fields”
Angel J. García Zambrano: “‘Tecomitl’: Bowls as Basins for Founding an Indian
Settleme nt in 16th Century Mexico”
Susan Kellogg: “Hegemony out of Conquest: 100 Years of Spanish Rule in Central
Mexico”
4. More news from the U.S.:
Alan Sandstrom would like to add that a symposium organized by Nancy Mullenax at the
upcoming International Congress of Americanists contains several papers related to
Nahuas:
LANGUAGES OF HEAVEN AND RITUALS OF EARTH: INTERPRETING NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS
SYSTEMS
July 8th (morning)
Lawrence E. Sullivan: “Issues in the Interpretation of Native American Religious
Systems”
Alfredo Lopez Austin: “Interpretación del sistema mitico-religioso
mesoamericano”
Frank Lipp: “The Work of the Earth: Mixe Religion, Ritual, and Healing”
Jill Furst: “The Aztec New Fire Ceremony: A World Renewal Ritual”
Isabel Lagarriga Attias: “Intento de caracterización del chamanismo urbano en
México con el ejemplo del espiritualismo Trinitariano Mariano”
July 8th (afternoon)
Ferdinand Anders: “Reading and Interpreting Precolumbian Codices: Editions of the
Sources and Their Use”
Peter van der loo: “Interpretations of the Bundle Rituals in the Borgia Group”
Maarten E.R.G.N. Jansen: “Ritual Language in the Codices: The Mexican Codices as
Ethno-Historical Sources”
Dennis Tedlock: “Mayan Myth-Age Astronomy and the Problem of Correlation”
Karl Taube: “The Bilimek Pulque Vessel: Calendrics and World Renewal in the Late
Postclassic Mexico”
July 9th (morning)
David Carrasco: “Sex, Deception, and Death: The Sacrifice of Women in the Aztec
Ceremonial Landscape”
John Carlson: “The Stellar Sting: A Venus Scorpion Man Cult of Mesoamerican Warfare
and Sacrifice”
R. Tom Zuidema: “Incaic Sacrifice: With Special Attention to Cuzco”
Johannes Wilbert: “Compelling the Clouds: Warao Weather Shamanism”
Barbara Tedlock: “Dreaming and Shamanism Among the Maya”
July 9th (afternoon)
Alan R. Sandstrom: “Ethnic Identity and the Persistence of Traditional Religion in a
Contemporary Nahua Village”
Elvira Stefania Tiberini: “Change and Persistence in the North American Vision
Pattern”
Nancy Mullenax: “Costa Rica’s Virgin of Los Angeles”
Carole A. Myscofski: “Patterns of Confession During the Brasilian Inquisition”
5. And this from France:
The SUP-INFOR Publishers are pleased to inform you about the creation of the
Mesoamerica collection (supervised by M. Thouvenot, CNRS) which includes four types of
publication: Texts (paleographies of texts in Amerindian languages with a trilingual
introduction); Studies (in French, Spanish or English); Data bases (with the programs
allowing them to be consulted); and Programs. Texts and studies are consulted through
the text editor named TEMOA.
Programs run on PC\XT, PC\AT, PS\2 or any true compatible in which the operating
system is a DOS 2.1 or greater and in which RAM equals at least 512K. For the image
display, it is necessary to have a CGA, VGA or Hercules graphic card and 640K of RAM
with 570K free.
Texts:
CASTILLO: Ecrits de Cristobal del Castillo. Marc Thouvenot. 1990. manuscrit Nahuatl:
Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris no. 263, 305 et 306 (62K), ISBN 2-908782-04-9:
FF. 90.
303PBN: BN 303 ou Anales Mexicanos. Marc Thouvenot. 1990. manuscrit Nahuatl:
Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris No. 303 (20K), ISBN 2 908782-05-7: FF. 60.
3CHIMAL: Troisième Relation de Chimalpahin. Jacquiline de Durand Forest avec
la collaboration de Marc Thouvenot. 1990. manuscrit Nahuatl: Bibliothèque
Nationale de Paris No. 74 (154K), ISBN 2-908782-06-5: FF. 150.
TECHIA: Corpus Techialoyan: Textes en caractères latins. Joaquín
Galarza avec la collaboration de Marc Thouvenot. 1990. 43 manuscrits Nahuatl (590K),
ISBN 2-908782-07-3: FF. 385.
Studies:
XOLOTL: Codex Xolotl. Etude d’une des composantes de son écriture: les
glyphes. Dictionnaire des éléments contitutifs des glyphes. Marc
Thouvenot. 1990. Publication of the text part (around 1,000 pages) and of all the
images, from a doctoral thesis (1987). (1.3 Mb of text + 3.8 Mb of images), ISBN
2-908782-02-2: FF. 780.
Data Base:
XOLOTL: Publication of the data base which allowed the writing of the text devoted
to the Xolotl Codex. The access to the data base is possible through a program which
allows one to consult, to search, and to paginate the results. Online help (in French)
is constantly available. 1990 (8.26 Mb + 3.8 Mb of images), ISBN 2-908782-03-0: FF.
1500.
Programs:
TEMOA is a trilingual (French, Spanish, and English) text editor which includes
advanced character string searching functions of which some are specific to the Nahuatl
language. This editor only works with crypted texts. It allows one to search from one
to three strings of characters in a given context (word, sentence, or paragraph) and
according to certain specifications relating to the spelling (original spelling,
supression of the difference between small and capital letters, or altered spelling
adapted to the various ways of writing Nahuatl words) and to the nature of the words
(filters for toponyms, anthroponyms, absolute substantives, adjectives, and
possessives).
You can visualize documents including images (boards, figures, charts, glyphs, or
vignettes) as soon as you are equipped with a graphics card. 1990 (140K), ISBN
2-908782-01-4: FF. 800.
POHUA allows one to collect a data base which permits the analysis of the glyphs or
the persons of any Aztec codex. Online help (in French) is constantly available due to
the lack of printed directions for program use. The program is structured around a main
menu presenting six options: write, consult, search, lay out, others, and help. 1990
(994K), ISBN 2 908782-00-6: FF. 2,000.
To order please indicate the desired floppy-disc format: 5-1/4 in. 360K, 5-1/4 in.
1.2 Mb, 3-1/2 in. 720K, 3-1/2 in. 1.44 Mb. Please send payment by bank transfer payable
to Editions SUP-INFOR, Banque Nationale de Paris, France, No.
30004/01657/00000736455/35 or by check made out in French francs payable to the
Editions SUP-INFOR. The address is 28 rue Racine, 75006 Paris, France, tel. (1) 43 42
40 25 or write to Marc Thouvenot, la Jasse d’Eyrolles, Russan, 30190 France.
Lost Subscribers
Does anyone know the current addresses of the following Newsletter recipients: Jose
Luis de Rojas (Spain); Daniele Dehouve (France); and David Robichaux (France)?
Newsletters mailed to their addresses on our mailing list were returned undelivered.
Call for Illustrations
Thanks to Terry Stocker who contributed the illustration that appears in this issue
of the Newsletters. If anyone runs across appropriate illustrations for future Newsletters please forward them to the editor.
The Nahua Newsletter 