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Nahua Newsletter
November 1991, Number 12
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
- AAA Meetings news
- NEH Summer Institute
- The codex of Mendoza
- News from SUNY-Albany
- Illustrations in the issue
- Directory Updates
Nahua Newsletter News
Welcome to the 12th issue of the Nahua Newsletter, the information source for
scholars interested in the culture, language, and history of the Nahuas. In this issue
we have news of a meeting for Nahua specialists at the upcoming American
Anthropological Association conference, announcement of an NEH Summer Institute on
Nahuatl language and Nahua history, announcement of a new edition of the Codex Mendoza,
information from SUNY-Albany, and an update of members’ addresses, publications, and
research activities.
Interest continues in the Newsletter and I am happy to report that we now have over
300 subscribers from 15 countries. As our reputation grows, we are receiving inquiries
from university presses about renting our mailing list and advertising space. In
addition, the University of Utah Press has sent a copy of Disease, Depopulation, and
Culture Change in Northwestern New Spain, 1518-1764 by Daniel Reff to be reviewed in
the Newsletter. The review will appear in the spring issue.
Please continue to mail news items, announcements, requests for cooperation, changes
of address, and suggestions to:
Several readers have asked if they can contribute money to help offset expenses of
producing and mailing the Newsletter. It is my goal to continue to mail it to
interested scholars free of charge. The Indiana University Center for Latin American
and Caribbean Studies has agreed to underwrite publication of the Newsletter, but they,
like most institutions of higher education these days, are experiencing budgetary
problems. Therefore, if readers would like to make a contribution in the name of the
Nahua Newsletter it would be appreciated. I am hoping that contributions along with
whatever money we can make from renting the mailing list will insure that the
Newsletter continues in its present form. Please make checks payable to Indiana
University, annotated “for Latin American Studies” and send to:
The contribution is tax deductible.
AAA Meetings news
James Taggart has organized an informal meeting of the Nahua group for the next
American Anthropological Association conference in Chicago (November 20-24). Anyone
with an interest in Nahua history, language, culture, or bioanthropology, is invited to
attend. The aim of this gathering to promote the exchange of scholarly information on
the Nahua peoples of Mexico and Central America. Jim envisions the meeting as an open
forum to discuss topics of common interest to scholars conducting research on the
Nahuas. His suggestions for agenda items include (1) the current status of the Nahuas
in Mexico and Central America; (2) selection of the next AAA symposium theme and
organizer; (3) rotation of the responsibility for the newsletter in future years; (4)
the development of collaborative research projects; (5) the future of the Nahua group.
Everyone is encouraged to bring additional agenda items, including suggestions, plans,
and ideas for future projects.
The meeting is listed as a panel discussion in the program but there will be no
formal presentations or pre-arranged agenda. The AAA program committee has scheduled
the meeting for Saturday, November 23, 1991 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. in the Michigan room
of the Chicago Marriott Downtown Hotel. Please inform interested colleagues and plan to
attend yourself.
NEH Summer Institute
Following is information about next summer’s NEH Institute taken from the brochure
that has recently been circulated. The Institute is being organized by Fran Karttunen
and is entitled “In the Land of Cortes and Malinche — Spanish Puebla and Indian
Tlaxcala: Encounter of Two Worlds.” The program is being sponsored by the Institute of
Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin and the University of the
Americas, Puebla-Cholula, Mexico. The six-week program offers a foundation course in
Nahuatl, reading of Nahuatl documents concerning the cities of Puebla and Tlaxcala, and
lectures on the history, architecture, art, music, and social relations of the
Puebla-Tlaxcala area. It is open to beginners in the language and also to people with a
prior knowledge of Nahuatl who wish to review and systematize their understanding of
the language. The first three weeks of this Institute will take place at the University
of Texas at Austin, and the second three weeks at the University of the Americas at
Puebla-Cholula.
The faculty this summer are Fran Karttunen, R. Joe Campbell, Frances Berdan, and J.
Frederick Schwaller, with special guest instructor Alberto Zepeda. Visiting lecturers
include Elizabeth Boone, Miguel Celorio, Alfred W. Crosby, Nigel Davies, Jane Hill,
Eduardo Merlo, and Susan Tattershall. The NEH subsidizes housing, meals, and travel for
participants as well as provides a weekly stipend. Applications are invited from
faculty in the humanities and social sciences at institutions in the United States.
Twenty-five participants will be selected. The deadline for application is March 1,
1992 and applicants will be informed of the selection committee’s decision by April 1.
Additional information and application forms can be obtained by writing to: NEH Summer
Institute, 1992, The Mexican Center, Institute of Latin American Studies, Sid
Richardson Hall 1.310, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1284 or by
calling (512) 471-5551.
The codex of Mendoza
A new, four-volume edition of the Codex Mendoza is due to appear in early 1992. The
publication, by Frances F. Berdan and Patricia Rieff Anawalt, is being published by the
University of California Press. This edition of The Codex Mendoza consists of four
volumes: I — interpretive essays on the manuscript, including a number of detailed
appendices; II — a thorough description of each pictorial page of the codex; and an
extensive bibliography; III — a color facsimile of the codex; and IV — a
“parallel-image” volume containing tracings of the original with transcriptions and
translations of the Spanish commentaries and translations of the Spanish annotations.
These translations are positioned in accordance with the original so comparisons with
the paleography can be easily made. The color facsimile is produced from new
photographs kindly supplied by the Bodleian Library.
News from SUNY-Albany
Michael E. Smith reports that the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies at SUNY-Albany
has recently been reorganized and expanded. The Institute now has its first full-time
position, Director of Research, which is filled by Janine Gasco. Gasco is an
archaeologist and ethnohistorian who works on Contact Period/Early Colonial sites in
southern Mesoamerica. The field of Mayan studies has been the traditional strength of
the Institute, and this continues with the recent hiring of John Justeson. Justeson is
a linguist whose research interests include the evolution of writing systems and Maya
writing.
Last year, the Institute extended its geographical coverage to Nahuatl-speaking
areas of central Mexico with the addition of Louise Burkhart and Michael Smith.
Burkhart is an ethnohistorian who works on early colonial Nahuatl-speaking peoples and
their reactions to and reinterpretations of Catholicism. Smith is an archaeologist
whose recent research has focused on Late Postclassic social organization in
Morelos.
Although the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies is now an independent research
institute under the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and most Institute
members are also faculty in the Department of Anthropology and work closely with the
Department on the graduate programs in anthropology. With 10 full-time
Mesoamericanists, the University at Albany is now one of the top Ph.D. programs in the
U.S. dealing with Mesoamerica. The Institute’s monograph series continues to publish
books on Mesoamerican anthropology; the latest is Casi Nada: A Study of Agrarian Reform
in the Homeland of Cardenismo by John Gledhill (see ads for the University of Texas
Press).
Illustrations in this Issue
The line drawings that appear throughout the Newsletter depict ritual paper figures
that were cut by Nahua shamans from the municipio of Ixhuatlán de Madero,
Veracruz, and collected by Alan and Pamela Sandstrom in 1986 and 1990.
The Nahua Newsletter 