The Flower and the Scorpion: Sexuality and Ritual in Early Nahua Culture by Pete

The Nile on eBay   FREE SHIPPING UK WIDE   The Flower and the Scorpion by Pete Sigal

Sigal argues that sixteenth century Nahua sexuality cannot be fully understood only through colonial sensibilities and sources. He examines legal documents, clerical texts, pictorial manuscripts, images and glyphs of Nahua gods and goddesses and descriptions of fertility rituals and other historical accounts and stories to show the complexity of Nahua sexuality.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

Prior to the Spanish conquest, the Nahua indigenous peoples of central Mexico did not have a notion of "sex" or "sexuality" equivalent to the sexual categories developed by colonial society or those promoted by modern Western peoples. In this innovative ethnohistory, Pete Sigal seeks to shed new light on Nahua concepts of the sexual without relying on the modern Western concept of sexuality. Along with clerical documents and other Spanish sources, he interprets the many texts produced by the Nahua. While colonial clerics worked to impose Catholic beliefs—particularly those equating sexuality and sin—on the indigenous people they encountered, the process of cultural assimilation was slower and less consistent than scholars have assumed. Sigal argues that modern researchers of sexuality have exaggerated the power of the Catholic sacrament of confession to change the ways that individuals understood themselves and their behaviors. At least until the mid-seventeenth century, when increased contact with the Spanish began to significantly change Nahua culture and society, indigenous peoples, particularly commoners, related their sexual lives and imaginations not just to concepts of sin and redemption but also to pleasure, seduction, and rituals of fertility and warfare.

Notes

In this book Pete Sigal argues that sixteenth century Nahua sexuality cannot be fully understood only through colonial sensibilities and sources. He examines legal documents, clerical texts, pictorial manuscripts, images and glyphs of Nahua gods and goddesses and descriptions of fertility rituals and other historical accounts and stories to show the complexity of Nahua sexuality.

Author Biography

Pete Sigal is an associate professor of history at California State University, Los Angeles. He is the author of "From Moon Goddesses to Virgins: The Colonization of Yucatecan Maya Sexual Desire,"

Table of Contents

About the Series ixIllustrations xiAcknowledgments xiiiPreface. The People, the Place, and the Time xv1. The Bath 12. Trash 293. Sin 614. The Warrior Goddess 1035. The Phallus and the Broom 1396. The Homosexual 1777. Sex 2078. Mirrors 241Appendix. The Chalca Woman's Song 255Abbreviations 263Notes 265Bibliography 327Index 353

Review

"This book emerges from a scholarly utilization of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century primary sources to illuminate not only very complex Nahua thought and practices but also the colonial context that shaped the discourse around themes that defy our modern labels, such as 'sex' itself. Pete Sigal employs his training in Nahuatl to analyze terms and texts in their original language, producing his own translations and interpreting meanings, always with an effort to delineate Western frames and biases that might colour our understanding." Stephanie Wood, author of Transcending Conquest: Nahua Views of Spanish Colonial Mexico "The Flower and the Scorpion is a fascinating history of understandings of Nahua sexuality from the pre-contact era through the early colonial period. Drawing on a stunning array of Nahuatl- and Spanish-language primary sources, Pete Sigal considers what the Nahua wrote about their beliefs, deities, rituals, and activities relating to sexuality. But The Flower and the Scorpion is not only about the Nahua; it is also about the Spaniards and what they thought about sexuality, their own and that of the Nahua. Sigal shows us how different the perceptions of the Nahua and the Spaniards were, especially as they related to sex, and how different their ideas remained well into the seventeenth century, even as they lived in close proximity to one another." Susan Schroeder, editor of The Conquest All Over Again: Nahuas and Zapotecs Thinking, Writing, and Painting Spanish Colonialism

Promotional

In this book Pete Sigal argues that sixteenth century Nahua sexuality cannot be fully understood only through colonial sensibilities and sources. He examines legal documents, clerical texts, pictorial manuscripts, images and glyphs of Nahua gods and goddesses and descriptions of fertility rituals and other historical accounts and stories to show the complexity of Nahua sexuality.

Review Quote

"This is an important and provocative book, which deserves to be widely read by both Nahua specialists and gender historians. This is challenging territory, but those brave enough to venture there will find ideas which encourage us not only to rethink Nahua ideas of sexuality, but also to challenge the fixed nature of individual and collective identity."

Details ISBN082235151X Short Title FLOWER & THE SCORPION Language English ISBN-10 082235151X ISBN-13 9780822351511 Media Book Format Paperback Author Pete Sigal Pages 384 Publisher Duke University Press Series Latin America Otherwise Imprint Duke University Press Subtitle Sexuality and Ritual in Early Nahua Culture Place of Publication North Carolina Country of Publication United States Residence Los Angeles, CA, US Birth 1964 Year 2011 Publication Date 2011-11-25 UK Release Date 2011-11-25 AU Release Date 2011-11-25 NZ Release Date 2011-11-25 US Release Date 2011-11-25 DEWEY 305.897452 Illustrations 43 illustrations Audience Professional & Vocational We've got this

At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it.With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love!

30 DAY RETURN POLICY

No questions asked, 30 day returns!

FREE DELIVERY

No matter where you are in the UK, delivery is free.

SECURE PAYMENT

Peace of mind by paying through PayPal and eBay Buyer Protection TheNile_Item_ID:161668273;