Ethnic Identity in Nahua Mesoamerica: The View from Archaeology, Art History, Ethnohistory, and Contemporary Ethnography

by Frances F Berdan, John K Chance, Alan R Sandstrom, Barbara Stark, James Taggart, Emily Umberger

Overview

Ethnicity has long been a central concern of Mesoamerican ethnography, but for methodological reasons has received less attention in the archaeological, historical, and art historical literature. Using the disciplines of archaeology, art history, ethnohistory, and ethnography, Ethnic Identity in Nahua Mesoamerica provides a unique interdisciplinary treatment of Nahua identity in central Mexico — beginning with pre-Columbian times and proceeding through the Aztec empire, the colonial era, and the ethnographic present.

This book is the first to analyze ethnicity in a single place over a span that covers prehistory, colonial history, and contemporary life. The authors bring to their various case studies data, methodologies, and concepts of their respective fields to show how Nahuan concepts of ethnic identity are not based on the notion of shared descent but rather on conceptions of shared place of origin and common history.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874809176
Publisher:	University of Utah Press
Publication date:	01/29/2008
Edition description:	1st Edition
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Frances F. Berdan is professor of anthropology and co-director of the Laboratory for Ancient Materials Analysis at California State University, San Bernardino.
John K. Chance is professor of anthropology at Arizona State University.
Alan R. Sandstrom is professor of anthropology at Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne.
Barbara L. Stark is professor of anthropology at Arizona State University.
James Taggart is professor of history and archaeology at Franklin and Marshall College.
Emily Umberger is professor of art history at Arizona State University.

Table of Contents

List of Figures     vii
List of Tables     ix
Preface     xi
Diachronic and Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Mesoamerican Ethnicity   Barbara L. Stark   John K. Chance     1
Archaeology and Ethnicity in Postclassic Mesoamerica   Barbara L. Stark     38
Ethnicity and Other Identities in the Sculptures of Tenochtitlan   Emily Umberger     64
Concepts of Ethnicity and Class in Aztec-Period Mexico   Frances F. Berdan     105
Indigenous Ethnicity in Colonial Central Mexico   John K. Chance     133
Blood Sacrifice, Curing, and Ethnic Identity Among Contemporary Nahua of Northern Veracruz, Mexico   Alan R. Sandstrom     150
Nahuat Ethnicity in a Time of Agrarian Conflict   James M. Taggart     183
Some Finishing Thoughts and Unfinished Business   Alan R. Sandstrom   Frances F. Berdan     204
Notes     221
References Cited     229
List of Authors     259
Index     261

Editorial Reviews

"This is one of the best books available on the topic of ethnicity. [The authors] make a convincing argument for ethnicity's relevance in the world's socieites, past and present."—Hispanic American Historical Review

"An impressively informed and informative contribution."—The Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher