The Complete Codex Zouche-Nuttall: Mixtec Lineage Histories and Political Biographies

Author:   Robert Lloyd Williams ,  Rex Koontz
Publisher:   University of Texas Press
ISBN:  

9780292744387


Pages:   456
Publication Date:   15 May 2013
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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The Complete Codex Zouche-Nuttall: Mixtec Lineage Histories and Political Biographies


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Overview

The pre-Hispanic Mixtec people of Mexico recorded political and religious history, including the biographies and genealogies of their rulers, in pictograms on hand-painted, screen-fold manuscripts known as codices. Functioning rather like movie production storyboards, the codices served as outlines of oral traditions to stimulate the memories of bards who knew the complete narratives, which were sung, danced, and performed at elite functions. Centuries later we have limited access to those original performances, and all that remains for our codex interpretation is what is painted on the pages-perhaps five to ten percent of their memory-encoded information. Continuing the pioneering interpretation he began in Lord Eight Wind of Suchixtlan and the Heroes of Ancient Oaxaca, Robert Lloyd Williams offers an authoritative guide to the entire contents of the codex in The Complete Codex Zouche-Nuttall. Although the reverse document (pages 42-84) has been described in previous literature, the obverse document (pages 1-41) has not been, and it has remained elusive as to narrative. The Complete Codex Zouche-Nuttall elucidates the three sections of the codex, defines them as to function and content, and provides interpretive and descriptive essays about the Native American history the codex recorded prior to the arrival of Europeans in Mexico and the New World generally. With a full-color reproduction of the entire Codex Zouche-Nuttall and Williams's expert guidance in unlocking its narrative strategies and structures, The Complete Codex Zouche-Nuttall opens an essential window into the Mixtec social and political cosmos.

Full Product Details

Author:   Robert Lloyd Williams ,  Rex Koontz
Publisher:   University of Texas Press
Imprint:   University of Texas Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 4.10cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.934kg
ISBN:  

9780292744387


ISBN 10:   0292744382
Pages:   456
Publication Date:   15 May 2013
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Foreword, by Rex Koontz Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1. The First Historian of the New World Chapter 2. Historiography and Native History Chapter 3. Reading Techniques Chapter 4. Document 1 (Obverse), Part 1, Pages 1–13: Lord Eight Wind Chapter 5. Document 1 (Obverse), Part IIA, Pages 14–19: The Ladies Three Flint Chapter 6. Document 1 (Obverse), Part IIA continued, Pages 20–21: The War from Heaven and Lady One Death Chapter 7. Document 1 (Obverse), Part IIB, Pages 22–35: Genealogies Chapter 8. Document 1 (Obverse), Part IIIA–B, Pages 36–41: The Four Lords from Apoala Chapter 9. Document 1 (Obverse): Discussion and Interpretation Chapter 10. Document 2 (Reverse), Pages 42–84: Introduction to the Political Biography of Eight Deer Jaguar Claw of Tilantongo Chapter 11. Document 2 (Reverse), Sections 1–6, Pages 42–50: Parentage Statement, Childhood Military Career, Chalcatongo Event, Transition from Chalcatongo to Tututepec, Eight Deer as Lord of Tututepec. Chapter 12. Document 2 (Reverse), Sections 7–12, Pages 51–74: Eight Deer’s Toltec Alliance through the Conquests with the Toltecs Chapter 13. Document 2 (Reverse), Sections 13–14, Pages 75–84: The Battle in the Sky through the Siege of Hua Chino Chapter 14. The Four Voices of Mixtec History Appendix 1. The Mixtec Calendar Appendix 2. Occurrence of 260-Day Sacred Calendars in the 365-Day Mixtec Solar Calendar Appendix 3. The Cycle of 260 Days (Tonalpohualli) Appendix 4. The Calendrics of Codex Zouche-Nuttall Pages 42–84 Appendix 5. The Mixtec Calendar Cycle Correspondences from Byland and Pohl (1994) Appendix 6. The Complete Mixtec/Aztec Calendar Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

Williams' primary aim is to provide the first close reading and explication of the full Codex Zouche-Nuttall in the English language, a task he unquestionably succeeds. The broader appeal of this volume, however, derives from Williams' engagement with questions of meaning and communication: how certain can modern readers be of what this codex says, when it relies almost exclusively on narrative pictography and symbolic tableaux rather than linguistically specific signs? [...] Every serious student of Mesoamerican anthropology or epigraphy should own a copy of this work. More generally, scholars interested in semiotics, literacy, memory and performance will find in The Complete Codex Zouche-Nuttall a fascinating example of how a past society recorded its history in a linguistically 'open' script. - Social Anthropology


"""Williams' primary aim is to provide the first close reading and explication of the full Codex Zouche-Nuttall in the English language, a task he unquestionably succeeds. The broader appeal of this volume, however, derives from Williams' engagement with questions of meaning and communication: how certain can modern readers be of what this codex says, when it relies almost exclusively on narrative pictography and symbolic tableaux rather than linguistically specific signs? [...] Every serious student of Mesoamerican anthropology or epigraphy should own a copy of this work. More generally, scholars interested in semiotics, literacy, memory and performance will find in The Complete Codex Zouche-Nuttall a fascinating example of how a past society recorded its history in a linguistically 'open' script."" - Social Anthropology"


Author Information

Robert Lloyd Williams has studied the Mixtec codices since the 1980s and taught courses on them in the Mixtec Codex Workshop, which he cofounded with John M. D. Pohl, for twelve years. He is presently Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Texas State University–San Marcos.

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