Homenaje A Rosemary Joyce

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Gnero y Arqueologa en
Mesoamrica
Homenaje a
Rosemary A. Joyce
Mara J. Rodrguez-Shadow
Susan Kellogg
Editoras
Coleccin
Estudios de Gnero
Serie Antropologa de las Mujeres
CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS DE ANTROPOLOGA DE LA MUJER
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www.ceam.mx
Consejo Editorial
Ana Esther Koldorf, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina

Arabel Fernndez Lpez, Museo Cao, Per
Beatriz Barba, DEAS-INAH, Mxico
Conchita Aorve-Tschi rgi , American University in Cairo, Egipto
Fred Hicks, University of Louisville, Estados Unidos
Geoffrey McCafferty , University of Calgary, Canada
Lilia Campos Rodrguez, Benemrita Universidad Autnoma de Puebla,
Mxico
Lourdes Prados, Universid ad Autnoma de Madrid, Espaa Nicolas
Balutet, Universidad Jean Moulin, Francia
Nilda Stecanel a, Universid ad de Caixas do Sul, Brasil
Los artculos que conforman este libro fueron

sometidos a un proceso de dictamen bajo la
modalidad de doble ciego realizado por pares
expertos en la materia
Primera edicin, 2013
D. R. Mara Rodrguez-Shadow y Susan Kellogg (Eds.)

Av. Centenario 283, Edificio H22, Entrada 3, Departamento 1
Lomas de Plateros, C. P. 01480
Delegacin lvaro Obregn Mxico D. F.
Email: antropologiadelasmujeres07@gmail.com
www.ceam.mx
ISBN 978-607-00-8272-6
Impreso y hecho en Mxico
Diseo e ilustracin de portada: Mtro. Aarn Luna

Revisin de formato electrnico: Dr. Iigo Aguilar Medina
Asistencia y apoyo administrativo: Lic. Julio Csar Surez
Asesora en computacin: A. A. Alma Carmona
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INDICE
Lista de participantes 7
Prlogo
Ernesto Gonzlez Licn 11
Primera Parte: El Gnero en Mesoamrica Antigua 17
Los aportes de Rosemary Joyce a la Arqueologa

de Gnero en Mesoamrica
Mara Rodrguez-Shadow y Susan Kellogg 19
Sexo, gnero y edad en la obra de Rosemary A. Joyce

Roco Garca Valgan 35
Materializando el cuerpo del deseo:

masculinidad, ritualidad y poder entre los
mayas de la poca clsica
Hctor Hernndez lvarez 53
Embodiment, Emotion, and Youthful Death at Chan

Cynthia Robin y Anna Novotny 71
Multiproduccin domstica y espacio femenino:

buscando una perspectiva de gnero para la
produccin de artefactos de concha en el Clsico maya
Traci Ardren y Alejandra Alonso 89
Mesoamerican Bodies in Motion

Wendy Ashmore 105
Feminist Pedagogy: Implications and Practice

Karina Croucher, Hannah Cobb and Eleanor Casella 121
Gendering the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh

Susan D. Gillespie 137
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Segunda Parte. El Gnero en los periodos
coloniales y modernos 151
The Mysterious Mothers of Alva Ixtlilxochitl:

Women, Kings, and Power in Late Prehispanic
and Conquest Tetzcoco
Susan Kellogg 153
Estudios multidisciplinarios del cuerpo

desde la ptica de gnero
Lilia Campos Rodrguez 177
Embodied Subjectivities within Bioarchaeological

Research in Colonial Mexico
Julie K. Wesp 191
El fogn, el monte y la escuela:

rituales orientados al gnero en el
Yucatn contemporneo
Lilia Fernndez Souza 207
Fertility: A Place-based Gift to Groups

Cheryl Claassen 223
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Lista de participantes
Alejandra Alonso Olvera es Doctora en Arqueologa por la Universidad de

Calgary, Canad (2013). Estudi la licenciatura en Restauracin en la Escuela
Nacional de Conservacin, Restauracin y Museografa del Instituto Nacional de
Antropologa e Historia (INAH) y la Maestra en Antropologa en la UNAM. Desde
1993 labora en la Coordinacin Nacional de Conservacin del Patrimonio Cultural
del INAH. Desde el 2001 dirige el Proyecto de Conservacin de la Zona
Arqueolgica de Ek Balam. Sus intereses acadmicos incluyen el estudio de las
tecnologas antiguas en la produccin artesanal, su impacto en la esfera social y
econmica, as como la importancia de la formacin, identidad y definicin de
grupos de gnero en actividades productivas a nivel domstico en el rea maya.
Anna C. Novotny is a PhD student at the Center for Bioarchaeological Research

in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University.
Her primary research interest is the use of mortuary rituals to negotiate power
relations in complex societies, particularly through ritual manipulation of the
human body. Recent publications include chapters in the edited volumes
Inalienable Possessions in the Archaeology of Mesoamerica, Redefining Death , and
Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community.
Cheryl Claassen was influenced by Michael Schiffer as an undergraduate doing a

thesis on the Aleutian Island and by Ruth Tringham while at Harvard and working
in Serbia. She obtained her PhD in 1982 with a dissertation on North Carolina
shell-bearing sites and has taught at Appalachian State University since 1983.
She has conducted research on shellfish, gender, ritual and landscape and most
recently has been studying landscape and rituals in central Mexico.
Forthcoming articles and books are concerned with rituals and beliefs 11,000 to
4000 years ago in the eastern United States and gendered perceptions of
landscape.
Cynthia Robin is Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University. Her

research focuses on the meaning and significance of everyday life. In the Maya
area she studies the daily lives of ordinary people to illustrate how common people
make a difference in their societies and were not the mere pawns of history or
prehistory. Between 2002 and 2009 she directed the Chan project in Belize which
explored the 2000 year history of an ancient Maya farming community. She is the
author of Everyday Life Matters: Maya Farmers at Chan , editor of Chan: An Ancient
Maya Farming Community and co-editor of Gender, Households, and Society:
Unraveling the Threads of the Past and the Present and Spatial Theory and
Archaeological Ethnographies.
Eleanor C. Casella is a specialist on historical and colonial archaeology in

Australasia, North America and Europe. She has directed fieldwork excavations on
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19th century British colonial prison sites in Tasmania, Australia, and post-medieval
period workers' cottages. She is the author of The Alderley Sandhills Project: An
Archaeology of Community Life in (post)-industrial England (Manchester University
Press, 2010), The Archaeology of Institutional Confinement (University Press of
Florida, 2007) and Archaeology of the Ross Female Factory (Queen Victoria
Museum and Art Gallery, 2002). She has recently co-edited The Archaeology of
Colonialism: Intimate Encounters & Sexual Effects , Industrial Archaeology: Future
Directions, The Archaeology of Plural and Changing Identities .
Ernesto Gonzlez Licn es Licenciado en Arqueologa por la ENAH, Maestro en
Arquitectura, con especializacin en Restauracin de Arquitectura Prehispnica por la
Escuela Nacional de Conservacin, Restauracin y Museografa del INAH. Doctor en
Arqueologa por la Universidad de Pittsburgh. Es Investigador y profesor de Tiempo
Completo del INAH, adscrito al Posgrado en Arqueologa de la ENAH. Es
corresponsable de la Lnea de investigacin Arqueologa de las sociedades
complejas. donde imparte distintos cursos sobre interaccin regional, relaciones de
gnero, desigualdad social y prcticas funerarias a nivel de licenciatura, maestra y
doctorado. Miembro del SNI. Autor de Desigualdad social y condiciones de vida en
Monte Albn, Oaxaca , Conacyt, INAH, ENAH, 2011, entre otras publicaciones.
Hannah Cobb is an Instructor in Applied Archaeology at the University of

Manchester, and one of the directors of the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project and
the Whitworth Park Community Archaeology and History Project. As well as
publishing on the archaeology of Mesolithic Britain, Hannah also researches topics
of gender and epistemology, materiality and archaeological fieldwork
Hctor Hernndez lvarez. Licenciado en Ciencias Antropolgicas en la

especialidad de Arqueologa, Maestro en Ciencias Antropolgicas por la Universidad
Autnoma de Yucatn, Doctor en Estudios Mesoamericanos por la Universidad
Nacional Autnoma de Mxico y profesor investigador de Arqueologa en la
Facultad de Ciencias Antropolgicas de la Universidad Autnoma de Yucatn. Tiene
el cargo de coordinador de la licenciatura en Arqueologa de la misma facultad y
sus reas de inters son la arqueologa de gnero, la etnoarqueologa, arqueologa
histrica, los grupos domsticos y la identidad de las comunidades mayas del norte
de Yucatn.
Julie K. Wesp is a PhD Candidate at the University of California, Berkeley under

the mentorship of Dr. Rosemary Joyce and Dr. Sabrina C. Agarwal. With a
specialization in bioarchaeology, she is interested in examining the physical marks
that daily life activities leave on the skeleton, and how these experiences are
influenced by individual social identities such as sex/gender, class, or biological
descent. Her dissertation research is focused on a collection of skeletal remains
from the Colonial period, but she has experience excavating at Pre-European sites
in various regions throughout Mesoamerica, including Honduras, Central Mexico,
and the Yucatan Peninsula.
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Karina Croucher is a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Bradford, UK.
Her research focuses on mortuary practices and funerary archaeology,
predominantly of the Neolithic of Southwest Asia (the Near East), investigating
themes such as identity, gender and personhood in the past, examining the lived
body as well as the body through death. She is author of Death and Dying in the
Neolithic Near East (Oxford University Press, 2012). Her research also addresses
methodological issues of interpretation, representation and the portrayal of the
past in the present.
Lilia Campos Rodrguez es doctora en Sociologa. Profesora invesyigadora en la

Benemrita Universidad Autnoma de Puebla. Miembro del Sistema Nacional de
Investigadores, Perfil Promep e integrante del Padrn de Investigadores de la
Benemrita Universidad Autnoma de Puebla. Miembro del Registro CONACYT de
Evaluadores acreditados (RCEA) Integrante de los Comits de Expertos de Alto
Nivel PROMEP-SEP. Entre sus lneas de investigacin se encuentran la identidad de
gnero, la sexualidad y la construccin cultural de los sujetos. Ha escrito libros,
artculos en revistas indexadas y captulos de libros. Su libro ms reciente es: Las
ejecutivas y la motivacin. Gnero y administracin de recursos humanos (Puebla,
BUAP, 2012)
Lilia Fernndez Souza es profesora investigadora de la Facultad de Ciencias

Antropolgicas de la Universidad Autnoma de Yucatn (UADY). Tiene Licenciatura
y Maestra en Ciencias Antropolgicas con opcin Arqueologa por la UADY,
Doctorado en Estudios Mesoamericanos por la Universidad de Hamburgo.
Miembro del Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, Nivel I. Actualmente, su
investigacin se enfoca en arqueologa y etnoarqueologa de grupos domsticos,
con nfasis en aspectos de ritualidad, gnero y prcticas culinarias mayas pasadas
y presentes. Ha coordinado los libros En los antiguos reinos del jaguar (2010) y
Vida cotidiana de los mayas del norte de la Pennsula de Yucatn (2011), ste
ltimo con Rafael Cobos.
Mara J. Rodrguez-Shadow es arqueloga por la Escuela Nacional de

Antropologa e Historia, Maestra en Estudios sobre Estados Unidos por la
Universidad de las Amricas-Puebla, Doctora en Ciencias Antropolgicas por la
Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, investigadora Titular en la Direccin de
Etnologa y Antropologa Social-INAH y miembro del SNI. Es autora de La mujer
azteca, Identidad femenina, etnicidad y trabajo en Nuevo Mxico y Las mujeres
mayas de antao. Y editora de Las mujeres en Mesoamrica prehispnica, Las
mujeres mayas en la antigedad, Gnero y sexualidad en el Mxico antiguo,
Mujeres: Miradas Interdisciplinarias, Investigaciones en Antropologa. Homenaje a
Beatriz Barba , disponibles en www.ceam.mx.
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Roco Garca Valgan es Licenciada en Historia y doctoranda en Antropologa
de Amrica por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Autora de varios artculos
sobre las mujeres mayas prehispnicas en general y las ancianas en particular,
historiografa sobre estudios de gnero y edad e iconografa de deidades ancianas.
Ha obtenido varias becas de investigacin en Espaa y Mxico y ha participado en
varias campaas arqueolgicas en ambos pases y Francia. Ha coordinado ciclos de
conferencias en el Museo de Amrica de Madrid e impartido charlas en
universidades y museos sobre el tema de su investigacin. En la actualidad est
redactando su Tesis Doctoral sobre la representacin de las ancianas mayas
prehispnicas en la iconografa desde una perspectiva de gnero y edad.
Susan D. Gillespie is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida in

Gainesville, Florida. She is a specialist in Mesoamerican archaeology, ethnohistory,
and iconography, focusing on the Aztec, Olmec, and Maya civilizations. She has
conducted excavations in the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz, Mexico. Dr. Gillespie
is the recipient of the Erminie Wheeler Voegelin Prize from the American Society
for Ethnohistory, the Gordon R. Willey Award from the American Anthropological
Association, and the Patty Jo Watson Lectureship from the AAA Archaeology
Division.
Susan Kellogg is Professor of History and Director of Latin American Studies at

the University of Houston. She is the author of Law and the Transformation of
Aztec Culture, 1500-1700, published in 1995 by University of Oklahoma Press and
Weaving the Past, published by Oxford University Press in 2005, co-editor of Dead
Giveaways (University of Utah Press, 1998), and Negotiation within Domination
(University Press of Colorado, 2010). Author, also, of numerous articles on gender,
legal history, and cultural approaches to ethnohistory, she is currently working on
a book about indigenous and mestizo writers of New Spain and their
representations of class, race, ethnicity, and gender relations.
Traci Ardren, doctora en Antropologa por Yale University, actualmente profesora

asociada en el departamento de Antropologa de la Universidad de Miami. Ha
publicado Studies of Gender in the Pre-hispanic Americas (2007) y Produccin
textil e intensificacin econmica en los alrededores de Chichn Itz (2009).
Especialista en Arqueologa de Gnero y otros modos de identidad social. Editora
de un libro reciente, The Social Experience of Childhood in Ancient Mesoamerica
(2006). Co-Directora del Proyecto Arqueolgico Xuenkal ubicado en Espita,
Yucatn, Mxico.
Wendy Ashmore is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California,

Riverside. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1981;
since 1973, has conducted archeological research in Arizona, Guatemala, Honduras
and Belize. Her research examines spatial organization and meaning among the
ancient Maya and their neighbors.
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Prlogo
Ernesto Gonzlez Licn
Hasta hace algunos aos era comn mencionar que los estudios de gnero eran
una lnea de investigacin relativamente reciente. Hoy en da podemos afirmar que
han alcanzado una madurez acadmica plena y que su esfera de influencia abarca
tantos aspectos como el gnero mismo, es decir, como un elemento
multidimensional integrado y relacionado por diversas facetas, roles, niveles de
desarrollo, identidad y desempeo de los individuos dentro de un grupo social
Mucho de lo alcanzado hasta ahora se debe al trabajo de investigadoras tan
relevantes como Rosemary A. Joyce quien ha dedicado su vida a este objetivo y
que ahora se ofrece este libro como un merecido reconocimiento a sus aportes en
esta materia.
Una cada vez mayor cantidad de investigaciones sobre relaciones de gnero
se producen da a da y estn presentes en la mayora de los anlisis de
desigualdad social y especializacin del trabajo entre otros. Los estudios de gnero
y etnicidad han incorporado categoras de anlisis ahora imprescindibles en todo
estudio bioarqueolgico. La informacin que aporta el anlisis de los grupos
sociales desde la perspectiva de gnero, tanto femenino como masculino
(Hernndez, en esta obra), ha permitido conocer con ms detalle aspectos
relacionados a los indicadores tradicionales usados para evaluar prestigio social,
poder poltico y riqueza econmica.
El gnero es una de las dimensiones que conforman la identidad de los
individuos, junto con la edad, la posicin social, la religin y la actividad
econmica. Cada vez se toma mayor conciencia acerca de lo relacionadas que
estn estas categoras entre s, afectando e influyendo una a otras de manera
dinmica y constante. En otras palabras, las sociedades antiguas, as como las
actuales, estaban organizadas en una compleja y variada cantidad de dimensiones
y factores que las subdivide y agrupa en categoras y grupos al interior de la
misma sociedad.
En un principio y desde una posicin externa, una sociedad nos puede
parecer muy integrada y poco dividida, sin embargo, en la medida que vamos
estudiando sus componentes y como se relacionan entre s, nos damos cue nta de
sus diferencias y tambin desigualdades. Llegar a conocer la manera como una
sociedad del pasado se organiz y estructur en clases, actividad econmica,
creencias religiosas, edad, gnero, sexualidad y etnicidad por slo mencionar
algunas, es uno de los objetivos principales y para ello los investigadores tratamos
de identificar las posibles causas y efectos de estos cambios ocurridos a travs del
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tiempo (Aldenderfer y Stanish, 1993; Athens, 1992; 1993; Claessen y Joyce, 1997;
Joyce 2000a; Pollard, 1994).
Es conveniente resaltar que identidad y etnicidad no son categoras similares.
La identidad de gnero por ejemplo es distinta a la identidad de clase social o a la
identidad gremial o artesanal. En una misma localidad pueden coexistir dos grupos
tnicos y al interior de un mismo grupo tnico, como hemos apuntado lneas
arriba, dependiendo de su complejidad y tamao, sus miembros pueden ser
clasificados o identificados mediante una amplia gama de identidades o
subdivisiones.
Siguiendo a Joyce, la masculinidad, la femineidad, la heterosexualidad, la
homosexualidad y la presencia de otras posibilidades que se engloban en el
llamado tercer gnero se entrelazan con categoras relativas a la edad de los
individuos ya que no es lo mismo ser nio, joven, adulto joven, adulto o anciano
del mismo modo que tambin habr una posicin distinta si se es hija, sobrina,
hermana, prima, madre, ta o abuela (1998, 2009).
Rosemary Joyce incorpor conceptos fundamentales para el estudio del
gnero como el de la sexualidad, tanto en su prctica como en sus preferencias
(2009). Algunos casos de homosexualidad y travestismo, demuestran que
individuos de sexo masculino pueden desempear un rol femenino, y a la inversa,
individuos de sexo femenino pueden desempear un rol masculino. Se sabe que
desde pocas muy remotas han existido sociedades en las que estas acciones eran
permisibles e incluso llegaron a ser indispensables en la conformacin de la
sociedad. Sin embargo, existieron otros grupos que reprobaban tales acciones y
castigaban por medio de la represin, discriminacin y muerte a estos individuos
(Joyce 2000a, 2000c; Miano, 2002). Siguiendo a Joyce, ella apunta que muchas de
las representaciones masculinas mayas tuvieron la intencin de excitar y motivar a
otros hombres durante ciertas etapas de su vida y en la realizacin de ciertos
rituales como se han interpretado algunas escenas de la cueva Naj Tunich en
Guatemala (Brady y Prufer, 2005; Joyce 2000c; Prufer y Brady, 2005) y sobre todo
como un medio para alcanzar y consolidarse en posiciones de autoridad y poder
poltico (Joyce, 2001).
La importancia de los nios en la sociedad es otro de los aspectos que Joyce
puso sobre la mesa (Joyce 2000b, 2006). La arqueologa tradicional androcntrica,
destaca sobre todo las actividades masculinas. Desde una posicin estructuralista y
binaria donde se concibe una divisin del trabajo e ideologa rgidos para definir un
mbito femenino -domstico- y otro masculino -pblico. Ante las carencias y
limitantes que esta posicin tiene, se le suma la total ignorancia respecto al papel
que tuvieron los nios como actores sociales siendo relegados de los reportes
arqueolgicos hasta quedar invisibles, no obstante su participacin permanente
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en toda sociedad. Desde una perspectiva androcntrica, no slo los nios se
vuelven invisibles, tambin las mujeres, los dbiles, los enfermos y los viejos, por
mencionar algunos. Joyce destaca que muy poco se representan nios y cuando se
hace son en relacin a los adultos, pero no como actores centrales (Joyce, 2006).
En toda sociedad viva, los nios son un elemento fundamental para su
reproduccin y conforme van creciendo pasan de ser meros espectadores pasivos,
a aprendices y despus actores principales, cules podran ser las causas para
que estos seres, en proceso de convertirse en adultos, pasen desapercibidos en la
mayora de las excavaciones arqueolgicas? En este sentido, los nios son
definidos como no masculinos, y son menos visibles cuando se clasifican por
sexo, por los roles desempeados, o por su relacin con las mujeres y el mbito
domstico (Kamp, 2001; Mrquez y Gonzlez Licn, 2010)
A lo largo de su obra, Rosemary Joyce ha aportado perspectivas valiosas para
abordar las diferentes facetas de los estudios de gnero. En contraste con el valor
que se le daba al sexo hace algunas dcadas, considerndolo como el factor
determinante de las diferencias observadas entre hombres y mujeres y por ende el
generador de las diferencias sociales existentes entre las personas de ambos
gneros, Rosemary Joyce incorpora aspectos como estrategias de poder,
elementos simblicos, la personificacin del cuerpo y la sexualidad como partes
importantes en la configuracin de la identidad de gnero masculina y femenina.
La construccin de una identidad de gnero no se basa en las diferencias
anatmicas y fisiolgicas entre hombres y mujeres, como constructo social es
elaborado sobre las normas que cada sociedad va constituyendo como pautas de
comportamiento social, simblico y ceremonial basado en las relaciones
individuales al interior de cada grupo domstico y entre estos hasta llegar al nivel
de la comunidad. Muchos de los conceptos ideas y razonamientos que ahora
usamos para discutir relaciones de gnero y que estn plasmados en los trabajos
que integran este libro, se deben al esfuerzo y dedicacin de Rosemary Joyce.
Valgan estas lneas como un modesto homenaje y reconocimiento a su labor.
Referencias Citadas
Aldenderfer, Mark S. y Charles Stanish, Domestic Architecture, Household
Archaeology, and the Past in the South-Central Andes, en Domestic Architecture,
Ethnicity and Complementarity in the South-Central Andes, Mark S. Aldenderfer
(Ed.), Iowa City, University of Iowa Press, 1993, pp. 1-12.
Athens, J.Stephen, Ethnicity and Adaptation: The Late Period-Cara Occupation in

Northern Highland Ecuador, en Resources, Power, and Interregional Interaction ,
Edward M. Schortman y Patricia A. Urban (Eds.), New York, Plenum Press, 1992,
13
pp. 193-219.
Bawden, Garth, An Archaeological Study of Social Structure and Ethnic

Replacement in Residential Architecture of the Tumilaca Valley, . en Domestic
Architecture, Ethnicity, and Complementarity in the South-Central Andes, Mark S.
Aldenderfer (Ed.), Iowa City, University of Iowa Press, 1993, pp. 42-54.
Brady, James E. y Keith M. Prufer, Maya Cave Archaeology: A New Look at

Religion and Cosmology, en Stone Houses and Earth Lords. Maya Religion in the
Cave Context, Keith M. Prufer y James E. Brady (Eds.), Boulder, University Press of
Colorado, 2005, pp. 365-379.
Claessen, Cheryl y Rosemary A. Joyce (Eds.), Women in Prehistory. North America

and Mesoamerica , Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press , 1997.
Joyce, Rosemary A. Performing Gender in Pre-Hispanic Central America:

Ornamentation, Representation, and the Construction of the Body, RES:
Anthropological Aesthetics, 33, 1998, 147-165.
__________ Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica , Austin, University of

Texas Press, 2000a.
__________ Girling the Girl and Boying the Boy: The Production of Adulthood in
Ancient Mesoamerica, World Archaeology, 31, 3, 2000b, pp. 473-483.
__________ A Precolumbian Gaze: Male Sexuality Among the Ancient Maya , en

Archaeologies of Sexuality , Robert A. Schmidt y Barbara L. Voss (Eds.), New York,
Routledge, 2000c, pp. 253-262.
__________ Negociating Sex and Gender in Classic Maya Society, en Gender in

Pre-Hispanic America , Cecelia F. Klein (Ed.), Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D. C.,
2001, pp. 109-141.
__________ Where we all Begin. Archaeologies of Childhood in the Mesoamerican

Past, en The Social Experience of Childhood in Ancient Mesoamerica , Traci Ardren
y Scott R. Hutson (Eds.), Boulder, University Press of Colorado, 2006, pp. 283-301.
__________Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives. Sex, Gender, and Archaeology , New

York, Thames and Hudson, 2009.
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Kamp, Kathryn A., Where are All the Children Gone?: The Archaeology of
Childhood, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 8, 1, 2001, pp. 1-34.
Mrquez, Lourdes y Ernesto Gonzlez Licn, La socializacin de los nios en el

pasado. Algunas reflexiones y propuestas en torno al tema , en Los nios, actores
sociales ignorados. Levantando el velo, una mirada al pasado , Lourdes Mrquez
(Ed.), Coleccin Investigacin de la ENAH, INAH, ENAH; Promep, SEP, Mxico,
2010, pp. 51-73.
Miano, Marinella, Hombre, mujer y muxe en el Istmo de Tehuantepec , Mxico,

Plaza y Valds, Conaculta, INAH, 2002.
Pollard, Helen Perlstein, Ethnicity and Political Control in a Complex Society: The
Tarascan State of Prehispanic Mexico , en Factional Competition and Political
Development in the New World, Elizabeth M. Brumfiel y James W. Fox (Eds.),
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 79-88.
Prufer, Keith M. y James E. Brady (Eds.), Stone Houses and Earth Lords. Maya
Religion in the Cave Context , Boulder, University Press of Colorado, 2005.
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Primera Parte: Gnero en Mesoamrica Antigua
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Los aportes de Rosemary Joyce a la Arqueologa de Gnero en
Mesoamrica
Mara Rodrguez-Shadow y Susan Kellogg
Introduccin
Desde sus publicaciones ms tempranas, hace ms de dos dcadas, la Dra. Joyce
ha demostrado que es una brillante arqueloga capaz de analizar apropiadamente
tiestos antiguos y, al mismo tiempo, una sofisticada terica social que con la fuerza
de sus argumentos logr influir en el pensamiento de sus colegas
mesoamericanistas (ver, por ejemplo, Joyce 1991, 1992a, 1992b). La coleccin de
ensayos que se presentan en esta compilacin muestra la profundidad de su
influencia.
Sus investigaciones en el gnero, el cuerpo, la sexualidad, la edad y la
plasticidad de esas dimensiones en las sociedades mesoamericanas ha ayudado a
conformar una arqueologa y antropologa feminista que ha contribuido a la
comprensin integral de las concepciones sobre la corporalidad, la jerarqua, el
estatus y el ciclo de vida en Mesoamrica, especialmente en el rea maya (Joyce
2000a, 2000b, 2008).
En los proyectos de investigacin que ha desarrollado en Mxico y
Honduras, se ha dedicado a examinar el pasado prehispnico, especialmente el
periodo formativo y clsico, tambin algunos de sus escritos se re fieren al
posclsico e inclusive a la poca colonial (vase (Joyce 2000a:chs.4-5, 2011;
Sheptak, Joyce y Blaisdell-Sloan, 2010). Eso nos da una idea de la amplitud del
abanico cronolgico en el que ella se siente cmoda.
El anlisis de su obra completa es imposible aqu por razones de espacio,
sin embargo, se desea hacer mencin de algunas de sus contribuciones ms
importantes, con el fin de ponderar en su justa dimensin la enorme influencia
ejercida por su prctica profesional, el ejercicio de la docencia y el poder
argumentativo de sus propuestas cientficas y acadmicas.
La Dra. Joyce (1996) en su magistral contribucin al libro Gender and
Archaeology de Rita Wright, que ella titul The Construction of Gender in Classic
Maya Monuments, opina que las imgenes representadas en diversos soportes
(piedra, estuco, madera) constituan un medio para el desarrollo de unas nociones
especficas de gnero, las cuales podan o no ser congruentes con los textos o las
prcticas sociales cotidianas (1996:167).
19
Otro dato que es digno de destacar en ese ensayo y en su obra en general
en su mirada inquieta en relacin con la cuestin de la clase, pues seala
explcitamente que slo los miembros de la lite dominante eran quienes podan
darse el lujo de mandar a hacer esos monumentos en un contexto de negociacin
del poder poltico.
Otra referencia capital es el sealamiento de la manera en la que las
elaboraciones de gnero, en tanto constructo cultural, no son reducibles o
emanadas llanamente de lo biolgico, superando ya, desde ese momento, la
supuesta dicotoma entre el sexo y el gnero (vase tambin Laqueur, 1990;
Martin, 1992 y Schiebinger, 2000) reconociendo explcitamente su carcter
relacional.
En concreto, lo que ella desea demostrar en su argumentacin es que en la
construccin de gnero en los monumentos mayas del clsico se expresan los
intereses de las lites quienes devaluaban la contribucin femenina a la potencial
independencia econmica de las unidades domsticas tributarias. Se trata de una
visin revolucionaria de la sociedad maya, en la que ella coloca sobre la mesa de
debate, el arte como un medio para emitir mensajes polticos por parte de los
grupos en el poder, la proyeccin de modelos y roles apropiados para los gneros
y la condicin subordinada de las mujeres tributarias, quienes son enajenadas de
los productos de su trabajo (Joyce, 1996:187), puesto que su produccin es
percibida como una amenaza a la autoridad poltica centralizada (Joyce, op. cit.
189),
En nuestra opinin un libro que se ha convertido en un texto clsico y una
lectura obligada en los estudios de la arqueologa mesoamericana ha sido Gender
and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica (2001) pues demuestra, con gran poder
argumentativo basando sus aseveraciones en evidencias del registro material, que
el gnero, categora analtica cardinal, no constituy una nocin conceptual fija,
inmutable, sino al contrario, tena un carcter profundamente maleable. Su postura
tericamente provocadora produjo cambios sustanciales en el modo de pensar de
los acadmicos sobre la sociedad maya. De este modo, su planteamiento no se
basaba en las ideas tradicionales de masculino y femenino, sino que suministraba
pautas para concebir otros gneros y prcticas sexuales alternativas durante el
periodo clsico.
Para fundamentar esta cuestin coloca su mirada en las dimensiones de lo
poltico, ejemplificndolo con los papeles desempeados por los gobernantes,
quienes desarrollaron un amplio abanico de roles de gnero que van
desplazndose de lo masculino a lo femenino empleando diversos artilugios, desde
el uso de atavos tradicionalmente asignados a las mujeres hasta la interposicin,
20
en los rituales religiosos oficiales, de roles en los que se entrevera el simbolismo
masculino con el femenino.
Entonces, su perspectiva crtica le exige la adopcin de la teora de gnero
en boga en sus indagaciones en el registro arqueolgico producido por esta
sociedad, llevndola a postular que las estelas son obras artsticas que contienen
mensajes polticos que proyectan imgenes estereotipadas de lo que debe ser lo
femenino y lo masculino. De ese modo, en su examen de los restos materiales nos
ofrece evidencias irrefutables de que los roles de gnero fueron ms verstiles de
lo que previamente se haba pensado. Se trata de una aportacin fundamental que
gener un gran debate y la transformacin de paradigmas aejos. En esta obra
resulta evidente la influencia que ejercen en su pensamiento la consideracin de la
literatura etnogrfica que procede de otros contextos culrurales (Indonesia,
Oceana o la costa noroeste de Norteamrica) y de otros campos del conocimiento,
el pensamiento feminista, por ejemplo.
Otra de las obras cardinales de la Dra. Joyce (2008) ha sido Ancient Bodies,
Ancient lives, se trata de un texto muy importante que marc un hito tanto en los
estudios arqueolgicos, etnohistricos como en las investigaciones etnogrficas de
gnero. Este libro nos alienta a reflexionar, desde una ptica inquisitiva, cmo los
seres humanos han producido una gran cantidad de materiales que nos comunican
las maneras en que distintas culturas han simbolizado las diferencias anatmicas
percibidas y cmo esa interpretacin cultural influye en la forma en la que el orden
social es construido.
En esa obra se analizan las nociones diversas y cambiantes de varias
sociedades que han elaborado ideologas diferencias sobre las identidades sexuales
como en la Grecia antigua o algunos grupos aborgenes de los Estados Unidos,
asimismo se examinan las imgenes humanas creadas en un rango temporal muy
amplio que va desde las comunidades tempranas que habitaron Europa hasta
nuestros das.
Se trata de un texto que nos invita a la reflexin y nos desafa a juzgar
desde una ptica crtica las formas en las que percibimos nuestras identidades
sexuales y las maneras en las que en otras coyunturas histricas y sociales esas
nociones fueron diferentes y por qu. De ese modo, al develar el importante rol
del mundo material en estructurar nuestras experiencias y configurar las nociones
conceptuales sobre el sexo, esta obra articula el anlisis del pasado a las
investigaciones actuales sobre la cultura material y la identidad.
En coautora con Julia A. Hendon y Jeanne Lopiparo, la Dra. Joyce se
involucr en Material Relations: The Marriage Figurines of Prehispanic Honduras,
(en imprenta), obra de grandes alcances y profundas implicaciones sobre la
manera en la que, en Arqueologa, se genera el proceso de conocimiento a travs
21
de mtodos y teoras en las que la cultura material desempea un papel crucial. En
este texto se ofrecen los resultados obtenidos del anlisis de figurillas dobles
(representando a una pareja casada) que provienen de seis sitios -Campo Dos,
Cerro Palenque, Copn, Currust, Tenampua y Travesia- que se localizan en el
actual territorio de Honduras. Las figurillas estn fechadas entre el ao 500 y 1000
de nuestra era y representan vnculos sociales basados en alianzas matrimoniales
entre las comunidades sealadas.
El examen de estas figurillas de apariencia balad revela, a travs del
empleo de la teora de la materialidad, los mecanismos involucrados en amplios
procesos sociales. As, al investigar su produccin, uso, eliminacin, y tambin el
rol que desempeaban en ceremonias y rituales, adems de su papel en la
construccin de lazos sociales entre esos asentamientos se detectan las tradiciones
histricas reproducidas a travs de generaciones que conectan o fisionan a
individuos, familias y colectividades.
Este libro contina con la propuesta de que la sociedad maya funcionaba
como un modelo de casa, planteamiento que tiene una larga data y que ha
influenciado poderosamente el trabajo y las perspectivas tericas de especialistas
de renombre como Marcos Pool (2011) quien se apoy en esta nocin en su
Mujer y poder en el Clsico maya. Entre realidad histrica y ficcin antropolgica.
Como decamos, la Dra. Joyce ha impactado, influido e inspirado mediante
sus propuestas provocadoras a una cantidad considerable de sus colegas,
discpulas y estudiantes de universidades que se ubican en diferentes latitudes. A
continuacin les presentamos una coleccin de ensayos que demuestran esto.
Los captulos de este libro, como se ver, ilustran la fertilidad de su
pensamiento y los modos en que su influencia intelectual ha impactado a otras
acadmicas quienes han sido capaces de elaborar sus propios planteamientos
acerca del gnero, el parentesco y las representaciones de poder en diversos
contextos arqueolgicos, etnohistricos y etnogrficos.
Teniendo en mente ms lo cronolgico que lo temtico hemos organizado,
para su presentacin, las contribuciones de las especialistas en dos grandes
rubros, iniciando con el prlogo escrito por el Dr. Ernesto Gonzlez Licn, experto
mesoamericanista que nos ofrece con su mirada analtica los valiosos aportes de
nuestra homenajeada.
Las dos secciones que componen esta compilacin se refieren, por una
parte a las investigaciones que se ubican en la poca prehispnica y que hemos
denominado El gnero en Mesoamrica antigua y que integra 8 ensayos, tres
escritos en espaol y el resto en ingls; la segunda parte est dedicada a El
gnero en los periodos coloniales y modernos que consta de 5 captulos, tres
redactados en ingls y dos en espaol. La idea de ofrecer los trabajos en el idioma
22
que las acadmicas prefirieron nos da la oportunidad de mostrar que publicar
textos que son producidos desde la interdisciplinariedad, la interinstitucionalidad y
la pluralidad lingstica son, no slo posibles, sino deseables, puesto que nos
alientan a promover la colaboracin y la participacin en nuestras metas en
comn.
En la primera seccin arquelogas de primer nivel, altos vuelos acadmicos
y de gran prestigio acadmico en sus respectivos pases: Mxico, Inglaterra,
Espaa y los Estados Unidos retoman los conceptos tericos y las lneas de anl isis
propuestas por la Dra. Joyce para aplicarlas al examen del registro arqueolgico
con el que estn involucradas actualmente.
En el segundo apartado, se ofrecen cinco estudios que se refieren al periodo
colonial y a la poca contempornea. Nuevamente, acadmicas de Mxico y los
Estados Unidos unen sus esfuerzos para ofrecer los resultados cientficos de sus
investigaciones en curso que han sido enriquecidos con los planteamientos
fructferos propuestos inicialmente por esta talentosa mentora.
A travs de las diversas investigaciones que se presentan en este volumen
se observa la fuerza y la fertilidad del pensamiento terico y analtico de esta
arqueloga erudita. En efecto, como puede entreverse en la bibliografa que se
cita, el pensamiento creativo de la Dra. Joyce se ha materializado en una serie de
libros, ensayos, artculos y captulos de libros tremendamente estimulantes, en los
que se plantea complejas preguntas, intensos cuestionamientos, comentarios
crticos y hondas reflexiones en torno a las imgenes y figurillas femeninas, su
trabajo y sus roles sociales. Lejos, muy lejos, de una arqueologa acartonada,
deshumanizante y androcntrica, la ptica de la arqueologa social que adopta la
Dra. Joyce la ha impulsado a interrogar profundamente el registro material con el
objetivo de llegar a conocer a las personas y las colectividades humanas que lo
produjeron y usaron, para conocer a cabalidad sus conceptos y prcticas de
gnero.
A continuacin comentaremos brevemente los objetivos de los ensayos
presentados aqu para mostrar la manera en la que esas investigaciones y sus
perspectivas tericas han sido influidas e inspiradas por las ideas progresistas y de
vanguardia de la Dra. Joyce, iniciamos con Sexo, gnero y edad en la obra de
Rosemary A. Joyce de Roco Garca Valgan, quien se enfoca en el valor que la
Dra. le otorga, de entre todas las variables posibles, a las de sexo/gnero y edad
en la conformacin de la identidad y la organizacin social en la Mesoamrica
antigua.
La autora argumenta que la Dra. Joyce, expone, en primer lugar, sus bases
tericas, que se apoyan en la filosofa de Judith Butler, enfatizando la importancia
de estar conscientes de nuestros prejuicios y sistemas de pensamiento con la
23
finalidad de evitar atriburselos a nuestro objeto de estudio. Otra preocupacin
muy presente en los trabajos de la homenajeada, seala la Dra. Garca Valgan,
se relaciona con las fuentes y disciplinas que utiliza para examinar las culturas que
son el centro de su atencin pues aquellas poseen complejidades diversas a lo
largo del tiempo. Otro punto focal lo constituyen las representaciones de los
distintos sexos/gneros y edades en el registro iconogrfico y material en funcin
del contexto.
En este ensayo, la Mtra. Garca Valgan, destaca las trascendentales
aportaciones al conocimiento de cmo se conformaba la identidad a lo largo del
ciclo vital y cmo se inculcaba el sexo/gnero desde el nacimiento por medio del
continuo entrenamiento, de la modificacin de la apariencia y de rituales que
favorecan que los sujetos sociales asumieran el modelo que deba n seguir.
Asimismo llama la atencin sobre la importancia de entender a los individuos
mesoamericanos, no slo por su pertenencia a determinado sexo/gnero, sino por
su insercin a una amplia red de categoras a las que pertenecan y que los
definan, entre las que destacaba la de la edad.
Por otra parte, en el ensayo, Materializando el cuerpo del deseo:
masculinidad, ritualidad y poder entre los mayas de la poca clsica el Dr. Hctor
Hernndez apunta que a lo largo de las ltimas tres dcadas, Rosemary Joyce ha
colocado su mirada crtica en las representaciones corporales, la construccin y el
performance del gnero y los vnculos de estas dimensiones con el poder y su
ejercicio. Tomando como fundamento algunas de las premisas expresadas por
Rosemary Joyce, el Dr. Hernndez emprende la tarea de examinar los elementos a
partir de los cuales se produce la construccin de la masculinidad en esa antigua
sociedad. De este modo, presenta a debate el tema de los contenidos simblicos
de la ritualidad que se desarrolla y sus implicaciones en trminos del poder.
Como la Dra. Joyce seala que las expresiones artsticas monumentales del
grupo gobernante constituyeron una tentativa de acaparar la accin ritual, totalizar
las categoras de gnero y naturalizar las relaciones de poder, el autor de este
ensayo se propone llevar a cabo un ejercicio complementario, indagando en otra
clase de registros arqueolgicos -unidades residenciales, tumbas y diversos
remanentes de la cultura material de sitios del norte de Yucatn. Est interesado
en llevar a cabo esa pesquisa para contrastar arqueolgicamente los argumentos
referentes a la ideologa masculina, la ritualidad y el poder. Los resultados de su
trabajo le permiten plantear que las identidades masculinas se manifiestan com o
mltiples y relativas al tiempo y al espacio. No obstante, es posible que en ciertas
coyunturas histricas y polticas hubiera un intento por instituir un discurso que
tena el propsito de naturalizar la masculinidad a partir de las prcticas litrgicas y
el ejercicio del poder.
24
Siguiendo esta misma lnea de argumentacin, las Dras. Cynthia Robin y
Anna Novotny, elaboraron un ensayo sobre Embodiment, Emotion and Youthful
Death at Chan, en el que exploran las implicaciones de la muerte durante la
juventud en un comunidad agrcola de nombre Chan. Este asentamiento se ubica
en Belice y abarca una temporalidad que va desde los 800 antes de nuestra era
hasta el ao 1200. Como lo han mostrado muchos otros estudios llevados a cabo
en otras regiones del rea maya, la mortalidad a edades tempranas era muy
comn, aunque en muchos sitios de la antigedad a estos cuerpos no se les otorg
ningn tratamiento especial.
En Chan, en cambio, quienes fallecan en su juventud, se tratara de infantes
o adolescentes, hombres o mujeres eran inhumados en el lugar ms sagrado del
asentamiento. Ese sitio se encontraba en el centro del pueblo, especficamente en
la estructura denominada Grupo E. Este edificio consiste en un templo tripartito
ubicado al este que se sita junto a otro que se halla al oeste.
Estas arquelogas, inspiradas por la aproximacin cientfica que llev a cabo
la Dra. Joyce al estudio del embodiment y la emocin en los enterramientos en
Tlatilco, intentan reconstruir las experiencias y las emociones colectivas asociadas
a las exequias de los jvenes, para ello emplearon tendencias estadsticas para dar
cuenta de las emociones experimentadas por los vecinos y deudos. De esa
manera, el anlisis que llevan a cabo ofrece un panorama conmovedor de la
manera en la que la vida y la muerte era percibida en ese pueblo, adems, afirman
que explorando los aspectos emotivos de las muertes juveniles puede proporcionar
una mejor comprensin de las razones que tenan para reservarles el lugar ms
sagrado de la comunidad y colocar sus restos donde su recuerdo no se perdiera y
se les venerara.
En ese mismo orden de ideas, el ensayo Multiproduccin domstica y
espacio femenino: buscando una perspectiva de gnero para la produccin de
artefactos de concha en el Clsico maya que procede de la pluma de Traci Ardren
y Alejandra Alonso, arquelogas especialistas en esta antigua civilizacin
representa una investigacin de vanguardia. En ese artculo se presta especial
atencin al reciente debate sobre la importancia de la economa domstica en los
estudios de especializacin artesanal, destacando el papel que desempea el
gnero en la organizacin de los sistemas econmicos.
Sobre esto hay que observar que existen muy pocos estudios del rea maya
que abordan la cuestin del papel de mujeres y hombres que participan en la
produccin artesanal y la elaboracin de ornamentos de concha. Las autoras
mismas indican que ese tema permanece casi totalmente inexplorado.
Con el propsito de subsanar ese problema las Dras. Ardren y Alonso
examinan cuidadosamente la evidencia de actividades multi-productivas en
25
contextos domsticos que ha sido recuperada en excavaciones arqueolgicas en
numerosos sitios de esa zona. De este modo, cuando se logran identificar esas
prcticas, as como localizar testimonios de otras labores como la horticultura y la
caza se puede inferir con cierto fundamento que la multi-produccin artesanal fue
una forma de produccin intensiva que result compatible con la estrategia de
diversificacin del contexto domstico. De lo anterior, se puede colegir que, en
trminos productivos, algunos tipos de reas residenciales eran espacios
polivalentes, donde la produccin de diferentes actividades artesanales tena lugar
paralelamente a las actividades domsticas de preparacin de alimentos y crianza
de los hijos.
Las autoras sealan que la Dra. Joyce ha explicado, en muchas
publicaciones que son fundamentales para los estudios arqueolgicos con
perspectiva de gnero, que la contribucin del trabajo femenino en el desarrollo y
reproduccin de sus comunidades resulta muy notoria en las actividades
econmicas como la preparacin de alimentos o la produccin textil. No obstante,
las Dras. Ardren y Alonso, al igual que muchas otras arquelogas, reconocen que
an se sabe poco sobre el rol que desempearon las mujeres en otras formas de
produccin artesanal, a pesar de que existe mucha evidencia material de estas
actividades productivas en los ambientes domsticos.
En los estudios recientes poco ha sido discutido sobre la produccin por
gnero en relacin con los ornamentos de concha en Mesoamrica, a pesar de que
estos objetos eran muy comunes e ideolgicamente importantes por su conexin
con la riqueza y la fertilidad del ocano. En este artculo, las autoras exploran el
valor simblico de los adornos de concha as como la evidencia de la multi-
produccin domstica, para aproximarse a una perspectiva de gnero que incluye
la produccin y las relaciones entre los productores.
Tambin bajo la influencia terica de nuestra homenajeada la Dra. Wendy
Ashmore lleva a cabo en Mesoamerican Bodies in Motion un ejercicio en el que
pone a prueba su capacidad de pensar desde la flexibilidad, la fluidez y la
creatividad disciplinada, actitudes que dice admirar de la Dra. Joyce. Con ese
propsito en mente se da a la tarea de examinar la teora, los mtodos y los
resultados que obtuvo la Dra. Joyce en varios de sus ensayos, especialmente en
aquellos que se relacionan con los cuerpos en movimiento, ya sea que stos
tengan vida, o que ya hayan fallecido. Entrevera esa exploracin con las
conclusiones derivadas de la amplia investigacin que desarroll Andrews en
Quepala y las suyas propias que llev a cabo tanto en Quirigu como en Copn.
Fruto de esa reflexin nos presenta este texto impecable en el que va
desplegando ante las lectoras un examen meticuloso del amplio ramillete de
estudios en los que la Dra. Joyce nos asombra con la adopcin de ngulos
26
inslitos, indagaciones originales, cuestionamientos suspicaces, reflexiones agudas
e ingeniosas y una amplitud de miras en la seleccin de esquemas conceptuales
que aplica en sus investigaciones.
Cuando reflexionamos en los temas de investigacin en los que ha enfocado
su atencin la Dra. Joyce, no pueden pasar desapercibidos los que se relacionan
con el cuerpo, el gnero, la sexualidad y las identidades sociales, entre otros.
Tampoco escapa a nadie el hecho de que alimenta su creatividad interpretativa
mediante lecturas de textos que provienen de disciplinas muy alejadas de las obras
de la arqueologa ortodoxa, y por supuesto, de los libros que son producidos desde
el pensamiento feminista de vanguardia en general y en especial las propuestas de
Judith Buttler. Esta influencia aunada a su enfoque crtico ha producido una
combinacin que ha generado brillantes resultados y geniales deducciones.
Estos aspectos son enfatizados en el ensayo elaborado por las Dras. Karina
Croucher, Eleanor Conlin Casella y Hannah Cobb en Feminist Pedagogy:
Implications and Practice. En ese captulo destacan que la investigacin de la Dra.
Joyce sobre la arqueologa de gnero y sus estudios sobre el cuerpo y la identidad
han inpactado no slo nuestras interpretaciones del cuerpo y la identidad en el
pasado, sino que tambin han contribuido profundamente a nuestro entendimiento
de las epistemologas de la prctica acadmica, especialmente en lo relacionado
con los marcos androcntricos y heteronormativos en los que los campos de la
Arqueologa y la Antropologa tradicionalmente han operado.
Adems, al estimularnos a reconsiderar nuestros modos de examinar,
investigar e interpretar el pasado, la Dra. Joyce ha cambiado el talante de la teora
arqueolgica, el mtodo y la prctica, adelantndose por ms de 20 aos a los
conceptos tericos actuales, por ejemplo, la nocin de meshworks de Ingold o
entanglement theories de Hodder como pticas para interpretar el pasado y el
presente. A partir de los planteamientos sealados Croucher, Casella y Cobb
analizan la notable contribucin que ha hecho la Dra. Joyce al corregir nuestras
epistemologas e influir en nuestra comprensin del pasado, as como en la manera
de concebir nuestras investigaciones y la prctica arqueolgica.
Entre los aportes que consideran de vital importancia es el reconocimiento
de las mltiples narrativas asociadas al registro arqueolgico, as como la
democratizacin de ese discurso, propuestas que ofrecen pautas novedosas y
amplan el abanico de posibilidades de entender e interpretar la cultura material.
En esta seccin el objetivo concreto de las autoras es examinar un estudio
de un caso particular: el Ardnamurchan Transitions Project. Aqu exploran cmo
una aproximacin fundamentada en una ptica feminista as como el
establecimiento de una comunicacin democrtica impactan el proceso de
aprendizaje de los alumnos, tanto en el trabajo de campo como en la enseanza
27
en el aula, asimismo era su deseo averiguar si esas condiciones tenan alguna
repercusin en su comprensin e interpretacin de los resultados de sus
indagaciones arqueolgicas. En breve, las autoras afirman que su investigacin
ofrece muchas luces sobre el largo camino que nuestra disciplina debe recorrer
para cumplir con las bases establecidas por Joyce y otras pensadoras
contemporneas de vanguardia.
En otro orden de ideas y desde un campo temtico distinto, la Dra. Susan
D. Gillespie explora en su texto Gendering the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh
diversas cuestiones relacionadas con las peripecias de estos hermanos y los
problemas que se presentan a la hora de aclarar la identidad de gnero de uno de
ellos. Entre los estudiosos, seala la acadmica, ha habido un acalorado debate
vinculado al Popol Vuh, la gran creacin pica maya kiche, en especial, los
problemas asociados a la identidad de gnero de Xbalanque, el protagonista ms
popular. l es aparentemente masculino, al igual que su hermano Hunahpu, pues
se involucran en actividades tipificadas como masculinas: caza con cerbatanas, la
limpieza de campos de maz e interviniendo en un juego de pelota contra los
Seores de la Muerte.
No obstante, el nombre Xbalanque, contiene un prefijo que generalmente
se asocia con denominaciones femeninas, ms an, los hermanos se transfigurarn
posteriormente en el sol y la luna, correspondindole a Xbalanque convertirse en el
satlite lunar. En opinin de los especialistas esto es imposible puesto que la luna,
en el sistema de creencias mayas, posee un carcter femenino. Por esta razn se
ha postulado que existe un error en la traduccin y que los hroes deben ser
identificados como venus y el sol, el hermano mayor y el ms joven
respectivamente.
Lo que propone esta experta es que en lugar de culpar a quienes
transcribieron esa obra de crear un error en la asignacin astronmica de los
hermanos, como algunos autores han planteado, debe de hacerse una crtica al
fetichismo en los estudios modernos sobre el gnero que adoptan una mirada
esencialista, didica y fija sobre los personajes en el imaginario mesoamericano.
Desde su perspectiva, el concepto moderno occidental de gnero est en claro
desacuerdo con la estructura y naturaleza de las nociones de gnero que se
presentan en el Popol Vuh. ste representa una narracin cosmognica en la que
se explica cmo las diferentes cualidades asociadas al gnero se produjeron en
concierto con los orgenes de otros componentes del orden sociocsmico, entre los
cuales puede identificarse el desarrollo gradual de la agencia de gnero, relaciones
y bienes, especialmente los vinculados con el intercambio matrimonial.
Hasta aqu los trabajos que fueron elaborados en estrecha conexin con las
principales aportaciones que ha desarrollado la Dra. Joyce en sus investigaciones
28
sobre el pasado mesoamericano, principalmente en el rea maya. En lo que sigue
se presentan los ensayos que corresponden a la Segunda Parte, y que se refieren
al Gnero en los periodos coloniales y modernos. Se trata de comunicaciones en
las que las autoras presentan sus propios temas de investigacin en los que
muestran la notable influencia intelectual que recibieron de la Dra. Joyce.
La primera contribucin de esta segunda seccin se intitula The Mysterious
Mothers of Alva Ixtlilxochitl: Women, Kings, and Power in Late Prehispanic and
Conquest Tetzcoco que procede de la prolfica pluma de la Dra. Susan Kellogg.
Aqu la autora seala que el pensamiento fecundo de la Dra. Joyce ha generado
profundos cambios que han favorecido un progreso sustancial en las
investigaciones etnohistricas en el anlisis de las mujeres y el gnero.
La Dra. Kellogg opina que comparte con la Dra. Joyce un profundo inters
por las representaciones de mujeres poderosas a menudo reinas y madres- en
estelas, tallas y textos escritos. Tema que ha ocupado una parte muy importante
de sus esfuerzos acadmicos y que ha desarrollado en su obra publicada en la que
se ocupa de las mujeres, el gnero, la estructura social y el ciclo de vida. Su
propsito especfico en este ensayo es analizar las maneras en las que la
maternidad es representada tanto en los escritos de nuestra homenajeada como
en los documentos legados por el cronista Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl.
Ella considera que aunque este cronista ha sido dejado de lado por los
etnohistoriadores sus manuscritos constituyen una mina de oro (o ms
apropiadamente una mina de plata) de informacin sobre las mujeres reales en el
altpetl de Tetzcoco, as como en los reinos aliados o sujetos a la hegemona de
ste. Sus escritos son detallados, pero ambiguos sobre las madres de dos de los
gobernantes prehispnicos tezcocanos ms famosos: Nezahualcoyotl y
Nezahualpilli. Por ello, en esta comunicacin se exploran estas ambigedades a la
luz de las implicaciones polticas y de gnero de la historia de la dinasta
gobernante en los periodos previos a la conquista espaola y el rol que
desempearon las madres reales en ese periodo.
Un ensayo que se vincula parcialmente con el subsecuente y que tambin
reconoce explcitamente la influencia terica de los trabajos de la Dra. Joyce es
Estudios multidisciplinarios del cuerpo desde la ptica de gnero de la autora de
Mara J. Rodrguez-Shadow y Lilia Campos Rodrguez. La meta que se proponen las
antroplogas es reunir una amplia gama de investigaciones en las que se aborde el
estudio de los cuerpos eligiendo un enfoque de gnero. Entre stos se destacan
los que llev a cabo la Dra. Joyce, en la tradicin norteamericana y Encarna
Sanahuja desde los estudios que se enfocan en Espaa.
El objetivo es mostrar la manera en la que las indagaciones de carcter
crtico revelan que el cuerpo humano ha sido sometido a una serie de
29
simbolizaciones conmensurables y a una diversidad de lecturas, particulares a
espacios geogrficos concretos y contextos socioculturales especficos. La idea que
subyace este esfuerzo intelectual es dejar claro que, contrario a lo que dicta el
sentido comn es que el cuerpo femenino/masculino- no es slo el soporte
orgnico de los seres humanos, sino que es ms que nada y ante todo, un medio a
travs del cual los sistemas sociales han impuesto un complejo ordenamiento de
carcter econmico y poltico y que por lo tanto, los cuerpos y sus significados han
variado al mismo tiempo que el universo simblico en el que se ubican.
En este mismo tenor, Julie K. Wesp, quien elabora Embodied Subjectivities
within Bioarchaeological Research in Colonial Mexico, inicia su artculo sealando
que aunque la Arqueologa de Gnero ha llamado mucho la atencin de las
estudiosas durante los ltimos veinte aos, la produccin acadmica de la Dra.
Joyce ha sido especialmente til en relacin a los modos de reconceptualizar cmo
empleamos la nocin de gnero como una categora de anlisis. El uso de los
restos seos para determinar el sexo de un individuo, y consecuentemente, su
gnero ha sido un mtodo privilegiado en este tipo de estudios, no obstante, la
Dra. Joyce ha criticado esta simplificacin excesiva de los cuerpos. Y en estos
sealamientos no est sola (cfr. con Prados, 2012a, 2012b; Prados y Ruz, 2005).
Las bioarquelogas apenas estn empezando a teorizar con seriedad sobre
el sexo de sus esqueletos cuando arriban a la etapa de sus interpretaciones, tal es
el caso de las acadmicas que estn especialmente preocupadas con la manera en
la que las especialistas del gnero conceptualizan las diferencias sexuales (Al
respecto vanse los interesantes trabajos de Mrquez, 2006 y Mrquez y
Hernndez, 2006).
En esta seccin la Dra. Wesp, influenciada por la visin terica y los
conceptos producidos por la Dra. Joyce, examina una muestra de restos seos de
la poca colonial que pertenecieron a individuos que fueron recuperados del
Hospital Real San Jos de los Naturales de la ciudad de Mxico. Lo que la autora
se propone en especfico es analizar cmo el estrs de la vida cotidiana produjo
modificaciones en los huesos que ocasionaron alteraciones y cambios que resultan
visibles. As, a travs de esta muestra, ella logra la comprensin de los ejes de
diferenciacin que marcaron la vida de esas personas: sus identidades tnicas, de
gnero y su pertenencia de clase en la organizacin social y poltica de la Nueva
Espaa.
Por otra parte, Lilia Fernndez Souza, autora de El fogn, el monte y la
escuela: rituales orientados al gnero en el Yucatn contemporneo nos ofrece
los resultados de una investigacin de carcter multidisciplinario. Aqu, guiada en
gran medida por las propuestas y aproximaciones metodolgicas de la Dra. Joyce y
tomando como punto de partida el concepto de long dure para Mesoamrica, se
30
aborda la socializacin de los nios y nias de comunidades yucatecas a travs de
rituales relacionados con el ciclo de vida y con los roles que se espera que los
infantes desarrollen en la edad adulta. En ese ensayo nos presenta una serie de
casos etnogrficos, etnohistricos y arqueolgicos cuya comparacin lleva al
anlisis de la continuidad y el cambio en tiempo y espacio respecto a las prcticas
rituales y sus posibles referentes materiales.
Por ltimo y de nuevo inspirada en temas que han seducido a la Dra. Joyce,
Cheryl Claassen nos ofrece un estudio de caso que titula Fertility: A Place -based
Gift to Groups. Aqu el inters de la autora es conectar las dimensiones del sexo,
el gnero y la fertilidad con el propsito de compartir una mirada sobre los rituales
contemporneos en los que se vincula la fecundidad, la religiosidad popular y el
gnero en el Centro de Mxico.
Para mostrar las conexiones entre las tradiciones nahuas antiguas y las
prcticas actuales esta prolfica antroploga comenta que en el altiplano central,
en tiempos precolombinos, era comn que los estados oficiaran mensualmente
rituales de fertilidad dedicados al dios Tlloc a quien ofrendaban nios sacrificados.
Y aunque en la actualidad no se ofrecen infantes en honor a Tlloc, s les solicitan
(a las imgenes catlicas) les concedan el don de la fertilidad, asimismo se
continan llevando a cabo estas ceremonias y peregrinaciones en casi los mismos
periodos temporales, esto es, en este ao (2013) del primero al 18 de mayo. Estos
ritos mantienen rasgos de costumbres antiguas y de catolicismo popular.
Y puesto que muchos, si no es que todos, los grandes centros de
peregrinacin en Mxico estn asentados en antiguos templos indgenas, aquellos
se han convertido en lugares privilegiados para llevar a cabo rituales de fertilidad,
especialmente en reas aledaas que se consideran dotadas de poderes
sobrenaturales, tales como abrigos rocosos o cuevas, manantiales, cenotes,
montaas o arboles especficos: ceibas, ahuehuetes, entre otros.
En efecto, como la Dra. Joyce propuso, no slo las mujeres de la lite maya
deseaban la fecundidad, sino que mujeres de todos los tiempos, lugares y
condiciones la han anhelado profundamente cara al desprecio social que genera la
esterilidad. La fertilidad ha sido un don muy codiciado, tanto para las mayas, las
aztecas o las egipcias y por supuesto, las mujeres de nuestro tiempo. Pues como
bien dice Castaeda (2008:401) La fertilidad de la mujer era una capacidad bsica
y motivo de orgullo para la egipcia: la peor desgracia era ser una mujer estril. En
este estudio resulta claro que esas ceremonias, en tanto prcticas rituales
colectivas, se encuentran en concordancia con los ordenamientos hegemnicos
que constituyen la base de las polticas pronatalistas de las sociedades estatales:
los grupos en el poder desean ms tributarios que contribuyen a su riqueza y
aumentan su poder al explotar su fuerza de trabajo.
31
En este maravilloso anlisis etnogrfico sobre la fertilidad deben destacarse
varios puntos transcendentales, uno, que se enfatice que se considera un don, que
se destaque el carcter colectivo de esos rituales y que se subraye que se llevan a
cabo en sitios especficos. El estudio de todos estos aspectos, ha motivado por
supuesto, investigaciones arqueolgicas de gran vala.
Antes de concluir estas breves notas debemos indicar que en todos y cada
uno de los artculos reunidos en esta obra en honor a la Dra. Joyce se observa su
vigorosa influencia intelectual, el aprovechamiento de sus postulados tericos, la
adopcin de sus planteamientos metodolgicos, sus inclinaciones temticas, entre
otras opciones acadmicas. Estos ensayos representan un testimonio vvido del
legado intelectual de esta arqueloga erudita que merece nuestro ms amplio
reconocimiento por la fuerza de su pensamiento crtico y la creatividad de sus
doctas reflexiones.
Referencias citadas
Castaeda, Carlos, Seoras y esclavas. El papel de la mujer en la historia social del
Egipto antiguo, Mxico, Colegio de Mxico, 2008.
Hendon, Julia, Rosemary A. Joyce and Jeanne Lopiparo, Material Relations: The
Marriage Figurines of Prehispanic Honduras, Boulder, University Press of Colorado,
por aparecer.
Joyce, Rosemary A., Cerro Palenque: Power and Identity on the Maya Periphery ,
Austin, University of Texas Press, 1991.
________ Dimensiones simblicas del traje en monumentos clsicos mayas: La

construccin del gnero a travs del vestido, en La indumentaria y el tejido mayas
a travs del tiempo, Linda Asturias de Barrios y Dina Fernndez Garca (Eds.),
Guatemala, Museo Ixchel del Traje Indgena de Guatemala, 1992a, pp. 29-39.
________ Images of Gender and Labor Organization in Classic Maya Society, en

Exploring Gender through Archaeology , Cheryl Claassen (Ed.), London, Basil
Blackwell, 1992b, pp. 63-70.
__________ Womens Work: Images of Production and Reproduction in

Prehispanic Southern Central America, Current Anthropology, 34 (3), 1993, pp.
255-274.
32
__________ The construction of Gender in Classic Maya Monuments en Gender
and Archaeology, Rita Wright (Ed.), Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press,
pp. 167-

Texas, 2000a.
__________Girling the girl and boying the boy: The production of adulthood in
ancient Mesoamerica. World Archaeology, 31, 3, 2000b, pp. 473-483.
__________ Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives. Sex, Gender and Archaeology, London,
Thames and Hudson, 2008.
__________ In-between People in Colonial Honduras: Reworking Sexualities at

Ticamaya, en The Archaeology of Colonialism: Intimate Encounters and Sexual
Effects, Barbara Voss and Eleanor Casella (Eds.), New York, Cambridge University
Press, 2011, pp. 156-72.
Mrquez, Lourdes, La investigacin sobre la salud y nutricin en poblaciones

antiguas en Mxico, Lourdes Mrquez y Patricia Fernndez (Eds.), Salud y
Sociedad en el Mxico Prehispnico y Colonial, Mxico, ENAH-INAH, 2006, pp.
27- 57.
Mrquez, Lourdes y Patricia Hernndez, Los mayas prehispnicos. Balance de

salud y nutricin en grupos del Clsico y el Posclsico, Lourdes Mrquez y
Patricia Fernndez (Eds.), Salud y Sociedad en el Mxico Prehispnico y Colonial,
Mxico, ENAH-INAH, 2006, pp. 73-102.
Martin, Emily, The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction,

Boston, Beacon Press, 1992.
Pool, Marcos No, Mujer y poder en el Clsico maya. Entre realidad histrica y
ficcin antropolgica, en Mara Rodrguez-Shadow y Miriam Lpez Hernndez
(Eds.), Mxico, Centro de Estudios de Antropologa de las Mujeres, 2011, pp. 71-
90.
Prados, Lourdes, La arqueologa funeraria desde una perspectiva de gnero,

Madrid, Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, 2012a.
__________ Si las muertas hablaran Una aproximacin a los contextos

funerarios de la Cultura Ibrica, en La Arqueologa funeraria desde una
perspectiva de gnero, Lourdes Prados Torreira (Ed.), Universidad Autnoma de
Madrid, Madrid, 2012b, pp. 233-255.
33
Prados, Lourdes y Clara Ruz Lpez, Arqueologa del gnero: 1er Encuentro
Internacional en la UAM, Madrid, Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, 2005.
Schiebinger, Londa, Feminism & the Body, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000.
Sheptak, Russell N., Rosemary A. Joyce and Kira Blaisdell-Sloan, Pragmatic

Choices, Colonial Lives: Resistance, Ambivalence, and Appropriation in Northern
Honduras, en Enduring Conquests: Rethinking the Archaeology of Resistance to
Spanish Colonialism in the Americas , Matthew Liebmann and Melissa S. Murphy
(Eds.), Santa Fe, SAR Press, 2010, pp. 149-72.
34
Sexo, gnero y edad en la obra de Rosemary A. Joyce [1]
Roco Garca Valgan
The status of being a child is common-sensically associated with youth,

in something of the same way that gender is associated with biological sex
(Joyce 2006:397).
Introduccin
La identidad no se construye nicamente a partir del sexo o el gnero de una
persona, sino que es el resultado de su entrecruzamiento con otras categoras
sociales, como el estatus, la ocupacin laboral y la edad, como bien demuestra
Rosemary A. Joyce. Aqu se analizar el peso que le atribuye a la edad en relacin
al sexo y al gnero en la formacin de las personas en Mesoamrica hasta la
conquista.
Bases tericas y categoras conceptuales

Los planteamientos tericos de la homenajeada han evolucionado a lo largo de sus
obras desde la percepcin del sexo y el gnero como algo dual y complementario
que defina a las personas y estructuraba las sociedades asuncin propia de los
estudios de las mujeres y el gnero de ese momento- hacia una interpretacin ms
flexible y amplia de la realidad mesoamericana, influida por el pensamiento de
Judith Butler (1990, 1993 y 2004).
Generalmente se considera que el sexo de una persona viene marcado por
sus genitales, mientras que su gnero est influenciado por lo cultural, siguiendo
un esquema en el que slo caben dos alternativas. Pero la realidad parece ser
mucho ms complicada, pues hay mltiples evidencias que no encajan en este
esquema. Butler plantea que el error est, en primer lugar, en considerar que el
concepto de sexo es siempre binario y basado en la naturaleza (Joyce, 2008),
cuando la realidad es que el sexo no est definido slo por el aspecto de los
genitales externos, sino tambin por los rganos sexuales internos, por los
cromosomas (XX, XY y XXY), por niveles hormonales y por caractersticas sexuales
secundarias (senos, vello facial y corporal, entre otros).
Cada cultura valora estos rasgos de diferente modo, por lo que, cuando una
sociedad asigna un sexo a una persona, lo est haciendo a partir de la idea que se
ha formado, por ejemplo, de lo que es una mujer, y esta nocin no tiene porqu
coincidir con la de otras culturas. As pues, lo que conocemos como sexo no es
algo natural, sino cultural, pues lo interpretamos a travs de los conceptos
elaborados por dicha cultura (Joyce, 1998; ver tambin Laqueur, 1990). La autora
35
propone que, en lugar de concebir el sexo segn categoras cerradas, sera ms
acertado imaginarlo como una lnea continua [2], a lo largo de la cual las personas
se ubicaran en diferentes puntos (Joyce, 2008).
Al estar relacionado con el sexo, el gnero tambin es fluido (Joyce, 2008).
Pero, al contrario de la opinin general, Butler y Joyce explican que no est
determinado por ste ya que, al tratarse de una creacin cultural, puede variar en
cada sociedad. As pues, el gnero es un modelo de comportamiento impuesto en
una sociedad a sus miembros en funcin de las caractersticas de stos. No es algo
innato -no es lo que uno es, sino lo que ste hace- y se aprende mediante la
continua repeticin y la participacin en rituales que ayudan a interiorizarlo (Joyce,
2008).
Esto es lo que lo diferencia de un rol: que el gnero es experimentado por las
personas de una manera subjetiva y forma parte de su identidad, mientras que el
rol puede ser desempeado sin ser interiorizado o siquiera sentido, como una
actuacin. Butler da un paso ms al asegurar que sexo y gnero son la misma
cosa -lo que Rubin (1975) denomina sistema de sexo/gnero [3]-, que es la
manera en la que cada sociedad define, nombra y estructura lo que es posible
para cada persona en funcin de su cuerpo y de sus deseos sexuales; as pues, el
gnero est relacionado tanto con el sexo como con la sexualidad (Joyce, 2008).
El concepto de sexualidad es tambin recurrente en su obra, en el que
engloba tanto las preferencias (homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, asexual) como
la prctica (castidad [4], celibato [5] o promiscuidad). Se trata, por lo tanto, de
una categora multidimensional y que puede variar a lo largo de la vida. Pone el
ejemplo de la sociedad maya Clsica y Posclsica, en la que los jvenes varones
pudieron atravesar una etapa de relaciones homosexuales como parte de su
formacin, y posteriormente contraer matrimonios heterosexuales.
Butler y Joyce se percatan de que la mayora de los anlisis parten de la base
de que la heterosexualidad es la norma y todo lo dems se considera anormal
(Joyce, 2008), por lo que se corre el peligro de pasar por alto o malinterpretar una
normativa sexual diferente. Lo mismo ocurre con el sexo/gnero, tan importante
en nuestra cultura a la hora de estructurar socialmente, pero no tan relevante en
otras, en las que se privilegian categoras tales como la edad o el estatus social
(Joyce, 2008). Por este motivo, llaman la atencin sobre la necesidad de ser
conscientes de nuestros prejuicios para evitar, en la medida de lo posible,
proyectarlos en nuestros estudios (Joyce, 2008).
En cuanto al tema de la edad, la primera vez que se percat de la
importancia que le daba a esta variable (2000a) fue cuando la invitaron a
participar en debates y sesiones sobre la infancia. En 1994 present la ponencia
Looking for Children in Prehispanic Mesoamerica, en la que dejaba claro que el
36
hallazgo de restos juveniles no supona saber cmo se perciba y construa esta
etapa, y que sus fases no tenan por qu coincidir con las nuestras (Joyce, 1994 y
2006). La infancia era adems el momento en el que se iniciaba el desarrollo de la
identidad y la inculcacin del gnero, por lo que cobr una gran importancia en sus
investigaciones posteriores.
Para entender cmo se produjo este proceso en Mesoamrica prehispnica
reuni una gran cantidad de informacin procedente de diversas disciplinas,
culturas y periodos, y la analiz a la luz de un sexo/gnero flexible y de las dems
variables que conforman la identidad. Emple datos de sus propias excavaciones
en Mesoamrica y cotej los resultados con los de otros proyectos, as como la
informacin que ofreca la Iconogrfica, la Epigrfica, la Etnohistoria y hasta la
Etnografa de comunidades actuales mesoamericanas y forneas.
As, analiz y compar sociedades diversas en cuanto a su organizacin y
complejidad, desde comunidades aldeanas en Honduras y en el centro de Mxico
del periodo Formativo o Preclsico, pasando por los mayas del Clsico Tardo,
hasta los aztecas [6] del Posclsico. Considera que estas comparaciones son
necesarias especialmente en el caso de las sociedades ms tempranas, para las
que la informacin es ms limitada; mientras que, cuando sta es abundante y
diversa, como para los aztecas del siglo XVI, aboga por centrarnos en ese caso
concreto, dada la importancia de tener siempre en cuenta las particularidades de
cada rea y periodo. De este modo, advirti que la construccin del gnero poda
ser diferente segn el nivel de complejidad de cada sociedad, pues en el Formativo
se organizaban principalmente en funcin de la edad (Joyce, 2001a) y no era
necesaria la misma disciplina que en sociedades ms jerarquizadas -donde
intervenan ms variables-, para poder garantizar su produccin y reproduccin.
A su vez, esto influa en los sexos/gneros y edades que se mostraban en los
diversos soportes. Por ejemplo, en las figurillas cermicas del Formativo
Temprano, encontramos especialmente representaciones de mujeres muy jvenes,
apenas adultas; mientras que en el Formativo Medio aparece ya un mayor abanico
en cuanto al ciclo vital; y en los enterramientos de esta fase se aprecia la misma
estructura social basada en la edad. La autora expone el caso de los estudios
sobre enterramientos de Tlatilco, en el centro de Mxico, como ejemplo de
malinterpretacin de los restos por proyeccin de modelos propios, y de las
ventajas que ofrece aplicar la perspectiva que ella propone.
Un gran porcentaje de los cuerpos enterrados correspondan a mujeres, lo
que fue interpretado por muchos como evidencia de matriarcado. Sin embargo,
Joyce (2008) demostr que el patrn que subyaca en estos enterramientos se
basaba en la edad en lugar de en el sexo/gnero pues, entre otras cosas, el ajuar
hallado entre mujeres y hombres de la misma edad era muy similar. Por otra
37
parte, las adultas ms jvenes reciban la mayor parte y variedad de objetos de
ajuar, al contrario de lo que se poda esperar, lo que la autora interpret como una
seal de su importancia en el establecimiento de alianzas entre grupos (Joyce,
2001b). Algo diferente ocurre en la escultura monumental maya clsica, donde se
muestra a mujeres y hombres como adultos estandarizados, como un modelo a
seguir en el que la poblacin pudiese verse reflejada (Joyce, 2008), a pesar de que
el texto asociado pudiera indicar una avanzada edad.
Por este mismo motivo, tampoco suelen representarse a nios, y cuando se
hace es a modo de figuras adultas en miniatura (Joyce, 2008). Sin embargo, las
figurillas y recipientes cermicos mayas del mismo periodo muestran un abanico
mayor de tipos sociales y edades (Joyce, 2008); pero tambin se aprecia una
mayor dependencia de los nios hacia los adultos, y Joyce (2006) cree que puede
tratarse ms de un reflejo de la perspectiva adulta que de la realidad. As pues, la
representacin de la edad y del sexo/gnero puede ser diferente en cada caso, por
lo que hay que tener siempre presente el contexto, los mecenas y los
destinatarios, as como su funcin.
Por otra parte, no contamos con la misma informacin a la hora de
interpretar unas imgenes y otras pues, por ejemplo, en la escultura monumental
y en los cdices puede haber textos que identifiquen a los personajes, pero no en
las figurillas, por lo que habremos de tener cuidado al extrapolar su identificacin
de un soporte a otro. An as, sean deidades o seres reales, representan modelos
a seguir. Se tratara de una manifestacin de lo que Butler y Joyce llaman
precedentes referenciales [7] ( citational precedents; Joyce, 2000c; Bulger y
Joyce, 2013), normas que guan el comportamiento de los individuos para que se
ajusten a lo que se espera de ellos segn su edad, su gnero, su estatus social, y
que se materializan en comportamientos, representaciones, arquitectura y objetos
[8].
Dichos objetos pueden ser desde el atuendo y los adornos a los pequeos
instrumentos que les servirn a los nios para aprender y naturalizar su labor
como adultos (Joyce, 2008) y que se les entregaban en los rituales del ciclo vital.
Muchos de estos rituales los conocemos por descripciones de los cronistas del siglo
XVI; pero, dado que este no era su objetivo, las informaciones de las que
disponemos son parciales, desiguales y principalmente relativas a los varones de la
lite, como eran los informantes de los cronistas. Sin embargo, la autora se da
cuenta de que, aunque los conquistadores extrapolaban sus propios prejuicios,
estos no tenan por qu reproducir los de las fuentes nativas (Joyce, 2001c), lo
que nos permite cotejar dos visiones diferentes de la misma realidad.
As pues, la mayor parte de la informacin disponible para el estudio del ciclo
vital proviene de las comunidades aztecas y mayas posclsicas que tuvieron
38
contacto con los espaoles (Joyce, 1994); pero, comparando evidencias y usando
otras fuentes no textuales, Rosemary Joyce (2000c) consigue reconstruir dicho
ciclo vital tambin en sociedades mesoamericanas anteriores.
Los rituales que marcaban dicho ciclo se celebraran tanto en las unidades
domsticas como en las plazas pblicas (Joyce, 2006); y, como sugiere Ke llogg
(1995, en Joyce 2000c) y Rodrguez-Shadow (2000) para las aztecas y para las
mayas (2013), segn avanzaba la edad, cada vez participara ms gente en el
ritual, como una manera de ir integrando progresivamente a las criaturas en la
sociedad, sin olvidar la importancia estratgica que estas celebraciones podan
tener para la casa.
Ante la escasez de informacin sobre el parentesco de las sociedades
mesoamericanas grafas, Joyce (2000a y 2000d) propone utilizar el modelo de
casa (house societies) de Lvi-Strauss, en el que la posicin de cada uno de sus
miembros dependa, entre otros factores, de la edad, el sexo/gnero, la destreza y
las relaciones sociales (Joyce, 2008). Era en estas casas donde la gente aprenda y
experimentaba la manera adecuada de actuar (Joyce, 2001c y 2008) e interactuar
con gente de otras edades y sexos/gneros pues, segn demostr Hendon (1997,
en Joyce 2001c) en las residencias nobles de Copn, no haba segregacin entre
las actividades desempeadas por unos y otros en el mbito domstico. En este
contexto es fcil pasar por alto las contribuciones de los nios a la casa; sin
embargo, Joyce (2006) demuestra que desempearon un importante papel tanto
en la produccin -practicando el que sera su gnero adulto-, como en la
reproduccin de su cultura. Pone el ejemplo analizado por Hamann (2006, en
Joyce 2006) de los nios que fueron educados en la nueva fe catlica y
aleccionados para que olvidasen sus tradiciones anteriores, lo que supuso su
prdida en gran parte.
Ciclo vital
Dos lneas punteadas parten de la cuna del recin nacido en el Cdice Mendoza.
Una conduce a los objetos para el trabajo femenino y la otra, a los objetos
masculinos (Joyce, 2000c) [9], pues ya desde el nacimiento, se decide el
sexo/gnero de la criatura (Lpez Hernndez y Rodrguez-Shadow, 2011). Se
asigna pues, el gnero, de este modo entre los aztecas, las personas nacan poco
diferenciadas y con potencial femenino y masculino a la vez, y haba que
desarrollar uno de estos potenciales mediante entrenamiento. De hecho, se
consideraba que los recin nacidos an no eran enteramente personas (Joyce,
2006). Eso, unido a la gran mortalidad infantil de los menores de cinco aos, haca
que su fallecimiento fuese ms predecible que el de un nio mayor, que ya estaba
39
integrado en la sociedad (Joyce, 2006), y esta diferencia poda plasmarse en sus
enterramientos.
Los discursos se refieren a estos nios como piedras preciosas, pequeas
plumas, entre otras, lejos de considerar estas referencias como mera literatura,
Rosemary Joyce (2000a y 2000c) cree que es una manera de manifestar que
nacan como materiales en bruto, a los que haba que dar forma para crear seres
sociales (Bulger y Joyce, 2013). Este trabajo de socializacin comenzaba al
momento de nacer, con rituales que conllevaban enterrar su cordn umbilical, su
primer bao, la modificacin del crneo, consultar en el calendario su fecha de
nacimiento, darles un nombre, todo lo cual iba moldendoles como personas de
determinado sexo/gnero (Joyce, 1994, 1995a, 1995b y 2001c).
A partir de la informacin que aportan los enterramientos y las fuentes
coloniales, Joyce (1994, 2000a y 2006; Storey y McAnany, 2006) diferenciaron la
infancia de la juventud y las dividieron en tres etapas marcadas por cambios en el
aspecto y rituales de transicin, que se producan aproximadamente cada cuatro
aos. Este patrn parece comn, al menos, entre mayas yucatecos y aztecas
posclsicos, por lo que Joyce (2006) considera que pudieron regirse por un mismo
modelo. Pero, como bien indica Clendinnen (1991, en Joyce 2000c), dado que
estos rituales no se celebraban anualmente, no todos los nios participaban a la
misma edad cronolgica, sino que se trataba de una edad cultural.
La primera fase iba desde el nacimiento hasta los tres a cuatro aos y se
caracterizaba por la indefinicin de su aspecto en funcin del sexo/gnero y por
estar exentos de la disciplina y entrenamiento severos, de la realizacin de tareas
adultas y de la prctica ritual (Joyce, 2001c y 2006). Pero se les iban dando ya
adornos y herramientas especficos de su gnero para que fuesen
acostumbrndose a usarlos (Joyce, 1994, 2000b, 2001a, 2006).
La segunda etapa de la infancia duraba aproximadamente de los tres a los
cuatro aos y de los siete a los ocho, y estaba marcada por todo aquello de lo que
estaban exentos los ms jvenes: el desempeo de las tareas propias de su
sexo/gnero, la participacin en actividades rituales, el entrenamiento y la
disciplina, ms severas incluso que para los adultos, por la necesidad de crea r
adultos decorosos y el carcter conservador de esta educacin (Joyce, 2000c,
2001c y 2006).
Los mayas yucatecos posclsicos entraban en esta etapa tras el ritual del
caput sihil o segundo nacimiento, un prerrequisito para el matrimonio que Landa
(1941, en Joyce, 2000a y 2006) comparaba con el bautismo cristiano; y los aztecas
tenan su equivalente en el ritual de Izcalli (Joyce, 2006). Las imgenes y textos en
los monumentos mayas evidencian que ya en el periodo Clsico se daban estos
40
rituales y los consiguientes cambios de nombre, ornamentos e, incluso, de aspecto
fsico (2001c).
El cuerpo de nios y jvenes deba prepararse para que en el futuro pudiese
lucir ornamentos especficos y adaptarse a la imagen ideal que su sociedad tena
de mujeres y hombres (Joyce, 2001a, 2001c y 2006). Los diversos tipos de
modificaciones no slo sealaban el paso de una edad a otra, sino tambin la clase
de vida adulta que le esperaba a cada uno. Para ilustrarlo, pone el ejemplo de los
cambios efectuados por los aztecas sobre los que seran guerreros, a los que se
perforaba el labio inferior para que pudieran llevar bezote, y sobre los destinados
al sacerdocio, a quienes se les hacan escarificaciones y punciones sobre las
caderas y el pecho (Joyce, 2000a y 2001a). Estas modificaciones no slo
determinaban su vida laboral, sino tambin su sexualidad, pues mientras que a los
primeros se les animaba a tener relaciones con mujeres, stas deban abstenerse
de ellas (Joyce, 2000c).
El atuendo era la modificacin menos invasiva que contribua a construir un
cuerpo culturalmente (Joyce, 2000c), pues no slo encaminaba a los nios hacia
una apariencia ms adulta, sino que les empezaba ya a diferenciar en funcin de
su sexo/gnero, sus logros personales [10] y su estatus social (Joyce, 1992a,
2001a y 2001c) y determinaba qu movimientos y posturas eran adecuados y
cules no, facilitando unos y dificultando otros en funcin del caso (Joyce, 1992a y
2000c). No en vano, se trataba del primer rasgo de gnero adulto impuesto a los
nios aztecas, antes que los ornamentos y los peinados (Joyce, 2001c), pues la
partera les vesta con ropas adultas en su ritual de nacimiento para marcar su
pertenencia al grupo de los que vestan igual (Joyce, 2000c). Adems, la
elaboracin de los atuendos formaba parte de la inculcacin del gnero femenino,
pues eran ellas las responsables de producir los de todo el grupo (Joyce, 2001c), y
sus tejidos sirvieron como fuente de prestigio.
Otra modificacin corporal era la perforacin de las orejas de los nios, lo
que les permitira llevar orejeras cuando fuesen adultos, pues su uso es
considerado exclusivo de stos (Joyce, 1999 y 2000c), como se puede observar en
sus representaciones iconogrficas y en los enterramientos. En la escultura
monumental maya clsica, los pocos nios que aparecen, lo hacen sin orejeras,
aunque tengan el mismo estatus que los adultos con los que se representan
(Joyce, 2006). En cuanto al registro material, se han hallado orejeras de diversos
dimetros, lo que indicara un largo proceso de adaptacin hasta alcanzar el
tamao definitivo (Joyce, 2000b, 2001a, 2003a y 2003b, Joyce 2006). Por ejemplo,
entre las figurillas del Formativo Medio de Playa de los Muertos, Honduras, las
orejeras ms grandes y elaboradas se asocian a los ancianos (Joyce, 2003b), por
lo que podra tratarse de una jerarqua basada en la edad. Pero, aparte de este
41
ejemplo, se observan pocas diferenciaciones entre adultos maduros y ancianos, y
esto puede deberse a que pocos sobrepasaran los 40 aos (Garca Valgan,
2011).
Otro rasgo fsico que denotaba edad era el peinado, pero la informacin con
la que contamos es parcial y ms limitada en el caso de las mujeres mayas y
aztecas (Joyce, 2000c). En las figurillas cermicas de las sociedades ms
tempranas poda servir para individualizar las representaciones; pero segn
avanzaba el tiempo, los peinados se fueron estandarizando en funcin de las
diferentes etapas vitales (Joyce 1997, 1998, 2000a, 2000c). Segn se aprecia en el
Cdice Mendoza, los nios de ambos sexos llevaban el pelo corto; hacia los once a
doce aos, se les rapaba y se dejaba crecer de manera desigual, hasta alcanzar el
peinado definitivo cuando se casaban o tenan su primer hijo en el caso de las
mujeres. En el de los varones, se les dejaban crecer mechones que no se podan
cortar hasta que tomasen cautivos (Joyce, 2000c). Y dado que el peinado no era
un cambio permanente, haba que cuidarlo constantemente, como una manera de
reafirmar su sexo/edad y su adultez, as como el control sobre su cuerpo (Joyce,
2000c); no en vano, segn las crnicas, las prostitutas y las mujeres cuya
sexualidad no se atena a la norma llevaban el pelo suelto y despeinado (Joyce,
2001a y 2002).
Hacia los once a trece aos acabara la infancia (Storey y McAnany, 2006, en
Joyce 2006) y comenzara la pubertad o la fase de subadultos pues, teniendo en
cuenta la reducida esperanza de vida, tendran que madurar antes que en otras
sociedades. En este momento alcanzaban el punto lgido de identidad de
sexo/gnero (Joyce, 2000c) y de su sexualidad, por lo que eran vigilados por sus
mayores y por el estado, al menos entre los aztecas, para asegurarse de que
evolucionaban de la manera adecuada. Pero no se pretenda que los jvenes se
comportasen del mismo modo dentro de la casa que fuera, donde se esperaba que
se distinguiesen del resto (2000a). Los jvenes aztecas de ambos sexos/gneros
participaban en una serie de actos pblicos que incluan danzas, cantos,
procesiones y hasta combates fingidos en los que lucan su cuerpo embellecido con
vistosos atuendos, peinados y adornos; era un modo de mostrar su madurez y su
atractivo sexual, por lo que eran frecuentes las competencias y las alusiones
sexuales (Joyce, 2001a).
El embellecimiento de los jvenes se pone de manifiesto tambin en los
enterramientos del periodo Formativo de Tlatilco, en los que sus ajuares contenan
mayor nmero y variedad de objetos de adorno que los de sus mayores. De entre
estos jvenes, las mujeres solan tener los mejores ajuares, as como mayor
porcentaje de modificacin del crneo como prctica esttica (Joyce, 2001a).
Tambin las figurillas del Formativo Temprano representan principalmente a
42
mujeres jvenes como prototipo de belleza, expresando su sexualidad por medio
del embellecimiento (Joyce, 2001a, 2003b). Sin embargo, entre los mayas clsicos,
la imagen idealizada de la belleza era la de un joven varn (Joyce, 2003b), por lo
que podra pensarse que las ancianas personificaran la anttesis de tal ideal
(Garca Valgan, 2012). Por ello, los varones de la lite, y especialmente el
gobernante, se hacan representar en la escultura monumental Clsica exhibiendo
un cuerpo joven; incluso la prenda masculina por excelencia, el braguero o
maxtlatl , atrae la atencin hacia la zona genital, y la ocasional representacin de
vello facial y corporal contribuye a evidenciar su masculinidad y el haber alcanzado
determinada edad (Joyce, 1996, 2001b, 2000c).
Esa imagen es diametralmente opuesta a la presentada por las mujeres
nobles en este mismo soporte; aunque tambin de una edad adulta estndar, su
cuerpo aparece totalmente cubierto por las prendas por ellas elaboradas, dejando
slo al descubierto rostro, manos y pies. Por este motivo, Joyce (1992a) sugiere
que el sexo/gnero masculino se evidenciara a travs de su sexualidad, y el
femenino, mediante el producto de su trabajo. En todo caso, como bien apunta la
autora, no hay que olvidar que estas imgenes muestran a un pequeo sector de
la poblacin, y que no slo se les representaba por ser mujeres u hombres, sino
tambin por pertenecer a la lite (1992b), como imagen atemporal del poder de la
nobleza (Joyce, 2008) y con una finalidad poltica (Joyce, 1992a, 2008).
Los gobernantes se mostraban de este modo como grandes guerreros,
jugadores de pelota y participantes en danzas, y los destinatarios de estas
imgenes eran principalmente otros varones nobles (Joyce, 2000b). Pero tambin
eran admirados por las mujeres junto a las que eran representados, sus madres y
esposas, quienes no reciban de vuelta la misma mirada, pues eso hara tambalear
su jerarqua. Para explicarlo, pone el ejemplo de las representaciones de los
jvenes herederos junto a sus madres regentes; dado que estas mujeres tena n
mayor edad, lo que supona un grado, haba que resaltar la figura del joven como
modelo ideal de referencia para asegurar su derecho a gobernar (Joyce, 2002,
2008). As pues, los varones jvenes eran objetos de admiracin y deseo por parte
de mujeres y varones (2002, 2008).
Se ha identificado una posible versin femenina de objeto de deseo en los
recipientes y figuras cermicas mayas clsicas que muestran a una joven de
pechos exuberantes frente a un anciano o a un animal antropomorfizado. Pero
Joyce (1993, 1996) considera que se trata ms del deseo de un nio por su madre,
que de un deseo sexual adulto. De este modo, se establece un paralelismo entre
nios y ancianos, que podra deberse a que a ambos se les reconoce con un
sexo/gnero ms indeterminado que a los adultos jvenes.
43
El tema del cuerpo masculino como objeto de deseo aparece ligado a la
posibilidad de que los varones mayas establecieran relaciones homosexuales
durante su juventud. Pese a que cronistas como Landa (1941) lo negaran, diversas
entradas en diccionarios coloniales apoyan esta hiptesis (Joyce, 2000b, 2002,
2008). La ertica masculina estara ligada a su socializacin, en el periodo en el
que se les exigan actividades fsicas como el juego de pelota y la guerra (Joyce,
2002), y no era obstculo para que posteriormente establecieran relaciones
heterosexuales (Joyce, 2008). Hasta el matrimonio, las mujeres jvenes yucatecas
se quedaban en la casa de sus padres perfeccionando su futuro papel como
madres y esposas, y los varones iban a vivir a la casa de los jvenes (Joyce, 2002
y 2000b).
Rosemary Joyce identifica estas estructuras con algunos edificios de Chichn
Itz, Yucatn, que cuentan con muchas habitaciones y pocas estancias para otras
funciones, as como con frecuentes representaciones flicas y de escenas blicas
(Joyce, 2008a). De hecho, estas casas estaban cerca de espacios abiertos y juegos
de pelota, donde podan mostrar su cuerpo y valor y competir entre s (Joyce,
2000b, 2008). Segn Stone (1995, en Joyce 2000b), debido a la temtica sexual
de sus pinturas, cuevas como las de Naj Tunich, Guatemala, tambin pudieron ser
espacios de socializacin para los jvenes varones, a los que no tendran acceso
las mujeres.
En cuanto a los varones aztecas, se esperaba que la mayora pasara varios
aos como guerreros, tiempo durante el cual se les animaba a mantener relaciones
sexuales con un grupo especfico de mujeres; pero, cuando dejaban las armas,
deban casarse y tener hijos (Joyce, 2008). Otros chicos eran destinados al
sacerdocio, al celibato y la castidad y reciban una educacin diferente, por lo que
tenan ms en comn con las chicas en su misma situacin que con el resto de los
varones (Joyce, 2008). Por otra parte, McCafferty y McCafferty (1988) se
percataron de que las mujeres que servan en el templo pudieron actuar de
manera similar a los varones, lo que le hace preguntarse a Joyce (2008) cules
seran las oportunidades que se les presentaran a las chicas predestinadas de por
vida al templo.
Con la derrota de los aztecas por los espaoles, cambi la manera de educar
a sus jvenes, pues se transform tambin la idea de lo que era una mujer y un
hombre adultos y lo que se esperaba de ellos, y se silenci todo lo relativo a su
sexualidad (Joyce, 2008); pero esto no impeda que siguieran aprendiendo en el
mbito domstico.
Sin embargo, no todos aceptaban esta educacin y la imposicin de un
sexo/gnero y de una sexualidad determinada. La existencia de discursos que
amenazaban con la expulsin de la casa y con funestos finales evidencia que
44
exista cierto grado de desobediencia, y de temor por parte de los mayores y las
autoridades mayas y aztecas de que los individuos no aceptaran el modelo
heterosexual impuesto y les privasen de descendientes (Joyce, 2008). La
homenajeada (2001c) considera que este intento por mantener el orden
heterosexual estatal chocara con su idea de un sexo/gnero integrador y/o
cambiante a lo largo del ciclo vital, como en el caso de las deidades creadoras, el
dios del Maz y la diosa lunar (Hunt, 1977, en Joyce 2001c; Joyce 1994, 1995a y
2001a, en Joyce 2001c).
Sea como fuere, era importante que los jvenes se emparejaran para que
pudieran procrear y desempear cargos que exigan de la complementariedad de
una pareja, como ocurre entre los mayas atitecos actuales descritos por Tarn y
Prechtel (1986, en Joyce 1992a).
La autora (2000a y 2000c) observa paralelismos entre el ritual del matrimonio
y el del nacimiento, como el hecho de que las suegras vistieran a su nuera y a su
yerno con prendas que haban hecho para ellos y que implicaba un cambio de
aspecto y de estatus. Con el ritual del parto tambin se estableca un paralelismo
con la toma de cautivos por parte de los varones, pues la joven era alabada como
un guerrero y haba de traer como cautivo a su propio hijo; de hecho, como
recuerda Joyce (2000a) entre el captor y el cautivo se estableca una relacin
paterno-filial simblica. Los jvenes entraban en la adultez cuando eran capaces
de incorporar nuevos individuos a la sociedad, fuese como cautivos o como prole
(Joyce, 2001c), por lo que era entonces cuando reciban sus orejeras de adultos
(Joyce, 1994, 1995a y 2001a, en Joyce 2001c; 2008). Pero cabe preguntarse qu
ocurra con las personas que no lo lograban pues, adems de los individuos clibes
consagrados a los templos, tambin haba gente que no poda o no quera procrear
(Joyce, 2008).
Las parteras desempeaban aqu un papel fundamental ayudando a producir
nuevos seres sociales; y, pese a que la mayor parte de las evidencias sealan que
se trataba de mujeres, Joyce (2001c) propone que tambin podra haber varones y
nos recuerda que no debemos dar por hecho presunciones similares slo porque
nos parezcan naturales. Sea como fuere, segn Landa, las mujeres participaban en
la mayor parte de los rituales de paso, ayudando en los partos, practicando
tatuajes, modificaciones craneales y ocasionando la bizquera de los nios (Joyce,
2001c) por lo que su labor fue fundamental en la inculcacin del sexo/gnero.
Adems, tuvieron gran importancia como productoras de bienes y por las
potenciales alianzas y prestigio que sus matrimonios podan aportarle al grupo. Es
por ello que eran mencionadas como ancestros destacados, como es el caso de las
madres y abuelas maternas de los gobernantes de Chichn Itz, cuyos nombres
fueron grabados en la piedra (Krochock, 1991 y 2002, en Joyce 2008).
45
Igualmente importante era el papel y la contribucin de los ancianos al
grupo, pues los cambios fsicos que sufran no implicaban el cese de su actividad
laboral, sino, simplemente, un reacomodo. La autora (com. pers., agosto 2013)
pone el ejemplo del trabajo cermico, donde los ancianos elaboraban las piezas
mientras que los jvenes se dedicaban a decorarlas. Sin embargo, tambin nos
advierte (2008) del riesgo que conlleva extrapolar ideas propias sobre las
condiciones fsicas y las dolencias de los ancianos a otros periodos y culturas, pues
podemos encontrar que no se corresponden con aquella realidad.
Los individuos mayores del grupo solan ser los responsables de vigilar el
cumplimiento de las normas por parte de los ms jvenes y, tambin, los que
acaparaban ms poder en la unidad domstica y en las sociedades formativas. En
estas comunidades, donde prevaleca la edad sobre el sexo/gnero como base de
la organizacin social, las mujeres mayores compartan el mismo estatus social y
tenan ms en comn con los varones de su misma edad que con el resto de
mujeres, por lo que es posible tambin que compartieran las mismas ambiciones
que estos y reclamaran su prestigio (Joyce, 2008). Esto se pone de manifiesto en
las representaciones de ancianas en figurillas cermicas (Joyce, 2003b, en Joyce y
Henderson 2010) y en los enterramientos del periodo Formativo, en los que, si
bien aparecen asociadas a ajuares ms pobres que las jvenes, algunas de las ms
mayores fueron enterradas con objetos nicos y en emplazamientos destacados,
incluso apartadas del resto (Joyce, 2001a, 2001b y 2008). Cree que estas ancianas
distinguidas habran desempeado un importante rol ritual, por lo que se las
considerara ancestros comunales. Y lo mismo parece ocurrir con las mencionadas
por Landa, que eran las nicas mujeres a las que se permita participar en los
templos en ciertos rituales (Joyce, 1993). En cuanto a las aztecas, se podan
convertir en ancianas reverenciadas en su casa, como supervisoras y gerentes de
los productos almacenados en la unidad domstica (Joyce, Guyer y Joyce 2000).
Cuando moran, se convertan en los ancestros del grupo y seguan formando
parte de este, por lo que se les sola enterrar debajo de la unidad domstica
(Joyce, 2001c). La autora y otros (Bachand, Joyce y Hendon, 2003, en Bulger y
Joyce 2013) se dieron cuenta de que estos ancestros aparecan en esculturas
monumentales mayas y olmecas en diversos contextos, a modo de precedentes
referenciales, mostrndole a la comunidad cules eran los comportamientos
adecuados.
Los mayas tzotziles zinacantecos (Devereaux, 1987, en Joyce 1992a y 2001c)
denominan padres/madres a los ancestros comunales, definindoles as como de
sexo/gnero dual. Ese mismo trmino se asigna a los especialistas religiosos, pues
se les supone el mismo sexo/gnero integrador de los ancestros y de las deidades
de la creacin, lo que les dota de un gran poder, pero tambin puede ser peligroso
46
si no se sabe controlar. Es por ello que el sexo/gnero es el habitus que hay que
aprender y practicar desde que se nace hasta que se muere.
Conclusiones
La autora agita las bases tericas sobre las que se apoyan los estudios de
sexo/gnero en Mesoamrica; nos alienta a replantearnos ideas que asumimos
como naturales (como considerar que la infancia y la juventud son similares entre
s e iguales en todas las culturas); y a que abramos la mente a nuevas
posibilidades, como la existencia de sexos/gneros fluidos definidos por la cultura.
Siguiendo el pensamiento de Judith Butler, Rosemary A. Joyce propone
cambiar la perspectiva desde la que analizamos otras culturas, siendo conscientes
de nuestros propios prejuicios y modelos organizativos para no proyectarlos en
nuestros objetos de estudio; pues, de otro modo, no seremos capaces de apreciar
modelos diferentes. Igualmente mantiene que la identidad no depende nicamente
del sexo/gnero, al que tanta importancia le damos, sino que intervienen otras
muchas variables como el estatus, la ocupacin laboral o la edad. De hecho, esta
ltima era ms determinante que el sexo/gnero a la hora de clasificar a la gente
en las sociedades mesoamericanas prehispnicas.
As pues, si bien acepta que en algunas sociedades, periodos y soportes
mesoamericanos se aprecia una desventaja femenina frente a los varones, nos
recuerda que estas mujeres pertenecan a su vez a diversas categoras de edad,
estatus, profesin, cada una con sus propias ventajas y desventajas. Por lo que, en
vez de centrarnos en las diferencias entre mujeres y hombres, deberamos
considerar tambin las similitudes y aadir las dems variables a la ecuacin, ya
que la identidad se define por comparacin con la gente del entorno.
Por ltimo, su anlisis de la formacin de la identidad y del sexo/gnero
desde el nacimiento, y especialmente en la primera mitad del ciclo vital, ha
facilitado un marco de referencia para futuras investigaciones sobre la relacin
existente entre el sexo/gnero y la edad en el mbito mesoamericano. Una
aportacin relevante.
Agradecimientos
Quiero agradecer a Rosemary A. Joyce, por su paciencia y disponibilidad y por las
largas charlas gracias a las cuales he podido entender muchos de los conceptos; a
Scott R. Hutson por facilitarme parte del material que necesitaba y a Natalia
Moragas Segura y Asier Rodrguez Manjavacas por darme su apoyo en revisar y
mejorar mis textos.
47
Notas
[1] La informacin que se recoge en este captulo parte tanto de las lecturas de los
trabajos de la homenajeada como de conversaciones mantenidas con ella a travs
de Internet entre Octubre de 2012 y Agosto de 2013 para clarificar conceptos e
ideas, a fin de plasmar su pensamiento de una manera ms fidedigna.
[2] Literalmente, Joyce (2008: 45) lo define como un continuum.
[3] A partir de aqu, en este artculo, utilizar el trmino sexo/gnero para
referirme a lo que tradicionalmente se ha denominado como sexo y como
gnero.
[4] Virtud de quien se abstiene de todo goce carnal (REA, Agosto 2013).
[5] Dcese de la persona que no ha tomado estado de matrimonio (REA, Agosto
2013).
[6] Empleo el trmino azteca en lugar de mexica por mantener el utilizado por
Joyce.
[7] Dado que la palabra citacional no existe en castellano -como aparece en
algunas traducciones de las obras de Butler-, he optado por traducirla por
referencial.
[8] La materializacin de las normas en objetos, representaciones y arquitectura es
un aadido de Joyce al concepto de Butler. Con arquitectura se refiere a las
normas que pudieron regir la circulacin y el comportamiento de las personas en
los espacios construidos en funcin de su sexo/gnero.
[9] Si en las fuentes coloniales encontramos repetidamente la alternativa entre
slo dos sexos/gneros es, segn Joyce, porque los conquistadores interpretaron e
impusieron una perspectiva dual.
[10] A travs del atuendo se poda distinguir, por ejemplo, a aquellos que ganaron
estatus en la batalla o en el comercio a larga distancia (Joyce, 2001a).
Referencias citadas
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Mesoamerican Human Sculpture and Embodiment, Cambridge Archaeological
Journal, 13, 2, 2003, pp. 238-247.
Bulger, Teresa y Rosemary A. Joyce, Archaeology of Embodied Subjectives, en A

Companion to Gender Prehistory , Diane Bolger (Ed.), Oxford, Blackwell, 2013, pp.
68-85.
Butler, Judith, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity , New
York, Routledge, 1990.
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Routledge, 1993.
__________ Undoing Gender, New York, Routledge, 2004.
48
Clendinnen, Inga, Aztecs: An Interpretation, Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press, 1991.
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en Dealing with Inequality: Analyzing Gender Relations in Melanesia and Beyond ,
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Garca Valgan, Roco, Ancianas mayas prehispnicas. Quines son y cmo se

las representa?, en Las mujeres mayas en la antigedad, Mara J. Rodrguez-
Shadow y Miriam Lpez Hernndez (eds.), Mxico, Centro de Estudios de
Antropologa de la Mujer, 2011, pp. 15-40.
__________ La representacin de los ancianos mayas prehispnicos desde una

perspectiva de gnero, manuscrito en posesin de la autora, 2012.
Hamann, Byron, Child Martyrs and Murderous Children: Age and Agency in
Sixteenth-Century Transatlantic Religious Conflicts, en The Social Experience of
Childhood in Ancient Mesoamerica , Traci Ardren y Scott Hutson (Eds.), Boulder,
University Press of Colorado, 2006, pp. 203-231.
Hendon, Julia, Womens Work, Womens Space and Womens Status among the
Classic Period Maya Elite of the Copan Valley, Honduras, en Women in Prehistory:
North America and Mesoamerica , Cheryl Claassen y Rosemary A. Joyce (Eds.),
Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997, pp. 33-46.
Hunt, Eva, The Transforation of the Hummingbird: Cultural Roots of a

Zinacantecan Mythical Poem , Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1977.
Joyce, Rosemary A., Dimensiones simblicas del traje en monumentos clsicos

mayas: La construccin del gnero a travs del vestido, en La indumentaria y el
tejido mayas a travs del tiempo , Linda Asturias de Barrios y Dina Fernndez
Garca (Eds.), Guatemala, Museo Ixchel del Traje Indgena de Guatemala, 1992a,
pp. 29-39.
__________ Images of Gender and Labor Organization in Classic Maya Society,

en Exploring Gender through Archaeology , Cheryl Claassen (Ed.), Gran Bretaa,
Basil Blackwell, 1992b, pp. 63-70.
__________ Womens Work: Images of Production and Reproduction in

Prehispanic Southern Central America, Current Anthropology, 34, 3, 1993, pp.
255-274.
49
__________ Looking for Children in Prehispanic Mesoamerica, ponencia
presentada al annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology , California,
1994.
__________ Making Men and Women of Children: The Construction of Gender in

Mesoamerican Society, ponencia presentada al 94 th annual meeting of the
American Anthropological Association, Washington D. C., 1995a.
__________ Beauty, Sexuality, and Body Ornamentation in Mesoamerican Art,

ponencia presentada al 96 th annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of
America, California, 1995b.
__________ The Construction of Gender in Classic Maya Monuments, en Gender

and Archaeology, Rita P. Wright (Ed.), Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1996, pp. 167-195.
__________ Playa de los Muertos Figurines and Their Predecessors, manuscrito

en posesin de la autora, 1997.
__________ Performing the Body in Prehispanic Central America. Res 33, 1998,
pp. 147-165.
__________ Social Dimensions of pre-Classic Burials, en Social Patterns in Pre-

Classic Mesoamerica , David C. Grove y Rosemary A. Joyce (Eds.), 1999, pp. 15-47.
__________ Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica , Austin, Univeristy of

Texas, 2000a.
__________ A Precolumbian Gaze: Male Sexuality Among the Ancient Maya, en

Archaeologies of Sexuality , Robert A. Schmidt y Barbara L. Voss (Eds.), Londres,
Routledge Press, 2000b, pp. 263-286.
__________ Girling the Girl and Boying the Boy: the Production of Adulthood in
Ancient Mesoamerica, World Archaeology 31, 3, 2000c, pp. 473-483.
__________ Heirlooms and Houses: Materiality and Social Memory, en Beyond

Kinship: Social and Material Reproduction in House Societies , Rosemary A. Joyce y
Susan D. Gillespie (Eds.), Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000d,
pp. 189-212.
__________ Beauty, Sexuality, Body Ornamentation and Gender in Ancient

Mesoamerica, en In Pursuit of Gender: Worldwide Archaeological Approaches ,
Sara Nelson Milledge y Mirian Rosen-Ayalon (Eds.), Walnut Creek, Altamira Press,
2001a, pp. 81-92.
50
__________ Burying the Dead at Tlatilco: Social Memory and Social Identities,
en New Perspectives on Mortuary Analysis , Meredith Chesson (Ed.), Archaeology
Division of the American Anthropology Association, Monograph 10, Wiley Online
Library, 2001b, pp. 12-26.
__________ Negotiating Sex and Gender in Classic Maya Society, en Gender in

Pre-Hispanic America , Cecelia Klein (Ed.), Washington D. C., Dumbarton Oaks,
2001c, pp. 109-141.
__________ Desiring Women: Classic Maya Sexualities, en Ancient Maya Gender

Identity and Relations, Lowell S. Gustafson y Amelia M. Trevelyan (Eds.), Londres,
Bergin & Garvey, 2002, pp. 329-344.
__________ Concrete Memories: Fragments of the Past in the Classic Maya

Present (500-1000 AD), en Archaeologies of Memory. Ruth Van Dyke and Susan
Alcock (Eds.), Massachusetts, Blackwell, 2003a, pp. 104-125.
__________ Making Something of Herself: Embodiment in Life and Death at Playa

de los Muertos, Honduras, Cambridge Archaeological Journal , 13, 2003b, pp. 248-
261.
__________ Where We All Begin: Archaeologies of Childhood in the

Mesoamerican Past, en The Social Experience of Childhood in Ancient
Mesoamerica , Traci Ardren y Scott Hutson (Eds.), Boulder, University Press of
Colorado, 2006, pp. 283-301.
__________ Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives. Sex, Gender, and Archaeology , London,
Joyce, Rosemary A., Carolyn Guyer y Michael Joyce, Sister Stories, New York,
University Press Online Division, Pgina Web, 2000.
http://www.nyupress.nyu.edu/sisterstories.
Joyce, Rosemary A. y John S. Henderson, Being Olmec In Early Formative

Honduras, Ancient Mesoamerica, 21, 2010, pp. 187-200.
Kellogg, Susan, Law and the Transformation of Aztec Culture, 1500-1700, Norman,
University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.
Krochock, Ruth, Dedication Ceremonias at Chichn Itz: The Glyphic Evidence,

en Sixth Palenque Round Table, 1986, Merle Greene Robertson y Virginia M. Fields
(Eds.), Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1991, pp. 43-50.
51
__________ Women in the Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of Chichn Itz, en Ancient
Maya Women, Traci Ardren (Ed.), Walnut Creek, Altamira Press, 2002, pp. 152-
170.
Landa, Diego de, Landas Relacin de las cosas de Yucatn . Traducido por Alfred
M. Tozzer, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Papers, vol. 18,
Cambridge, Harvard University, 1941.
Laqueur, Thomas, 1990, Making Sex: Body and Gender from de Greeks to Freud ,
Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Lpez Hernndez, M. y M. Rodrguez-Shadow, Gnero y sexualidad en el Mxico

antiguo, Mxico, Centro de Estudios de Antropologa de la Mujer, 2011.
McCafferty, Sharisse y Geoffrey McCafferty, Powerful Women and the Myth of

Male Dominance in Aztec Society, Archaeological Review from Cambridge 7, 1988,
pp. 45-59.
Rodrguez-Shadow, Mara, Las mujeres mayas de antao, Mxico, Fundacin

Armella, 2013.
__________ La mujer azteca, Toluca, Universidad Autnoma del Estado de Mxico,

2000.
Rubin, Gayle, The Traffic in Women: Notes on the Political Economy of Sex, en
Toward an Anthropology of Women, Rayna Reiter (Ed.), New York, Monthly
Review Press, 1975, pp. 157-210.
Storey, Rebecca y Patricia A. McAnany, Children of K'axob: Premature Death in a

Formative Maya Village, en The Social Experience of Childhood in Ancient
Mesoamerica , Traci Ardren y Scott Hudson (Eds.), 2006, pp. 53-72.
Tarn, Nathaniel y Martin Prechtel, Constant inconstancy: The feminine principle in

Atiteco mythology, en Symbol and meaning beyond the closed community , Gary
Gossen (Ed.), Albany, Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, State University of New
York at Albany, 1986, pp. 173-184.
52
Materializando el cuerpo del deseo: masculinidad, ritualidad y poder
entre los mayas de la poca clsica
Hctor Hernndez lvarez
Introduccin
Durante las ltimas tres dcadas, Rosemary Joyce ha estudiado ampliamente las
representaciones corporales, la construccin y el performance del gnero y su
relacin con el poder entre los mayas del perodo Clsico. Con base en algunos de
sus planteamientos, en este trabajo pretendo abordar la forma en que se
construye la masculinidad maya prehispnica y las implicaciones que esto conlleva
para la expresin de la ritualidad y el poder en esta sociedad del pasado.
Joyce (1992, 1996, 2000a) ha sugerido que las representaciones artsticas
monumentales de la lite gobernante del perodo Clsico fueron un intento por
monopolizar la accin ritual, totalizar las categoras de gnero y naturalizar las
relaciones de poder. Esta interpretacin se basa en la evidencia iconogrfica y
epigrfica proveniente de varios sitios de las tierras bajas mayas. Pale nque,
Calakmul, Tikal y Bonampak cuentan con un exquisito arte monumental que narra
la historia y los eventos crticos de un sinnmero de personajes, cuyo poder e
influencia permiti que ciertos pasajes de su vida quedaran grabados para la
eternidad en piedra. Sin embargo, en otros lugares como la Pennsula de Yucatn,
donde son escasos este tipo de monumentos, existen otros recursos arqueolgicos
que pudieran servirnos para complementar el registro sobre las distintas
expresiones de las masculinidades mayas de la poca prehispnica.
Gracias a la positiva influencia del trabajo de Joyce, he comenzado a buscar
otro tipo de evidencias, como los restos de unidades residenciales, entierros y
cultura material diversa, provenientes de sitios del norte de Yucatn, para
contrastar arqueolgicamente estos argumentos relativos a la ideologa masculina,
la ritualidad y el ejercicio del poder en la antigedad. La evidencia que se presenta
en este trabajo nos lleva a considerar que las identidades masculinas se
manifiestan como mltiples, y relativas al tiempo y al espacio, aunque al parecer,
en ciertos momentos, durante la poca prehispnica hubo un intento por implantar
un discurso que busc naturalizar la masculinidad a partir de las representaciones
monumentales, las prcticas rituales y las acciones para ejercer el poder.
Materializando el cuerpo del deseo

Como asiduo lector novel de las publicaciones antropolgicas feministas y de
gnero de los aos noventas, me siento sinceramente en deuda con el trabajo de
la Dra. Rosemary Joyce debido a la gran influencia que ha ejercido en mi labor
53
como investigador de la cultura maya y de la arqueologa de gnero. Los estudios
de Joyce (1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2000a, 2000b, 2001, 2002) sobre las
representaciones corporales, la divisin del trabajo, la sexualidad, la construccin y
el performance del gnero y su relacin con el poder, han resultado fundamentales
para discutir el importante papel del gnero en la construccin de una ideologa del
ser hombre o ser mujer entre los mayas del perodo Clsico.
En esta ocasin, aparte de celebrar y homenajear a una investigadora
excepcional, mi inters particular ser comentar los planteamientos de la Dra.
Joyce sobre las distintas expresiones de la masculinidad entre los mayas en la
poca clsica. Sus diversos estudios sobre el gnero, la encarnacin, la sexualidad,
la infancia y el papel del gnero en el pasado, contienen informacin y datos
interesantes sobre lo que pudo significar ser un hombre durante el perodo
prehispnico. Adems, tambin pretendo demostrar que existen otro tipo de
evidencias materiales que nos pueden servir para caracterizar las identidades de
gnero masculino de los antiguos habitantes del mayab.
En trminos generales, el estudio de la masculinidad en la antropologa se
enmarca en el contexto terico de los estudios sobre las mujeres, ya que se basa
en los conceptos, ideas e interpretaciones antropolgicas con perspectiva de
gnero (Brown, 2010; Carab, 2000; Cornwall y Lindisfarne, 1994; Gilmore, 1994;
Gutmann, 1997; Montesinos, 2002). Esto se debe principalmente a que el gnero
es una categora relacional, por lo que el estudio del gnero (o de las mujeres)
necesariamente implica informacin sobre los hombres (Montesinos, 2002:25). Por
otra parte, los estudios antropolgicos sobre la sexualidad y lo que se denomina
teora queer, han abierto nuevas posibilidades de contestar los discursos
hegemnicos y han abordado nuevas perspectivas para criticar la supuesta
dominacin masculina, la heterosexualidad, la homosexualidad y la presencia del
llamado tercer gnero (Butler, 2002; Meskell, 1999; Voss, 2000).
En este sentido, la arqueologa de la masculinidad est constituida por
nuevos estudios sobre abordan al hombre como sujeto que adquiere e inscribe el
gnero. El estudio de la masculinidad en la arqueologa contempornea reconoce
la importancia del gnero, el cuerpo y la sexualidad, adems de las identidades
mltiples, como vas fundamentales de investigacin y como un cuestionamiento a
la perdurable marginalizacin de estos temas en la disciplina (Alberti, 1997, 2006;
Ardren, 2008; Gilchrist, 1999; Hernndez lvarez, 2011; Joyce, 2000b; Knapp,
1998a, 1998b; Meskell, 1999; Nottveit, 2006).
Con excepcin de contados casos, el estudio del gnero masculino a partir
de la arqueologa ha sido poco abordado y discutido, principalmente debido a un
prejuicio sobre la supuesta vuelta a investigaciones de corte androcntico. Por lo
tanto, ms que pensar en oposiciones binarias de estereotipos que se perpetan a
54
travs del tiempo, los estudios sobre la masculinidad han insistido en sealar que
las identidades son mltiples, fluidas y divergentes (Alberti, 2006; Knapp, 1998a;
Knapp y Meskell, 1997; Meskell, 1999). En este sentido, la masculinidad se
constituye como una expresin de identidad del ser, una categora social siempre
cambiante que se manifiesta diferente cultural, espacial y temporalmente.
De acuerdo con Knapp (1998), considero que cualquier debate crtico sobre el
gnero desde una arqueologa social debe incluir tanto las perspectivas femeninas
y masculinas, reconceptualizar las categoras con las que reconstruimos el pasado
e implementar alternativas al discurso arqueolgico y a la interpretacin.
Por lo tanto, no obstante que los estudios sobre la masculinidad estn
estrechamente relacionados con la indagaciones en torno a las mujeres, dichas
investigaciones rechazan las nociones estructuralistas simplistas de dicotomas
binarias hombre-mujer, como reflejo del impacto terico del feminismo sobre los
mtodos y las conclusiones de la antropologa (Alberti, 1997). Entonces, en el
anlisis sobre la masculinidad a partir de la arqueologa podemos preguntarnos
cmo las experiencias de ser hombre se ven influenciadas por cuestiones como el
estatus, la sexualidad, la etnicidad, las identidades raciales, las persuasiones
religiosas y las etapas de la vida en los diferentes contextos sociales de la
antigedad (Meskell, 1999).
Como han demostrado la mayora de estos estudios, no existe una
masculinidad monoltica. Al respecto, Connell (1995) utiliza el trmino de
masculinidad hegemnica, para referirse a su posicin predominante en un patrn
dado de relaciones de gnero. Sin embargo, esta masculinidad hegemnica
tambin puede ser contestada pues obedece a una forma especfica de
masculinidad que es culturalmente exaltada (Meskell, 1999:61).
Es por ello que, en la mayora de las sociedades del mundo, la masculinidad
constituye una categora que se ha de ganar o conquistar con ciertos esfuerzos, ya
que en muchas de estas sociedades se elabora una imagen exclusivista de la
masculinidad mediante aprobaciones culturales, ritos o pruebas de aptitudes y
resistencia (Gilmore, 1994:15). Adems, la masculinidad casi siempre incluye los
aspectos del cuerpo, el comportamiento aprendido y la sexualidad. En la gran
mayora de las culturas se ha observado que tanto el cuerpo como la sexualidad
son culturalmente mitificados para crear una relacin natural entre el sujeto
masculino y el poder (ver Bourdieu, 2000). Por lo general, la masculinidad
hegemnica ha sido descrita a partir de aquellos aspectos de la hombra que son
vistos como particularmente poderosos en una sociedad determinada (Gilchrist,
1999:64).
Entonces, a continuacin pretendo caracterizar los aspectos de la
masculinidad que han resultado trascendentales para la construccin de una
55
ideologa de gnero masculino y comentar aquellos aspectos de la hombra que
fueron utilizados como estrategia poltica para vincularla al poder durante la poca
clsica. Afortunadamente, los estudios de Joyce (1992; 1993; 1996; 1998; 2000a)
sobre las imgenes de gnero, la divisin de labores y la relacin que existe entre
el gnero y el poder en Mesoamrica prehispnica han despejado el camino para
llegar a cuestionar los estereotipos que se tienen sobre los hombres, las mujeres y
los nios del pasado. Posteriormente, sus anlisis sobre la encarnacin como la
experiencia vivida del cuerpo (2000b; 2001; 2004) han sealado que el estudio de
la masculinidad en el pasado presenta una estrecha conexin con las perspectivas
tericas de la agencia, la experiencia, el cuerpo y la sexualidad y que para su
estudio se requiere de un acuerdo explcito sobre las subjetividades. Como dice
Joyce (2004:82): los actores del pasado, construidos como sujetos sociales,
deben ser teorizados y especficamente situados: cmo hombres, mujeres, nios o
ancianos, clibes o sexualmente activos y sobre todo en un continuo estado de
transformacin [traduccin del autor]. Veamos a continuacin cmo se ha
intentado lograr dichos propsitos al estudiar los vestigios de la antigua civilizacin
maya.
Gnero y masculinidad entre los mayas del Clsico

En Mesoamrica, la masculinidad de la poca prehispnica no ha sido abordada en
su justa dimensin y, con excepcin de algunos trabajos, se ha obviado la manera
en la cual se construy una ideologa del ser hombre o los valores sobre la
hombra en esta regin cultural (Ardren, 2008; Ardren y Hixson, 2006; Hernndez
lvarez, 2011; Hernndez lvarez y Puc Tejero, 2011; Joyce, 2000b; Tate, 2004).
Es lgico pensar que no cualquiera se lanzara al ruedo en un tema tan espinoso,
sobre todo en el estudio de las culturas mesoamericanas que tiene tan arraigados
sus parmetros de investigacin.
No obstante, a partir de la teora del performance de Butler (1990; 2002), la
Dra. Joyce decidi abordar el problema de la construccin de la identidad de
gnero, los referentes corporales y la sexualidad entre los mayas de la antigedad.
Sus primeros estudios sobre las representaciones humanas en el arte monumental
del periodo Clsico constituyeron un intento pionero por discutir acerca de la
ideologa de gnero que se manifestaba en los monumentos esculpidos (Joyce,
1992, 1996). Esta autora planteaba que existe cierta dicotoma de gnero en las
representaciones humanas del Clsico que se relaciona con el trabajo o las
actividades propias de cada gnero. Como dice Joyce (1993:266), las imgenes o
representaciones humanas fueron un medio de negociacin del estatus entre
hombres y mujeres en esta sociedad. Los hombres fueron comnmente
representados en monumentos pblicos, como gobernantes, hbiles jugadores de
56
pelota o como grandes guerreros. Estn frecuentemente representados
sosteniendo armas como lanzas o escudos y se muestran parados sobre cautivos.
Por su parte, a las mujeres se les muestra ricamente ataviadas, ofrendando platos
de cermica con los objetos propios del autosacrificio o cargando bultos de tela
enrollados, enfatizando su poder creador, estrechando sus relaciones de
parentesco y demostrando su fuerte vnculo con las actividades textiles (Hernndez
lvarez, 2002).
Posteriormente, usando el concepto fenomenolgico denominado
encarnacin (embodiment), Joyce (2000b, 2001, 2002, 2004) comenz a explorar
la dimensin de la experiencia corporal y los referentes sobre la sexualidad de los
mayas antiguos. La encarnacin constituye la manera en que se moldea a la
persona fsica como el sitio donde se experimenta la subjetividad, una manera de
dar forma que es simultneamente el producto de acciones tanto materiales como
discursivas (Joyce, 2004:84).
Para Joyce (1998), la construccin de la masculinidad puede ser vista de
varias formas, como una mirada de varn a varn, que incluy el placer sexual, la
exaltacin de la esttica masculina y la experiencia del deseo en trminos de la
mirada femenina. Por lo tanto, el despliegue de los varones estuvo relacionado con
una fijacin sexual a partir de la evocacin del cuerpo y la vestimenta, que centra
la atencin en los genitales masculinos. Los hombres mayas de alto estatus, aun
cuando visten vestimentas y ornamentos extremadamente elaborados,
generalmente son mostrados con exposicin de sus piernas y con su pecho y sus
brazos descubiertos. Adems, las representaciones de los cuerpos masculinos del
perodo Clsico son generalmente enfatizados en actitudes extremadamente
activas: se les representa bailando, en el momento de la captura de enemigos y en
la prctica del juego de pelota (Joyce, 2002:336).
Adems, las partes del cuerpo pueden ser entidades autnomas cuyo
simbolismo est relacionado con algunas de sus cualidades esenciales o de la
ideologa cultural con respecto a su funcin. Por ejemplo, el pene, smbolo
masculino por excelencia, fue una de las partes del cuerpo cuyas cualidades fueron
empleadas en beneficio de una masculinidad hegemnica entre varios grupos
mesoamericanos. Por ejemplo, entre los mayas, el glifo de pene fue usado como
un sinnimo de hombre, como un ttulo y como un referente familiar (Houston, et
al. 2006:40). Igualmente, las imgenes flicas, presentes tanto en monumentos
esculpidos, estelas y adosados a edificios, sobre todo en la parte norte de la
pennsula yucateca, han sugerido a varios autores que conceptos como el gobierno
y los principios de la creacin estn contenidos en estas imgenes de falos del
Clsico Terminal (Amrhein, 2003; Ardren, 2011; Ardren y Hixson, 2006; Hernndez
lvarez, 2011; Joyce, 2000b). Al parecer, la presencia de estas imgenes explcitas
57
de la masculinidad fueron la respuesta a cambios polticos y culturales que se
estaban dando en el norte de Yucatn para este perodo (Ardren y Hixson, 2006).
Por otra parte, la prominencia de imgenes sobre la manipulacin del pene
en los rituales del Clsico y el Posclsico maya tambin debe ser vista en el
contexto de un nfasis en la sexualidad masculina. Desde el Preclsico y ha sta el
perodo Postclsico, como lo muestran los murales de San Bartolo, los
monumentos de piedra y las pginas de los cdices, hay diversas expresiones del
ritual del autosacrificio por sangramiento del pene. Al respecto, Joyce (2001)
menciona que ningn otro grupo de Mesoamrica hizo tanto nfasis en el ritual de
sangramiento del pene como los mayas. Por lo tanto, debi haber existido un
fuerte vnculo entre los rituales de autosacrificio, la cualidad masculina del
miembro viril y una sexualidad que se relacionaba con el poder creador.
En su obra seminal, A Precolumbian Gaze: Male Sexuality among the Ancient
Maya, Joyce (2000) comenta que el estudio de las representaciones de los
cuerpos masculinos entre los mayas sugiere que fueron hechas con la intensin de
servir para el disfrute sensual de otros hombres en el contexto de ciertos rituales y
la competitividad masculina. Por ejemplo, propone que la famosa representacin
de dos hombres desnudos abrazados, acompaados de escenas de masturbacin,
que aparecen en la cueva de Naj Tunich en Guatemala, es parte de una prctica
sensorial ofrecida para probar la plasticidad del mundo contra la destreza del
cuerpo. Al parecer, en este tipo de contextos, la masculinidad y la sexualidad
masculina fueron construidas a partir de la mirada de los varones. Este
homoerotismo presente entre la sociedad maya clsica no estaba en una oposicin
con la heterosexualidad o la homosexualidad, ya que las mismas representaciones
de cuerpos de hombres jvenes fueron sujetos del deseo tanto masculino como
femenino.
A continuacin finalizar este trabajo mencionando algunos ejemplos de
cmo he intentado contrastar arqueolgicamente las ideas de Joyce al abordar la
masculinidad de los antiguos mayas peninsulares.
Masculinidad, ritualidad y poder en el rea maya peninsular

Como vimos, la expresin artstica del perodo Clsico es prominente en imgenes
masculinas que exaltan las cualidades de la hombra entre las lites mayas como la
captura y sacrificio de cautivos, la danza ritual, el autosacrificio y el juego de
pelota. Otras identidades masculinas representadas en el arte monumental
incluyen gobernantes, guerreros y oficiantes religiosos. Sin embargo, entre los
mayas prehispnicos, al igual que otros grupos mesoamericanos, existen otras
evidencias como las prcticas funerarias, la modificacin y el adorno corporal, las
actividades rituales y, principalmente, la evidencia de las distintas actividades
58
realizadas en los contextos domsticos, que son la expresin material de la
identidad social y de gnero.
Por ejemplo, entre los grupos domsticos de las planicies yucatecas del
norte se han documentado diversas evidencias arqueolgicas que nos pueden
ayudar a contrastar las ideas sobre el gnero y la masculinidad comentadas
anteriormente. Por ejemplo, la evidencia material como los metates, la cermica y
los edificios, as como la gran cantidad de entierros hallados en la estructura
domstica denominada 1-A, de la unidad habitacional Perifrico-Cholul (Mrida,
Yucatn), parte de un grupo residencial de mediano estatus que data del periodo
Clsico (550/600-750/800 d. C.), nos sugieren que se trata de un grupo domstico
relacionado con actividades de subsistencia, produccin, mantenimiento y rituales
que fueron comunes en otras unidades domsticas mayas del Clsico. Analizando
dicha evidencia, Pool y Hernndez (2007) han sealado que este grupo domstico
pudo estar relacionado con actividades de administracin y actividades rituales,
ejemplificadas por la gran cantidad de entierros depositados en la Estructura 1-A.
En dicha estructura, el cuarto principal, que cuenta con una banqueta central
y una estancia frontal, parece haber funcionado como el lugar en donde se
trataban asuntos relacionados con la vida pblica, poltica y religiosa de este
grupo, y tal vez de la comunidad circundante. Adems, la Estructura 1-A debi de
haber fungido como una casa de gestin a nivel local y un lugar de memoria,
donde fueron depositados los restos de los individuos adscritos a este grupo social
en sus distintas etapas de ocupacin.
Dentro de esta casa se exhumaron los restos de nueve mujeres y trece
varones distribuidos en tres cuartos, que fueron depositados en diferentes
momentos considerando las seis etapas constructivas de la Estructura 1-A (Figura
1). Al comparar los enterramientos entre varones y mujeres, y entre jvenes y
adultos, no se aprecia ninguna diferencia significativa en trminos formales. Lo que
s es significativo es la diferencia cuantitativa y cualitativa de algunas ofrendas,
principalmente platos y cajetes de cermica. Dicha variacin parece estar
relacionada a cuestiones de gnero y de jerarqua (Pool Cab y Hernndez lvarez,
2007:154). Al parecer, en este contexto particular, los hombres tuvieron que
negociar sus posiciones de autoridad y liderazgo con otros miembros, femeninos o
ms jvenes, parientes o no, del propio grupo domstico. Lo anterior se propone a
partir del anlisis de las distintas etapas de crecimientos de la unidad domstica,
ejemplificadas en las etapas constructivas del edificio, las diferencias entre los ms
de veinte entierros y sus ofrendas, las posibles relaciones de parentesco entre los
individuos sepultados y la secuencia de sucesin de estatus interpretada de esta
evidencia (Pool Cab y Hernndez lvarez, 2007).
59
Por otra parte, la investigacin de dos grupos domsticos de alto estatus en
el asentamiento maya de Sih, Yucatn, fechados para el periodo Clsico
Tardo/Terminal (800-950 d. C.), se ha documentado arqueolgicamente la
presencia de lderes o cabezas de grupo domstico debido a la existencia de
arreglos residenciales que contienen una plataforma excepcionalmente larga que
funcionaba como lugar de habitacin principal y otros rasgos materiales asociados
a la figura de autoridad como la presencia de banquetas o tronos dentro de los
cuartos centrales. Adems, la principal estructura del grupo domstico 5D16 de
Sih contaba con la representacin de una cabeza masculina que simboliza el glifo
de ajaw o gobernante. La imagen, contenida en un panel de piedra caliza adosado
a la principal estructura habitacional, corresponde a una fecha de cuenta corta (12
ajaw -probable 652 d. C.) que pudiera fechar la construccin del edificio (Figura
2). Se trata de una imagen de poder y gnero masculino que pudiera simbolizar la
cabeza masculina del grupo domstico, que estuvo relacionada directamente con
la estructura abovedada tipo palacio 5D16 (Hernndez lvarez, 2011).
Igualmente, a partir de las ideas de Joyce (1992, 1993) sobre la divisin del
trabajo por gnero, en estos grupos domsticos se documentaron diversas faenas
hogareas compartidas, y otras diferenciadas, que realizaron tanto los hombres
como las mujeres y los nios que all vivieron. Entre estas labores caseras se
encuentran actividades bsicas como la preparacin, almacenamiento y servicio de
comida y de bebida, adems, en el grupo domstico 5D16 hay evidencia de otros
quehaceres como la produccin, mantenimiento y reciclaje de herramientas lticas,
atribuidas a los varones, mientras que en el grupo domstico 5D2 predominan
tareas femeninas como el hilado, el tejido y la preparacin de alimentos. Entonces,
como dice Joyce (2000:58), existe un complemento de gnero en el proceso de la
produccin: las materias primas vinculadas a la esfera de los hombres, por una
parte, y por la otra, la transformacin de aquellas en productos como vasijas
cermicas y telas ligadas a cargo de las mujeres. El nfasis en las categoras de
gnero complementarias son fundamentales en la construccin de las demandas
de la lite por el poder (Joyce, 1992).
Finalmente, el ltimo caso que quisiera comentar se refiere al performance
de gnero masculino en un edificio de la ciudad maya de Chichn Itz durante el
periodo Clsico Terminal. En la Gran Nivelacin, el centro cvico ceremonial de esta
urbe prehispnica, se despleg un complejo simbolismo sobre la masculinidad y el
poder a partir de las representaciones humanas que adornan la mayora de
edificios. Entre las representaciones artsticas de los edificios de la Gran Nivelacin
existe una abrumadora mayora de imgenes de guerreros. Las imgenes alusivas
a la guerra abundan en el centro de la ciudad. Mientras que la presencia femenina
apenas es visible y se limita a la representacin de seres sobrenaturales con
60
atributos femeninos (senos) y que se complementan con la vestimenta (Hernndez
lvarez y Puc Tejero, 2011).
Previamente, la Dra. Joyce (2000a:95) ha comentado que en Chichn Itz,
la arquitectura y las imgenes en los monumentos del Clsico Terminal reflejan
cambios en la organizacin socio-poltica necesarios para responder a las
condiciones creadas por los elevados niveles de conflicto. Las imgenes ms
prominentes de guerreros en este sitio pueden reflejar el surgimiento de fuerzas
militares permanentes, adems de que demuestran la importancia creciente del
liderazgo en la guerra y el ritual.
Por lo tanto, los discursos en piedra nos hablan sobre distintas identidades
sociales masculinas que convivieron en los recintos cvico-religiosos de la capital
maya. Las representaciones estn enfocadas en los guerreros y los oficiantes
rituales, aunque otros actores como penitentes, peregrinos, cautivos y mercaderes
estuvieron entre los usuarios de los edificios de la Gran Nivelacin (Hernndez
lvarez y Puc Tejero, 2011). En este contexto central, recientemente se ha
explorado un edificio tipo patio-galera, al que se denomin 2D6, para entender
ms sobre las funciones que desempearon este tipo de edificios tan
caractersticos de Chichn Itz. La Estructura 2D6, un edificio con columnas que se
ubica en el sector noreste de la Gran Nivelacin, est compuesta por tres sectores:
la galera, el patio y un cuarto abovedado localizado al norte de la galera. Aqu nos
referiremos exclusivamente a las exploraciones en la galera frontal del edificio.
A estas estructuras tipo patio-galera de Chichn Itz se les han asignado
diversas funciones como lugares donde se realizaba el autosacrificio o como
residencias de familias privilegiadas. Lo que se sabe es que estos edificios
generalmente aparecen relacionados con templos o en asociacin con patios,
incluyen bancas en el interior con altares y aras de sacrificio (Arnauld, 2001:384).
Desde mi perspectiva, ciertos edificios del tipo patio-galera pudieron ser lugares
de interaccin exclusivamente masculina. Es decir, se trata de lugares donde se
reafirma la identidad social de los hombres, que se congregan a realizar y observar
diversas actividades, prcticas y comportamientos propios de su gnero. Joyce
(2000b) ha sugerido que lugares como las cuevas con arte y ciertas estructuras o
templos, como aquellos que presentan falos de piedra, pudieron haber sido lugares
para el performance de gnero, donde la mirada masculina se enfoc en otros
hombres [traduccin del autor]. Menciona, por ejemplo, que la Casa del Falo en
Chichn Itz es un sitio de actividad ritual donde las imgenes flicas se vinculan
con prcticas masculinas simblicas, batallas y actividades ceremoniales como el
juego de pelota y la danza ritual, actividades que aparentemente fueron exclusivas
de los varones.
61
Tomando en cuenta lo anterior, considero que la evidencia recuperada en la
Estructura 2D6 de Chichn Itz constituye otro ejemplo de un espacio de
interaccin masculina, probablemente grupos de guerreros, sacerdotes o
peregrinos. En 2D6, la parte porticada al frente de la estructura presenta varios
rasgos que nos sirven para conocer su funcin y puede inferirse quines fueron
sus usuarios. Este espacio contaba con banquetas dispuestas alrededor de los
muros, exceptuando la parte central, donde se localiz el acceso al patio y un
altar. Adems, alineada con el altar hacia el oeste se encontr una piedra de
sacrificios de forma trapezoidal y en la parte sur de la galera se ubicaron tres
tableros de patolli grabados en el piso de estuco (Figura 3). Los anlisis qumicos
efectuados a las banquetas y a los pisos estucados de la galera han dado como
resultado altas concentraciones de fosfatos en las banquetas y alrededor de los
grafitos. Esta evidencia sugiere que grupos de varones consumieron y ofrendaron
alimentos sobre las banquetas de la galera, adems de que seguramente tambin
estuvieron bebiendo y comiendo mientras probaban suerte con el juego de patolli,
un juego ritual y de azar que en el Centro de Mxico era presidido por los dioses
del vicio y los excesos segn los cronistas.
Por otra parte, la presencia de la piedra de sacrificio, relacionada con el
altar, nos habla de actividades de sacrificio ritual. Una vez ms, los anlisis
qumicos nos permitieron saber que haba concentraciones de protenas,
posiblemente producto del derramamiento de sangre, en las zonas alrededor de la
piedra sacrificial, mientras que el altar muestra concentraciones menores de
fosfatos y un pH elevado, sugiriendo quiz la colocacin de un brasero. Con esta
informacin disponible, he considerado que el patio-galera 2D6 es un lugar donde
se puede evidenciar el performance de gnero masculino a partir de ciertas
actividades rituales como el sacrificio, el autosacrificio y la ofrenda, adems de
actividades ldicas como el juego de apuestas, la bebida y la comida (Hernndez,
2013).
Comentarios finales
La arqueologa ha sido capaz de demostrar que al validar tanto la diferencia como
la semejanza de gnero, y al mostrar tanto la agencia humana como el patrn
estructural, es posible delinear las motivaciones, las condiciones y los lugares a
travs de los cuales el gnero se vuelve relevante en la vida diaria (Knapp, 1998a).
Las trascendentes aportaciones de Rosemary Joyce sobre el gnero y la
masculinidad entre los mayas nos han dejado en claro que existi una
masculinidad hegemnica que se plasm en la arquitectura y los monumentos
pblicos que presentan a los hombres relacionados con el gobierno, actividades
blicas, rituales y prcticas atlticas como el juego de pelota. Sin embargo, el
62
mismo sentido crtico de la Dra. Joyce nos ha permitido entender que estas
identidades sociales no fueron monolticas y que la masculinidad en Mesoamrica
era multidimensional y estructuraba una amplia cantidad de relaciones sociales en
diversos mbitos.
Como ahora sabemos, gracias a las enseanzas de la Dra. Joyce, entre los
mayas de la poca prehispnica, el ser hombre significaba una multiplicidad de
aspectos relacionados con su vida cotidiana, su actividad, su posicin (y la de su
familia) en la comunidad y sus relaciones, a partir del grupo domstico, con la
estructura socio-poltica mayor, a travs de medios como la religin y la economa
(Hernndez lvarez, 2011).
Como ya vimos, en el rea maya las identidades masculinas siguen un
patrn general pero se manifiestan diversas y contradictorias. En las tierras bajas
del norte, los grupos domsticos contienen valiosa evidencia material sobre el
desempeo del gnero y su relacin con otros aspectos de la vida social como la
produccin domstica, el liderazgo, el estatus y los rituales. En estos contextos, los
varones negociaron sus posiciones de autoridad y participaron activamente en las
labores propias de las unidades familiares. Por su parte, en un lugar especial como
la ciudad de Chichn Itz, las evidencias provenientes de un edificio, donde el
performance de gnero se manifiesta a partir de los vestigios de prcticas ldicas y
rituales, nos muestran que la construccin de la masculinidad maya est
ntimamente relacionada con la religiosidad, la sexualidad y el poder, como ya lo
haba adelantado Joyce (2000b, 2001).
63
Figura 1. Planta de la Estructura 1-A del sitio Perifrico-Cholul donde se muestran
todos los entierros depositados en las distintas etapas de ocupacin y crecimiento
del edificio (Tomado de Pool, 2003:159).
64
Figura 2. Estructuras residenciales del grupo domstico 5D16 y panel de piedra
esculpida con un glifo 12 ajaw que se encontr adosado a la estructura principal.
65
Figura 3. Plano de la galera frontal de la Estructura 2D6 de Chichn Itz, Yucatn.
66
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70
Embodiment, Emotion and Youthful Death at Chan
Cynthia Robin and Anna C. Novotny
Introduction
As Rosemary Joyce has eloquently illustrated through her research central to what
we might think of as the socialization of archaeology since the early 1980s have
been concerns with the exploration of ancient subjectivities (2004:82). We live
our lives through sensing, feeling, and our emotive states flow through our bodies
and minds connecting our lives with all that is going on in the world around us.
Embodiment in this sense can be defined, drawing on the work of Judith Butler, as
the materialization of the physical person as the site of the experience of
subjectivity (Bachand, Joyce and Hendon, 2003:238).
An archaeological approach to embodiment intersects with and is enriched
by feminist, gender, and materiality studies as Rosemary Joyce has amply
demonstrated ( e.g., Bachand, Joyce and Hendon, 2003; Joyce, 1998, 2000, 2001a,
2001b, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008; Meskell and Joyce, 2003; Perry and Joyce, 2001).
Feminist concerns with understanding all people (women, men and others) and
their experiences and subjectivities, provide important insights from which an
embodied approach to archaeology has grown (Joyce, 2004). Archaeologists have
access to a rich corpus of information that can inform an understanding of ancient
embodiment, such as the remains of human bodies, two and three-dimensional
artistic representations of bodies, and textual sources ( e.g., Meskell and Joyce
2003). Thus taking materiality into account provides archaeology a key means to
further broader cross-disciplinary studies of embodiment.
Although one would not even venture to say that embodiment is a widely
accepted paradigm across the schools of archaeology, embodied approaches to
archaeology have received significant attention largely due to the work of
Rosemary Joyce. Even less explored in archaeology than embodiment is emotion,
because archaeologists largely consider emotion beyond the reach of
archaeological evidence ( e.g., Joyce, 2001a; Kus, 1992). But we lose a powerful
part of our ability to interpret the past if we dismiss the role of emotions, feelings,
sights, sounds, and smells. In this chapter we draw upon the work of Rosemary
Joyce to insert embodiment and emotion into archaeological interpretation.
Rosemary Joyce suggests that a productive way to move an archaeology of
embodiment forward is to consistently ask questions about how human bodies in
the past may have experienced their world through the body, and experienced
their bodies through their specific cultural positions (2004: 92). We use this
suggestion as our point of departure for this chapter, which examines the
71
significance of youthful death in the Pre-Columbian Maya farming community of
Chan. At Chan young people who died at an early age, young women, young men,
and children were buried in the most sacred place in the community, its centrally
located E-Group, a paired temple complex with a tripartite eastern temple and
single western temple. E-Groups are commonly associated with burial and ancestor
veneration in the Maya area. We reconstruct the experiences and emotions
surrounding these young deaths at Chan through an examination of the bodies of
the deceased, the material practices surrounding their burial, and textual and
iconographic data on the significance of youthfulness in the Pre-Columbian Maya
area. Not only does our analysis allow us to develop a vibrant picture of peoples
lives and deaths at Chan, but we also argue that exploring the emotive aspects of
youthful death at Chan allows us to better understand why individuals who died
young at Chan were afforded the most sacred and venerated of burials within the
community.
Our experiential analysis of death at Chan draws upon Rosemary Joyces
analysis of death at Tlatilco, Mexico for its model (Joyce, 2001a). In Burying the
Dead at Tlatilco: Social Memory and Social Identities, Joyce develops an
experiential and emotive perspective for exploring subjectivity and embodiment.
Her emotional and experiential analysis is not devoid of more traditional statistical
and quantitative analyses. First, she uses quantitative methods to identify major
and generalizable trends in the burial data, such as, in the Tlatilco case, that
female burials are associated with larger quantities of ceramic offerings (Joyce,
2001a:13). Then she selects individual burials that represent major trends in the
burial data to develop an emotive narrative based analysis of a particular death
and its meaning in the community. The narratives themselves are developed from
the statistical generalities in the burial data. Joyces approach is one that fruitfully
brings together statistical trends and particular lives in the analysis of death and
dying, productively combining the scientific and humanistic dimensions of our field.
In what follows we develop a comparable analysis of the significance of
youthful death at Chan. First we provide an overview of the Chan site and the
burials that were excavated there. Then we review the generalizable trends in the
burial data, which have been published elsewhere in detail by Anna Novotny
(2012). We examine textual and iconographic evidence for the meaning of youth
among the Maya. Finally we develop emotive narratives to explore a particular
young death at Chan (Burial 1) that was commemorated for plausibly as long as
800 years.
About Chan
The Maya farming community of Chan is located in the upper Belize valley region
72
of west-central Belize, in an upland area between the Mopan and Macal branches
of the Belize River (Figure 1). Across Chans undulating upland terrain, its ancient
inhabitants constructed a productive landscape of agricultural terraces
surrounding a community center. This agricultural base supported Chans 2000
year occupation (800 B.C.-A.D. 1200), spanning the major periods of political
change in Maya society (the Pre-classic, Classic, and Post-classic periods;
Kosakowsky, 2012). The scale of the Chan community provides a window into the
lives of people who lived in what was a prehistoric Maya agrarian community.
Chans deep chronology provides a means to examine diachronically how farmers
lives were embedded within and significant for the construction of broader Maya
society (Robin, 2012).
The Chan community consists of 274 households and 1223 agricultural
terraces surrounding a community center (Figure 2). The majority of Chans
residents were farmers (Wyatt, 2008, 2012). Farmers agricultural terraces were
the most numerous and substantial constructions at Chan. Agricultural terraces
would have transformed Chan's hilly landscape into what would have looked like
green stepped pyramids. In addition to farming some residents produced chert
bifaces (Hearth, 2012), limestone block (Kestle, 2012), and leading families were
involved in the production and procurement of marine shell and obsidian objects
(Keller, 2012; Meierhoff, et. al., 2012). All of Chans residents, from its humblest
farmer to community leader, lived in perishable buildings with thatch roofs
constructed on stone substructures.
Chans community center is located at the spatial and geographical center of
the community on a local high point in the topography. It consists of two adjoining
plazas (Figure 3). The Central Group and Central Plaza is the largest architectural
complex at Chan and was its main location for community-level political and
ceremonial events, administration, and adjudication and houses a residence for
Chans leading family. The adjoining West Plaza is a largely open space used for
public political and ritual events (Cap, 2012). On the east and west sides of the
Central Group are an E-Group, a distinctive type of architectural complex common
throughout the Maya area that was an important location for ritual and ancestor
veneration. The east structure of the E-Group is the tallest structure at Chan rising
to a height of 5.6 m.
Excavations were undertaken at Chan under the direction of Cynthia Robin
between 2002 and 2009 by a team of more than 120 archaeologists, botanists,
geologists, geographers, chemists, computer scientists, artists, students, workers,
and volunteers from Belize, the US, England, Canada, and China (Robin, 2012).
To understand the temporal, socio-economic, and vocational variability in Chans
households, members of the Chan project excavated a representative 10% sample
73
of Chans households (26 households) and associated agricultural terraces (see
Figure 2). They also excavated all ritual, residential, and administrative buildings at
Chans community center.
Generalizable Trends in Burying the Deceased at Chans Community

Center
Anna Novotny (2012) conducted the bioarchaeological analysis of the Chan burials.
All skeletal data were collected in accordance with the Standards for Collection of
Data from Human Skeletal Remains (Buikstra and Ubelaker, 1994). Twenty-five
individuals from nineteen separate mortuary contexts were excavated from Chans
community center. The deceased were placed in three locations within the
community center within the E-Group, in the Central Plaza between the east and
west structures of the E-Group, and in the West Plazas L-shaped Structure 8 (see
Figure 3). Seventy-five percent of all deceased excavated within the community
center were interred within the E-Group complex (Novotny, 2012:231).
Women, men, adults and children were buried in the community center and
E-Group. Children were buried exclusively in the west structure of the E-Group.
The mean age of the deceased was young, mid-twenties to early thirties, leading
Anna Novotny to posit that age was a factor in the selection of ancestors to be
interred in Chans most revered spaces (Novotny, 2012:245).
Seventy-nine percent (eleven of fourteen) of deceased, where burial
position could be identified, were buried in an extended and prone position with
the head to the south (Novotny, 2012:245), the common burial position across the
Belize Valley area by the Late Pre-classic (Healy, 2004:21).
Burials in both the east and west structures of the E-Group were comparably
furnished with grave offerings (an average of 5.1 and 5 offerings respectively).
Burials in the West Plaza had the least grave offerings, containing only an average
of two offerings. Burial 1, the young Middle Pre-classic individual, buried in the
Central Plaza between the east and west structures of the E-Group, and the first
individual to be interred in the community center, was associated with significantly
higher amounts of grave offerings, twenty-three in total (Novotny, 2012:248); the
higher quantities of grave offerings interred with Burial 1 is discussed further
below. This distribution of grave offerings lends further credence to the idea that
the E-Group and Central Plaza were the most significant burial places at Chan,
even within the community center itself.
Within the E-Group, jade was a more common offering in the west structure
of the E-Group and ceramic vessels and obsidian blades were more common in the
east structure. Jade was a more common offering in the Pre-classic and obsidian in
the Classic. Shell detritus was only interred in Pre-classic graves in the west
74
structure of the E-Group. Likewise, ceramic vessels were only interred in Pre-
classic graves (Novotny, 2012:248).
Burial reentry was a common practice from the Middle Pre-classic period
onward at Chans community center (Novotny 2012:246-247; Robin et al. 2012a:
123-124). The grave of the young Middle Pre-classic individual, Burial 1, located in
the Central Plaza, saw the longest period of reentry. Across the Middle and Late
Pre-classic periods the grave of the deceased Burial 1 was visited and venerated.
Three offerings were located within the grave, an additional eight were deposited
over the grave later in the Middle Pre-classic, and an additional twelve were
deposited over the grave later in the Late Pre-classic period. The offerings that
were deposited during the grave reentries were either items originally associated
with the deceased or new items deposited by later reverents (also see
Kosakowsky, et al., 2012).
Textual and Iconographic Evidence for the Meaning of Youth among the
Maya
Selection of certain individuals from a community as ancestors is an integral part of
ancestor veneration (McAnany, 1995). Anna Novotnys finding that youth was a
key selection criteria for burial in Chans E-Group and that women, men, and
children were afforded this type of burial placement, is intriguing because classic
ethnographies about ancestor veneration, largely from Africa and Asia, suggest
that ancestors are often older, male heads of lineages ( e.g., Fortes, 1976, 1987;
Freedman, 1970; Kopytoff, 1971). Thus in anthropological thought the concept of
ancestor often conjures the image of a senior, jural, superior male member of a
community. But this was not the case at Chan. Anna Novotnys exploration of
textual and iconographic reference to youth among the Maya along with Rosemary
Joyces examination of the life cycle in Mesoamerican belief, provide insight into
why youth may have been a special selection criteria for ancestral burial at Chan.
Death is universal, but the specific ways we understand death is culturally
and personally defined (Croucher, 2012; Joyce, 2001a). Still we can say that
across cultures the living experience death in ways that are always meaningful and
expressive, involving mourning, grieving, and the treatment of the deceased body
(Croucher, 2012:9; Metcalf and Huntington, 1991:24). As Rosemary Joyce
(2001a:21) notes, death may encompass both personalized senses of grief and
loss and more formalized and diffuse emotional attitudes toward the dead. Death
might signify initiation into a new stage of the life course, the afterlife, rather than
or in addition to, being a disruptive point in the life course. Ethnographic data
suggest, in fact, that the Maya regard death as the demise of the biological body
only. The life essences that escape the body at death persist in a non-corporeal
75
state and can be communicated with through certain rituals carried out at the
grave site and sometimes with the bones of the deceased (Astor-Aguilera, 2011).
Individuals chosen for further communication are considered ancestors and are
selected according to individual characteristics during life. Thus, the life history of
an individual is raw material . . . for the creation of social memory and social
meaning (Joyce, 2001a:13). The Maya of Chan were creating their social history
by choosing to treat their dead in particular ways and also demonstrate a link to
broader Mesoamerican worldviews that values youth.
Aztec narratives about childhood indicate that childhood was a critical time
in the life cycle for the formation of adult identities (Joyce, 2000). Children and
youths were raw materials that needed to be worked, and life cycle rituals
continued to refine that raw material (Joyce, 2000:476). Classic Maya nobility had
high regard for youths (Houston, 2009; Novotny, 2012:245). Classic Maya
hieroglyphs refer to young males as chk, sprout and chak chk designates great
youths. Great youths were intended to eventually become ancestors after living
long, productive lives (Houston, 2009:173). At Chan a rupture of the life cycle
during the youth stage and an early passing into the afterlife before the refinement
of adulthood was a type of death memorialized in the most venerated way in the
communitys center. These were deaths that were remembered and revered for
generations, if not centuries, through the revisitation of the graves of the
deceased.
Certainly there was a cultural logic to Chan residents veneration of young
deceased. But a practice of venerating the youthful dead, rather than the elderly
dead, is certainly something that can be witnessed in other cultures, even
contemporary western cultures. Thus this practice does not mark the residents of
Chan as some primitive other to the contemporary west with exotic and unusual
belief systems. As Croucher (2013) notes in contemporary Euro-American cultures,
the death of a young person is often an intense time of grieving of a life course
that is unfulfilled. Shrines are erected on roadsides where a young person has died
as visible, powerful, and potent reminders and sites for memorial and visitation to
remember a life cut short by death.
Experiencing the Youthful Death of Burial 1 at Chan

Our exploration of the experience of death at Chan examines the death of the
individual known as Burial 1 (Figure 4; Novotny, 2012:235-236). We do not know if
Burial 1 was male or female, but we do know that this individual was a young adult
between 20 and 24 years of age. Strontium isotope analyses indicate that Burial 1
spent her or his adult years in the Belize Valley and was possibly born there as well
(Novotny, n. d.). This young individual was the first person that residents buried in
76
Chans community center. Living members of the community dug a shallow pit into
bedrock in the spatial and geographical center of the community, its Central Plaza.
There they lay the young deceased to rest lying on its back with the body
extended and the head (see below for discussion) oriented toward the northeast.
Before placing three uncut pieces of limestone over the body to seal the grave, the
mourners lay three jade fragments beside the body. Green, the color of the center
in the Maya cosmogram, was a special gift left with the deceased to mark and
commemorate their place at the center of the Chan community (Blackmore, 2003).
At the time of this young individuals death, the Middle Pre-classic period,
people were settling at Chan for the first time and building a farming community.
There may have been not more than 150 people, and perhaps much less, living at
Chan (Robin et al., 2012b). Community members likely knew one another through
face-to-face interaction as they worked and labored on the land to build pole and
thatch homes. Across Chans hilly terrain, neighbors worked with neighbors who
shared life on a hillslope to harness the natural irrigation potential of the land upon
which they labored and built agricultural terraces (see Wyatt, 2012).
Chans community center had no temple or E-Group at this time, but it was
already a sacred place, where residents came together and offered incense and
buried material offerings, particularly fragmentary pieces of jade and green stone
which symbolized the sacred center of the community through their green
coloration. On this sad day of burial, Burial 1 was laid to rest in this most sacred of
spaces within the community that would remain a revered place for 2000 years to
come (Robin et al., 2012a). Those that knew the young deceased well were
grieving for an unfinished life. Those that were more distant relations joined
together with their neighbors on this day for a sacrosanct burial in the center of
the community. Their emotions were more formalized, not ones of deep personal
loss, but of a more generalized loss for a young community trying to grow its
sprouts.
The mourners may have stayed up the night before eating, drinking, burning
incense, and grieving together. Although a humble farming community, the group
could be counted on to provide food and drink for the funerary rite. The body itself
was likely wrapped in some sort of shroud, possibly white as modern Maya do
now, although the head may have been left unwrapped with the face visible
(Astor-Aguilera, 2010). This would have leant a personal aspect to the funeral as
family and non-family took in the face for the last time. The burial probably
occurred quite soon after death, as the tropical environment quickly reclaims the
deceased. The scent of copal hung in the air as the burial commenced.
Whether the grief over the loss of the young deceased was personalized or
depersonalized, members of the Chan community continued to visit the grave of
77
Burial 1 for upwards of 800 years (across the Middle and Late Preclassic periods),
the longest period of time that community members visited a grave site at Chan.
Across the generations and centuries the personal connections to the young
deceased were lost. No more could anyone remember the tears of sadness or
shouts of joys that their predecessors once shared with the young deceased, but
the central placement and green stone offerings reminded them that this individual
died too young, the sprout that never grew. Keeping this memory alive and placing
that sprout in the center of the community, was a constant reminder that life
would rejuvenate itself.
Through time, as they came to the grave of Burial 1 it was less in grief for
the person and more a commemoration of the rejuvenation of the community from
its center. Each time they came to visit the grave they opened it to gaze upon the
soon completely decayed corpse of the youthful dead. Sometimes they removed
parts of the body from the grave, cleaning them and wrapping them in white cloth
before placing them elsewhere in the community to further commemorate the
significance of this young death (Astor-Aguilera, 2010). Over time mourners and
commemorators removed Burial 1s head, torso, and left arm, and moved the
humerus of the right arm beside the right femur (Novotny, 2012:236). We know
from Classic period hieroglyphs and iconography, that Maya royalty removed the
skulls of venerated ancestors from the grave to speak and convene with them
(McAnany, 1995). Although just a young sprout at death, descendants still had a
lot to learn from communicating with the deceased Burial 1.
Each time they left the grave after an emotional viewing of the deceased
body, they placed another rough uncut piece of limestone over the grave,
sometimes lying flat, with great care, on top of that stone, a fragment of human
bone removed from the grave or brought from elsewhere, or a fragment of jade,
serpentine, or marine shell.
After the death of Burial 1, no other individual in the Chan community was
buried in the Central Plaza, but residents continued to place caches there. The
caches often contained green jade or serpentine fragments, reinforcing this place
as the sacred center of the community (Robin, et al., 2012a). Beginning in the Late
Pre-classic period Chan's residents began construction on its E-Group and they
continued expanding its temples into the Terminal Classic period. As other young
members of the community died, children and young adults, these ungrown
sprouts were buried, mourned, and commemorated in the buildings of the E-Group
and their graves were revisited after their death. Sometime during or just after the
Late Preclassic period, Chan's residents stopped visiting the grave of Buria l 1. We
do not know why this occurred. Was Burial 1 forgotten after so many centuries?
Perhaps, or perhaps not, as residents continued to place caches in the Central
78
Plaza. Did the memory of Burial 1 continue in stories and tales, if not in direct
visitation of the grave?
The young individual in Burial 1 had died at an early stage in the
development of the Chan community and was placed in the grave oriented to the
northeast. As time went on and the community grew, all buildings constructed
around the Central Plaza and deceased buried within them were oriented to the
cardinal directions of the Maya cosmogram rather than inter-cardinal directions.
What significance the inter-cardinal directions had at the time of Burial 1's death is
not known to us. But nearly 2000 years later in the Early Post-classic period,
around A. D. 900 to 1150/1200, just prior to the abandonment of the Chan
community when only a handful of farming families remained after Chan's long
history, these final residents built one last building at Chan. A shrine, constructed
in the Central Plaza, was built directly over the place of the interment of Burial 1
(Robin, et al., 2012a, 2012b).
After 2000 years of residents erecting buildings in the Central Plaza oriented
to the cardinal directions, this final low twenty centimeter high shrine was built
oriented to the inter-cardinal directions. Why Chan's last residents, like its first,
chose to orient their sacred space to the inter-cardinal directions is not known. Nor
is it known if Chan's last residents' reasons for doing so were the same as the
reasons of its first residents. Even though people no longer went into the grave of
Burial 1, did residents always remember this youthful death in stories and tales
passed down for 2000 years? Or did Chan's latest residents have parallel or distinct
reasons for orienting their shrine to the inter-cardinal directions, which they placed
in the spatial and geographical center of their community without being aware of
what earlier residents had done? We do not know the answers to these questions,
but we do know that the death of the young sprout Burial 1 was a death that was
an intensely meaningful event for the residents of the Chan community that was
commemorated by friends, relatives, and those of no relation for generations and
even centuries.
Conclusion: Significance of Youthful Death at Chan

In this chapter we have tried to demonstrate, following the inspiration of Rosemary
Joyce, how productive it can be to merge traditional statistical analysis and more
novel experiential and emotive perspectives in understanding the meaning and
significance of death for members of a community. At the Pre-Columbian Maya
farming community of Chan residents conferred the most sacred rites of burial on
the youthful dead, young sprouts, taken to the afterlife after a shortened life. The
emotive experiences of those who mourned and commemorated the death of
Burial 1 for plausibly 800 years viscerally illustrate the meaning this young death
79
held for the community. The untimely death of Burial 1 was a death filed with grief
and mourning for those who were closest, but for more distant members of the
community and residents living centuries after Burial 1's death who never knew
this individual's tears of sadness or shouts of joy, the death of this ungrown
sprout, was one remembered and commemorated to mark the center of the
community and continue its rejuvenation for centuries to come.
Acknowledgments
We thank all the members of the Chan project and Belize Institute of Archaeology
for all of their work on the Chan research without which this chapter would not
have been possible. The Chan project was funded by two National Science
Foundation grants: a National Science Foundation Senior Archaeology Grant (BCS-
0314686) and a National Science Foundation International Research Fellowship
(INT-0303713); a National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research
Grant (RZ-50804-07); a National Geographic Society Grant (2002-3); an H. John
Heinz III Fund Grant for Archaeological Field Research in Latin America (2002);
two anonymous donations; three University Research Grants from Northwestern
University (2002, 2005, 2009); two Alumnae Foundation Grants from Northwestern
University (2002, 2006); and an AT&T Research Scholar award (2005). Anna
Novotny's osteological analysis was funded by a National Science Foundation
Dissertation Improvement Grant (BCS-1329406), Sigma Xi, and the Graduate and
Professional Student Association at Arizona State University.
80
Figures
Figure 1: Map of the Belize river valley and Maya area showing the Chan site.
[Illustration by Elizabeth Schiffman.]
81
Figure 2: Topography, settlement, and agricultural terraces at Chan. Black squares
are mounds, grey linear features are agricultural terraces. Ten meter contour
interval. Grey outlines enclose excavation areas. (a) operation 15 agricultural
terrace and household excavations; (b) operation 4 agricultural terrace and
household excavations; (c) operation 20 agricultural terrace excavations; (d);
operation 28 limestone quarry and household excavations; (e) operation 18
agricultural terrace excavations; (f) central group, west plaza and leading family
household excavations; (g) northeast group mid-level neighborhood excavations;
(h) small farming family household excavations; (i) chert biface production
household excavations.
82
Figure 3: Chans community center.
Figure 4: Burial 1.
83
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88
Multiproduccin domstica y espacio femenino: buscando una
perspectiva de gnero para la produccin de artefactos de concha en el
Clsico maya
Traci Ardren y Alejandra Alonso
Introduccin
Una de las muchas formas de resumir la inmensa contribucin de Rosemary Joyce
en torno a las formas en que entendemos el pasado es reconocer las diversas
maneras en que ella nos ha persuadido de incluir en los estudios de nuestra
disciplina la perspectiva de gnero para analizar de una forma diferente el pasado.
Desde las investigaciones que se enfocan en analizar la produccin del arte
monumental de la lite, hasta el producto de las excavaciones de microescala que
examina desde esta perspectiva las actividades domsticas, Rosemary ha
enriquecido nuestra comprensin de las antiguas culturas de Mesoamrica
demostrando las variadas maneras en que la perspectiva de gnero, repercute en
la prctica de una mejor ciencia y progresos en la reconstruccin de las culturas
antiguas.
Significativos adelantos se han realizado al descifrar las atribuciones de
gnero en muchos aspectos de la cultura maya del periodo Clsico, aquellas son
slo una de las mltiples arenas en las que Rosemary ha hecho contribuciones
fundamentales. El arte maya antiguo y la cultura material provee un registro rico
de asociaciones de gnero de una variedad de actividades que incluyen las
prcticas rituales, la produccin artesanal, la guerra, entre otras. No obstante,
cmo los arquelogos mantienen una perspectiva de gnero del pasado cuando
una actividad no puede ser fcilmente asignada a un gnero especfico o cuando la
informacin disponible con la que contamos nos indica una asociacin fluida, o una
asociacin de gnero no especfica entre el productor y el producto?
Este artculo discute cmo la produccin de artefactos de concha marina es
una de estas tareas anmalas que no puede ser fcilmente entendida como una
actividad asociada con el trabajo de gnero de acuerdo con las expectativas sobre
este enfoque. Sin embargo, bajo un escrutinio detallado hemos sido capaces de
discernir patrones en la produccin de este material cargado simblicamente que
indican que, mientras hombres y mujeres utilizaban adornos de concha para
denotar su estatus o acceder a bienes de consumo restringidos ligados a ideas
sobre la riqueza del mar, la produccin ocurra en contextos domsticos
fuertemente asociados con el valor de la productividad femenina y otros
quehaceres que se llevaban a cabo en la esfera domstica.
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Emery y Aoyama (2007:69) han hecho notar en su reciente estudio sobre la
produccin artesanal de Aguateca, el sitio maya del periodo Clsico, un aspecto
importante. Sealan que muy pocos estudios efectuados en el rea maya intentan
determinar cmo los hombres y las mujeres del pasado pudieron haber estado
igualmente involucrados en la produccin artesanal ( cf. Hendon, 2006; Hernndez,
2011; Peniche May, 2010). Algunos investigadores reconocen, en general, que esta
sociedad, as como otras culturas mesoamericanas, contaban con especialistas
artesanales considerados como productores institucionales o miembros de la
nobleza y realeza que elaboraban sus vajillas en los conjuntos palaciegos (Coe y
Kerr, 1997; Emery y Aoyama, 2007; Inomata, 2001).
Este hecho es ciertamente vlido para los escribas y otros artistas que
manufacturaban artculos de gran valor y prestigio. Sin embargo, las mltiples
identidades de aqullos individuos que creaban acervos utilitarios para una
distribucin mucho ms amplia es poco clara. La mayora de los modelos asumen
que la produccin de los bienes necesarios bsicos para la vida como los objetos
cermicos y las herramientas de ltica o concha se producan en el contexto del
conjunto domstico en residencias, tanto de lite como de la gente comn.
Lo que es claro es que gracias a las importantes contribuciones hechas por
Rosemary Joyce y sus colegas, se sabe que la produccin artesanal en la sociedad
antigua maya estuvo estrechamente asociada con la construccin y mantenimiento
de la identidad, as como con las relaciones de poder (Joyce, 1993, 1999, 2000,
2008). Joyce ha dilucidado claramente, en una extensa serie de publicaciones, que
el trabajo de las mujeres, en particular, fue mostrado en una gran cantidad de
medios visuales que sirvieron para determinar la importancia ideolgica de la
poblacin de lite y de la gente comn, de los patrones de trabajo basados en el
gnero y especialmente de la produccin de objetos de consumo para la vida
cotidiana. Como Joyce menciona en 1999: los platos cermicos y los bultos
textiles sostenidos por mujeres en las imgenes monumentales dan cuerpo a las
secuencias de produccin que transformaron materias primas en formas culturales
definidas (Joyce, 1993:261). En Gnero y poder en Mesoamrica prehispnica,
Joyce explora este punto con mayor profundidad en trminos de cmo la cultura
de la lite conserva la produccin separada por gnero: sin el trabajo apropiado,
los campos no podan ser mantenidos, plantados o cosechados en forma continua.
Si no se prestaba una atencin especial a las labores, las casas no podan apoyar
los esfuerzos de los artesanos especialistas para desarrollar sus habilidades en la
produccin de bienes de riqueza y prestigio.
Sin el suficiente trabajo, tampoco los alimentos o la parafernalia necesaria
para llevar a cabo las ceremonias para confirmar y construir el estatus poltico
pudieron haber estado disponibles. Las mujeres mayas del Clsico no slo
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llevaban a cabo el trabajo bsico de subsistencia, sino que adems participaron en
las industrias especializadas que sustentaban a las representaciones visuales de
estatus (Joyce, 2000:88). As, Joyce descifra las relaciones de poder simbolizadas
en los retratos artsticos de hombres y mujeres, especialmente en los retratos de
ciertas actividades artesanales con carga ideolgica.
El tejido y la produccin textil, adems del conocimiento de la cocina, son
dos de los mbitos de gnero que son mejor entendidos como ntimamente
asociados con el mantenimiento de la identidad femenina en la sociedad maya.
Ricamente ilustrados en medios antiguos, as como documentados en la etnografa
moderna, estas formas de conocimiento especializado han sido expuestos por
Joyce y otros autores como arenas donde las ideas sobre la diferencias de gnero
fueron utilizadas ms consistente y explcitamente en el periodo Clsico (Hendon,
1997, 2006; Joyce, 1993, 2000).
Los trabajos de produccin asociados con otras industrias domsticas como la
alfarera y la produccin de objetos de concha constituyen un reto por descifrar,
dado que hay pocos indicativos claros sobre quines llevaron a cabo estas tareas,
adicionalmente no hay patrones por gnero estrictos en la produccin de tales
artesanas hoy en da.
Sin embargo, los artefactos de concha comparten con la produccin de
alimentos y bienes textiles una serie de asociaciones materiales cercanas con el
papel del cuerpo humano en el registro arqueolgico del rea maya. A pesar de lo
apropiado de la concha para la manufactura de herramientas, la concha es usada
casi exclusivamente para crear objetos decorativos durante el Clsico (Surez Diez,
2007; cfr. Eaton, 1978).
Desde los cinturones fabricados con bivalvos de Xoc en las imgenes
monumentales de mujeres nobles o reales de la lite hasta las calzoncillos o fajas
de concha descritas por Landa, la asociacin de decoraciones de concha y la
representacin del cuerpo femenino tiene una profunda y consistente historia que
llama la atencin, hasta cierto punto, sobre la manera en que el textil era tejido y
usado por las lites mayas para reforzar aquellas convenciones culturales sobre los
cuerpos femeninos al tener una habilidad inherente, y obligacin, de crear este
material profundamente necesario.
Sin embargo, la produccin artesanal de concha es rara vez ilustrada en el
corpus artstico maya e incluso en la antigua Mesoamrica como conjunto, no est
representada en funcin del gnero. Otro tanto ocurri con la produccin alfarera.
De esto puede deducirse que tal actividad slo ocurra hasta cierto punto fuera del
mbito ideolgico de la lite, ya que la concha por s misma era empleada como
marcador de estatus. Explorando los lugares donde los adornos de concha marina
y la produccin de imgenes fueron empleadas de forma artstica, a travs del
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examen en depsitos y entierros, as como la evidencia de la manufactura de
concha a lo largo del rea maya, incluyendo un taller descubierto en el sitio de
Xuenkal en el periodo Clsico, esperamos mostrar que el simbolismo y las
relaciones de gnero y otras complejidades de la identidad estaban presentes en
los dichos artefactos, y que pueden informarnos y ayudarnos a comprender mejor
la manufactura de estos ornamentos.
Representaciones visuales y metafricas de concha marina en el arte

monumental
La concha marina, incluida las espinas de la manta raya, corales, esponjas y
madreperlas son entendidos como elementos evocadores del mundo subterrneo
acutico del que los espritus emergen para acceder al mundo de los humanos
(Joyce, 2000:77; Marcus, 1987:149; Zender, 2010). Las orejeras de Spondylus son
marcadores diagnsticos del periodo Clsico para el dios Chak, y de la parafernalia
real de los gobernantes (femeninos y masculinos) incluidas las bivalvas de
Spondylus usadas sobre la pelvis (Joyce, 2000:76; Marcus, 1987:149; Miller, 1974;
Schele and Miller, 1986:71). Capas elaboradas de concha, usualmente de
Spondylus, fueron usadas por nobles y la realeza, especialmente como parte de
sus atuendos funerarios como se ha hecho evidente en Calakmul, Cob, Tikal y Ek
Balam.
El ocano parece haber sido entendido como el lugar del nacimiento del sol,
las nubes de lluvia, la precipitacin y el lugar de sustento. Era tambin un lugar a
donde las almas viajaban para descansar despus de la muerte, como se refleja en
los complejos mortuorios de la isla de Jaina. En este contexto cultural vinculado al
mar, los pendientes de concha pueden ser vistos como agentes activos del dilogo
sobre la existencia y las fuentes de vida (Freidel, Reese-Taylor y Mora-Marn,
2002). Al usar la concha, la idea que circulaba implicaba que el individuo que la
usaba estableca una cercana conexin con el inframundo de donde originalmente
haba sido creado.
Rosemary Joyce, colocando su mirada en unos horizontes ms amplios que
el trabajo de Joyce Marcus y otros, explor el simbolismo acutico de los atuendos
femeninos en el periodo Clsico de la lite media. Ella sugiere que la indumentaria
de esas mujeres que inclua el huipil tejido muy elaborado, las faldas con cuentas
de jade, el cinturn de Xoc o de monstruo marino, la banda para la cabeza o
diadema con representaciones metafricas visuales acuticas eran lo que formaba
el cosmograma o mapa cognitivo de la superficie horizontal de la tierra atravesada
por el mar (Joyce, 2000:77).
Los atuendos masculinos de la lite estaban cosmolgicamente cargados,
pero no necesariamente se vinculaban a los ornamentos de concha o al imaginario
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acutico, en cambio, enfatizaban materiales como los cascabeles de jade que
invocaban el poder de la deidad del maz. Cuando eran usados por los hombres o
mujeres nobles, el cinturn de Xoc representaba la boca de un tiburn, con una
concha bivalva que se ha atribuido comnmente al poder potencial reproductivo
femenino o la genitalia femenina, pero sera ms preciso decir que evocaba, en
cambio, la riqueza del mar y su conexin con la construccin ideolgica del poder
(Miller y Martin, 2004:119). El mar era entendido como un lugar de nacimiento del
mundo maya y como un sitio de sustento, creencias que fueron quizs reforzadas
por el crecimiento del intercambio de larga distancia promovido por la navegacin
en la cultura maya. Las conchas fueron la materializacin del mar como un lugar
de origen, y eran usadas en las indumentarias reforzaban el contacto privilegiado
que ciertos miembros de la sociedad tenan con las lites reales y aquellos que les
imitaban, en congruencia con las mitologas fundacionales.
Depsitos especiales de concha marina

Los hallazgos de depsitos de concha Spondylus en los edificios de la etapa Clsica
vinculan los mismos principios del cinturn Xoc. Los depsitos de dos bivalvas de
Spondylus con una cuenta de jade fueron localizados de manera asidua en las
estructuras de los nobles tanto en Tonin, Caracol, Tikal, Dzibilchaltn y muchos
otros sitios tierra adentro. Tambin hay evidencia continua que sugiere la
presencia de materiales inorgnicos (Andrews y Andrews, 1980:323; Cobos, 1994).
Dichos recursos fueron consumidos en grandes cantidades y aparecan ms
frecuentemente en las arenas sociales de los miembros de la nobleza porque eran
valiosos objetos de prestigio, comerciados entre los grupos dominantes como
resultado de alianzas polticas y econmicas. Y como la concha y el jade,
especialmente, fueron materiales relativamente escasos que tenan un poder
intrnseco resultaron excelentes medios para materializar el poder de la lite. Su
acceso restringido al comercio de larga distancia sirvi para contextualizarlo como
sustancia que poda animar espacios arquitectnicos.
Como las lites intermedias reconocieron estos principios e intentaron
reproducirlo como una forma de validacin social es que los complejos
arquitectnicos de centros secundarios presentan ejemplos de depsitos de concha
que contienen a menudo especmenes de menor calidad o incluso con imitaciones
de Spondylus y jade.
Concha marina en entierros de la gente comn

La Spondylus y otras conchas marinas fueron utilizadas como ofrendas funerarias
entre la gente del pueblo durante toda la etapa Clsica, pero fueron especialmente
93
habituales en asociacin con los cuerpos de jvenes, y especialmente de mujeres.
Como se ha notado en un trabajo anterior, las tumbas de la gente comn en los
sitios de Yaxun, Dzibilchaltn, y Xuenkal demuestran un claro patrn de
pendientes de concha marina localizados sobre el rea plvica de cuerpos
femeninos juveniles y cuentas de concha u otros adornos en las sepulturas de
nios (Ardren, 2002:76, Ardren en prensa).
Los sepulcros de mujeres comunes en Yaxun muestran poca variedad en los
bienes funerarios, entre los cuales se han hallado vasos cermicos, adornos de
concha y huesos de venado. En seis de las siete tumbas de las jvenes del periodo
Clsico se recuperaron pendientes de concha sobre la regin plvica, mientras que
slo una de diez mujeres adultas presentaba este tipo de ornamento. En
Dzibilchaltn la concha fue muy comn en las ofrendas, de una muestra de 142
individuos, en 110 se localizaron conchas, pero fueron ms comunes en entierros
de mujeres muy jvenes. Un ejemplo es el entierro M-648 de una cripta
localizada sobre un templo en la estructura sub-38. Esta nia de dos o tres aos
de edad al momento de la muerte fue enterrada con un plato trpode tipo Pizarra
Muna, tena un pendiente de Spondylus en el rea plvica y un collar hecho de
diecisis cuentas en forma de disco mezcladas con seis pendientes en forma de
pjaro (Andrews y Andrews, 1980:167) hechos de concha. Los huesos de la nia
haban sido pintados de rojo lo cual indica que el entierro ocurri tiempo despus
de su muerte.
En una plataforma mortuoria del Clsico Tardo en Xuenkal, un individuo de
un grupo de cinco entierros, fue colocado en una cripta que contena los restos de
dos cuerpos jvenes, uno de entre doce y diecisis aos de edad y otro tena una
edad que se ha calculado entre uno y diez aos (Tiesler et. al., 2010:396). Ambos
ocupantes tenan una ofrenda que consista en dos cuentas de estuco, una de las
cuales estaba pintada de verde, para imitar el jade, y una madre perla en forma de
cuenta discal y tres pendientes de concha. Uno de stos fue tallado en la forma de
una mscara miniatura. La prctica de enterrar cuerpos jvenes con ornamentos
de concha tiene gran profundidad temporal en el rea maya, las muestras
funerarias desde el periodo Formativo en sitios como Kaxob, Colh y Uaxactn
demuestran la duradera naturaleza de esta prctica (Dreiss, 1984; Isaza Aizpur y
McAnany, 1999; Kidder, 1947).
Muchos investigadores han sealado la similitud de estos patrones
funerarios con prcticas descritas por Fray Diego de Landa en sus crnicas del
siglo XVI, como parte de la descripcin de los ritos yucatecos de edad o de paso.
Landa entendi estos ritos como una forma de bautizo, l menciona el uso de
placas de concha o cuentas enredadas en el cabello de muchachos jvenes y un
pequeo pendiente de concha suspendido alrededor de la cadera de las
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muchachas jvenes (Landa, 1937:43). Los ornamentos de concha eran solo
removidos al momento en que la ceremonia de caputsihil conclua, despus de la
cual una persona joven era considerada un adulto y poda casarse con el
consentimiento de su familia.
Mientras Landa interpret a la concha como un tipo de cinturn de castidad,
esto ha sido efecto de su propia comprensin derivada de su obsesin con la
pureza espiritual de las mujeres mayas y su misin de promover su uso como
objetos clave en los esfuerzos de conversin religiosa (Ardren, 2012). Desde
nuestro punto de vista actualmente, los adornos de concha fueron usados por
varones y mujeres jvenes en la era Colonial en Yucatn y tienen importancia por
formar parte de la materializacin de sus identidades sociales como nios o
jvenes no adultos, una identidad que en el rea maya promovi la comprensin e
importancia en relacin con la proximidad hacia los ancestros y a las fuentes de la
vida.
A pesar de que el Spondylus fue un objeto restringido al intercambio de larga
distancia, otros objetos como los pendientes de concha, en general, fueron simples
y ubicuos. Estos no representan una inversin significativa de riqueza o esfuerzo,
y comnmente estn relacionados con la identidad del difunto, como Rosemary ha
sugerido: era comn que estos elementos formaran parte del atuendo funerario en
los antiguos entierros de Mesoamrica (Joyce, 1999). La preferencia por los
ornamentos de concha para nios, cuando la cermica, piedra o hueso eran quiz
disponibles, transmite la idea de una conexin deliberada entre los no adultos y
este material marino. Puede indicar que tanto los nios como la concha eran
capaces de transmitir o representar, intrnsecamente, el poder del mar como una
fuente de vida. Cuando los nios eran ataviados con ornamentos de concha, el
imaginario colectivo compartido de la concha y el nio como materializacin de
esta fuente circulaba y se mantena. Tambin seala una asociacin entre los nios
y la riqueza, o el potencial de riqueza del mar, que revela la concepcin de que los
individuos jvenes son miembros preciados de la sociedad.
Talleres de concha marina

La evidencia de la produccin de objetos de concha marina en la forma de
elementos terminados o inconclusos en asociacin con las herramientas lticas se
ha recuperado de contextos domsticos en muchos centros mayas del perodo
Clsico. Restos de la produccin de ornamentos de concha aparecen en los
rellenos constructivos y en los depsitos de basura adyacentes a las estructuras
habitadas y en todos los niveles de estratificacin social. Aunque raramente
incorporados en los modelos de la vida cotidiana antigua, existe amplia evidencia
de que la produccin de ornamentos de concha fue generalizada e incorporada en
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los diferentes conjuntos de produccin artesanal que ocurran en la mayora de los
centros mayas (Velzquez et. al., 2013). En Kaxob, cuentas y otros adornos de
concha, terminados o inconclusos, fueron encontrados en los entierros, en los
depsitos domsticos como basureros y en los rellenos constructivos (Isaza Aizpur
y McAnany, 1999:120).
Conchas de Strombus gigas completos, ornamentos terminados y elementos
en etapas intermedias de produccin fueron recuperadas de las estructura M11 del
Grupo Mosquito de Caracol (Cobos, 1994; Pope, 1994). Estos materiales de concha
fueron encontrados en asociacin con un grupo estandarizado de herramientas
lticas incluidos: perforadores, raspadores, cuas y lascas bifaciales hechas de
pedernal. Los estudios y rplicas han demostrado que las herramientas similares
de pedernal fueron tiles para cortar y perforar la concha de Strombus (Pope,
1994:149). El anlisis de los artefactos en los contextos domsticos de Tika l,
basureros en su mayora, permitieron a Moholy-Nagy concluir que la produccin de
ornamentos de concha se llevaba a cabo en pequeos grupos residenciales en el
centro de la ciudad (Moholy-Nagy, 1997:301).
Moholy-Nagy sugiere que los restos de la produccin de ornamentos de
Spondylus encontrados en los contextos residenciales de lite sugieren una
produccin administrada mientras que los restos de otras formas de concha marina
en otros contextos urbanos sugieren una produccin independiente y
especializacin de medio tiempo como una industria domstica (Moholy-Nagy,
1997:309). Emery y Aoyama (2007:86) argumentan que la evidencia arqueolgica
de Aguateca demuestra que las actividades artesanales como la produccin de
pieles, el lasqueo de pedernal y el trabajo de hueso o concha tallada se traslapan
espacialmente con la preparacin domstica de alimentos y la produccin textil.
Sobre esta base, los autores argumentan que las mujeres pudieron haber
participado en la produccin de pieles, herramientas de piedra, talla de hueso y
concha, y los hombres y las mujeres miembros de esos recintos domsticos
compartan el espacio artesanal.
Productores de objetos de concha en el Clsico maya

Regresando a nuestra pregunta inicial sobre cmo conducir un anlisis desde l a
perspectiva de gnero sobre la produccin artesanal de los materiales de concha
en ausencia de fuertes asociaciones entre el gnero del productor y la actividad
realizada, podemos echar mano de las teoras relevantes que contribuyen a
explicar los datos arqueolgicos sin recurrir a conjeturas universales. La multi-
produccin artesanal es una prctica en la que mltiples artesanas son producidas
en un mismo conjunto domstico o por la misma unidad social (Hirth, 2009).
Evidencia de multi-produccin artesanal en el contexto domstico ha
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sido recuperada en excavaciones arqueolgicas de numerosos sitios del rea
maya. La produccin de ciertos artculos artesanales puede ser dependiente o
independiente de otras actividades. De forma similar, las tecnologas, instalaciones
y habilidades usadas para la manufactura de diferentes productos artesanales
puede estar interrelacionada. Las actividades artesanales pueden ser tambin
contingentes, en donde un producto es usado en la manufactura de otro, o est
secuencialmente relacionado a otro como parte de una sola sucesin de
produccin de bienes o mercancas valiosas, en cuyo caso cada producto es
producido independiente de los otros.
La multiproduccin artesanal ha sido identificada en pocos contextos del
periodo Clsico en el mundo maya. En ciertos basureros domsticos en Tikal,
grandes cantidades de obsidiana y fragmentos de pedernal se encontraron
mezclados con otros restos materiales como la concha y la piedra verde (Moholy-
Nagy, 1997). Un depsito mezclado de fragmentos de ornamentos de concha y
residuos micro de la produccin de obsidiana usada en el tallado de la concha fue
encontrado en una residencia de nobles en el rea de Copn (Fash, 1991:160).
Una gran cantidad de obsidiana y de herramientas lticas de pedernal y su
presencia con fragmentos inconclusos de artefactos de concha y piedras de
molienda se localizaron en las reas abiertas de la plataforma 8M-1 en Xuenkal,
indicndonos que estas herramientas se utilizaron de forma simultnea en un rea
de multiproduccin en el contexto de la esfera domstica (Ardren, Alonso y
Manahan en prensa).
En trminos productivos, estos tipos de reas residenciales fueron espacios
polivalentes, donde la elaboracin de diferentes artefactos pudo llevarse a cabo
simultneamente con las actividades domsticas femeninas (vase Rodrguez-
Shadow, 2013). A travs de un anlisis de rplica de los elementos ornamentales
se ha comprobado que adornos de este tipo pueden hacerse simplemente con
herramientas sencillas en el mbito del hogar (Suarez, 2007:84). La frecuencia
relativa de los elementos terminados en la plataforma 8M-1 de Xuenkal apoya la
interpretacin de que mltiples clases de artefactos se trabajaron simultneamente
en el rea del patio, probablemente por una poblacin de artesanos que
aprendieron las habilidades necesarias para trabajar estos materiales como la
obsidiana y la concha, mientras atendan sus actividades domsticas tradicionales.
Marylin Goldberg ha observado los patios domsticos de los antiguos
contextos domsticos de Grecia como un espacio estructural para la negociacin y
la mediacin social del conflicto entre los ideales de gnero y el comportamiento
de las personas (Goldberg, 1999). Ella analiza los contextos domsticos como
lugares de integracin donde las personas separadas por sus diferentes normas
sociales negocian en un espacio comn compartido. Para Goldberg, los contextos
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domsticos atenienses fueron reas atribuibles a la esfera de lo femenino de los
sectores dominantes de las sociedad, aunque los hombres pasaban mucho de su
tiempo en el mundo domstico y contaban con cuartos especficos restringidos
exclusivamente a las reuniones de varones (Goldberg, 1999:145). El aspecto
femenino de los conjuntos domsticos referido en los textos Clsicos despliega la
manera ateniense de ordenar el mundo, ya que validaba el lazo del hogar con las
cualidades de feminidad y al gobierno cvico con las cualidades masculinas. Por
tanto, el espacio, el gnero y el poder se entrelazaban en un arreglo muy poderoso
que parece natural e inevitable cuando, de hecho, son fluidos y se reproducen a
travs de ciertas prcticas.
La evidencia de la produccin artesanal en los conjuntos domsticos en
centros de lite y de gente comn son ejemplos de cmo los espacios tienen
significado de acuerdo al gnero y esto da forma a la vida de casi todos los
residentes en el contexto de estas ciudades antiguas. Los complejos domsticos
fueron lugares privados, en general, donde la intensa productividad se llev a cabo
en la forma de crianza de los hijos, manejo de los animales domsticos, produccin
de alimentos, y la transformacin de materias primas para la experiencia
gastronmica de tipo cultural, as como el mantenimiento de los lazos entre linajes
y ancestros que aseguraban una continuidad de familias.
Todas estas actividades productivas estn reflejadas en el registro material
de los grupos domsticos. Las mujeres, especialmente las mujeres adultas (gente
comn, no de lite), pasaban gran parte de su tiempo en estos espacios, aunque
tambin viajaban fuera del mbito casero para recolectar agua o lea, o
mercadear sus vajillas. Aunque los hombres pasaban tiempo en sus complejos
residenciales, las actividades que realizaban suelen ser menos conspicuas, no
porque no estuvieran presentes, sino porque las actividades productivas de las
mujeres eran ms marcadas como parte de ese dilogo social sobre el valor de la
productividad.
Sin embargo, esto no debe concebirse como un argumento esencialista
sobre la relacin de las mujeres con la esfera privada y por ende, la esfera pblica
con el mbito masculino. El uso del gnero como una metfora de los valores
sociales en la cultura maya del Clsico fue mucho ms complejo que esta
simplificacin de la realidad maya, aunque podramos argumentar que el mundo
domstico estaba entrelazado con los ideales de feminidad. Sin embargo, la
idealizacin de la feminidad fue una metfora para la productividad de la unidad
familiar y mientras la productividad ocurra intensamente en el contexto domstico,
tambin se produca cuando las mujeres iban al mercado o producan objetos
cermicos en los talleres alfareros, o bien cuando pasaban el tiempo acarre ando
98
agua de los pozos y a nivel de la lite, al facilitar los festines polticamente
importantes y otras visitas estatales relevantes.
Estas actividades se representaban regularmente en diferentes medios
artsticos as como en el registro material asociado con las mujeres. Muchos otros
escenarios arquitectnicos existan en las ciudades mayas del Clsico que no eran
tan intensamente distintivos de acuerdo al gnero como lo eran los complejos
domsticos. En los templos funerarios, los caminos levantados, las plazas y los
mercados existe mucho menos evidencia sobre las actividades especficas de
gnero, o bien no es visible si estos espacios fueron ocupados como reas para la
reproduccin de las identidades y las experiencias de gnero.
La distribucin espacial de los artefactos de concha en diferentes etapas de
produccin y los desperdicios de esta manufactura en el rea ocupada por los
grupos domsticos nos muestra que estos espacios son factibles para demostrar la
idea de que las personas que compartan el gnero tambin compartan el trabajo.
Los movimientos a travs del mbito domstico, desde la estructura usada para
almacenar, hasta el rea exterior donde el maz se muele o se tienen las hierbas
para cocinar, fueron reas de circulacin regular y frecuentemente visitadas por
mujeres en presencia de otras mujeres, ms que por varones en presencia de
otros varones. Ciertamente los hombres se movan en el espacio casero, pero en la
sociedad maya del Clsico ellos lo hicieron bajo el entendimiento de que las
actividades que se llevaban a cabo ah eran ampliamente, aunque no exclusivas,
de las mujeres y ellas destacaban dado que haba una expectativa de su habilidad
y destreza en ciertas actividades distinguibles de acuerdo con su gnero. Ya que
las jvenes aprendan a tejer e hilar a travs de las enseanzas de sus familiares
(mujeres) en el patio domstico, o que las hermanas o cuadas molan el maz
juntas, ellas compartan estas tareas especficas de gnero en un lugar que lleg a
ser familiar y conformado por tales tareas. La organizacin de la produccin a lo
largo de las lneas de gnero fue reproducido a travs del espacio especfico por
gnero y ms importante an, por la experiencia mutua del espacio comn por
esos miembros que compartan ese imaginario social.
Conclusin
En este anlisis hemos intentado ofrecer un anlisis de la produccin de un tipo de
artefactos que ha sido ligeramente abordado en los estudios de produccin
artesanal del rea maya. A pesar de la ausencia de imgenes obvias sobre l os
productores de objetos de concha en las representaciones artsticas o el corpus
material, hemos argumentado que la produccin se puede demostrar claramente
como parte del contexto domstico, en espacios tanto de lite como de la gente
comn. Nuestro argumento se basa en el reconocimiento de que la produccin
99
domstica tiene una atribucin de naturaleza femenina en la sociedad maya
aunque esto no implica que todas las artesanas de la concha fueran mujeres, sino
que existe la posibilidad de que el femenino, o ambos, masculino y femenino como
gneros, fueran responsables del trabajo de objetos de concha en asociacin con
otras tareas domsticas.
Los ornamentos de concha contenan informacin simblica muy potente
sobre la riqueza de los recursos marinos y otros bienes exticos que arribaban a
los centros mayas como resultado del intercambio con comunidades costeras. En
este sentido, ciertas conchas marinas, especialmente el Spondylus y otras especies
raras fueron usadas para expresar el acceso privilegiado que la lite y la realeza
tuvieron a objetos de prestigio ampliamente cargados de simbolismo. La concha no
solo contena una asociacin entre la fuente de vida y la precipitacin que
propiciaba la vida de las plantas que les alimentaban. Los adultos utilizaron objetos
de concha sobre los nios para marcar su estatus de no adultos y reforzar la
comprensin compartida de los nios como individuos de donde la riqueza y la
fuerza deban fluir. A pesar de que el uso de ornamentos de concha no manifiesta
un patrn fuertemente asociado con el gnero en el caso de los adultos,
observamos su uso como un marcador de identidad por edad.
Una perspectiva de gnero rechaza convenciones universales sobre las
capacidades inherentes de cualquier poblacin, o que algn significado sea
evidente por s mismo. Por el contario, este enfoque intenta entender las presuntas
suposiciones que los investigadores modernos refieren sobre este tema, as como
las relaciones de poder que desempean un papel paralelo en la produccin y
distribucin de objetos artesanales. Al observar la amplia cantidad de datos sobre
los ornamentos de concha en la cultura maya del Clsico, incluida cmo la concha
fue representada en los medios visuales de lite, o bien cmo fue usada en los
entierros y depsitos especiales y tambin los datos sobre cmo y cundo se
produjeron estos objetos, hemos intentado ofrecer una perspectiva de gnero en
la produccin de este importante tipo de objetos as como algunas de sus
asociaciones ideolgicas vinculadas con su uso.
Rechazamos una asociacin acrtica entre la concha marina y la reproduccin
femenina, a favor de un reconocimiento de la concha como marcador de una
diversidad de ideas y una variada identidad de personas. Argumentamos que la
produccin de adornos de concha, mientras que no era (aparentemente) de gran
importancia en las agendas artsticas de lite, estaba embebida en la vida cotidiana
en conjunto con otras actividades domsticas creativas. Esta produccin se llev a
cabo en una arena en la que las nociones idealizadas y compartidas sobre la
productividad de la naturaleza femenina adquirieron forma y materia en a qullos
100
que eligieron cortar, tallar, pulir y crear objetos de concha marina como una
actividad artesanal.
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de Landa, New York, Dover Publications, 1937 [1566].
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London, Routledge, 1999, pp. 142-161.
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Classic period Maya Elite of Copan Valley, Honduras, en Women in Prehistory:
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____________, Textile production and Craft in Mesoamerica: Time, labor, and

knowledge, Journal of Social Archaeology, 6, pp. 354-378, 2006.
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255-274.
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of Texas Press, 2000.
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James H. Burton, Ancient Maya Mortuary Practices During the Late Classic Period:
A Taphonomic Approach to the Study of Five Burials from Xuenkal, Yucatan,
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Chiapas, en Tcnicas Analticas aplicadas a la caracterizacin y produccin de
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104
Mesoamerican Bodies in Motion
Wendy Ashmore
Introduction
Among her achievements, Rosemary Joyce is internationally recognized as a leader
in feminist and gender archaeology, especially with respect to Mesoamerica.
Embodiment and bodies are among the many themes running through her
influential work. This chapter discusses embodiment and multiple instances
involving ancient Mesoamerican bodies -alive or after death- as they once moved
through space. The thought-provoking insights Dr. Joyce has shared, in print and
otherwise, underlies explorations recounted in this chapter, from the Maya area
and adjoining parts of Central America.
All contributors to this volume surely agree that Rosemary Joyce is an
extraordinary scholar, who pushes the bounds of traditional ideas, offering
thought-provoking new theory and interpretation to liberate our approaches to
understanding past lives. She challenges our epistemology and ontology, urging us
to consider alternatives to the theoretical status quo. Much of her work has
involved gender, embodiment, materiality, language, and memory; integration of
feminist and social theory more broadly informs all. As she would be the first to
acknowledge, hers is not the only voice in addressing the topics she highlights.
While the writings of Judith Butler clearly have been major stimulants, Joyce
credits all catalysts in her thinking, producing a theoretically integrated approach
all her own. To me, recurring themes she weaves into her work include most
prominently calls for flexibility, fluidity, and disciplined creativity in our thinking. At
the same time, she cautions us to remember our privileged positions in writing
about other peoples pasts, and to be accordingly self critical and reflexive (Joyce,
2001:13; Joyce et al., 2002). In short, Joyce urges us to open our minds. This
chapter illustrates only two instances of her influence with respect to expanding
ways to think about human bodies in the past: bodies animated from static to
active, and body mobility and partibility at death.
That is, Rosemary Joyce has written amply and compellingly about bodies
and embodiment, especially with respect to Mesoamerica ( e.g., Joyce 1993, 2000,
2005, 2006, 2008a, 2009). Alone or with her students and other colleagues, she
writes of postures, gestures, clothing, and adornment, for female and other
genders. The direct evidence for her assertions comes necessarily from static
representations, principally in stone sculpture, painted pottery, and fired-clay
figurines. More profoundly, however, she writes about performing gender and
other identities for which the static images are simply snapshots, and about
105
peoples movements around and among the static images as citational precedents
for lived performance in Mesoamerica (Bachand, Joyce, and Hendon, 2003:239;
see also Joyce, 2005:150-152, 2008b; Perry and Joyce, 2001). In so doing, she
actively recognizes the importance of movement in the practices of ordinary and
extraordinary moments alike. The ancient actors live again.
Mobile bodies in life

Experiencing movement in and through space is fundamental to Joyces writing on
memory and place making (Joyce, 2003:112, 2005; Joyce, Hendon and Lopiparo,
2009). Sometimes she turns attention to paths or other linear trajectories of
movement, at various spatial scales from short-distance walks to processions and
pilgrimages. She examines how these movements of living human bodies animate
and give meaning to the spaces traversed.
Joyces article Ideology in Action: The Rhetoric of Classic Maya Ritual
Practice (1992) inspired my thinking in a recent re-examination of E. Wyllys
Andrews (1976) research at Quelepa, El Salvador. That essay is part of a
celebration of Andrews career and life, and with his encouragement, I sought to
explore some more recent interpretive models to his invaluably solid monograph
report (Ashmore, n. d.).
Joyce (1992:498) writes insightfully about rhetorical structure in creating and
terminating sacred space, via architecture and ritual deposits such as caches or
burials. She asserts Caches become part of the architecture, deposited between
its founding and termination. Their placement within the building may demarcate
paths through the sacralized architectural context. Examining cache-marked
pathways at Late Classic Maya Piedras Negras Str. O-13 and the Cross Group at
Palenque, she suggests that these pathways moved across an architectural
metonym for the Maya cosmos. At Str. O-13, Piedras Negras, the path leads to
the innermost room, where the number, diversity, and unique contents of caches
suggest a peak in ritual activity (1992:501). This is the ideology in action of the
articles title. In her view, the routes so defined were also permanent pathways to
power.
Certainly others have written, from multiple theoretical bases, about
choreography and phenomenology of movement through the natural and built
environment, such as Julian Thomass consideration of the ceremonial approach to
Avebury in Neolithic England (Thomas, 1993). From an ecological standpoint, Mark
Aldenderfer (1990) identifies the role of Asana, a small domestic and cere monial
site, as a way station in peoples movements between highlands and lowlands in
the southern Peruvian landscape of 2600 B.C. Christopher Tilley (1994:10) asserts
that space is involved in action and cannot be divorced from it.
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Angela Keller (2009:155) proposes that by moving through their landscape
along prescribed routes, the Maya came to understand not only the contours of the
world, but also the contours of their own bodily and perceptual presence in the
world (also Keller, 2010:196-205). The edited volume of which Kellers chapter is
part, Landscapes of Movement , is one more affirmation of how prominent cross-
cultural study of human movement through space has become (Snead, et al.
2009).
Rosemary Joyce was an early advocate for studying the experience of moving
bodies through space. As noted earlier, her 1992 article, Ideology in Action,
intrigued me particularly for querying one part of the multifaceted Quelepa
evidence. Importantly, the subtitle for Joyces article, The Rhetoric of Classic Maya
Ritual Practice, highlighted the role of narrative and discourse in portraying and
understanding the actions involved, which likewise influenced my approach to the
Quelepa work.
The occupation period in question at Quelepa, A. D. 200-750, began earlier in
time than those highlighted at eighth-century Late Classic Piedras Negras or
Palenque (Braswell, Andrews and Glascock, 1994:175). Quelepa was also decidedly
non-Maya in material culture. Nonetheless, I considered it worthwhile to ask
whether caches at this sites two monumental platforms might also plausibly mark
pathways for ritual performance and expressions of power (Figure 1). As in Joyces
examples, it would seem that entering spaces increasingly removed from public
observers on the platform summits would ascribe or reinforce the ritual authority
of the presumably few, probably privileged individuals with such access.
The inferred pathways differed in elaboration between the two Quelepa
platforms. Andrews considers Str. 4 to be the earlier of the two, and Str. 3 the
later. Str. 4 is simpler in architectural design, with a pair of ramps leading from
ground level across three wide terraces to the summit, where Andrews (1976:12,
42-43, 181) suggested a perishable building had stood. This construction mass was
associated with a total of ten caches, interred at the base of both ramps, at
platform corners, and in the summit. Contents in all cases were predominantly
pottery vessels, locally made. The noteworthy exceptions were Cache 19 at the
base of the upper ramp and the two summit Caches, 14 and 16.
Cache 19 was the most diverse in content, especially imported items: twenty
carved jadeite beads, a marble onyx bowl, and six shell ornaments. A removable
stone cover for the cache suggests that the objects inside could have been
removed and displayed repeatedly, at appropriate times and for appropriate
audiences. Their exhibition would most likely have been accompanied by spoke n
rhetoric about their importance, which I believe was to affirm the authority of the
Quelepa leader(s) to communicate with people and powers at the distant sources
107
for the plausibly quite prestigious foreign goods (Ashmore, n.d.:17; Helms, 1988;
Patel, 2012).
On the summit of Str. 4, Cache 14 would have been located in front of the
perishable building reconstructed in Figure 1. Cache 16 would have been within
the building as shown. Each summit cache held a jadeite bead, and either a
greenstone or black stone celt, all of them exotic items. In Cache 16, the
innermost and farthest along the pathway, the bead and celt were larger, and
the celt was a well-polished greenstone. The green color of the two Cache 16
stones conceivably symbolized both jade and maize, and thereby plausibly the
center of the world directions as described in nearby cultures, including that of the
Maya. In short, this inner sanctum atop Str. 4 was marked as sheltering a probable
peak in ritual activity, extolling leaders ability to act at a distance from arguably
the most sacred place at Quelepa.
Only five caches were encountered at the larger and somewhat later Str. 3.
In 1949, Pedro Armillas recorded one (described but unnumbered in Andrews
account) within the upper ramp where it crossed the fifth and sixth (of eight)
terraces of the pyramid-like construction (Andrews, 1976:4,16). Its contents
combined local and exotic elements, including local pottery, jadeite, and
greenstone as well as two stone discs and three stone balls. Armillas reported
another cache within the fill of the fifth terrace, on the north side (rear) of the
structure; Andrews finds both location and the particular pottery contents unusual,
and queries whether this deposit might not have been contemporary with the
building (Andrews, 1976:17).
On the summit of Str. 3, Caches 2 and 3 would both have been inside the
summit building as reconstructed in Figure 1. Cache 2, nearer the inferred building
entrance, held a single stone disc atop a tubular jadeite bead, argua bly a simpler
version of the deposit Armillas found in the ramp. Innermost Cache 3, however
included two pairs of local pottery vessels, with a celt-like green-gray stone atop
them, together with four small jars that might have related to rain making
practices (Ashmore, n.d.:19; Schaafsma and Taube, 2006). The rhetoric again
seems to assert the authority and skills of the Quelepa leader(s) with respect to
people and powers at a distance.
These series of caches could be recalled, silently in memory or by oration to
those gathered nearby, each time the reverent climb to the summit was made. As
Joyce describes the situation with respect to the Piedras Negras and Palenque
cases: The pathways established by caches provided a permanent marker of
impermanent human actions, until the buildings were ritually terminated (Joyce,
1992:502). Cache 4, intrusive to the Str. 3 summit southeast of and very close to
Cache 2, was perhaps just such a ritual and reverential termination, consisting of a
108
single inverted polychrome bowl of a pottery type substantially later than the
platforms construction.
The point of relating inferences about caches, ritual pathways, and
meaningful practices at Quelepa to those Joyce writes of at Piedras Negras and
Palenque has been to illustrate one small instance of how Rosemary Joyce
influences, even inspires new thinking about the human past. She enlivens the
archaeological record by example and by urging us to consider how ancient actors
might have experienced the spaces of their lives, especially by movements within
and across the places they inhabited. To reiterate, movement in and through space
is fundamental to Joyces writing on memory and place making, and archaeologists
benefit greatly from attending to her insights.
Mobile bodies and death

As acknowledged earlier, bodies move nearly constantly during life. As Rosemary
Joyce and others contend, the same corporeal bodies often move at or after death,
too, as whole corpses or parts thereof. Like those of many other Meso- and Central
Americanist archaeologists, my field investigations have encountered
supernumerary bones in burials of individuals, such as the poorly preserved human
long bone (femur?) accompanying an individual, possibly of high rank in Late
Preclassic times (here 400 B.C. to 200 A. D.), at non-Maya Gualjoquito, Honduras
(Schortman, et al., 1985:9). Such supernumerary inclusions can be family
heirlooms, trophies, or other acts of remembrance. Interments with body elements
missing can equally imply heirloom removal, trophy taking, or other acts, whether
of reverence or violence (Chase and Chase, 1998; Duncan, 2005; Geller, 2004,
2012). In her article Performing the Body in Pre-Hispanic Central America, Joyce
proposes the following:
The use of the human body as a form for ceramic vessels in Central America
and of patterning to suggest the presence of a surface combine to present
the body as a skin enclosing contents. The representation of body parts,
notably heads, but also isolated limbs, suggests an alternative, but not
contradictory, representation of the body as made up of parts delimited
through their ability to stand alone as self-sufficient subjects (Joyce,
1998:148, emphasis added).
In that article, she proceeds to discuss acts of post-mortem body processing

and the significance of particular body parts, from skulls to limbs, and from hair to
tattooing and footprints, in Central America and adjacent regions (see also Chase
and Chase, 1998; Fitzsimmons, 2011; Hamilakis, Pluciennik and Tarlow, 2002).
The partibility of human bodies at or after death intrigued me in interpreting
109
the Gualjoquito interment mentioned earlier, and also instances Ive recently
reviewed in other contexts, especially two Maya cases. One of the latter highlights
the mobility of bodies and body parts in mortuary practices for Classic Maya kings,
and the other queries situations where archaeologists anticipate encountering
bodily remains, but none are present. Joyces work critically informed my questions
and inferences in both cases. She suggests:
ancient burials can be viewed as particularly charged sites where living

survivors inscribed the dead into social memory in particular ways, as part
of an ongoing process of spinning webs of social relations between
themselves and others . . . [Comparisons among burial instances] provide
an unparalleled opportunity to explore not only the broad regularities of
structuration but also the finer variation of individual practices, in ways
that enhance and, I argue, improve the realism of our present accounts of
the past (2001:13, emphasis added).
The first of the two examples reviewed here involve Classic Maya royal practices in
four mortuary programs, for two kings at Copan and two at Quirigua, and how
encompassing politico-economic dynamics shaped the commemoration practices
chosen (Ashmore, 2013a). An assessment of mortuary practices documented for
the Classic Maya, regardless of the decedents social standing, confirmed that in
each specific instance examined, multiple, diverse selections were made from
among the total range. Potential practices included body wrapping, bundling,
dismemberment, excarnation, and painting; laying to rest as primary or secondary
burial; placing in residential or shrine locations; accompanying with grave goods
varying in quantity, forms, and elaboration; and post-interment practices of re-
entry, removal or addition of body parts, censing, burning, and creation of text or
sculptures about the deceased. Most of these practices were evident at either
Copan or Quirigua, or both.
The disparities between Copan and Quirigua dynasty founders highlighted,
somewhat dramatically, a greater or lesser degree of mortuary elaboration, with
Copan evincing truly grand and monumental acts, while practices of its political
subordinate, Quirigua, were simpler in scale and more materially muted. To cite
just one expression, whereas the sequence of ancestor shrines built above the
founders interment culminated in the tallest, most visually dominating temple
pyramid at Copan, Quirigua founder remembrance involved a much smaller scale
of shrine refurbishment, ending with a diminutive building visible only to those
within the final royal court there.
Although two of the kings considered, the dynastic founders of each polity,
were interred as intact corpses, each of the other two -eighth-century adversaries
110
who re-shaped politico-economic relations in the encompassing region- was
treated very differently from his founding dynastic ancestor. Here is where mobility
and partibility are expressed most explicitly.
Of the adversaries, the Quirigua king, Kak Tiliw Chan Yopaat, captured and
beheaded his Copan overlord, Waxaklajun-Ubah-Kawil, in 738 A. D., thereby
overturning three centuries of starkly hierarchical political and economic regional
control by Copan. Kak Tiliws burial site and commemoration are still unknown,
but suggestive hints of his burial location have been outlined elsewhere, with
suggestions of possible removal of his remains from one location to another
(Ashmore, 2007, 2009, 2013a, 2013b).
With regard to the final resting place of the revered and much lamented
Copan king, no interment at all is known. His skull, however, might well have been
returned home by a subsequent, pacified Quirigua king, and then commemorated
in a special architectural compound north of the Copan royal precinct (Figure 2).
That is, hieroglyphic and material evidence suggests that the final Copan dynast,
Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat, commissioned a pair of architectural compounds in which
the name of the beheaded king (Waxaklajun-Ubah-Kawil), titles, and a
hieroglyphic date in the recurring fifty-two year Calendar Round occurred in a
sculpted faade inscription on the northern compounds eastern building, Str. 8L-
74.
The compounds commissioning was likely one Calendar Round (790 A. D.)
after the beheading incident, during the reign of Yax Pasaj. Either at the same
time or another Calendar Round later (842 A. D.), weathered skull fragments with
two loose, jade-inlaid teeth were entombed in Burial XLII-5 (B5), at the front of
the western building, Str. 8L-77 (Figure 3; Ashmore, 1991, 2013a, 2013b). I
believe these elements were the previously quite mobile bodily remains of
Waxaklajun-Ubah-Kawil. In this instance, the head (fragmentary skull and teeth)
stood alone, and paraphrasing Joyces words, was a self-sufficient regal subject.
But what do we make of deceased bodies with no physical trace, especially
where a plausible burial space had been prepared? Explanations for this kind of
absence include that (1) soil conditions were not conducive to bone preservation,
(2) subsequent removal took place in ancient or recent times, or (3) no corpse had
ever been interred. Cenotaphs are monuments to a dead person whose remains lie
elsewhere. Quirigua Special Deposit (SD) 6 seems to have been such a cenotaph
(Ashmore, 2013b).
Excavations at an unimposing earthen mound at Classic Maya Quirigua, Str.
3C-2, exposed what appeared to be capstones of a tomb or crypt burial. The three
low mounds at this location likely comprised a domestic compound, initially
thought to signal Quirigua residents outside royal and noble echelons. So while
111
excavators were surprised at finding formal capstones, they anticipated interment
of one or more family members resident in the compound. When the capstones of
SD 6 were lifted, however, the well-built stone chamber contained three pottery
vessels at one end, but no human remains at all. This is where the idea of mobile
bodies enters anew. Burial re-entry with removal or addition of body elements was
included in the list of Maya mortuary practices described earlier. Indeed,
Fitzsimmons (2002:368) characterizes Caracol as a Classic Maya city where
skeletal remains [were] fluid in their transport over the landscape. At the same
time, it is increasingly clear that nonmaterial remains were equally important,
especially the heritable and conjurable names, titles, and souls of the deceased
(Geller, 2004; Gillespie, 2002; Taube, 2004).
Maya soul caches have been proposed in some such situations (Freidel and
Guenther, 2006; Houston, Stuart and Taube, 2006). If and when the physical body
or its individual elements were unavailable, the deceased could still be
acknowledged. Such practices seem evident in the commemoration of Copans king
Waxaklajun-Ubah-Kawil, discussed earlier in this essay, and in SD 6 at eighth-
century Quirigua.
As indicated elsewhere, current interpretation of Quirigua SD 6 is that the
individual being commemorated was a member of a prominent local family
(Ashmore, 2013b). Not only does the chamber and mound-group location occupy
the edge of a long-standing civic arena adjacent to the royal precinct, but also the
chambers ashlar masonry construction bespeaks pronounced investment in
materials and labor, and at least one of the pottery vessels encountered in SD 6
was plausibly a prestigious gift. That squat, white tetrapod cylinder belongs to a
pottery type infrequent at Quirigua and at Copan, from contexts associated with
upper echelons of Quirigua-Copan society. The vessel was likely a gift honoring an
important local person. Even with no physical body presence, this missing
individual attests emphatically to mobility of bodily remains at death.
Once again, the message from this section on bodies at death is attention to
how Joyces work can instigate and inspire new inquiries by others. Her theorizing
about bodies, their mobility and partibility, together with her thought-provoking
applications of that theory to particular corpora of evidence, can spark new lines
for investigation by her students and other colleagues.
112
Figures
Figure 1. Platform Structures 3 (right) and 4 (left), at Quelepa, El Salvador, seen

from the southeast (Adapted from Andrews [1976: Figure 20]. Courtesy of the
Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University).
113
Figure 2. Eastern part of Copan Valley, highlighting Groups 8L-10 and 8L-12 and
the Main Group (Principal Group) (Reproduced by permission of the Society for
American Archaeology, from Latin American Antiquity, vol. 2, no. 3 [September
1991], p. 204).
114
Figure 3. Plan of Copan Groups 8L-10 (top), 8L-11, and 8L-12 (bottom). Key
buildings are labeled, as are locations of burials (B) and caches (C). Full
designation for buildings are 8L-[number] and, for caches and burials, operation
number XLII-[number]. (Reproduced by permission of the Society for American
Archaeology, from Latin American Antiquit y, vol. 2, no. 3 [September 1991], p.
207).
115
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120
Feminist Pedagogy: Implications and Practice
Karina Croucher, Hannah Cobb and Eleanor Casella
Introduction
Rosemary Joyces work has driven research in archaeology in themes such as the
body, identity, gender and sexuality, prompting us to think differently about a
number of areas of our archaeological practice and interpretations. Whether
analysing figurines, mortuary remains, or communicating past lives, Joyces
research urges us to think about the role our interpretations play in the present
and the impact our research can potentially have in changing contemporary
ideologies and attitudes. Underlying this research is Joyces approach to the way
we do and think about archaeology, whether as a researcher, teacher or student.
This paper will begin by exploring feminist approaches to the production of
knowledge, and how feminist work has laid the foundations for some of our key
critical thinkers in archaeology and anthropology, leading to current philosophical
approaches to interpreting the past and thinking about our discipline today. It will
then explore the impact of these upon the development of pedagogy in
archaeology, examining some of Joyces inspirational teaching methods, and
discussing more broadly where feminist approaches to knowledge and
understanding have influenced teaching and learning. Finally, the paper will
explore how, in practice, the ways of reading the past advocated by Joyce and her
contemporaries have gone on to influence field practice, with the example of the
Ardnamurchan Transitions Project in Western Scotland in the UK. We conclude by
reflecting on the potential further advantages for the discipline of archaeology in
rethinking the role of students, teaching and research within our epistemologies of
practice.
The production of knowledge: feminist approaches

As has long been accepted (Moore, 1994; Wright, 1996; Gatens, 1992; Conkey and
Gero, 1997; Voss, 1998), feminism in archaeology is not simply about women and
their roles today and in the past, gender archaeology has moved on from an add
women and stir approach (Wright, 1996:5). While feminism has been and remains
significant in achieving equality, its impacts extend further, to question our
production of knowledge, our epistemologies, and the ways in which we view the
world (whether past or present). This includes challenging traditional methods of
research: Historically specific masculinist modes of thought pervade scientific
enquiry (Wylie, 1991); the need for control, certainty, and objectivity, for example.
Feminist critiques suggest that other non-masculinist modes of enquiry offer
121
different results, which may encompass ambiguity, multiple interpretations, and
nuanced understanding of specific aspects of study (after Gero, 1996:265). With
methodologies that are more flexible, communal, less competitive, and open to
ambiguity, new interpretations are enabled, alongside new understandings of how
we practice and how we write about archaeology ( e.g., Spector, 1993; Tringham,
2005; Joyce, 2002; Joyce and Tringham, 1991). Such debates have inevitably
stimulated new ways of practicing and doing archaeology, such as the
development of more reflexive and interpretive field practice ( e.g., Hodder, 2000;
Lucas, 2001), and the increasing popularity of community archaeology (Marshall,
2002).
Stemming from different methodologies, new understandings of the past and
the present are enabled, including acknowledgment of a multiplicity of narratives
about the past. This involves the recognition that the portrayal of the past is
complex and interpretative; it is a process and should not simply conclude with
one, sole, dominant voice or account, as is traditionally the case, with the
excavation director as sole author on publications and accounts of any given
archaeological site. Enabling the voices of different stakeholders, whether they are
academics, students, or community groups, for instance, provides understandings
of the past which are acknowledged to be contextual and situated in the present.
Frequently, such endeavours can empower marginalized groups, provide
indigenous perspectives, and give a context to dominant narratives and accounts.
Examples extend from research into and by indigenous populations of Jamaica
(e.g., Leslie-Gail Atkinsons (2006) The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the
Jamaican Tano, a landmark publication produced by an indigenous scholar
working on the archaeologies of Jamaicas populations prior to slavery; enabling
the voices of communities excavating in rural Devon, UK (Riley and Harvey, 2005);
community opposition to heritage policy (Jones, 2005); or the publication of
multiple voices of excavation team members (Bender et al., 2007).
Riley and Harvey describe their project as using oral histories to destabilise
the linear and scientifically derived narratives of landscape development, as well
as offer alternative, personally or socially embedded narratives that reflect the
contingency of all processes of knowledge production to allow a hidden
community to speak out (Riley and Harvey, 2005:282). Local involvement,
empowerment and partnerships frequently bring to light frictions with policy,
accepted scientific knowledge, and research agendas (Croucher, 2010). However
disruptive these approaches may be, they provide more democratised, alternative
and often more nuanced presentations of the past. Fundamentally, as Joyce has
highlighted, the creation of narratives is a practice that literally binds the
discipline of archaeology together from the field through to formal and informal
122
presentation of interpretations (2002:2), demonstrated in practice through her
research on Maya monumental architecture, which involve a multiplicity of
narratives communicated through images and texts (Wright, 1996:16).
Key to providing alternative, feminist-inspired narratives about the past is the
recognition of different scales of analysis (Conkey and Tringham, 1996:234).
Moving from large, often evolutionary, frameworks of analysis to consider the
small-scale offers more nuanced interpretations. The study of the small scale can
also be seen as a component of many post-processual approaches to archaeology,
which analyse the contextual and specific, rather than large-scale overarching
themes. In this regard we may see the relationship between post-processual and
feminist archaeologies as mutual, multiple and emergent, influencing one another
and emerging in what Ingold would describe as a meshwork (2011; 2013).
It is no surprise, then, that the fundamental methodological developments
which have emerged from the feminist critique in archaeology, can be traced in
every aspect of what we do. Yet there is one area of our profession and of our
practice where feminist influence has seen little explicit recognition: in the domai n
of teaching. In particular, traditional teaching methods are largely performative,
with the active lecturer and passive student, the expert teaching the novice, with
the latter absorbing knowledge and information. However, a wealth of research
into learning styles have concluded that this method of learning is only really
productive for a small proportion of students, the majority of learners benefitting
from a range of styles, and most gaining at least something, if not everything,
from the experience of participation. There exist numerous models of learning
preferences and styles, with some of the most well known and most frequently
used including the Jungian inspired Myers-Briggs (1980) model, as well as the Kolb
(1989), Dunn and Dunn (1978), Dunn, Dunn and Price (1989), Honey-Mumford
(1982) and VARK (Fleming 1992, 2006) models. What fundamentally underlies the
majority of these approaches is the simple recognition that different people use
different methods for learning.
Contra traditional views of lecturing, if students become active in their
learning, the outcomes are far more successful. Whilst much of this analysis comes
from literature on educational practice specifically, in archaeology the feminist
critique pre-empted this broader pedagogical analysis by several decades. The
contribution of feminist archaeologies to teaching practices is perhaps most
prominently demonstrated by several chapters in Rita Wrights edited volume,
Gender and Archaeology (1996), dedicated to pedagogy in archaeology. Here, key
thinkers in gender archaeology argue for the importance of teaching, not only as a
way to begin changing current epistemologies, but in highlighting how our ways of
thinking about evidence and researching the past further perpetuate our practices
123
and epistemologies. Through thinking and teaching differently, different
interpretations are enabled, and new voices are heard, through a democratisation
of thinking about, and ownership of, the past. Consequently, in the rest of this
paper, we will highlight some specific examples of how feminist methodologies
have inspired and enhanced our own pedagogy. Pedagogy is defined as the
processes and relationships of learning and teaching (Stierer and Antoniou,
2004:277).
Reflections on Teaching and Learning in Hyperlink

In reflecting on the impact of feminist pedagogies, we turn first to our own
experiences of being taught. For one of this papers authors (Casella), the final
decade of the twentieth century proved an exceptional period to study archaeology
at UC Berkeley. Inspired by the recent calls for a more enlightened, more
sophisticated approach to gender within the discipline of archaeology (Conkey &
Spector, 1984; Conkey and Gero, 1991), and the kind of critiques of epistemology
as discussed above, we graduate students embraced the opportunity to question
underlying formations of archaeological knowledge. Why were certain versions of
the past authorized? Were other readings possible? Who was allowed to generate
them, and with what sort of evidence?
Into that critical intellectual atmosphere, Meg Conkey and Ruth Tringham
premiered their student-led course that explored archaeological understandings of
The Goddess scholarship that ranged from Near Eastern, European and African
examples of prehistoric figurine studies, through Marija Gimbutas then fashionable
(1982) re-workings of migration/diffusion models for Neolithic Europe, and into
contemporary neo-pre-Christian spiritual movements that drew heavily on
ethnographic and archaeological representations of female deities. Unsurprisingly,
the course was popular and exceptionally well attended. Co-directed by them, it
offered a new student-led approach to content delivery. While they took turns
delivering formal lectures in the Monday teaching slots, Wednesdays were filled by
student group-work presentations, and Fridays by class debates, with the rotating
student panel responding to questions provided by the student audience. In
writing of their experiences with this pedagogical adventure, Conkey and Tringham
(1996) both reflected on their initial hesitations and misgivings over this decentred
mode of instruction, particularly their concerns over how to maintain the necessary
rigor, depth, and accuracy of scholarly knowledge generated through this student
peer-led format.
Ultimately, as their pedagogical experiments expanded to include non-
traditional means of coursework submission, familiar questions of student group
works and multiple authorship began to emerge. How to best mark student
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collaborations? How to formally assess creative writing, sculptural renditions, and
musical compositions as a piece of coursework? Thus, their early pioneering
approach to feminist pedagogy ultimately raised deeper questions on the
underlying nature of non-traditional communication for archaeological knowledge
(Tringham, 1991). What could feminist epistemologies generate for the creation,
interpretation and dissemination of new types of archaeology?
Following her mid-1990s departmental appointment as the Director of the
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Rosemary Joyce expanded these
feminist pedagogical experiments into ever broader directions by actively
embracing the non-linear narrative as a vibrant new form of writing archaeology
(2002). With the Internet exploding onto our computers as a revolutionary new
technology for the integration and communication of knowledge, Joyce began to
investigate web-authoring software to transform her delivery of archaeological
research from the familiar field monograph published format into non-linear digital
spaces networked together through hyperlinked images and text (see Joyce and
Tringham, 2007:18; Lopiparo and Joyce, 2003). She developed graduate seminars
that challenged us to explore how these new communication technologies might
articulate with our own emerging research projects, and thereby enhance our
abilities as scholars and feminist authors.
Of course, in hindsight, through her enthusiastic adoption of these digitally-
based non-linear narrative formats, Joyces scholarship can be seen to powerfully
foreshadow current disciplinary shifts towards relational theories of materiality. But
regardless of whether we envision these human/object connections as a form of
network (Law, 2010), meshwork (Ingold, 2013), or entanglement (Hodder, 2012),
the origins of these new theoretical directions can be firmly traced back to their
feminist roots in Joyces digital hyperlinks, Tringhams experiments with non-
traditional authorship, and Conkeys decentred approach to the student-led
classroom seminar. How then, have we as the subsequent generations of
feminist archaeologists applied these inspirational approaches to our own
teaching and research?
Case study: The Ardnamurchan Transitions Project

Whilst feminist influences can be traced in a variety of publications discussing
archaeological pedagogy in the classroom (as discussed above, and see also
Hamilakis, 2004; Perry, 2004), few case studies exist which demonstrate this
explicit legacy in the field, and in relation to teaching in the field (with notable
exceptions, e.g., Gero 1994, 1996). Consequently we provide a specific example of
this through a discussion of the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project (henceforth
ATP), which is directed by one of the papers authors (Cobb).
125
The ATP is a long-running research and community project which explores
the archaeology of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, Western Scotland, in the UK.
Since 2006 the project has examined life, death and social change in this
landscape through time, from prehistory through to historic periods, most recently
excavating the first intact Viking Boat Burial from the UK mainland. The project is
different from many traditional research excavations in several ways, with an ethos
inspired from the kinds of approaches to knowledge construction outlined above
(Members of the ATP, 2012). It is a project where archaeologists from a range of
backgrounds work together; this includes academics, postgraduate researchers
and undergraduate students, as well as commercial archaeologists, and
archaeologists from educational charities. Furthermore, the project has
intentionally sought to develop a methodology in which the digger is foregrounded
in the interpretive process. Moreover the reflexivity inherent in the archaeological
process is explicitly examined (Members of the ATP, 2012), with the aim of
empowering the excavator, whether they are a student or professional, and
highlighting their role in the interpretative process.
A different type of excavation

The ATP takes its influences from feminism in a number of different ways. In line
with feminist approaches to knowledge, the project explicitly seeks to link theory
with practice. Inspired by some of the projects that have undertaken such an
approach, including Stone Worlds (Bender et al., 2007), atalhyk (Hodder,
2000), Framework (Andrews, et al., 2000), and from the approaches advocated by
authors such as Lucas (2001, 2012), Everill (2007, 2009), Edgworth (2006) and
Yarrow (2003, 2006, 2008), the project aims to provide an interpretative, reflexive
and multivocal approach to practice and to interpreting the past. Yet unlike the
projects that inspire us, ATP runs on a much smaller scale, with a much more
limited budget, and critically the project is an active fieldschool, with a requirement
and a commitment to providing high quality training of undergraduate students.
The fact that we teach immediately raises a series of complicated issues that
explicitly challenge the project ethos. As we have discussed elsewhere (Cobb and
Richardson, 2009; Members of the ATP, 2012), the dichotomy between teacher
and student necessarily sets up the kind of hierarchy of knowledge production that
the project wants to challenge. One of the most common and fundamental issues
encountered in teaching excavations is that students feel that their lack of
experience, and their status as a learner, means that their voice and their acts lack
legitimacy on site (Croucher et al., 2008:48; Cobb and Croucher, 2012:38). In
contrast, on the ATP we draw directly from feminist critiques to argue that
teaching and fieldwork are knowledge-producing acts (Wright, 1996:5) and
126
therefore we seek to foreground the role of all excavators in knowledge
production.
There are a series of steps that we take in order to implement this in
practice, while also providing strong training. First, and foremost, we always
operate with a high staff to student ratio. Since the project began in 2006 we have
kept to a ratio of one member of staff for every two or three students (in some
years, with smaller student cohorts, the ratio has been one to one). Of course, we
recognise that having such a high staff student ratio may be a challenge under
other circumstances on different training excavations. For instance, if staff had to
be bought in for training project with a limited budget such a ratio would be costly.
Yet the benefits are substantial. In this way students are constantly and closely
supported in their learning of archaeological methods, and nurtured and
encouraged to have the confidence to be active in the interpretive process.
Consequently, the division between teaching, learning and producing knowledge
about the past is collapsed. Thus the question is this the edge of this pit?, for
instance, is at once a question from a student to a teacher about how to excavate
a negative feature, whilst at the same time it is an act of interpretation about the
feature, a point that we raise and make explicit. In this way, with a high staff to
student ratio, the multiple processes of teaching, learning and interpreting are not
separate, but woven together.
By creating an environment in which the excavator has adequate supervision
to feel confident, we in turn encourage students to take ownership of their
excavation areas. Crucially, this involves keeping the students involved when
important discoveries are made, contra the common practice of replacing them
with experts. Instead, experts work alongside students, even when unique finds
are made. For instance, students have fully participated in, and learned from the
excavation of a Neolithic Chambered Cairn, a Bronze Age Kerbed Cairn, an Iron
Age Promotory Fort, a Viking Boat Burial, and several settlements related to
Medieval through Victorian periods. By providing guided responsibility to the
student, their interest and confidence is built, and students learn how to approach
valuable archaeology professionally (see Croucher, et al., 2008:48; Cobb and
Croucher, 2012:38). Moreover, students engage further in understanding the
realities of professional practice simply by virtue of the fact project staff come from
a wide range of backgrounds (commercial, academic and third sector educational
charities (often with experience in several or all of these sectors). Consequently
the interaction of professionals with students also enables a real insight into the
work of archaeologists, allowing students to see the ups and downs, the
ambiguities in the excavation process, and providing the opportunity for students
127
to ask and find out about professional careers. Informal career discussion is also
supported by the provision of a formal career guidance session during the project.
But our aim to empower learners is not just developed through discursive
methods. Crucially we also have a recording system in place which draws on the
work of Chadwick (1998, 2003), and methodologies employed by the Framework
Project (Andrews, et al., 2000) (specifically the intervention form) by
foregrounding both the digger and the reflexivity of the archaeological process by
providing the space for multiple voices and dialogue between these. In doing so
we also take our lead from Yarrow (2008), exploring, and in doing so subverting,
the contingent nature of objective facts, examining how subjects and objects,
assemblages and residues of assemblages (Lucas, 2012) are produced and
reproduced in our work.
In particular we have three forms for this process: a context sheet, complete
with all of the standard elements one would expect in such a form, but which ties
these into broader narratives and captures changes in these narratives over time;
an intervention form, completed once investigation of a feature, area, test pit or
trench have been finalised; and a participant form, completed on a more regular
basis throughout the duration of these excavation. These are reproduced and
discussed in detail elsewhere (Members of the ATP, 2012:119-124).
For pedagogical purposes such forms are particularly useful. Following our
ethos, as outlined above, students play a full role in undertaking and completing
the recording for the areas for which they have had responsibility, which in turn
requires them to relate their part of the site to wider activities across the site and
the broader landscape. Ultimately, undertaking such recording encourages
students to have the confidence to interpret, to reinterpret and recognize the
contingency of these interpretations. Moreover our recording system foregrounds
the excavator (student or otherwise) in the interpretive process, and therefore acts
to empower students, and in turn to subvert the hierarchies created in traditional
relationships of teacher and learner.
The development of a Skills Passport (in conjunction with The University of
Manchester, British Archaeological Jobs and Resources and the Higher Education
Academy) from the inception of the project in 2006 has provided a further avenue
for student empowerment. The passport provides a means to record levels of
competency in almost all archaeological skills. Through evidencing proficiency the
passport demonstrates the development of learning, and provides tangible
evidence of abilities, while also feeding into an ethos of continual professional
development. It provides an avenue for the transition of skills outside of the field,
which is fundamental in linking up field schools with other areas of archaeological
128
practice and research. This is pivotal in linking practice with theory, and in
demonstrating the enmeshed systems which contribute to archaeological practice.
The feminist epistemologies from which ATP takes its inspiration, as well as
other approaches to reflexive methodologies that have succeeded them,
fundamentally enrich the way in which archaeological practice is taught on ATP.
But this is not just a one way process. Adopting such approaches enriches us, the
site directors and supervisors, as much as they do the pedagogy with which we
engage. Collapsing the hierarchy of teacher and learner, and acknowledging the
multiplicity of voices in the project, sensu Joyce, Gero, Tringham, and others,
fosters an intellectual generosity which in turn enriches the project, the directors
and all concerned. This provides a liberating approach to site directorship, for
example, enabling the rhythms of life to intertwine with the lives of the project
team without disrupting the continuation of the project. Thus, since its inception in
2006, the team has seen periods of research leave, parental leave, long-term
sickness, career development abroad, care for relatives, and sadly bereavement,
all taking place without postponing the work of the project. Indeed acknowledging
our own historicity, reflecting upon the effects of each of these things on
ourselves, on our team and on our interpretations of the past, is simply a logical
step in the reflexive project of archaeology, and thus it enriches what we do as a
project.
Reflection
Taking inspiration from Rosemary Joyce and other innovators in feminist
pedagogies has the potential to enrich teaching in the classroom and the field. But
connecting the two provides scope for further potential. Research has
demonstrated how student experiences on site have a considerable long-term
impact on their experience throughout their degree and beyond (Croucher, et al.,
2008). Excavation builds confidence in students, keeps them engaged, and usually
fosters a passion for the subject that continues through to their assignment and
research topics, and ultimately their career choices (for the ATP project, a
considerable proportion of graduates have chosen archaeological careers, with
repeatedly 50% continuing into research or professional archaeology, an increase
on the average which is thought to be around 15% of graduates (Collis, 2001).
The benefits of an active participating class have been hailed by Conkey and
Tringham (1996:228), where the class are not simply faceless individuals awaiting
the impartment of knowledge, but are instead learning through commitment and
experience, through the necessity to critically engage, question, debate, and
challenge information, the instructors, their sources, and each other. The project
integrates these approaches into the fieldschool, empowering students, creating an
129
active learning environment, whilst also teaching key archaeological skills. As
observed by Wright (1996:3), feminist pedagogy should be seen as an essential
aspect of an engendered approach in teaching archaeology, mentoring students,
and in field practice. The changed approach to teaching and fieldschools may be a
contributory factor in this increased employability of graduates, where graduates
have a better understanding of archaeological practice, an understanding of the
value of archaeology, and an increased motivation brought about through their
increased confidence in the field.
Conclusion
Archaeology, by its very nature as an interpretive process, can be seen as
inherently feminist (Conkey and Tringham, 1996:227), open to on-going reflection,
multiple voices and different perspectives at least, it can be. In this paper we
have discussed a case study which takes these feminist underpinnings further,
enabling and encouraging a democratisation of voice, and empowering students to
recognise their role in the construction, interpretation and representation of
archaeological knowledge. However, while the benefits of investing in feminist
pedagogies may be clear on the small-scale, research into fieldwork practice and
pedagogic research in general remain marginalised (Cobb and Croucher,
forthcoming), contra the direction started by Joyce and her colleagues.
An appreciation of the value of researching our practice should be inherent
and naturally emergent through post-processual approaches to archaeology, and
yet teaching and field schools remain largely exempt as respected areas of study.
Despite the recognition of the multivocality and subjectivity of archaeological
excavation, the discipline remains dominated by the status quo whereby a
dominant excavation director is responsible for the (singular) interpretation of a
site, and in turn understandings of the site are largely only attributed to the
director themselves, with rare consideration of student contribution (although
there exceptions, e.g., Darvill, 2003). A natural progression of feminist thought
would be the increase in multiply-directed sites (and multi-author papers, much as
this one reflects the multiple voices of three authors), a reappraisal of teaching
methods, both in the field and in the classroom, and a reconsideration of the role
of the student voice in archaeological practice.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank members of the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project,
especially the co-directors Helena Gray, Oliver Harris, and Phil Richardson, and the
ATP project funders (The British Academy, the CBA Challenge Fund, Glasgow
Archaeological Society, the Leverhulme Trust, the McDonald Institute for
130
Archaeological Research, the Prehistoric Society, the Russell Trust, the Universities
of Manchester, Central Lancashire, Newcastle and Leicester, and Viking River
Cruises). Some of the perspectives in this paper arise from the work that two of
the paper authors have undertaken with the Higher Education Academy (Croucher
and Cobb), and we are very grateful to those who have contributed to this along
the way, particularly Thomas Dowson. We also thank colleagues at the University
of Manchester who have informed some of the above debates, including Melanie
Giles, Sian Jones and Stuart Campbell. We are especially indebted to Rosemary
Joyce, Meg Conkey and Ruth Tringham for their inspirational roles as feminist
pioneers in archaeology.
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Gendering the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh
Susan D. Gillespie
Introduction
The Popol Vuh, an epic historical narrative authored by Kiche Maya peoples in
highland Guatemala, has been widely judged as the most distinguished example
of surviving native American literature (Morley in Recinos, 1950:ix). It was written
in European script in the Kiche language, most likely between 1554-1558, three
decades after the Spanish invasion and consequent destruction of the principal
Kiche capital, Utatlan. That original document is now presumed lost, but it was
copied by a Dominican friar, Francisco Ximnez (Estrada, 1973), at the beginning
of the eighteenth century (Carmack, 1973:25; Recinos, 1950:23).
Narrated in third person, the story opens with cosmic creation: the lifting of
the earth out of the sea, followed by several attempts by primordial gods to create
humans to populate the earths surface. Early in the story creation is threatened by
three monstrous, disorderly beings who introduce chaos and must be destroyed.
The nefarious trio is defeated by two youthful demiurges, Hunahpu and
Xbalanque, tricksters now often referred to as the Hero Twins and comparable to
similar characters in North and South American folklore. The myth section of the
narrative ostensibly ends when the Hero Twins defeat the Death Lords of the
Underworld (Xibalba) and rise up as the sun and moon, after which true humans
are created and history begins.
Within Maya scholarship the Popol Vuh is treated as the authoritative
reference on ancient religion and cosmology. It has been called the single most
important document of Maya mythology (Schele and Miller, 1986:31), a veritable
New World Bible (Edmonson, 1985:107; Freidel et al., 1993:43). Nevertheless,
conventional wisdom has also emerged that this Bible has a major flaw, an error
in the gendered qualities attributed to Xbalanque, the younger of the two youths.
Whether the mistake originated with the erstwhile Kiche Maya elites of Utatlan
who composed the mid-sixteenth-century manuscript or with Fr. Ximnez as its
later copyist, the centuries-old putative error has seemed to require a modern
solution. That solution has been to rewrite portions of the Popol Vuh to fit
contemporary scholarly opinion, disregarding what is written in the manuscript.
This chapter reviews and then critiques the arguments made by Maya
scholars that the Kiche Popol Vuh manuscript requires such correction. Any fault
lies not with the Kiche authors or with the Dominican friar but with the embedded
assumptions upon which modern Western notions of gender are constituted,
137
assumptions which most Popol Vuh scholarship has not addressed. The first is the
common sense Western notion despite being subjected to withering critiques by
feminist scholarship ( e.g., Butler 1993), including in archaeology ( e.g., Meskell,
2001) that gender is a dyadic, essentialized, fixed, isolable, and
compartmentalized quality embedded in biology and manifest in distinctive cultural
forms in order to maintain a natural separation. Boys will be boys and girls will be
girls. In a number of works, Joyce (1992, 1996, 1998, 2000a, 2000b, 2001;
Gillespie and Joyce, 1997) has demonstrated how these gender notions, embedded
in post-Enlightenment ideologies, do not apply to Mesoamerica. Indeed, gender
status in ancient Mesoamerica was quite fluid (Joyce, 2000a:5).
The second assumption is that the storylines within which the Hero Twins
appear are irrelevant to their identity. Although the youths are major characters in
two separated series of episodes occurring in different stages of cosmic creation,
the conventional belief is that they are identical and unchanging throughout the
narrative (e.g., Bruce, 1976/7:197; cf. Tarn and Prechtel, 1981). Arguments
against this assumption require more explanation. These supra-human beings
engage in acts of creative destruction within the early portion of a cosmogonic
myth that narrates the establishment of world order through various trial-and-
error attempts necessary for the consequent emergence of true humans and
organized society.
An ostensible function of the narrative is to explain the origin of gende r
difference as well as other societal features ( e.g., Girard, 1979). The sequential
episodes should reveal how gender came into existence integrated with the
creation of other constituent parts of sociocosmic order. Taking this into account,
one should expect that characters or qualities appearing earlier in the story might
be gender-ambiguous, gender neutral, transgendered, or able to change their
gender assignments from one episode to the next. It was through these trial-and-
error experiments that gendered roles, agencies, relationships, and ideologies
appropriate for late prehispanic Kiche society came into being. The narrative
explains how these transformations occurred across the episodes, thereby
legitimating current social practices by grounding them in unquestionable cosmic
foundations.
The third assumption motivating the Maya scholars who have proposed
rewriting the Popol Vuh is more insidious because its premise and negative
consequences are too seldom examined ( e.g., Carmack, 1983): namely, that
modern Euro-American scholars have knowledge superior to that of the premodern
Kiche elites who lived centuries ago, even when it comes to interpreting their lore.
For example, discovery of archaeological information concerning Maya beliefs
dating deep in the prehispanic past has led some to believe they can identify early
138
uncorrupted versions of Maya cosmology (Lounsbury, 1985:52), revealing the
probable non-Maya influences (Thompson, 1970:368) that must have tainted the
composition of the Popol Vuh. This is yet another manifestation of Western bias in
approaching non-Western, non-modern cultural manifestations, alongside the
assumption of Western gender constructs. Unpacking these assumptions is crucial
to understand and appreciate the Popol Vuh in its original context.
Questioning Xbalanques Gender

In 1981 Tarn and Prechtel (1981:118) observed that old arguments about
whether Xbalanque is a male or a female are one of the cruxes of Maya
scholarship still. Over three decades later, the situation has not improved. Two
reasons are commonly given for questioning the gender of Xbalanque (1981:118).
The first is the x (or ix) prefix of his name, which more often goes with female
appellations, a prime example being his mother, Xquic ( x- + quic or kik, blood;
modern orthography from Sam Colop (1999). The second and more contentious
reason is the assignment of his ultimate fate to be associated with the moon, an
entity most often gendered female in Maya belief.
From their first to last appearances in the story, Hunahpu and Xbalanque are
referred to together as boys in the Kiche text, although the word is qahol
(kajol), which more literally means someones son (Edmonson, 1971:34). The
x prefix for the youth always named second has been considered curious, but it
is not a solid argument for gender assignment. The Popol Vuh creation story opens
with a recitation of the names of the primordial gods, including a male and female
dyad who both have the x prefix (Xpiyacoc as male, Xmucane as female).
Moreover, this prefix also marks the diminutive (Recinos, 1950:94; Tedlock,
2010:301), conflating gender and relative status in this usage. As such it is suitable
for the presumably younger brother, and when the youths are first introduced it
serves to demarcate a junior member of the pair. Tarn and Prechtel (1981:119)
further suggested that the ambiguous position of Xbalanque indicated by the x
prefix may reflect his role as an assistant to his older brother, in the way that
modern Maya ritual officials have a male assistant referred to as wife.
Taking into account the nuanced meanings of the x prefix and the notion of
a male assistant or junior partner as wife in Maya usage may seem to clarify the
presumed gender ambiguity of Xbalanque while simultaneously providing a needed
cultural contextual balance against the dominant Western notions of gender.
However, these arguments are not entirely satisfactory. Among the various older
brother/younger brother dyads in the Popol Vuh, Xbalanque is the only younger
brother with the x prefix. As for the suggestion that this addition to his name
indicates his role as junior assistant to his older brother, in the various episodes
139
the two brothers work at the same tasks and assist each other. Indeed, it is always
Xbalanque who engages in certain actions on his own while his brother Hunahpu is
debilitated (in one instance having been beheaded), actions that save his brother
and move the story forward.
Furthermore, it is seldom observed that towards the end of the Hero Twins
portion of the Popol Vuh, when the youths agree to be put to death by the Lords
of Xibalba (knowing they will be transformed and brought to life again), Hunahpu
is given the x prefix alongside his brother, while continuing to be named first.
Xhunahpu appears six times in the manuscript (Christenson, 2004; Edmonson,
1971; Sam Colop, 1999). Most translators have ignored this variation or mentioned
it only in a footnote, not changing the translated text itself ( e.g., Christenson,
2003:178; Edmonson, 1971:129; Recinos, 1950:160; Sam Colop 1999:107). The
common suggested explanation is that the x prefix is to be read as the
diminutive, but only Tedlock (1996:130ff), in his revised translation, names the
elder brother little Hunahpu each time to correspond to the manuscript.
His younger brother, however, is never referred to as little Balanque to
match this usage. Edmonson (1971) ignored the x prefix in Xbalanques name
altogether, referring to the second youth as Jaguar Deer based on his translation
of the name. However, he translated the name of the twins mother, Xquic, as
Blood Girl, treating the x prefix as a combined gender and diminutive reference
that needed to be made explicit. Tedlock (1985:114) called her Blood Woman,
marking gender but not diminutive status, while Christenson (2003:135) ennobled
her feminine quality as Lady Blood. Thus, in these translators hands the
ambiguity concerning the x in Xbalanques name remains.
As noted above, the more profound gender error with regard to Xbalanque,
according to contemporary scholarship, is his association with the moon. After the
youths final defeat of the Death Lords in Xibalba, they ascended into the sky.
According to the different modern translations, one became, or arose as, or is, or
was given the sun, and the other the moon (Christenson, 2003:191; Edmonson,
1971:144; Recinos, 1950:163; Sam Colop, 2008:126). Tedlock (1985:160) was
slightly more conservative, reading the line as the sun belongs to one and the
moon to the other, and Girard (1979:225) disagreed with the usual interpretation
that the two youths literally became the sun and moon.
Although the boys are not named in this part of the story, the presumption is
that they always go in sequence, so Hunahpu must be associated with the sun and
Xbalanque with the moon. That assignment has not set well with a number of
Maya scholars because the Moon is female in most Maya ethnoastronomies ( e.g.,
Bruce, 1976/7:196; Coe, 1989:180; Himelblau, 1989:36; Lounsbury, 1985:52;
Schele and Miller, 1986:252, 303; Thompson, 1960:219, 1970:368-369). Partly on
140
that basis in 1948 Girard (1979:187ff, 338) identified Xbalanque as female and as
a lunar goddess. No other prominent scholar has adopted this extreme position.
A minority but well researched opinion is that in Kiche belief the moon, in its
multiple phases, is a complex entity that cannot be assigned to a single gender
(Tedlock, 1985:296). Tedlock (1985:297) suggested that Xbalanque was
associated with the full moon, which in Kiche belief is considered to be an
underworld or nocturnal sun, an opinion later reiterated by Sam Colop (2008:45).
Carmack (1983:59) had earlier demonstrated how the boys could have been
associated with the sun and moon in Postclassic Kiche cosmology. Nevertheless,
the more popular solution to this problem has been to determine an alternative
celestial assignment for the two brothers on the presumption that the Moon cannot
be male and Xbalanque is male.
Evidence from elsewhere in the Maya area, contemporary folklore, calendric-
astronomical data, Classic period imagery and hieroglyphs, and some ascribed
logic of Maya belief has been used to argue that the Hero Twins must instead be
avatars of Venus and the Sun, who are related as elder and younger brother in
Mesoamerican astrology (Bruce, 1976/7:197; Lounsbury, 1985:51; Thompson,
1970:368). This means that the Popol Vuh manuscript got it wrong. Other scholars
have accepted this compelling logic (Coe, 1989:180). As a result, a new Popol
Vuh is now being written and promulgated as the Popol Vuh in Maya textbooks
(Demarest, 2004:182; Sharer and Traxler, 2006:729) and popular books (Schele
and Mathews, 1998:36-37). Although still called the Popol Vuh claiming the same
name it is a conflation of interpretations by contemporary iconographers with
readings of the sixteenth-century document. The major focus in the new Popol
Vuh is on the Maize God, the Hero Twins and their association with Venus and the
Sun, and other episodes and characters not found in Fr. Ximnezs manuscript but
appearing in earlier, Classic period Maya imagery (Reilly, 2002:55).
It would seem that the conundrum of Xbalanques gender has been solved by
contemporary scholarship by disregarding the original text. The learned arguments
favoring this correction apparently no longer require repeating, and twenty-first-
century audiences are exposed to a rewritten Popol Vuh without being informed
of its hybrid authorship. While this rewrite may satisfy some, it turns out that the
early colonial Kiche elites, whose putative errors have condemned them to
irrelevancy, are not so easily silenced. In 1971 in the town of Totonicapn a
companion manuscript to the Popol Vuh came to light along with six other early
manuscripts written in Kiche (Carmack and Mondloch, 1983:9). El Ttulo de
Totonicapn relates the epic tale of Kiche cosmogony and history similar to that of
the Popol Vuh. The portion given to the Hero Twins (1983:174) is unfortunately
very abbreviated, but extremely pertinent to this discussion. The author(s)
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unequivocally wrote that Hunahpu became the sun and Xbalanque the moon, and
further stated that Xbalanque was a girl.
Gender in the Context of Marriage Exchange

Resolving the gender ambiguity of Xbalanque, and of Hunahpu as well, depends
on rejecting Western assumptions of gender assignment and allowing for gender
fluidity as well as the integral linking of gender with other contextualized and
performed aspects of identity. These include relative age the x prefix can
conflate gender and relative age or rank and especially kinship ( e.g., Meskell,
2001:202), whereby gender is realized as a relational rather than an essentialized
quality (e.g., Strathern, 1988). From a relational perspective wives, mothers,
sisters, and daughters are different categories of being that vary with the social
context, even if Westerners would lump them all together as immutable females.
By kinship I do not mean simple genealogical relationships of descent or
siblingship. I refer instead to the enactment of the proper kinds of rituals and
recognition of obligations that link consanguineal and affinal kinsmen to one
another within social fields. Kinship, alongside other forms of social relations,
emerges from strategic and coordinated practices, not mere biology ( e.g.,
Bourdieu, 1977; Gillespie, 2000; Joyce, 2000c:190). In this light, the more
pertinent question for analysis should be which kinds of gendered practices
become salient in the Hero Twins episodes.
Significantly, much of the detail in the lengthy Hero Twins portion of the
Popol Vuh concerns their parents and the propriety or lack thereof of the
exchange relationships that signal a legitimate marriage linking wife -taker and
wife-giver houses. These practices, which involve specific material goods, certain
obligated labors, and multi-generational social and ritual ties between allied
houses, have a long history among Maya peoples which can be traced deep into
the prehispanic past and survived well into the twentieth century (Gillespie and
Joyce, 1997). Among the Maya, as well as many other peoples around the world,
exchange items were gendered based on which family (wife-taker or wife-giver)
was obligated to present them to its marriage partner. Asymmetry is built into the
system in that wife-providers are typically ritually superior or higher in status
relative to their wife-receivers. Wife-givers are often considered the source of
life, providing the blood that flows through their daughters or sisters to recipient
families (1997:199).
The Hero Twins episodes reveal the gradual development of gendered
agency, roles, relations, and goods in connection with asymmetrical marriage
exchange that would lead, ultimately, to political power in the separation betwe en
elites and non-elites. Space limitations preclude elaboration of this entire
142
development. However, a few pertinent details should suffice to demonstrate how
marriage exchange permeates events in this portion of the narrative, setting an
archetypal model for true humans to follow once cosmic creation is complete.
It is important to note that Hunahpu and Xbalanque appear in the Popol Vuh
in two distinct series of episodes, separated by a recounting of the meeting of their
father and mother to beget them. The intervening story of how their father (One
Hunahpu) and his younger brother (Seven Hunahpu) came to journey to the
Underworld is usually treated as a flashback (e.g., Sam Colop, 1999:14; Tedlock,
1985:47, 1996:43), a Western literary device, given that the youths are introduced
and tasked by the creator gods with defeating destructive beings prior to the
telling of the story of their birth. However, this is another imposition of Western
concepts that is at odds with the narratives inherent structural logic.
The youths first appear at a time of cosmic conjunction when the sky has
fallen to the earth, and emerge out of the same generative chaos that produced
the monstrous beings they are charged with defeating. Their actions prepare the
world for what is to come, including the origin and peopling of the underworld
(Xibalba). The youths appear a second time in the narrative as the products of the
union of One Hunahpu and Xquic, the daughter of a Xibalba lord. Only at this point
in the story can they accurately be called twins, and they are transformations of
the boys of the same names mentioned earlier in the narrative.
The intervening account is of interest here because the episodes deal with
the unusual marriage of One Hunahpu and Xquic, an exchange among putative
affines that was highly flawed in comparison with the practices of true humans
who came later. One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu are introduced as the elder
and younger sons of the two creator deities, Xpiyacoc (their father) and Xmucane
(their mother). They spent their days playing ball, disturbing the lords who ruled
Xibalba below.
The lords sent a messenger to the brothers to come play ball with them, and
to bring their rubber ball. They departed for Xibalba, but left the requested ball
behind in their mothers house. Having descended into the underworld, they were
tricked and then killed by the Lords of Death. One Hunahpus head was placed in a
tree where it came to resemble a tree gourd. The head attracted the daughter of
one of the lords, who, approaching the tree, was told by the severed head to hold
out her hand. The maiden did so, and the bony head spat its saliva into her hand,
impregnating her thereby.
This story is well known to Popol Vuh afficionados. What happened next has
received less attention in terms of gender and marriage exchange. Having
conceived in an illegitimate manner, Xquic was condemned to sacrificial death by
the Xibalba lords, who demanded that their servants remove her heart and present
143
it to them in a bowl to consume. As her name indicates, Xquic is blood as an
anthropomorphized substance, the literal incarnation of the metaphorical quality
assumed by any woman entering marriage. She embodies the premier exchange
good provided by wife-givers as the source of life (Gillespie and Joyce,
1997:199). But nothing was given in return by the wife-taker family. The rubber
ball, made from congealed tree sap, which One Hunahpu failed to bring to the
lords of Xibalba, was the potential bride-price for Xquic. Its substitute would be her
heart, and the marriage alliance would fail with her death.
However, Xquic convinced the servants to provide yet another substitute. She
gathered the red sap of the croton tree, which congealed and glistened like blood
in the bowl. It fooled the Death Lords while Xquic escaped to the earths surface.
In Maya practice past and present, the important foodstuff wife-takers were
obligated to present to their future in-laws was chocolate beverage served in a
bowl. Prepared chocolate took on a reddish color that was iconically linked to blood
(Gillespie and Joyce, 1997:200). Thus, the red sap of the croton tree presented in
the bowl was a false or pre-creation version of chocolate beverage, cacao not yet
having been discovered.
But Xquic still had to deal with the wife-taker family. Having arrived at the
house of her mother-in-law, Xmucane, she announced her impending pregnancy
and relationship to the older woman. Xmucane refused to accept her, demanding
that she fill a net bag of maize ears to prove her status. Although wife-provider
families in Maya societies did feed their wife-receivers, for instance at marriage
feasts (Gillespie and Joyce, 1997:201), it is important to note that Xquic must
harvest the maize, a mans job par excellence. In presenting the full bag, Xquic
was accepted by her mother-in-law.
These acts of ritual prestation, which Xquic uniquely took upon herself,
formed the nascent beginnings of marriage exchange and the gendered
relationships of wife-taker and wife-giver families. When her sons retraced their
fathers journey to Xibalba, they took the rubber ball, an ostensible late payment
on the bride-price, although they managed to keep it for themselves when they
defeated the lords in the rubber ball game. The boys also presented the lords with
the flowers used to flavor chocolate beverage (Gillespie and MacVean, 2002), part
of the obligation owed to the wife-providers and a reference back to the partial
offering made by their mother (the ersatz cacao drink).
These episodes reveal that, despite all the proper nominal markers of gender,
Xquic was an ambiguous female within the complex configuration of the gendered
aspects of marriage exchange. The story of Xquic and One Hunahpu is marked by
an absence of the normal ritual acts of reciprocity between wife-takers and wife-
givers that would be familiar to the storys audience. After she gave birth to the
144
twins, Xquic is not mentioned again. Her role in the epic was over, and the boys
were raised instead by their grandmother, who accepted them into her (wife-taker)
house. Only after Xibalba was defeated would true women appear whose social
gender identity is unambiguous, (the four women each named house who were
created as wives for the four first true human men). Three of them were ancestors
of the three ruling families, the great houses of the Kiche state. The early
intermarriages among these three noble houses, allying them with one another
and separating them thereby from their commoner subjects, were established with
payments of maize and drink, following the example set in the pre-creation era
by Xquic.
Conclusion
The gender of Xbalanque has long been a point of contention in Maya studies.
Rather than treat it as a problem requiring some solution to disambiguate
Xbalanques masculinity, this chapter has discussed the importance of respecting
the original text to discover what it reveals about the nature of the Popol Vuh as a
cosmogonic narrative and about gender ideology in elite Kiche society. Attending
to the gendered associations of marriage exchange makes clear that many pre-
creation characters display ambiguities or fluidities of various personal and social
qualities, although space allowed only for brief discussion of Xbalanque, Hunahpu,
and Xquic. This is what one should expect from a cosmogony: true human society
with its appropriate distinctions of roles and relationships was still taking shape
through the actions of these supra-human beings. A final point concerning
Xbalanques identity that could not be elaborated here is how he changes across
the episodes, taking on more responsibility to save his older brother, who keeps
coming apart and has to be put back together.
The problem of Xbalanques gender exists as such only in the context of
Western notions of gender as fixed in biology and isolable from other aspects of
being. Popol Vuh scholarship has failed to take into account the fluidity of gender
in Mesoamerican society (Joyce, 2000a) compared to what modern Western
ideology (if not practice) would allow. The unfortunate result of these modern
misunderstandings has been an imposed solution that is out of proportion with
the gravity of the supposed error. The integrity of the Popol Vuh manuscript and
its Kiche aristocratic authors has been denied or deemed irrelevant. Taking its
place is a new story composed by modern analysts to conform to their logic, an act
that is reminiscent of the imperialist ambitions within which the discipline of
anthropology emerged (Fabian, 1983). The embedded assumptions of Maya
scholars who emphasized the gender ambiguity of Xbalanque, while neglecting the
more encompassing issues of gendered agencies and relationships, require
145
exposure to rescue the Popol Vuh from the distortions imposed on it by those
who would correct its mistakes (Carmack, 1983:45). That exposure will also open
new lines of Maya gender research.
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150
Segunda Parte.
Gnero en los periodos coloniales y modernos
151
152
The Mysterious Mothers of Alva Ixtlilxochitl:
Women, Kings, and Power in Late Prehispanic and
Conquest Tetzcoco
Susan Kellogg
Introduction
Among her many fine writings about the history of gender in prehispanic
Mesoamerica, Rosemary Joyces Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica
stands out for its focus on the ways that sexual difference affected the formation
of political power in prehispanic Mesoamerica (2000:1). The book offers a brilliant
exposition of the relationship between gender and status as these intertwined
themes played out within and across Mesoamerican societies in conceptions of
masculine and feminine and in the lives of women and men. Covering a lengthy
period of time from the Formative period to the late Post-classic, Joyce has
focused on issues relating not only to gender but to sexuality and intimacy and
brought contemporary cultural theory to bear on her studies of artifactual, visual,
and written sources. In these interests she was influenced especially by the work
of Judith Butler who argues, as does Joyce, that gender should be disassociated
from assumptions about its automatic linkage to human bodies (Butler, 1990,
1993; Joyce, 2000, 2008).
Rejecting ideas about Mesoamerican gender roles as constituting a natural or
stable binary rooted in human biology, Joyce emphasizes the ambiguity and fluidity
of gender conceptions and ideology and argues that the fixing of gendered roles
into fixed, dichotomous, often complementary, patterns in ancient Mesoamerica
was achieved through ritual performances, gendered socialization practices, and
uses of space that provided settings for performance, labor, pleasure, and
punishment.
Inspired by Joyces explorations of the ambiguous as well as her discussions
of the importance of not only what is shown but what is not shown on artifacts,
features and/or in visual and written texts, I examine written texts to analyze the
theme of maternity and motherhood in the writing of the colonial chronicler,
Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl (ca. 1578-1650). Joyce herself noted the significance
of royal mothers and their ennobling function among both the Classic Maya and
the Mexica of the Post-classic (2000:82-8, 169-70). Alva Ixtlilxochitl chronicles the
coming into being, the fuller expression of the power and glory of, and the
struggle to maintain, the rulership of, status of, and properties associated with the
altepetl (kingdom) of Tetzcoco, center of its own Acolhua sphere of influence
within the Triple Alliance Empire [1].
153
Significantly, he also traces the family history and the roles of women as
wives, consorts, and mothers, particularly mothers, in specific and culturally
revealing ways. But instead of trying to create a unified narrative about royal
motherhood out of the messy complexities and contradictions contained with Alva
Ixtlilxochitls writings as other scholars, particularly Jerome Offner (1983:228-30)
and Camila Townsend (2006:369-70, note 64) have tried heroically to do, I focus
on those ambiguities in order to examine his discourse about royal marriage and
maternity. My intention is to show how this discourse portrays a late Post -classic
Nahua world of factions and schisms within and between royal dynasties. These
schisms, influenced by gender and familial relations, had significant implications for
the the late prehispanic period as well as for the Spanish conquest.
Fernando Alva Ixtlilxochitl

Turning first to Alva Ixtlilxochtils texts, his unapologetic promotion of his home
region, Tetzcoco, which led him sometimes to make misleading, even inaccurate,
claims about that altepetl s political history, helps explain the tendency by some
historians to downplay his writings as useful sources [2]. He is often referred to as
a mestizo (of indigenous and Spanish descent), although in ethnoracial terms he
was a castizo (of mestizo and Spanish descent). A paradoxical figure, Alva
Ixtlilxochitls mixed identity, his work as a colonial official and translator, the
complexities and incongruities found in his texts, written in Spanish -though as a
nahuatlato (translator), he would have been fluent in the Nahuatl language- all
these factors are tied to the ambiguous, even negative, response his work
provokes [3].
The chronicles he wrote, nevertheless, constitute essential historical texts of
enduring value that offer a window onto the political, social, and cultural history
not only of Tetzcoco, but of the broader Basin of Mexico, especially its ea stern
sector, as well. They offer a treasure trove of information about the women, men,
and family relations of Tetzcoco, especially its nobility, both before and after the
conquest. As the castizo great-great-grandson of don Hernando Corts Ixtlilxochitl,
a ruler of the altepetl of Tetzcoco during the turbulent years of the conquest
period, he was the descendant of a line of rulers who traced their ancestry to the
earliest rulers in the Postclassic Basin of Mexico, as the Tolteca and Chichimeca
peoples came together to form the communities and ethnic groups the Spanish
would encounter beginning in 1519.
Alva Ixtlilxochitl traced his descent from Teztcocos rulers, especially
Nezahualcoyotl and Nezahualpilli, the great state builder tlatoanis (supreme rulers)
who participated in the building and maintenance of the Triple Alliance imperial
structure of the late Postclassic period, through a line of women. This line went
154
back to his great-grandmother, doa Ana Corts Ixtlilxochitl, a daughter of
Ixtlilxochitl, himself a son of Nezahualpilli, his grandmother, doa Francisca
Christina Verdugo Ixtlilxochitl, and his mother, doa Ana Corts. The first doa
Ana brought lands, tribute, and status to her husband, don Francisco Verdugo
Quetzalmamalitzin, upon their marriage, and the Spanish granted him the
cacicazgo (colonial indigenous rulership) of San Juan Teotihuacan, an important
community that had been a subject altepetl of Tetzcoco in the late prehispanic
period (see fig. 1) [4].
This essay relies most heavily on three of Alva Ixtlilxochitls texts, the first
being his earliest, the Sumaria relacin de todas las cosas que han sucedido en la
Nueva Espaa (SRC hereafter), which is, according to Edmundo OGorman, not
really a text composed by Alva Ixtlilxochitl. Instead, it appears to be a
conglomeration of writings based on a variety of sources about Tolteca and
Chichimeca history that narrates, in a not wholly linear fashion, the history of
founding and history of the Acolhua domain through the rule of Nezahualcoyotl
(OGorman, 1975:197-201). It is a challenging text containing what OGorman calls
atrocious syntax, characterized by a lack of verbal clarity ( Ibid., 201).This
attribute of the text likely relates to the way Alva Ixtlilxochitl was collecting and
incorporating oral, visual, and written histories, a first effort at composing a record
that would form the basis for his later writings. OGorman surmises that the SRC
was likely composed around 1600 [5].
The Compendio historico del reino de Texcoco (CH) is the most securely
dated of Alva Ixtlilxochitls writings and one of the best known, especially the
Decimatercia relacin (DR), its conquest-related section. The author presented
the CH to the authorities of two towns within the Tetzcoco region, Otumba and
San Salvador Cuautlatzingo, in 1608. They affirmed the validity of the history
presented therein, a history clearly intended to support the claims of those towns
and their leaders as they sought to protect lands, titles, and status in a colonial
environment in which altepetl increasingly struggled to meet Spanish demands for
labor and tribute and competed against one other in order to maintain or gain
privileges through the use of the Spanish legal system. The persuasive intent of
this particular text makes it different in both content and tone from the early SRC
and the later Historia de la nacin chichimeca (HNC), discussed below, and heavily
influences the way the writer presents the events, rulers, warriors, families, and
women who populate the text (Ibid., 199-201).
Alva Ixtlilxochitls final work, the one many ethnohistorians rely on for their
portrayals of the Aztec empire, the HNC, is his magnum opus.[6] It encompasses
the history of his home altepetl from its origins through the conquest period and
constitutes the comprehensive history that he intended to write, perhaps from the
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time he was a young man ( Ibid., 201). OGorman dates its time of composition to
after 1615, but the exact date of writing and whether it was ever finished, since
only incomplete versions survive, remain unknown ( Ibid., 233; Alva Ixtlilxochitl,
1977, II, HNC:263, note no.1; also see Brian, 2010:134-35). These three texts, in
conjunction with other Tetzcoca-focused codices and chronicles, provide the
foundation for my exploration of motherhood and, especially, the great tlatoanis,
Nezahualcoyotl and his son, Nezahualpilli, in more detail.
Tetzcoca royal wives and mothers

The colonial indigenous and mestizo chroniclers of the political histories of the
altepetl of the Basin of Mexico wrote histories that chronicled war, violence,
triumph, and defeat. Thus these texts often constitute manifestly masculinist
histories, centered on the great rulers and warriors of the prehispanic and
conquest periods [7]. Yet these writings, especially those of Chimalpahin and Alva
Ixtlilxochitl, also represent dynastic histories in which the narrative of the ruling
dynasty and that of the polity are largely one and the same.
The history of the dynasty was family history, which by its very nature means
that we must see such histories as gender and womens histories as well.
Therefore it is this gender and family history, certain aspects of it anyway, that I
examine here. Alva Ixtlilxochitls family-centered chronicles, especially sections
about the early rulers in the period after the fall of Tula but before Tetzcoco
dominated the eastern Basin, drew heavily on pictorial texts, likely such as the
Codex Xolotl , the Mapa Quinatzin, and the Mapa Tlotzin.
These texts provide pictorial genealogies tracing the origins of political power
and the ruling families in the eastern Basin region that culminated in the founding
and flowering of the Tetzcoco dynasty. The pictorials, produced in the 1540s, as
well as Alva Ixtlilxochitls later texts document settlement, the genesis and
generations of families and dynasties, legitimate succession, and, more broadly,
the transformation of Chichimec into Toltec (Douglas, 2010:103-104).
These sources depict intermarriage with Toltec women as key to the process
of altepetl and dynastic formation. Nonetheless, in comparison to later discussions
of genealogy and family formation, in both the written and pictorial texts, while the
occasional reference to multiple female partners occurs, these references are quite
rare and neither word nor image offers many hints as to the complex, polygynous
family structures that characterized royal family formation later in the Post-classic
(Ibid., 105-106; also see Gillespie, 1989; Townsend, 2006:365-77; Diel, 2007).
One of the few examples of a relationship involving a perhaps polygynous
relationship is shown in the Codex Xolotl and concerns Nopaltzin, son of Xolotl, the
founder -with his wife Tomiyauh- of the Acolhua dynasties, who had three children
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with his wife Azcaxochitl (daughter of the Toltec ruler of Culhuacan, Pochotl) and
another son, Tenancacaltzin, by another women who is not shown (1980, Plate 2;
Douglas, 2010:105-106). Alva Ixtlilxochitl describes Tenancacaltzin as Nopaltzins
bastard son (hijo bastardo, 1975, I, SRC:301) and as his natural son (hijo
natural, 1977, II, HNC:18) who would usurp the rulership of Tenayuca, but then
lose out in a power struggle with Azcapotzalcos ruler Aculhua over dominance of
the basin in the twelfth century ( Codex Xolotl , 1980, Plate 4; Alva Ixtlilxochitl,
1975, CH:428-9).The next significant reference to multiple relationships occurs in
Alva Ixtlilxochitls description of the life of Ixtlilxochitl Ome Tochtli (Two Rabbit),
the father of Nezahualcoyotl.
The elder Ixtlilxochitl was the third ruler of Tetzcoco, and the genealogies
that pertain to his rule begin to focus less on the transformation of migrant hunter-
gatherers into civilized urban dwellers and more on the power struggles among
and within ruling families (Douglas, 2010:112). As Alva Ixtlilxochitl tells the story,
Ixtlilxochitl Ome Tochtli rejected marriage with Tecpaxochitl, daughter of
Tezozomoc, ruler of the then most powerful altepetl , Azcapotzalco, in favor of
marriage to Matlacihuatl, daughter of Huitzilihuitl, tlatoani of Tenochtitlan. The
Codex Xolotl designates the latter (Matlacihuatl) to be the primary wife, mother of
Ixtlilxochitls heir, Nezahuacoyotl. The codex shows Tecpaxochitl as subordinate to
her, though it also shows the five children she bore by Ixtlilxochitl ( Codex Xolotl ,
1996, Plate 6; Diel, 2007:261-2). The rejection of Tecpaxochitl as primary wife led
to a brutal war between Tetzcoco and Azcapotzalco that ended in the eventual
assassination of Ixtlilxochitl Ome Tochtli. That Ixtlilxochitls primary wife and the
mother of his successor belonged to the Tenochca ruling family would become
important as Tetzcoco emerged as the major power in the eastern region under
Nezahualcoyotls rule and allied itself, during his reign, with the Mexica of
Tenochtitlan[8].
Women and family relationships figure into this rulers life in significant
ways, and the narrative strengths that characterize Alva Ixtlilxochitls later
histories, especially the CH and the HNC, become more evident as his texts turn to
the story of this most consequential rulers life and governing acts.
Nezahualcoyotls pathway to rulership was not simple. Still an adolescent when the
Tepaneca killed his father, Azcapotzalcos ruler prevented him from taking the
throne of Tetzcoco by naming others to govern in his place (1975-7, I, SRC:347;
CH:439-40; II, HNC:50-4). In response, Nezahualcoyotl exiled himself, first to
Tlaxcala and then to Tenochtitlan where he lived for some ten years, until he was
in his late twenties. His aunts, Mexica princesses, paid a ransom of jewels to
Tezozomoc to allow Nezahuacoyotl to reside in the Mexica capital city. These
women thus played a key role in the close ties Nezahualcoyotl developed with the
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Mexica as well as the education he likely received while there (Lee, 2008:99). Alva
Ixtlilxochitl depicts Nezahualcoyotl as having led troops who helped the Mexica
destroy Azcapotzalco (after the Mexica took advantage of a Tepaneca succession
struggle), after which the Mexica -despite objections from other members of the
Tetzcoca ruling family- placed Nezahualcoyotl on that citys throne (Alva
Ixtlilxochitl, 1977, II, HNC:82-83) [9].
This man was a pivotal ruler for Tetzcoca history. In Alva Ixtlilxochitls telling,
he helped the Mexica overthrow Tepaneca domination and construct a new
Mexica-Tetzcoca led imperial system. Nezahualcoyotl then re-made the
government and legal system of Tetzcoco, being portrayed by Alva Ixtlilxochitl as a
great organizer and administrator of the city and its lands as well as a law giver. In
contrast to the accounts of earlier marriages and dynastic histories in both Alva
Ixtlilxochitl and the pictorials in which marriages, childbearing, and dynasty
creation are described as relatively simple and straightforward for both the eastern
basin broadly as well as Tetzcoco specifically, the textual accounts of
Nezahuacoyotls marriage, or marriages, conflict with one another. The pictorials,
especially the Mapa Tlotzin (the most relevant on this particular issue), do not
provide a name for his wife ( Mapa Tlotzin, 1886, after 320; Douglas, 2010:116,
120, 226-7, note no.84).
The first text by Alva Ixtlilxochitl that mentions Nezahualcoyotls marriage is
the brief Relacin sucinta (RS), probably written after the SRC as a summary of its
contents (OGorman, 1975:231). The RS and the Compendio histrico both state
that Nezahualcoyotl married a woman named Matlacihuatzin, the same name as
his mother. This woman was said to be the daughter of Temictzin, brother of the
ruler of Tlacopan, thus of Tepaneca origin (Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 1975, I, RS:404; CH:
447). She would become the mother of Nezahualpilli, who followed his father as
ruler. In the later HNC Alva Ixtlilxochitl elaborates on the story of Nezahualcoyotls
romantic and marital life, not necessarily clarifying it however [10].
The Historia tells us that while Nezahualcoyotl had many concubines, he had
not married, to the despair of his Mexica uncle and cousin, Itzcoatl and the first
Motecuhzoma, respectively. Finally he ordered that daughters of the rulers of
Huexotla and Coatlichan (from whom his Chichimeca ancestors had obtained
wives) be brought to him, among whom he found only one who interested him, a
very young girl from the Coatlichan rulers family. Nezahualcoyotl entrusted his
brother, Quauhtlehuanitzin, with her care and education. This brother was quite
old and soon died; Quauhtlehuanitzins son took over the care of the girl and
married her, not knowing of the arrangement between Nezahualcoyotl and his
father. This turn of events left Nezahualcoyotl desolate whereupon he traveled to
Tepechpan to visit its ruler, Quaquauhtzin. Tepechpans ruler arranged for a
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banquet during which his young wife-to-be, Azcalxochitzin, served Nezahualcoyotl
at his table. Seeing this lovely young woman immediately cheered the brooding
ruler, but there was a problem if he wanted to take her as his wife, given that she
was to be married to Quaquauhtzin. So Nezahualcoyotl dispatched Quaquauhtzin
to Tlaxcala where he soon died in battle, an outcome arranged by Nezahualcoyotl
who then married Azcalxochitzin, his cousin. She is said to be the daughter of
Temictzin, a Mexica noble, member of that ruling family, and Nezahualcoyotls
uncle. The HNC informs us that the wedding was joyful and attended by the rulers
of Tenochtitlan and Tlacopan, and Azcalxochitzin soon became the queen and
lady of the Acolhua Chichimeca (1977, II, HNC:119).[11] She would go on to give
birth to two sons, but owing to the unjust death of Quaquauhtzin, according to
Alva Ixtlilxochitl, the two births were separated in time and troubles ensued (Alva
Ixtlilxochitl, 1977, II, HNC:117-121).
The elder son of this couple, Tetzauhpiltzintli, was born easily, with many
skills and talents, but a half-brother, son of one of Nezahualcoyotls concubines,
[12] falsely told his father that Tetzauhpiltzintli wished to take his fathers place
and conquer the world ( Ibid., 122). After informing his fellow Triple Alliance
rulers, Motecuhzoma and Totoquihuatzin, about Tetzauhpiltzintlis attitudes and
actions collecting arms, they had the young man killed, a turn of events that left
Nezahualcoyotl grieving for the son he had loved. Furthermore, Nezahualcoyotl
now lacked a legitimate heir, even though he had many other children, both sons
and daughters. After another son, Axoquentzin, led a successful war against
Chalco, Azcalxochitzin gave birth to Nezahualpilli, who will also be revealed by Alva
Ixtlilxochitl, to have had complicated family relationships.
About seven years old when Nezahualcoyotl died in 1472 after ruling for
forty-two years, Nezahualpilli took the throne, but his half-brother Acapioltzin
tutored him until he himself was old enough to govern ( Ibid., 135-9). Alva
Ixtlilxochitl portrays Nezahualpilli, like his father before him, as wise in the ways of
law, just but very strict, willing to apply severe penalities to his own family as well
as others ( Ibid., 168-9, 171-3). I have already noted the confusion over the name
of Nezahualpillis mother, called Matlacihuatzin in the RS and the CH,
Tenancacihuatzin in still another brief text, the SRH, and Azcalxochitzin in his
Historia (on the SRH, see note 10). A similar confusion occurs over the name of
Nezahualpillis wife. More enigmatically, two of the names of women Alva
Ixtlilxochitl says were wives of Nezahualpilli, Tenancacihuatzin, and Azcaxochitzin,
also were names of his mother [13].
The RS provides the earliest account of Nezahualpillis wife. We learn that this
womans name was Tlacoyehuatzin, she was the granddaughter of the first
Motecuhzoma, daughter of one of his sons, Xoxocatzin. With Nezahualpilli she had
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eleven children. The eldest and presumed heir was put to death by his father for
sharing his love of poetry too closely with his fathers favorite concubine before the
Spaniards arrived (Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 1977, II, HNC:169). Four other sons became
Christians and were baptized during the conquest, including don Hernando Corts
Ixtlilxochitl (1975, I, RS:408) [14]. This is the point where the history Alva
Ixtlilxochitl narrates begins to intersect with the history of the conquest, an issue
to which I shall return.
In the CH her name (again given as Tlacoyehuatzin) also appears, and she is
again identified as a descendant of Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina and the mother of
eleven children. But this time she is called the lady of Azcapotzalco, the daughter
of Atocatzin, about whom Alva Ixtlilxochitl provides no information (1975, I,
CH:449). He lists all the childrens names again and offers a description of the
problematic succession that ensued upon Nezahualpillis death. The SRH provides
an account similar to the first, of the RS, but gives the name Azcaxochitzin for this
wife of Nezahualpilli and points out that he had both his first two sons put to death
for lawbreaking. It also reveals that don Hernando was a great rival of the Mexica
rulers, the first to be baptized, and that he married doa Beatriz Papantzin in the
Catholic Church (1975, I, SRH:549). Yet another name for the wife of Nezahualpilli
appears in the Historia de la nacin chichimeca , Tenancacihuatzin.
It is in this text that the famous passage about Nezahualpillis 2000
concubines appears. Alva Ixtlilxochitl explains that he had familial relations with
forty of these women, including the queen, Tenancacihuatzin, and had 144 sons
and daughters, of whom eleven were legitimate. After listing the eleven children
(including don Hernando Corts Ixtlilxochitl), he describes this wife in the following
way:
The queen was the legitimate daughter of the prince Xoxocatzin, lord of the
house Atzacualco, one of the most important of the kings of Mexico, (born of)
Teycuhtzin, daughter of the prince Temictzin, and sister of the queen
Azcalxochitzin, the mother of the king; thus this lady was the first cousin for
which reason he chose her for [his] legitimate wife, although with her came
other Mexica ladies daughters of the kings, as was the lady of the house of
Xilomenco older sister of the last Motecuhzoma and Cuitlahuatzin kings of
Mexico, who was mother of the king Cacama (1977, II, HNC:152).
The passage goes on to describe Nezahualpillis close relationship with one

particular concubine, the seora de Tula, daughter of a merchant from that
community as well as what she was able to obtain from the king, based upon her
skills at poetry. This passage points to a contradiction within Alva Ixtlilxochitls
texts. On the one hand, the great kings were wise, law-giving rulers who laid the
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groundwork for the Christianizing of the Tetzcoco region. On the other hand, these
same rulers were pleasure seekers, whose amorous and familial lives were, if not
chaotic, at least complicated (see fig. 2) [15].
Further confounding the history of Nezahualpillis marriage(s) is the tale Alva
Ixtlilxochitl narrates, only in the HNC, of how that ruler put to death a young
woman, his intended principal wife, daughter of the Mexica ruler Axayacatl and
sister of Motecuhzoma Xocoyotl. This woman, Chalchiuhnenetzin, was alleged to
have engaged in sex with numerous men, most of whom she had killed and
memorialized with statues. Three of the men she allowed to live, but Nezahualpilli
had both the woman and the three men strangled publicly, along with 2000 others
who had accompanied Chalchiuhnenetzin to serve her (1977, II, HNC:164-5, 181)
[16]. This act irrevocably altered the relationship between Tetzcoco and
Tenochtitlan and their rulers. Furthermore, the stresses between two of the three
partners in the Triple Alliance have links to another issue in Tetzcocos familial and
political history, something that became a serious problem for the Tetzcoco
dynasty and altepetl after the arrival of the Spaniards. That is the complicated
problem of succession to the Tetzcoca throne upon Nezahualpillis death. In other
words, Alva Ixtlilxochitl traces the growing friction between the Tetzcoca and
Tenochtitlan dynasties back to a troubled pre-marital relationship.
It is certainly worth thinking about the significance of the conflicting
accounts concerning the mothers and wives of Nezahualcoyotl and Nezahualpilli
across Alva Ixtlilxochitls writings. Why the confusion? For each ruler, Alva
Ixtlilxochitl provides three different names of the primary, or what he terms, the
legitimate wife, names that have some overlap with each other. The simplest,
but least satisfying, explanation is that these are the kinds of discrepancies that
litter much of the Nahua ethnohistorical genealogical data. Names and
chronologies often differ among, but sometimes even within, such accounts.
Variable and fading memories, mistakes by writers and copyists, different
perspectives shaped by contrasting political structures and histories, oral traditions,
and contemporary (that is, then current) legal and political conflicts, all these
influenced colonial writers like Alva Ixtlilxochitl [17].
Trying to reach a fuller, more satisfactory explanation, however, leads to
consideration of other factors beyond the discrepancies that characterize the
Mesoamerican early colonial written and visual record. A second explanation
relates to the political dynamics of the late prehispanic period. Politics were always
at play in the relations among the three main altepetl that constituted the Triple
Alliance, reflected in and shaped by the marriages of rulers. Going back to
Nezahualcoyotls father, Ixtlilxochitl Ome Tochtli , we see the Tetzcoca dynastys
tendency to jockey for power within the tripartite structure as and after the Triple
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Alliance formed as that related to the first Ixtlilxochitls marriage, as previously
discussed. The confusion over the name and origins of the mothers of both
Nezahualcoyotl and Nezahualpilli reflects not only the complexities and
contradictions about genealogical information common to many such sources, but
also Alva Ixtlilxochitls efforts to portray each king as of the highest possible status,
based in part upon the identity of the mother and from which altepetl and ethnic
group which she came.
Analyzing the nature of rulers marriages using the categories set out by
Pedro Carrasco in his classic article on royal marriage in the late prehispanic period
in central Mexico offers some insight (1984). In this article Carrasco described
three kinds of marriages: first, interdynastic hypogamy in which a higher ranked
ruler gives a daughter to a subordinate ruler (thus the woman marries down and
the man up); second, interdynastic hypergamy in which a ruler takes as a wife a
daughter of a lower-ranked ruler (thus the woman marries up and the man down);
and third, interdynastic or intradynastic isogamy, a kind of marriage in which the
partners were of equal rank. The last, intradynastic isogamy, was a relatively
common marriage pattern of the Tenochca Mexica dynasty. Alva Ixtlilochitls
discussion of the marriages of Ixtlilxochitl Ome Tochtli, Nezahualcoyotl, and
Nezahualpilli to Tenochca women, with the women marrying down and the men
up, illustrates the first pattern of interdynastic hypogamy as the Tenochca -
Tetzcoca alliance strengthened and then was maintained. While the inconsistencies
about the mothers and wives of Nezahualpilli could be seen simply as errors, they
may reflect the differing purposes, especially of two of his major texts, the
Compendio histrico and the Historia de la nacin chichimeca .
The CH resembles, in parts, the Spanish genre of text known as the probanza
or relacin de mritos y servicios (proof or statement of merit and services;
MacLeod, 1998; Adorno, 1989b:239; Restall, 2003:11-13; Restall and Fernndez-
Armesto, 2012:8-15). The Decimatercia relacin especially promotes the idea
that the Tetzcoca, as led by don Hernando Corts Ixtlilxochitl, were Cortss most
essential ally, crucial to both the conquest and early conversion efforts. In it, Alva
Ixtlilxochitl emphasizes that both Nezahuacoyotls and Nezahualpillis primary wives
were Tepaneca (examples of interdynastic hypergamy), perhaps to distinguish or
differentiate the Tetzcoca as much as possible from the Mexica. From Alva
Ixtlilxochitls point of view this would bolster his picture of the Tetzcoca as the
primary ally of the Spanish. Differentiating the Tetzcoca from the Mexica was
important for Alva Ixtilixochitl because until Ixtilixochitl (the younger) firmly allied
himself with Corts, the latters relations with the Tetzcoca ruling family had
actually been rocky and at times downright hostile (Hassig, 1994:111-112;
Thomas, 1993:92-3, 320-2).
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In the Historia , on the other hand, a lengthier, more elegant text, Alva
Ixtlilxochitl sought to provide what he viewed as an authentic history of the
Tetzcoca, comparable to histories of the Nahuas authored by Spaniards (Velazco,
2003; Brian, 2007, 2010). He aimed to demonstrate that altepetl s greatness, even
inserting into this Tetzcoca-Nahua history historical facts about Europe, to bolster
his notions of Nahua-Spanish equivalence. In the HNC Tetzcocos status is
especially emphasized (more than the theme of alliance with the Spanish, although
that theme does appear), and the Mexica origins of the primary wives of
Nezahualcoyotl and Nezahualpilli are highlighted. Instead of the hypergamous
marriages to daughters of rulers other than the Mexica portrayed in the CH, these
crucial rulers entered into hypogamous marriages in which they married up and
the Mexica women married down, a kind of marriage that enhanced the prestige of
the Tetzcoca rulers as close allies of the Mexica.
Third, there is little doubt that the Christian discourse that suffuses Alva
Ixtlilxochitls writings, especially in his most fully elaborated texts, the CH and HNC,
shaped the way he used a Europeanized language for offices, marriage, and
legitimacy, implying, for example, a fixity for succession to office that negates the
way that alliances among altepetl could shift and mothers could politic for their
sons (Schroeder, 1992:65-9; Townsend, 2006:366-72). At times Alva Ixtlilxochitl
compressed, reshaped, even suppressed the telling of events or identifications of
persons. Certainly, his knowledge of the marital and extra-marital relations of the
Tetzcoco kings comes through, as does the idea that more than one wife and
mother, multiple wives and mothers actually, had importance in the often shifting
alliances among altepetl as well as in the factional competitions over whose son
would become supreme ruler (Brumfiel, 1994a:93; Van Zantwijk, 1994). At the
same time, an overlay of Spanish legal practice and Christian thought probably
consciously and unconsciously shaped this writers terminology as he described
both people and events relating to succession and the marital and maternal politics
that influenced it.
One example of how Alva Ixtlilxochitl reshaped events and descriptions of
people may well be in these various names for mothers and wives in the lives of
Nezahualcoyotl and Nezahualpilli wherein multiple marriages or partnerships, i.e.,
polygamous relationships, are re-told as singular, monogamous relations. Another
example consists of the way Alva Ixtlilxochitl recounts the story of how
Nezahualcoyotl met Azcalxochitzin. As previously discussed, he describes the
woman as the bride-to-be of the ruler, Quaquauhtzin, from whom Nezahualcoyotl
would take her. As Lori Boornazian Diel shows, the Tira de Tepechpan, a chronicle
of that altepetl, simply depicts the couple as married, making it clear that
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Nezahualcoyotl committed adultery, according to both Tetzcoca law and Christian
morality (Tira de Tepechpan, 1978:II: Plate 10; Diel, 2007:263).
Alva Ixtlilxochitls writings about these tlatoani reveal and reflect the
existence of power struggles that were inevitable within the large polygynous
households of rulers in which the comings and goings of daughters and sisters
could reinforce or help to reshape the power relations within and between
dynasties. These maternal and marital politics had implications not only for dynasty
formation, maintenance, and their alliances, but in this case they had implications
for the Spanish conquest as well. Who the mother of Nezahualpillis children was,
and the question of who would be considered to succeed him, became an issue of
real political significance, both before and during the conquest.
A Tetzcoca royal mother and conquest

Nezahualpillis death in 1515 left a confused situation about succession [18]. His
two eldest sons had been executed on his orders yet, as Jerome Offner explains,
the Tetzcoca ruler left behind a prodigious proliferation of progeny (1983:238),
one of whom was Cacama, a nephew of Motecuhzoma. Cacamas mother was not
any of the women named in Alva Ixtlilxochitls texts as the mother of
Nezahualpillis so-called legitimate children. He says that Cacamas mother was a
sister of Motecuhzoma, one of Nezahualpillis concubines, and refers to Cacama as
a natural son (Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 1975, I, CH:450; 1977, II, HNC:190-1;
Torquemada, 1975, I:184). As Tetzcoca nobles discussed the succession, trying to
decide who would become tlatoani, Motecuhzoma interfered, forcing this nephew
to be named ruler (Alva Ixtlilxochitl, ibid.; Torquemada, 1975:221-227).
This decision set off a struggle within Tetzcocos ruling family in which the
Acolhua region was at first divided into three parts, one led by Cacama (who had
become the ruler of the altepetl of Tetzcoco after interference by Motecuhzoma
Xocoyotl), one led by his half-brother Cohuanacochtzin, and one by Ixtlilxochitl,
another half-brother of Cacama, none of whose wives, I note, are shown in the
relevant pictorial, the Mapa Tlotzin (Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 1977, II, HNC:192-3;
Torquemada, 1975, I:226-7; Offner, 1983:238-40; Hicks, 1994; Mapa Tlotzin,
1886, after 320). After Cacamas death the area of Tetzcocos influence was
divided in half between Cohuanacochtzin and Ixtlilxochitl (Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 1975, I,
CH:484), with Ixtlilxochitl allying himself with the Corts and the Spaniards, an
alliance that would help bring about the defeat of the Tenochca Mexica and the fall
of Tenochtitlan.
The division of the Acolhua region, however, was not a product of conquest-
era politics. It is better understood as a consequence of the fragile nature of
Nahua polities, an example of what Nigel Davies referred to as the fragile
164
structures that afflicted the empires of Mesoamerica and Peru (1980:340; also see
Brumfiel, 1994b; and Smith and Berdan, 2003) [19]. But those vulnerabilities,
linked to marriage, concubinage, maternity, and contests over masculine power
and privilege, would influence the conquest. Whether the Tetzcoca were the
supreme allies of the Spanish or not, and no matter how much Alva Ixtlilxochitl
wished that to have been so no other account supports that viewpoint, they were
crucial during the last months of fighting. The city of Tetzcoco and its hinterland
then became a kind of ground zero for the earliest evangelizing efforts. In relation
to evangelizing, Alva Ixtlilxochitl tells one more story in the DR, a startling story
really, about don Hernando Corts Ixtlilxochitls mother. He describes the first
evangelization efforts in Tetzcoco in 1524 and, specifically, the baptism of
Ixtlilxochitl and some of his brothers. Next to be baptized was Ixtlilxochitls mother,
the queen Tlacoxhuatzin [20].
As Alva Ixtlilxochitl tells his readers, because of her Mexica heritage as well
as being dogmatic about her beliefs (algo endurecida en su idolatra), she
rejected the idea of converting (1975, I, CH:492). Ixtlilxochitl, however, was not
having any of that. He proceeded to the temple where she had taken refuge with
some noble followers and asked her to reconsider. She harshly rejected his
entreaties, telling him that he was crazy for wanting to deny their deities and the
law of their ancestors. Seeing the determination of his mother, Ixtlilxochitl
became quite angry and threatened to burn her alive if she did not want to be
baptized (Ibid.). Apparently the threat worked, and Tlacoxhuatzin went to the
church where she and her supporters were then baptized. Alva Ixtlilxochitl, her
great-great-great-grandson, refers to her as the first woman, presumably in
Tetzococo, to be converted.
Was Ixtlilxochitls horrifying threat only the product of his Christian zeal?
Perhaps not. In the complicated politics over succession, as the Tetzcoca ruling
family and the altepetl and its surrounding region became divided, with Cacama
ruling over Tetzcoco and the areas to its south and Ixtlilxochitl ruling over
Tetzcocos northern provinces, Ixtlilxochitls mother and elder brother,
Cohuanacochtzin, sided with Cacama. They pressured Ixtlilxochitl to accept his
rule, but he did not [21]. This split, having occurred prior to the arrival of the
Spaniards, would have implications for the conquest as Cacama, while wavering,
largely sided with Motecuhzoma and the Mexica. Ixtlilxochitl sided, as we have
seen, with the Spanish.
165
Conclusion
Such splits, with royal mothers both drawn into and influencing factional politics,
greatly affected Tetzcocos ruling family, and how that family and its descendants
dealt with the many political, economic, and social consequences of Spanish rule.
That history, a story not only of great men but also of powerful women, compelled
Alva Ixtlilxochitl to write his chronicles about the greatness of Tetzcoco and its
most famous fathers and mothers, kings, queens, and concubines. The familial
history embedded in his writings -as ambiguous, especially ethnically, and
contradictory as it may be- show Tetzcoca royal women to have been neither
matriarchs nor pawns. Instead the mothers, wives, and concubines connected to
high rulers functioned as actors in royal history before and after the arrival of the
Spaniards, with the mother-son tie particularly important in the politicking about
succession that occurred after rulers died.
Rosemary Joyce noted about Nahua cosmological gender relations that the
mother-son tie was perhaps the most important (2000:170-1). In the realm of
kinship, the well-known passage from the Florentine Codex in which Sahagns
informants designated the great-grandmother, the hueltiuhtli , not the achtontli
(great-grandfather), as the founder or beginning of the family line comes to mind
(1961, Bk.10:5).This essay argues, based on a stratigraphic-like analysis of the
texts of Fernando Alva Ixtlilxochitl, that as significant as marital alliances were for
the waxing and waning of political alliances, it was foremothers who not only
brought noble blood to the ruling houses of both the Tetzcoca and Mexica but who
also influenced the standing and sometimes even who became the supreme ruler.
For Alva Ixtlilxochitl, royal maternity was no epiphenomenon when it came to
politics and rulership at the highest levels. In his life and texts, mothers mattered.
166
Figures
Figure 1. Genealogical Diagram Showing Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl's Female

Ascendants, Their Marriages, and Parentage.
Nezahualcoyotl
|
Nezahualpilli
|
Hernando Corts Ixtlilxochitl Papantzin/doa
Beatriz
|_________________________|
|
Francisco Verdugo Quetzalmamalitzin Ana
Ixtlilxochitl Corts
|_________________________________________________|
|
Juan Grande Francisca (Cristina) Verdugo
|___________________________________|
|
Juan de Peraleda Ana Corts Ixtlilxochitl
|________________________|
|
Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl and other children
Sources: "Diligencias de informacin y probanza de doa Ana Corts Ixtlilxochitl,"

in Alva Ixtlilxochitl (1977, II, 292-333); "Relacin del seorio de Teotihuacan," in
Prez Rocha and Tena (2000, 379-397).
167
Figure 2. Summary of Names of Mothers/Wives of Nezahualcoyotl and Nezahualpilli
Ruler Wife/Mother of next Ethnicity

ruler
Nezahualcoyotl Matlacihuatzin Tepaneca

(Blue Woman; RS, CH)
Tenancacihuatzin Mexica
(Someone's Mother's
Woman; SRH)
Azcalxochitzin Mexica
(Ant Flower; HNC)
Nezahualpilli Tlacoyehuatzin Mexica

(Second or Middle
Daughter; RS)
Tlacoyehuatzin Tepaneca
(CH)
Tenancacihuatzin Mexica
(HNC)
168
1. Thanks to Susan Deeds and Matthew Restall who read an earlier version of this essay. All
responsibility for contents herein lie with me. The term Acolhua refers to those peoples of the
eastern Basin of Mexico who descended from one of the Chichimeca groups who migrated into the
basin after the fall of Tula. The city and altepetl of Tetzcoco was the center of the Acolhuacan
region, but Acolhua people dominated many of the towns and cities, altepetl, of that area.
2. When reading recent scholarship about Alva Ixtlilxochitl it is impossible not to be struck by how
often historians and literary scholars focus on his ethnoracial identity as the prism through whi ch
they analyze his writings. For some, notably Enrique Florescano and James Lockhart, he is a
mestizo, poorly informed about the prehispanic political history and structure of the altepetl of
Tetzcoco, responsible not only for errors that have crept into the historical record but also
exemplifying and furthering a process of what Florescano calls disindigenization. This line of
argument culminates in Caizares-Esguerras discussion of how Alva Ixtlilxochitls writings shaped a
colonial creole historiography that closely linked indigenous elites with colonial creoles, with
whomin his view--Alva Ixtlilxochitl identified. See Florescano, 1994:127; Lockhart, 1992: 25, 513,
note no.162; and Caizares-Esguerra, 2001:221-25; also see Brading, 1991:273-75. Others such as
Salvador Velazco, echoing Rolena Adornos rejection of the idea of inauthenticity, view Alva
Ixtlilxochitls effort to reconcile the indigenous past with the seventeenth-century colonial present
with more sympathy. Despite having only one indigenous grandparent, for Velazco, Alva
Ixtlilxochitls assertions of a deep Christian history stretching back to the prehispanic era served
more to promote his view of Tetzcoco as the center of the ancient Mesoamerican world than to
promote an identification with creoles (2003: 43; also see Adorno, 1989a: 216; Brian, 2007, 2010).
3. On the concept of ethnorace, see Kellogg (2000:70-74, 83 note no.1).
4. Documentation of the lawsuits can be found in Archivo General de la Nacin Vinculos, tomo 232,
published by OGorman in an appendix to the collected works of Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 1977, II:281-402
and related texts can be found in Mnch, 1976 and Prez Rocha and Tena, 2000.
5. OGorman, 1975:197-201, 230.
6. While Gillespie, 1998 argues that the Aztec empire is a postconquest fiction, both Hassig, 1994
and Carrasco, 1999 provide compelling evidence and analyses that point to the structure of this
imperial system, situating it within a prehispanic Nahua political economy and cultural
configuration.
7. See Adorno, 1989a, 1989b, 2007:137-46.
8. On Matlacihuatl and Tecpaxochitl, see Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 1975, I, SRC:326-7; 1977, II, HNC:39 and
the Codex Xolotl, 1980: Plate 6. On the larger context of the war and the death of the elder
Ixtlilxochitl, see Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 1975, I, SRC:326-42; CH:433-9; 1977, II, HNC:39-40. For types
of marriage among Nahuas, see Townsend, 2006:365-7.
9. Both Nigel Davies (1987:35) and Jongsoo Lee (2008:99-102) raise doubts about the extent to
which the exiled king could have led troops who played a significance role in the Mexica-led
overthrow of Tepaneca dominance; indeed, neither Alvarado Tezozocomoc (1975:245-71) nor
Durn (1967, II:75-84), i.e. Tenochtitlan-centered sources, mention any role for Nezahuacoyotl or
the Tetzcoca in this war.
10. This more complicated story is told first in the Sumaria relacin de la historia general de esta
Nueva Espaa (I:544-7; SRH hereafter), a short text that describes or summarizes parts of the HNC
(though differs from it on some points, as illustrated here). The SRH version is brief yet quite
169
similar to what is narrated in the Historia, with another difference, besides length, being the name
of the woman, who in the SRH is called Tenancacihuatzin (Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 1975, I, SRH:544) and
in the HNC, Azcalxochitzin (1977, II, HNC:118-119, 152).
11. 1975, II, HNC:119. This story is also told in the Tira de Tepechpan. The text represents the
woman as Quaquauhtzins wife, not simply his intended, as Diel shows (2007:263-4). For the
image, see the Tira de Tepechpan (1978:II:Plate 10).
12. I use the term concubine because Alva Ixtlilxochitl does, but see Powers , 2002, 2005:68-71
and Van Deusen, 2012:13-14 for a critique of sexualized language that applies just as well to the
prehispanic period as it does to the early colonial period on which they focus.
13. Something similar occurred, as noted above, when Alva Ixtlilxochitl wrote at different times
about the name of Nezahualcoyotls mother and wife.
14. The Mapa Tlotzin provides no name for Nezahualpillis wife ( Mapa Tlotzin, 1886, after 320; Diel,
2007:267; Douglas, 2010:116-117); thus we go from images with named wives to unnamed wives
to no images of wives for the conquest era. The simplification of images (both Diel and Douglas
discuss these images in detail) contrasts with the complexities that emerge in Alva Ixtlilxochitls
texts as he writes about royal marriages, particularly in the era of the rise and maintenance of the
Triple Alliance.
15. There also exists within Alva Ixtlilxochitls writings and those of Spanish chroniclers about
Nezahuacoyotl and Nezahualpilli a theme of pride in their masculinity. On the one hand, each is
portrayed as a ruler who was a law giver, who strictly interpreted and lived up to the legal codes of
Tetzcoco, and who was a religious skeptic who doubted indigenous gods (Lee, 2008:3-4, 193-
201). On the other, neither exhibited in his family life the circumspection and self-controlled
behavior expected of Nahuas (Burkhart, 1989; Evans, 1998) nor fully respected the laws concerning
adultery as described in the Mapa Quinatzin. Alva Ixtlilxochitl, and Motolina, among the sources
providing details about punishment for this crime in the Tetzcoca region, seem to relish the stories
of each kings enactment of his masculine, kingly prerogatives. For laws relating to adultery see the
Mapa Quinatzin, 1886:before 345; Motolina 1971:315, 321-2, 256; and Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 1977, II,
HNC:101-102. For further discussion of laws and sources relating to adultery, see Offner,
1983:257-66. For some discussion of the portrayal of masculinity in Alva Ixtlilxochitls texts,
particularly in relation to war, see Kellogg, n.d..
16. While Alva Ixtlilxochitls only account of this grisly story appears in the HNC, the Codex en Cruz
contains an image relating to this womans execution and the Anales de Cuauhtitlan mentions it
(Codex en Cruz , 1981:I:34, also see vol. II for the image in various versions; Anales de Cuauhtitlan,
1992:58). Pomar alludes to the death of a wife of Nezahualpilli, executed for adultery, as does the
Bancroft Dialogues , saying he therefore had no legitimate heirs (1975:25; Bancroft Dialogues ,
1987:155). Also see Evans, 1998:177-8; Offner, 1983:237; and Diel, 2007:267 on this set of
events.
17. For additional discussion of the problems of variations, mistakes, and ambiguities in central
Mexican and/or Mesoamerican ethnohistory, see Carmack, 1972; Nicholson, 1975; Spores, 1980;
Borah, 1983; andrelating specifically to genderGillespie, 1989:xxi-xxii.
18. In the CH, Alva Ixtlixochitl states that Nezahualpilli designated don Jorge Yotontzin as his
success because the eldest son, who should have succeeded, had been executed (1975, I,
CH:450), but the HNC states that while there is a tradition that says the ruler named Yoyontzin
succeeded, that idea is not believable and no successor was named (1977, II, HNC:189). For fuller
discussions of succession during and just after the period of conquest, see Hassig, 1994:111-112
and Douglas, 2010:197, note 42.
170
19. On the possibilities of gender-related schisms influencing the long history of political and
religious change in a different areathe American southwestsee Brooks, 2013.
20. Alva Ixtlilxochitl was inconsistent in spellings of Nahuatl names. This name appears to be an
alternate version of Tlacoyehuatzin, the name given earlier in the CH (1975, I, CH:440). It is
interesting to note that the sixteenth-century Cdice Ramirez also mentions a threat in this context
but has Ixtlilxochitl threatening to chop off his mothers head (quitarle la cabeza de los hombros;
1975:137). It seems likely that Alva Ixtlilxochitl drew on this earlier source but changed the story.
Did he think he was, in some way, toning it down?
21. Alva Ixtlilxochitl states that Cohuanacochtzin, born to the same mother as Ixtlilxochitl, sided
with Cacama in the difficult discussions over succession that took place after Nezahualpillis death
(1977, II, HNC:190-2). Torquemada adds the detail that this woman also sided with Cacama
(1975:I:221-2).
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176
Estudios multidisciplinarios del cuerpo desde la ptica de gnero
Lilia Campos Rodrguez
Introduccin
En esta comunicacin nos proponemos examinar las investigaciones, que proceden
de diversas disciplinas cientficas, en las que se emprende el anlisis del cuerpo
como una construccin cultural, privilegiando una estrategia que se ha
denominado perspectiva de gnero. La lectura que hacemos de estos textos es
crtica, sin concesiones con las epistemologas que legitiman las jerarquas entre
mujeres y hombres, entre las clases sociales y los grupos tnicos, basndose en
los cuerpos, sus caractersticas morfolgicas o sus propiedades supuestamente
intrnsecas. Partimos de la premisa de que los cuerpos humanos son construidos
de acuerdo a los intereses particulares de los grupos hegemnicos de los diversos
periodos histricos, contextos econmicos y rdenes socioculturales, enmarcados
en escenarios polticos en los que la impugnacin y la resistencia se encuentran
presentes.
El estudio de los cuerpos ha sido abordado desde diversas ramas de la
ciencias: la Sociologa (Frank, 1991; Le Breton, 2002a), la Antropologa (Lock y
Farquhar, 2007; Scheper-Hughes y Wacquant, 2002; Martin, 1992; Le Breton,
2002b), la Arqueologa (Sanahuja, 2002; Joyce, 2009), la Historia (Fisselll, 2004;
vvaa, 2004), la Historia de la Ciencia (Jacobus, Fox Keller y Shuttleworth, 1990;
Schiebinger, 1993, 1999, 2000), la Historia de la Medicina (Gallagher y Laqueur,
1987; Laqueur, 1990) y la Biologa (Fausto-Sterling, 2000), entre otras; generando
un rea de investigacin interdisciplinaria que ha sido emprendida desde un amplio
abanico de perspectivas tericas, metodolgicas y temticas (Turner, 1991).
Algunas lneas de investigacin tienen que ver con las tecnologas
reproductivas, el anlisis y crtica de los discursos cientficos sobre las diferencias
sexuales (Fine, 2011; Jordan-Young, 2010; Jacobus, Fox-Keller y Shuttleworth,
1990; Fausto-Sterling, 1992; Hritier, 2007, Lewontin, 1993; Lewontin, Rose y
Kamin, 1985; Rose, 2003; Grosz, 1994), las modificaciones corporales antiguas y
contemporneas para fines rituales o estticos, los estudios sobre la vejez, los
estereotipos de belleza (Urla y Swedlund, 2005), la sexualidad (Foucault, 1980;
Weeks, 1986, 1989, 1990; Vendrell, 2011a, 2011b), los trastornos alimentarios, la
menstruacin (Golub, 1983; Buckley y Gottlieb, 1988; Delaney, Lupton y Toth,
1988; Martin, 1988), la preez (Martin,1992; Young, 2005), el parto (Jordan y
Davis-Floyd, 1992), violacin (Gordon, 2002), el aborto y las polticas poblacionales
(Luker, 1985; Bock y Thane, 1996), la anticoncepcin (Roberts, 1998), la
177
sexualidad femenina (Butler, 1993) y el cuerpo como construccin cultural (Feher,
Naddaff y Tazzi, 1989).
Desde luego, a partir de un enfoque crtico, han ocupado un lugar muy
destacado las indagaciones sobre las representaciones sociales asociadas a las
manifestaciones corporales del estatus de clase, el fenotipo, la pertenencia a un
grupo tnico y un aspecto muy significativo: el sexo/gnero (Conboy, Medina y
Stanbury, 1997; Birke, 1986). Por ende, el cuerpo, se ha convertido recientemente
en un concepto muy estimulante pues se halla muy vinculado con la construccin y
representacin de las identidades sociales, la legitimacin de las ideologas racistas
(Fraser y Greco, 2005; Martn Alcoff, 2005; Roberts, 1998) y el sexismo cientfico
(Schiebinger, 1993, Price y Shildrick, 1999).
Las concepciones cambiantes del cuerpo

Durante las ltimas dcadas, las acadmicas de diversas disciplinas han superado
la nocin de que existe un cuerpo paradigmtico. Ms bien, han arribado a la
conclusin de que las percepciones de los cuerpos son cambiantes, dinmicas,
transitorias, y que las experiencias que le ataen son interpretadas de distinto
modo en diferentes espacios y momentos histricos, moldeadas por la economa
poltica, las instituciones dominantes, las prcticas cotidianas, el discurso cientfico,
las creencias religiosas y las tecnologas en boga (Lock y Farquhar, 2007).
Aqu, por razones de espacio, slo nos enfocaremos en los estudios que
adoptan posturas crticas o que asumen planteamientos no androcntricos y no
racistas en relacin al cuerpo en tanto estructura fsica y material de los seres
humanos, en especial al examen de las transformaciones de los simbolismos y las
diversas nociones cambiantes sobre el cuerpo que se han detectado en distintos
perodos y lugares en la tradicin occidental (Parry, 1981).
Desde la antigedad, a travs de la edad media (s. V-XV), el renacimiento
(s. XV-XVI) y principios de la ilustracin (s. XVIII) en Europa prevalecieron las
concepciones de los griegos en torno al cuerpo, especialmente las nociones en
relacin a la forma y funciones de los rganos reproductivos femeninos y
masculinos. Tengamos presente que las conocimientos de medicina divulgados por
Galeno y Sorarus (siglo II) constituyeron la herencia de Hipcrates (2411 a. p.) y
que partan de la premisa de que haba una identidad estructural entre los rganos
reproductivos femeninos y masculinos, esto es: que las mujeres eran
esencialmente hombres, que la carencia de calor vital haba producido la retencin
interna de las estructuras que en los hombres eran evidentes (Schiebinger,
2004:237).
En otras palabras, la vagina era imaginada como un pene interior, los labios
como el prepucio, el tero como el escroto y los ovarios como testculos; estas
178
concepciones en torno al cuerpo incluan la creencia de que las mujeres eran lo
mismo que los hombres, pero en sentido inverso, en todo caso, imperfectas. El
cuerpo masculino era el paradigma de lo humano. En este modelo se planteaba
que las mujeres tienen los mismos rganos que los hombres, pero en los lugares
equivocados (Laqueur, 1990: 26).
El paisaje europeo que emerga de la Edad Media, con nuevas y renovadas
visiones del mundo en el que las instituciones (la nobleza, el estado, la iglesia, la
burguesa) pugnaban por el poder y la hegemona sirvi de contexto sociopoltico
al acalorado debate que se produjo en el marco de la adopcin de un sistema
clasificatorio del mundo natural. Panorama caracterizado por el afianzamiento de
los Estados europeos, los desplazamientos transatlnticos que posibilitaron la
explotacin de las poblaciones y recursos naturales de Amrica por los imperios de
Occidente, que se deriv en la desmantelamiento del feudalismo, el ascenso de la
burguesa y la fortalecimiento del capitalismo como sistema econmico y poltico
(Scammell, 2002).
En ese horizonte histrico de gran efervescencia social ocurra algo
semejante en el terreno cientfico, pues con la llegada de innumerables
especmenes vegetales y humanos desconocidos en Europa provenientes de la
expansin territorial de los pases imperialistas, se produjo un afn taxonmico que
gener discusiones apasionadas y exaltados debates en torno a las caractersticas
esenciales y las diferencias naturales entre las plantas, por una parte y los seres
humanos por la otra. Estas pretensiones clasificatorias se produjeron en un
panorama de intensas pugnas intelectuales y de duelos polticos entre las naciones
europeas por la hegemona cientfica; de este modo, en Francia, Joseph Pitton de
Tournefort, clebre por ser el primero en establecer una distincin clara de gnero
para las plantas analizando las caractersticas de la corola y los frutos (1694). En
Inglaterra, en 1670 John Ray, considerado el fundador de la botnica moderna,
expuso un sistema basado en las partes de las flores y el medio ambiente en el
que se desarrollaban. En Suecia, Carlos Linneo propuso el esquema que se
enfocaba en la sexualidad de las plantas y es el que prevaleci, no por razones
cientficas, sino por motivaciones polticas.
El rechazo del modelo de Hipcrates y Galeno y la aceptacin de un nuevo
paradigma en relacin al cuerpo humano tiene sus antecedentes a principios del
siglo XVII coincidiendo con el nacimiento de un amplio abanico de disciplinas
cientficas: la anatoma, la botnica, la entomologa, la zoologa, la ginecologa, la
obstetricia, entre otras. De este modo, se plantearon diversos esquemas y
formulaciones de un sistema universal de clasificacin basado en las nociones de
sus cualidades intrnsecas, esto es, de sus diferencias naturales. Lo que se discuta
en el trasfondo era la eliminacin del paradigma dominante que Laqueur (1990:99)
179
ha llamado one-sex model. En este modelo entre lo femenino y masculino haba
diferencias de grado, no de clase. Esta lectura explica por qu en Europa nadie se
tom la molestia de construir un modelo anatmico de un esqueleto femenino sino
hasta mediados del siglo XVIII (Schiebinger, 1987).
Naturalistas de distintos pases occidentales generaron diversas propuestas
clasificatorias que fueron presentadas a la comunidad cientfica, sin embargo, el
sistema taxonmico de Linneo que dio a conocer en su Sistema Naturae, publicado
en 1735 que se basaba en la descripcin de los rganos sexuales de las plantas y
sus interacciones en la reproduccin fue el aceptado. Su esquema, entonces, se
enfocaba en los rasgos morfolgicos de los rganos reproductivos, esto es, en el
nmero y modos de uniones (Schiebinger, 1993:17). En este modelo ( two-sex
model) lo masculino y lo femenino fueron categricamente diferentes. Su diseo
fue ampliamente admitido debido a que se acoplaba a las necesidades ideolgicas
en la coyuntura de la economa poltica en ese momento histrico.
Con la aprobacin del esquema de Linneo se iniciaba una poca en la que el
discurso cientfico abraz con entusiasmo la idea de que lo femenino y lo
masculino no slo no eran lo mismo, sino que eran distintos y que esa diferencia
implicaba desigualdad, proclamando la idea de que las mujeres eran el sexo
opuesto. En efecto, la taxonoma de Linneo otorgaba a las partes masculinas
prioridad en determinar el estatus del organismo en el reino vegetal, entonces, sin
ninguna justificacin emprica confera, al universo natural, la justificacin de la
jerarqua de gnero que exista en el mbito de lo social.
Este ordenamiento, jerarquizacin y separacin de lo masculino y lo
femenino en el mbito de la naturaleza, aunque reflejaba las creencias sobre la
superioridad de lo masculino que prevalecan en ese momento histrico, tuvo
profundas repercusiones en las ideologas de gnero en las investigaciones
cientficas, determinando qu era lo que deba estudiarse y lo que no. La
apropiacin de los referentes sociales resultan evidentes en las concepciones de la
sexualidad de las plantas al imaginar los estambres como esposos ( andria) y los
pistilos como esposas ( gynia) y cuya reproduccin se basaba en el cortejo y el
matrimonio (Schiebinger, 1999:148).
Esta sistematizacin constitua un rompimiento con las antiguas nociones
sobre la existencia de un solo cuerpo, esto es, que consideraban que el organismo
femenino, slo era el reverso del masculino, pero el clima poltico y econmico
hacia mediados del siglo XVIII influy de manera decisiva en la ideologa, las
concepciones del cuerpo humano y su sexualidad de modo que se concibieron dos;
uno femenino, el otro masculino y la legitimacin de la heteronormatividad,
enfatizndose desde entonces las diferencias existentes entre los gneros, en lugar
de destacarse las similitudes.
180
Alrededor de los 1800 la retrica cientfica subrayaba las discrepancias entre
la feminidad y la masculinidad, as como en las diferencias biolgicas entre los
hombres y las mujeres (Laqueur, 1990:5). En las disertaciones cientficas se
recalcaba que los sexos no slo eran diferentes en el aspecto fsico, sino tambin
en las cualidades morales, las capacidades intelectuales y los perfiles psicolgicos,
este modelo se basaba en un dimorfismo radical, un aguda divergencia biolgica
que tendra claras consecuencias polticas.
En palabras de Laqueur (1990:6) una anatoma y fisiologa de
inconmensurabilidad reemplaza a una metafsica de jerarqua en la representacin
de las mujeres en relacin a los hombres. De esta manera, en el discurso mdico
se planteaba que las mujeres deban, a las caractersticas de su fisiologa celular, el
ser perezosas, conservadoras y pasivas. Posteriormente las prdicas cientficas
legitimaban que las divergencias corporales recientemente detectadas entre
hombres y mujeres no eran slo diferencias, sino que esa distincin significaba una
oposicin jerrquica, y que esas disimilitudes implicaban que las mujeres deban
asumir determinados estatus sociales, cumplir ciertos roles polticos, econmicos y
culturales, todo ello basado en hechos biolgicos, esto es, dictados por la
naturaleza.
Las consecuencias de la aceptacin de estas premisas cientficas en
Occidente fueron que: a) puesto que el cuerpo femenino estaba gobernado por un
tero que estaba en constante movimiento en el organismo y que estaba sujeta a
las fluctuaciones de sus hormonas las mujeres se encontraban ms cerca de la
naturaleza (Oudshoorn, 2000:90); b) puesto que el cuerpo femenino estaba
provisto de un aparato reproductor su lugar social era cuidar a los nios y
permanecer en casa y por lo tanto, alejada de los puestos de gobierno y sus
problemas (Berriot-Salvadore, 1992); c) y pese a que en el ambiente circulaban el
lema de libertad, fraternidad e igualdad, eso se aplicaba slo a los hombres pues
ellas, a pesar de sus luchas en ese sentido, no lograron el reconocimiento de sus
derechos polticos; d) deban asimismo permanecer alejadas de las actividades
intelectuales pues los esfuerzos de este tipo daaban sus capacidades
reproductivas.
Estas transformaciones conceptuales sobre el cuerpo humano en general y
en especial en relacin al cuerpo femenino, prepararon el terreno para la exclusin
de las mujeres del oficio de comadronas, funcin que haban desempeado hasta
el siglo XVII (Ehrenreich y English 1973). Sin embargo, en el transcurso del siglo
XVIII con la consolidacin de la profesin mdica y la fundacin de Academias,
instituciones a travs de las cuales los cirujanos defendan sus privilegios como
expertos en la atencin de los alumbramientos, las parteras perdieron su autoridad
y monopolio de la atencin sanitaria y el cuidado del embarazo y el parto. Empero,
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la necesidad de reemplazar a la partera constitua una parte esencial de las
polticas estatales orientadas a aumentar la poblacin, condicin indispensable
para sentar las bases del desarrollo econmico y la expansin poltica de los
estados europeos (Schiebinger, 2000:168).
Las nociones sociales sobre el cuerpo femenino, en general y en especial lo
relacionado con sus capacidades reproductivas son distintas en diversos lugares y
tiempos de acuerdo a las coyunturas religiosas, polticas y econmicas especficas.
Por ejemplo, en Inglaterra, durante la transicin del catolicismo al protestantismo,
las ideas sobre los cuerpos femeninos se transformaron y stos fueron imaginados
provistos de teros potencialmente peligrosos; tambin los escritos sobre el cuerpo
femenino cambiaron con el desplazamiento y descrdito de los conocimientos
empricos de las comadronas. Estas vicisitudes, implcita y explcitamente
proyectaron ideas de que los cuerpos femeninos eran versiones inferiores de los de
los hombres.
Al convertirse Inglaterra en una potencia comercial, el mercantilismo ofrece
las metforas a travs de las cuales son imaginados los papeles de los cuerpos
femeninos y sus capacidades reproductivas: las embarazadas eran simblicamente
barcos que llevaban a bordo una carga valiosa que deban entregar en un puerto
lleno de escollos. A diferencia de otros tiempos, las comadronas ya no se
encargaban del parto, eran los hombres; en este horizonte imaginario las mujeres
eran slo los depsitos, cargadas y descargados por hombres (Fisselll, 2004:247-
248).
Investigaciones sobre el cuerpo

Desde la Arqueologa, Mara Encarna Sanahuja (2002) construy un acercamiento
a las maneras en las que, en un escenario prehistrico, los cuerpos son pensados,
explorando adems una serie de temas que le han inquietado profesionalmente,
por ejemplo: la construccin de una historia no androcntrica. Desde esa misma
disciplina cientfica, Rosemary Joyce (2009) present sus propias reflexiones
generadas a partir de un extenso trabajo de campo en su obra Ancient Bodies,
Ancient Lives, Sex, Gender and Archaeology. Joyce nos alienta a examinar
crticamente las experiencias corporales de los seres humanos en los contextos
histricos en los que se desarrollan, para evitar las simplificaciones y la ptica
esencialista que nos impulsa a creer que el mundo material no moldea activamente
las experiencias humanas en diferentes pocas y lugares y por lo tanto, que los
seres humanos no han sido transformados por la historia.
Desde la Antropologa Social, Emily Martin (1987:xi) seala que cada
sociedad genera su propia nocin del cuerpo a partir de sus horizontes histricos y
culturales. Indica que, a menudo, en los textos mdicos, el cuerpo femenino se
182
describe como una fbrica o un sistema de produccin centralizado y que la
metfora de la mquina contina emplendose en descripciones de la
menstruacin, el nacimiento o la menopausia. Seala tambin que algunos
cientficos exploran parbolas derivadas de la Teora del Caos.
Por otra parte, el espectacular desarrollo de las transformaciones corporales
que se han producido en la dcada de los 1990s ha sido estudiado en los EU,
desde la Sociologa, por Victoria Pitt (2003). Dicha investigacin, basada en aos
de entrevistas nos muestra el amplio abanico de modificaciones, entre las que se
encuentran los tatuajes, la escarificacin, los implantes subcutneos que se
plantean como una forma de reapropiacin del cuerpo, para sustraerlo de los
engranajes de la mquina social. En concreto, lo que la investigadora desea
explorar son las conexiones entre las alteraciones corporales y el actual debate
sobre los significados del cuerpo, sexo, el gnero, el consumo y la creacin de
identidades sociales posmodernas.
Analizando una variacin sobre este mismo tema, Price y Shildrick (1999)
reunieron en una destacada compilacin los ensayos de las tericas y las
investigadoras ms clebres que proceden de diferentes escuelas de pensamiento
feminista y distintas disciplinas cientficas en los que se analizan diversos aspectos
de la construccin cultural de los cuerpos femeninos en el mundo contemporneo.
En los estudios presentados se acometen las polmicas sobre la maternidad, la
preez, la violacin, el aborto, los deseos y el sexo; tambin examinan,
contextualizndolos, los significados asociados a las alteraciones corporales a
travs de la ciruga esttica, la transexualidad, y las tecnologas reproductivas,
entre otros aspectos vinculados con este fenmeno de la posmodernidad.
Una nueva veta de estudios del cuerpo ha sido explorada por Scheper-
Hughes y Wacquant (2002), estableciendo una ruptura con las tendencias que
privilegian al estudio del cuerpo como texto en una coleccin de ensayos con el
convincente planteamiento de que en la actualidad, nuestro cuerpo, en tanto que
producto mercantilizado, ha sido enajenado, ya no nos pertenece. Sus propuestas
parten de la premisa de que los cuerpos pueden ser trasladados, vendidos,
comprados, ntegros o en partes, vivos o muertos, a solicitud. Estos cuerpos
humanos adultos o infantes- son usados en el marco de la medicina reproductiva,
la eugenesia, la biopoltica, los trasplantes de rganos y el ensayo de nuevos
medicamentos. El enfoque que privilegian es el de la tica de las partes en la que
los rganos (vulos, riones), los tejidos (piel o crneas) y otra s substancias
somticas semen o los vulos- se integran al circuito mercantil como productos
en el comercio global.
El anlisis de la forma en que las nuevas tecnologas biomdicas -ciruga
cosmtica, tatuajes- y las electrnicas -los celulares y la creacin de las redes
183
sociales- han remodelado las ideologas de gnero, el significado de las nociones
del cuerpo sexuado y las identidades en la sociedad contempornea es abordado
en una obra de reciente aparicin por Shapiro (2010).
Tambin recientemente, Kosut y Moore (2010) en su obra: The Body
Reader: Essential Social and Cultural Readings, renen una coleccin de ensayos
en los que se consideran los conceptos y teoras que se han generado sobre los
cuerpos y sondean otros aspectos vinculados a lo somtico: gnero, raza, clase y
sexualidad colocando sobre la mesa de debate la nocin de que el cuerpo se
encuentra en la encrucijada en la que se experimenta lo cultural y lo biolgico,
confluencia la que se producen las percepciones subjetivas de las dimensiones
sealadas.
Conclusiones
A simple vista pudiera parecer que, en trminos somticos, el organismo humano
ha permanecido inmutable o ha experimentado pocas transformaciones biolgicas
durante los ltimos dos milenios, sin embargo, a la luz de los anlisis histricos y
antropolgicos que se han llevado a cabo recientemente en un campo denominado
Estudios del cuerpo, esto no resulta as; por el contrario, los hallazgos nos
muestran que el cuerpo humano ha sido objeto de codificaciones conmensurables
y lecturas heterogneas a travs de los tiempos hallndose esas mismas
relacionadas estrechamente con el contexto sociocultural y el universo simblico
en el que se generan dichas tipificaciones. Desde luego, en las sociedades
complejas donde se establecen distinciones y jerarquas de gnero, clase y
etnicidad, entre otros ejes de diferenciacin, emergen nociones dismiles de los
cuerpos pero que resultan acordes con el orden social particular de cada cultura.
En trminos generales, puede decirse que la mayora de las autoras citadas
aqu estn de acuerdo en que las lecturas, interpretaciones y representaciones
sobre las nociones del cuerpo humano han cambiado y son especficas a
determinados contextos sociales y a ciertas coyunturas polticas y econmicas que
se producen en un tiempo y lugar precisos. No slo eso, sino que los cuerpos son
percibidos, vividos y experimentados de maneras distintas en diferentes culturas
materiales, sujetos a una diversidad de tecnologas y sistemas de control
institucionalizados, as como incorporados a una pluralidad de sistemas de
produccin y patrones de consumo, discursos y prcticas de diferentes tipos.
En este ensayo puede constatarse que las ideas y representaciones sobre el
cuerpo han estado sujetas a un debate acalorado e intenso que se enmarca en la
praxis cotidiana, en las teoras cientficas y en las ideologas dominantes que
ataen a ciertos periodos histricos en la sociedad occidental caracterizada por una
organizacin y categorizacin de cuerpos que estn definidos en trminos de clase,
184
gnero y etnicidad, codificacin que opera a travs de marcadores visuales en el
cuerpo, y que es simbolizada e imaginada de manera distinta, jerarquizada.
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Embodied Subjectivities within Bioarchaeological Research in Colonial
Mexico
Julie K. Wesp
Introduction
Gender archaeology has helped enriched our perspectives on the past to include a
more individualized person. Rather than culture groups that all act in similar
manners without question, scholars have begun to examine how men and women
acted similarly or differently. Mesoamerican scholars have contributed to the
conversation with investigations about women, womens work, and their role
within social organization in various regions and time periods. Not only has
Rosemary Joyce been a major contributor to these conversations (Joyce 1994,
2000a, 2000b, 2001, 2008), but also her work encourages others to join the
conversation from a critical perspective.
Gender has become a variable of analysis because of the need to differentiate
between actors in the past, yet to properly conduct gender research you must first
examine or define what that term means in the specific time and place you are
researching. Joyce not only reminds us of that necessary element of research, but
provides a method for re-thinking gender analysis (Joyce, 2008). This critical
examination of bodies and embodiment goes beyond the scope of Mesoamerica,
and is a topic that has been useful in my own research as a bioarchaeologist.
Embodiment theory can be used to not only examine the spaces in which bodies
moved, but also the bodies themselves that learned to move in a particular way
based on social development within a specific historical moment.
In this chapter, I will explore how Joyces research on embodied subjectivity
can be used to examine archaeological bodies in a manner that critically analyzes
(and necessarily complicates) the relationship of sex to gender and breaks free
from previous assumptions about this relationship to provide a better
understanding of the organization of activities performed by past bodies in one
such moment in time, the Spanish colonial period in present day Mexico City.
Bioarchaeology: the (skeletal) sexing of the past

Bioarchaeology, or the contextual study of archaeological human remains, has
played an integral role in developing gender studies throughout the world. In
order to understand who was doing something and when, we first need to
examine who that person was and the skeletal remains at an archaeological site
often become one of the major lines of evidence for understanding the
demographics of a population. Bioarchaeologists are called upon to supply data on
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the age, sex, biological affiliation, and general health of individuals that are
recovered from archaeological sites.
While it is important to try to create more individualized persons in our
archaeological perspectives on the past, it is also important to critically examine
how these bioarchaeological data are created, particularly the relationship between
skeletal sex and gender. While the methods for sexing skeletons have not changed
much in the past 50 years (Phenice, 1969; Walker, 1995), that does not mean we
should continue to use them without examining the implied assumptions and make
these assumptions known to the wider academic community. Sex, as a category
based in biology, is often considered a less biased perspective on a persons
identity and consequently, skeletal sex can be mistaken for an objective fact that is
free from analytical error. However, this interpretation of changes to materi al
culture is no different than other subjective categorizations that archaeologists
make.
The current standards for sexing a skeleton have three major flaws: only
certain skeletal elements can be used, it is based on assumptions of difference that
may not always be true for each time and place, and the interpretive scale only
measures analytical confidence. First, standard evaluations of skeletal sex utilize
features on the cranium and the pelvis to make interpretations (Buikstra and
Ubelaker, 1994). While this may not seem like a flaw, it becomes an issue,
particularly with archaeological remains, because we may not be able to even
conduct an analysis of sex if the preservation of remains is poor or there is post -
depositional disturbance of the remains and elements are removed. Due to the
tropical environment throughout much of Mesoamerica, this is an important flaw to
mention, since overall poor preservation of organic material could prevent analyses
from even being a possibility.
Second, standard scales of analyses are based on the assumption that
males have larger, more robust bones than females do. While this is certainly the
case for the majority of our primate cousins, the expansion of human beings
across different geographical landscapes creates variation that complicates this
assumption. As a slightly above average height female, I am reminded of this fact
nearly every time I conduct fieldwork in Mesoamerica and tower over the males of
the local population. Health, genetics, and activity throughout the life course of the
individuals greatly influence the size and shape of the skeleton, thus, without this
extra information; we cannot always assume that the males will be more robust.
Variation of the pelvic features, which resulted from evolutionary changes at
the advent of bipedalism, may be more emblematic of differences that translate
well cross-culturally (Stone and Walrath, 2006). Because of the necessary features
to successfully give birth to our young, human female pelvis tend to be wider than
192
males, but this difference is still gradual without two distinct sets of characteristics.
Additionally, we know that even at the microscopic level, human sexual variation is
more complicated than two distinct categories (Blackless, et al., 2000; Fausto-
Sterling, 1993). Thus, the belief that we can separate individuals into two distinct
categories based solely on the belief that one is larger than another does not hold
true for all time periods, especially when we start to see geographical movement
of individuals that had previously been separated for many centuries.
Lastly, bioarchaeological interpretation of sex measures the practitioners
confidence level that the individual present more typically male or more typically
female traits. As Geller has previously highlighted (2005, 2008), the standard
continuum of analysis from masculine traits to feminine traits does not really
measure the biological variation between sexes, but rather how likely or how
confident bioarchaeologists feel assigning a sex category. Thus, we give a sex
estimation, not a determination, and all we can say is that the person exhibits
traits that more frequently occur among males or females.
This last assumption is possibly the most misunderstood by non-
bioarchaeologists, since in academic literature and population culture the sexing of
a skeleton is an essential variable for further analysis and the individuals that we
cannot confidently assign to a category are not included in future studies.
Therefore, the sexing process is complicated by poor preservation and missing
skeletal elements, assumptions about bodily size and robusticity, as well as the skill
and confidence of the technician.
This category of skeletal sex becomes the basis for establishing an
individuals gender identity in a one-to-one correspondence model, which is used in
popular thought to classify modern bodies as well. Laqueur (1990) has
demonstrated, however, that this methodology of classifying bodies into sex
categories is always perceived through cultural concepts and is continually
changing as our cultural understandings change over time as well. Thus, bodily
differences are real because they exist, but they are also constructed because we
decide how to classify the difference within our own cultural framework of
understanding sex differences.
Thus, bioarchaeological data is described within a dualistic framework of sex
(male/female), and is then translated into a gender binary (man/woman). Not only
do these categories inaccurately describe the realities of bodily difference in the
past (and the present for that matter), but they tend to obscure the reality of
different embodied experiences based on intersecting identities that are continually
changing and developing over the life of an individual. Rather than continuing to
blindly use this system of classification in bioarchaeology, we need to first
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understand the theory behind sex and gender categories and then find a manner
in which we can translate them into skeletal analysis.
Embodied Subjectivity: individualizing past experiences

Gender as a category of classification is derived from non-academic use, particular
as a form of organizing individuals and assigning different rights and obligations as
members of a society. Archaeologists and other scholars decided this category was
a useful variable of analysis, and we use sex to rationalize the importance of
gender, since bodies are real and quantifiable. However, the relationship of sex to
gender and the believed binary-ness of both are rarely addressed. Joyce ask
scholars, however, to critically examine these terms, especially when it is laden
with so many assumptions based on a modern conceptual framework of
organization. Thus, rather than base our interpretations on preconceived ideas of
difference between genders (assumed from biological makers of sex on the
skeleton), she calls us to examine the embodied subjectivity of each particular
individual (Joyce, 2004).
Joyce defines Subjectivity as our sense of ourselves as a person, different
than other people, proprioception, and Embodiment as experience through a kind
of bodily discipline, an identity as a person (Meskell and Joyce, 2003). Through an
examination of embodied subjectivity, Joyce proposes that scholars will "assume[e]
an undifferentiated subject who tends to approximate the self-contained, rational,
implicitly masculine individual of modern social thought" (2004:82). This includes
the idea that an individuals identity including his or her sexual or gender identity is
in a constant state of being formed and reformed as they experience new and
different things in life.
Thus, researching from a perspective of embodied subjectivity is based in the
idea that "there can be no such thing as a generalized agent or actor" (Joyce,
2004:85), since we are in a constant state of (re)formation that is influenced by
the specific historic and cultural moment in which we live. Furthermore, Joyce
encourages archaeologists to contribute to this conversation since we are uniquely
qualified to talk about the daily life experiences of individuals in the past through
the material remains of activities. Joyce later implies that bioarchaeology in
particular can help to shed light on embodiment research, yet must include
"engagement with issues of bodily difference, including gender" (2006:50).
Thus, scholars must also be aware of the intersectionality of identities within
a person, as well as how this variation in embodied experiences of individuals will
alter the overall perception of what it means to be a woman in colonial Mexico, for
example. The use of embodied subjectivity as a new term to describe this identity
can apply to experiences that transcend time and place, since it is free from the
194
cultural perspective of sex/gender categories and we are not limited to our modern
terms, including the number of categories or manner of classifying individuals.
Bioarchaeological investigations of embodied subjectivity begin with the
physical remains of the bodies that experienced life. Human bone is continually
renewing itself to compensate for normal wear and tear, to access minerals stored
in bone tissue, and in response to biomechanical stress from activities (Ott, 2002).
This process of constant resorption and laying down of new bone in response is
called bone remodeling and continually occurs throughout adulthood. Additionally,
human bones grow and develop in response to both genetic information and
environmental factors.
Fausto-Sterling advocates this as her primary proposition for future biological
research in her concluding chapter of Sexing the Body, First, nature/nurture is
indivisible (2000:235). In this sense, skeletal remains are the physical models of
how the specificity of time and place has influenced biological development. As a
result, we always examine lived bodies, individuals that experienced the world and
were shaped by it (Fisher and Loren, 2003). This realization however complicates
the traditional method of sexing (and subsequently gendering) skeletal remains
within bioarchaeology, since no generalizable standard could explain all of the
idiosyncratic changes of embodied experience.
On the other hand, bioarchaeologists have the unique ability to describe such
individual embodied experiences in the past and combine these data with other
aspects of identity such as age, health or biological descent. In her overview of
archaeological work regarding the body, Joyce (2005) explicitly encourages
additional bioarchaeological work from an embodied perspective in order to
complement the existing work regarding dress, body ornaments and body
representation. In the rest of this chapter, I hope to add to this conversation by
providing one such example of designing bioarchaeological research from a
perspective of embodied subjectivity.
Embodied Lives of Colonial Mexico

Following Meskell and Joyces example (2003), I will examine the material remains
of specific embodied experiences that result from one time and place. This case
utilizes the material traces of the actual bodies that lived these experiences as
opposed to the material traces of their activities. The sample of individuals was
recovered from the within the architectural remains the colonial Hospital Real San
Jose de los Naturales (HSJN), located in present day Mexico City (Figure 1). This
time and place present the opportunity to look at how the intersectionality of
identities produced varied embodied experiences among the diverse urban
Population of Colonial New Spain. Moreover, we have written historical accounts
195
for that period population of Colonial New Spain. Moreover, we have written
historical accounts for the colonial period, but since documents are created for
specific purposes, they may present a biased understanding of daily life. Burkhart
(1997) and Rodrguez-Shadow (2000) argues that many of the authors of colonial
Mexican texts that deal with daily life were clergymen of European descent whose
own moral code often prohibited close contact with women, especially within the
private domestic space and whose aim in producing written documents was to
describe all the evil, and pre-Christian practices as a guide for future proselytizing
and confession of sins. The use of a skeletal collection from the colonial period,
thus provide an opportunity to compare and contrast these accounts with the
skeletal evidence regarding lived experiences
With the arrival of Europeans to the Americas, there are significant changes
in the options for daily life activities as two cultures with distinct methods of living
life encounter each other. These interactions inevitably created a fatal problem for
the indigenous population since their embodied experience of illness was
drastically different from that of the Europeans whose bodies had built up a
tolerance to numerous infectious diseases, yet new options for healthcare were
also created (Muriel, 1956). During this time period, hospitals became an integral
part of modern European cities, a goal that the conquistadores wished to
accomplish in the New World as well. Thus, nearly a dozen different hospitals were
established, but located in the indigenous neighborhood of San Juan Moyotln, the
HSJN was founded in 1553 with the specific design of treatment of the indigenous
populations (Zedillo Castillo, 1984).
Historical documents suggest that the hospital served an important purpose
in the development of medical practitioners in the colonies. Additionally, numerous
official reminders on behalf of the Hospital administrators that only patients of
indigenous descent be admitted suggests that its proximity to the city center may
have resulted in a more diverse patient populations throughout its 300 year
existence. A number of studies have demonstrated that even during the early
colonial period, the capital of New Spain was a busy urban center with migrants
that came from various parts of Mexico, Europeans with various religious and
political agendas, and individuals of African descent brought over by Europeans
(Mrquez Morfn, 1994; Restall, 2005).
This interaction of peoples from various parts of the world plays a large part
in constructing a unique colonial experience throughout Latin America, but also
one that the political power felt necessitated specific laws for regulating
interactions and access to public spaces. New public services were segregated for
local peoples, as evidenced by the founding of the Hospital Real San Jose de los
Naturales, but the social status of individuals prior to the arrival of Europeans
196
continued to allow certain people specialized access to services initiated by the
Spanish crown such as the ability to sue for property rights (Kellogg, 1995).
Correspondingly, the intersecting identities of male, indigenous, and of adult age
meant that you were subject to taxation and military service, and subsequently
resulted in under reporting of these individuals during the census (Arrom, 1985).
Moreover, laws that prohibit certain behavior or the use of clothing typical of
another ethnic group served to instantaneous differentiate among members of
society, despite regular lack bending of the rules and lack of enforcement of such
laws (Castillo Palma and Kellogg, 2005). Thus, we must begin our investigation of
the individuals recovered from the architectural remains of the HSJN as embodied
persons living in a time where intersecting identities, such as class, age, and
geographical origin, greatly affected their agency and choices regarding the
manner in which they could live their lives.
Bioarchaeological Evidence of Embodied Subjectivities

Consisting of nearly 600 individuals, the collection of human remains from the
HSJN was recovered during construction for Line 8 of the Mexico City Metro system
in the early 1990s (Snchez Vzquez, et al., 1996). This sample represents one of
the largest and most well preserved collections of skeletal remains from Colonial
Mexico and provides a unique opportunity to utilize macroscopic and other non-
invasive bioarchaeological techniques to examine the embodied experiences of
individuals during this time period. The collection is currently curated in the
Laboratorio de Osteologa de Posgrado (Graduate Osteology Lab) at the Escuela
Nacional de Antropologa e Historia (ENAH), where a number of graduate students
have conducted various bioarchaeological investigations, including my own
dissertation work regarding bone remodeling in response to biomechanical stress.
First, it is important to stress that the individuals in the skeletal sample
represent persons who sought medical care at the hospital and died while being
treated. Muriel suggests that the strong religious tie with early hospital care work,
created a system that was more concerned with securing a place in the eternal
afterlife, rather than provided care to prolong life here on earth (1956).
Additionally, the contextual evidence from the archaeological excavations suggests
the hospital administrators took advantage of renovation work to bury the large
sum of individuals that deceased during an infectious disease epidemic (Snchez
Vzquez, et al., 1996). Since bone remodeling occurs over an extended period of
time, it is likely that the bioarchaeological data from this skeletal population
represent changes that occurred as a result of normal embodied daily experiences,
rather than pathological changes (Ortner, 1992).
197
Some of the first bioarchaeological examinations of this skeletal sample
endeavored to further explain the health and disease profile of the skeletal
population. Oana de Castillo (2000) found that the most common indicator of
pathological changes to the skeleton resulted from constant malnutrition, which did
not vary by age or sex. She suggests that these frequent indicators of nutritional
deficiencies are would have been common among the lower class, indigenous
population for which the hospital was founded. Additionally, indicators of skeletal
trauma and degenerative disease, predominantly of the joint and dental diseases,
provide a glimpse of the difficult and violent life these individuals lived (Castillo
Chavez, 2000:135-136).
Biological affiliation has also been a topic of great interest for this skeletal
population since historical document for this time period claim the presence of
individuals of various geographical origins, as mentioned above. Contextual
funerary information suggests the existence of individuals of African descent
among the skeletal remains (Meza Pealoza, 2013). This suggestion was further
corroborated by an analysis of the techniques for dental modification, which found
evidence of percussion fracture and filling (Figure 2). While dental modification
was common among the indigenous populations of Mesoamerica, the percussion
fracture technique, which removes a significant amount of dental enamel, has only
been found among African communities (Lagunas Rodrguez and Karam Tapia,
2003).
Ruz Albarrn (2012) utilized cranial morphometrics, or the measurements of
specific points on the cranial vault and facial features, to further corroborate the
existence of individuals of African descent in the hospital collection. She concluded
as opposed to the written documents, the hospital population was not
homogeneous, but rather a mixture of individuals from Amerindian, African, and
possibly Asian descent. Finally, a pair of recent theses continued this conversation
of biological affiliation, through an examination of non-metric dental traits, or the
presence/absence of features on the teeth that occur with a higher frequency for
individuals of different geographical regions. Both investigations concluded that the
skeletal populations contained a majority of individuals with Amerindian traits, but
with a small percentage of individuals from various other geographical origins,
including Europe, Africa, and Asia (Hernndez Lpez and Negrete Gutirrez, 2012;
Karam Tapia, 2012).
Conclusion
My own dissertation research, further examines how the stresses of daily life in the
colonial period caused the bone to remodel and change its size and shape at the
macroscopic and microscopic level. As evidenced by historical, archaeologica l and
198
other complimentary bioarchaeological work, the intersection of individuals within
this population necessitated a broader understanding of embodied subjectivities, in
order to break free from the traditional perspectives of a gendered division of
labor. This methodology includes separating the skeletal sample into groupings by
age and sex. While age tends to have a positive correlation with the amount of
biomechanical stress and subsequent changes to the skeleton (Gowland, 2006),
dividing your sample by sex (a flawed category in and of itself, as outlined above)
presupposes a significant difference that may not actually exist (Agarwal, 2012).
This assumption may be additional problematic when examining a time and
place with a heterogeneous population, such as the one from the HSJN.
Preliminary examinations of cortical bone remodeling from the second metacarpal
bone of the hand indicates not only a large range of variation between the sexes,
but within each sex category as well (Figure 3). Following the traditional method of
statistical analysis, these extreme outliers are ignored in order to better
understand the norms within the general population, but in my sample these
extreme cases represent an interesting opportunity to examine how the
intersection of various identities influenced bony responses to stress. Furthermore,
it is entirely possible that patterns of social organization of labor for this time
period did not follow strict gender lines, but rather a combination of intersecting
identities that were continually formed and re-formed through each individuals
life.
Thus, following Rosemary Joyces call for a re-examination of gender as a
variable of analysis and electing the use of the more individualized perspective of
embodied subjectivities, we will have a more inclusive understanding of the diverse
lived experiences of individuals in the Colonial period.
199
Figures
Figure 1. Google map of the Centro Histrico of present day Mexico City, the white
rectangular indicates the locate of the HSJN, located in close proximity to the main
plaza and cathedral built by the Spanish. Imagery 2013 DigitalGlobe, Map data
2013 Google, INEGI, Sanborn.
200
Figure 2. The teeth of Ind. 150, which exhibits a technique of dental modification
that occurred among African cultures, but not found in Mesoamerica. This cultural
modification, in addition to other biological affiliation data suggests this individual
one of various individuals of African descent within the hospital collection. Photo
by the author.
201
Figure 3. Radiographs of the left 2 nd metacarpal bone from two different
individuals. Each represents one end of the continuum of the size variation among
the individuals in the hospital sample. Photo by the author.
202
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El fogn, el monte y la escuela: rituales orientados al gnero en el
Yucatn contemporneo
Lilia Fernndez Souza
Introduccin
Es internacionalmente reconocido que Rosemary Joyce es una autora vanguardista
y extraordinariamente prolfica. Su trabajo ofrece a sus lectores no solamente
ideas y propuestas desafiantes, sino inspiracin acerca de una diversa serie de
tpicos. Es claramente identificada por su produccin acadmica acerca de
arqueologa de gnero e identidad (Joyce, 1993, 2000, 2000a, 2000b, 2006, 2011)
e igualmente es lectura obligada si una piensa escribir sobre prcticas funerarias
(Joyce, 2003) o sobre los albores de las bebidas a base de cacao en el Perodo
Formativo (Henderson y Joyce, 2006). De hecho, no es infrecuente que, iniciando
la exploracin de un tema de investigacin, una descubra que la Dra. Joyce ya ha
pasado por all . Su gil trnsito por datos arqueolgicos, iconografa y fuentes
histricas ofrece perspectivas diversas que nos sitan en una amplia visin
antropolgica.
Este captulo aborda un tema extensamente tratado por Rosemary Joyce: la
socializacin de nios y nias y el papel de los rituales en el ciclo de vida y el paso
hacia la edad adulta. Se ofrece informacin obtenida en la comunidad
contempornea de San Antonio Sih (Figura 1), localizada a una hora de Mrida,
capital el estado de Yucatn, presentando un anlisis a travs de un enfoque que
incorpora datos etnogrficos, histricos y arqueolgicos, enmarcado en el
concepto de la long dure mesoamericana abordado por Joyce (2000a).
La long dure implica un cierto conservadurismo a lo largo del tiempo tanto
en la base econmica mesoamericana como en aspectos de la reproduccin social,
entre los que se encuentran las estrategias para socializar a los nios hacia su
adecuada insercin en la comunidad durante la adultez. Sin pretender decir que
los rituales actuales son una suerte de fosilizacin de prcticas prehispnicas, se
observar que algunas ceremonias desempean un papel similar a las ceremonias
registradas por los cronistas tempranos (Joyce, 2000a, 2000b, 2006; Landa, 2001;
Sahagn, 1985) y quiz a actividades rituales que han sido inferidas de contextos
arqueolgicos e icnonogrficos (Ardren, 2002, 2006; Garca Targa, 2007; Joyce,
2000, 2000b, 2006, Trachman y Valdez, 2006).
En primera instancia se examinarn las prcticas rituales identificadas en
Sih y en otras comunidades yucatecas contemporneas, para posteriormente
abordar algunas ceremonias histricas y arqueolgicas que podran ser
simblicamente equivalentes.
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Rituales contemporneos en Yucatn
El koben o fogn de tres piedras (Figura 2) es un rasgo comn para cocinar en el
Yucatn rural, y es ubicuo en Sih, an en casos en los que existe tambin estufa
de gas o algn otro tipo de fogn. Uno de los rituales domsticos que se lleva a
cabo en esta comunidad es que cuando nace un beb, si se trata de una nia, su
cordn umbilical es enterrado en las cenizas del koben, para que cuando crezca
sea una buena cocinera y permanezca cerca de su casa. En el caso de los varones,
en cambio, el cordn umbilical es llevado al monte, de manera que al hacerse
mayor no tenga miedo de alejarse del pueblo. En otras localidades yucatecas
tambin es identificada esta prctica, como me fue narrado en el caso de
Tzucacab.
Es relevante destacar que este ritual no es nicamente maya, ya que
Sahagn (1985, Libro VI:385) lo report tambin entre los mexicas, bastante
similar en el caso de las nias, aunque con variacin en el caso de los varones, ya
que el ombligo del pequeo era entregado a un guerrero valiente para que lo
llevara a enterrar en el campo de batalla; al cortrselo, la partera deca al beb
tu oficio y facultad es la guerra, tu oficio es dar de beber al sol con sangre de
los enemigos. Villa Rojas (1978:405) igualmente seala este ritual, de acuerdo
con Serna. Esta prctica, entonces, tiene no menos de quinientos aos y se halla
bastante extendida espacialmente.
Otro ritual presente hoy en da en Yucatn es el hetzmek, reportado por
diversos autores en localidades de Valladolid y Motul (Guzmn, 2006),
comunidades del oriente de la zona maya yucateca como Pomuch, Tiholop, y
Tinuncah (Tuz Chi, 2009), en Xohuayn (Guzmn Uristegui, 2007), Xocn (Tern
y Rasmussen, 2005), Tusik, en Quintana Roo (Villa Rojas, 1978), Tahmek
(Villanueva, 2004), Tiholop (Villanueva y Prieto, 2009), Kankabdzonot y Sih
(Fernndez Souza, 2008), entre otras. En trminos generales, durante esta
ceremonia, los bebs, ante una mesa en la que se han depositado ciertos
alimentos y objetos, son colocados a horcajadas, lateralmente, en la cadera de un
padrino o madrina. Si el beb es un nio, la prctica se realiza a los cuatro meses,
debido a que la milpa tiene cuatro esquinas.
Si es una nia, el hetzmek se hace a los tres meses, ya que el koben tiene
tres piedras y la mesa en la que se preparan las tortillas cuenta con tres patas,
aunque, como sealan Villanueva y Prieto (2009), hay muchos casos que difieren.
En Sih, por ejemplo, puede llevarse a cabo a los seis o siete meses. Adems de
poner en la boca de los bebs comida para que abran su mente, les son colocados
en las manos, a la vez que el padrino o madrina rodea la mesa, objetos que varan
de acuerdo con el gnero: a las nias suele ponrsele objetos relacionados con la
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preparacin de alimentos o las labores textiles, mientras que a los varones se les
da herramientas tiles para labores como la milpa o la cacera. Actualmente se da
a los nios de ambos sexos cuadernos y lpices, porque se espera que asistan a la
escuela, como observ en un hetzmek realizado a una nia en Kankabdzonot en
1993, y me han narrado en Sih en 2012 y 2013. Igualmente lo sealan
Villanueva y Prieto (2009:78) aadiendo la colocacin de juguetes que simulan
telfonos celulares y computadoras porttiles.
Villa Rojas (1978:413) sealaba que, en general, el propsito del hetzmek es
dotar a los pequeos de las aptitudes mentales y fsicas necesarias para cualquier
miembro de la comunidad, a travs de actos que simbolizan las facultades que
quieren otorgar al nio o la nia. Villanueva y Prieto (2009:91), agregan que con
la presentacin de instrumentos de trabajo segn el sexo tambin se est
asignando al infante su identidad de gnero y, al mismo tiempo, comunicndola
simblicamente a los asistentes.
Varios autores discuten cmo van transformndose estilos de vida que han
sido considerados tradicionales entre comunidades mayas, y entre los cambios se
encuentra la socializacin de nios y jvenes (Baos, 1993, 2002; Alonzo Farfn
2008; Lara y Reyes, 2012; Ortega y Rosado, 2008; Ramrez Carrillo, 2006; Tzuc,
2008). En varias zonas de las reas rurales yucatecas, sobre todo las aledaas a
Mrida, la capital del estado, los procesos productivos han ido cambiando: muchos
jvenes varones no se dedican como antao a la milpa o al trabajo del henequn,
y tanto ellos como las mujeres han ido integrndose al trabajo asalariado,
modificando tambin tanto las expectativas de los padres para sus pequeos como
la integracin de los nios y nias en el trabajo adulto, como, por ejemplo, el
cuidado de los hermanos menores.
La escuela desempea un papel fundamental: con base en una investigacin
llevada a cabo en la comunidad de Chalmuch, Lara y Reyes (2012) observan las
diferencias entre los nios actuales y la niez de sus padres y abuelos, apuntando
que la escuela ha desplazado el trabajo como eje de la preparacin de los nios
para la vida adulta (Lara y Reyes, 2012:8). Algo semejante se observa en Sih,
donde la asistencia a la escuela es prioritaria para los padres (Figura 3), de
manera que los nios y nias tienen menos tiempo para realizar tareas que
informantes mayores practicaron en su infancia, como aprender a cocinar y cuidar
de los hermanos pequeos. Posiblemente encontremos aqu un factor en la
disminucin de la prctica de ciertos rituales.
En Sih, una encuesta llevada a cabo en 2011 y 2012 entre ochenta y dos
nios y jvenes de la Escuela Telesecundaria Secundaria Benemrito de las
Amricas, de entre doce y diecisis aos, revel que cuarenta y seis de ellos
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(56.09%) han presenciado por lo menos una vez el hetzmek, mientras que los
restantes treinta y seis (43.9%) no lo han visto nunca.
Algo semejante reporta Alonso Farfn (2006), quien seala para la
comunidad de Chochol que rituales como el hetzmek y el hanikooleste ltimo
relacionado con la milpa son conocidos por los jvenes, aunque cuentan con
poco apego. Sin embargo, en reas como el oriente de la zona maya peninsular,
ms alejadas de la capital, el hetzmek mantiene an fuerte presencia (Tuz Chi,
2009).
En Sih, otras prcticas que han perdido vigencia se relacionan con las
cualidades consideradas necesarias para que los jvenes pudieran casarse: los
varones deban poder elaborar una albarrada de doble vista, mientras que, en el
caso de las nias, deban ser capaces de moler maz seco en un metate hasta
lograr una harina fina. Cuando pregunt a una de las informantes si an se estila,
me respondi, riendo, que si a una se le pidiera llevar a cabo esta tarea, acudira a
quejarse a Derechos Humanos.
Rituales coloniales y prehispnicos

Rosemary Joyce (2000b, 2006) ha enfatizado aspectos de ritual y vestimenta de
los nios relacionados con el ciclo vital en la poca colonial. Citando a Diego de
Landa (2001:61), Joyce (2000b) hace referencia al hecho de que, a los cuatro o
cinco das de nacidos, los bebs eran colocados en las cunas para deformarles la
cabeza y llevados para ponerles nombre. No usaban ropa, pero se les colocaban
ornamentos diferenciados de nio a nia, una cuenta en la frente para los nios y
una concha colgando de la cadera para las nias. Posteriormente, cuando los
nios tenan entre tres y doce aos, vena el caputzihil o bautismo cuyo
significado es nacer de nuevo; en esta ceremonia se retiraban la cuenta y la
concha y los nios comenzaban a vestir de manera semejante a los adultos,
igualmente segn su gnero. Landa (2001:53) seala que el caputzihil era como
una licencia de poderse casar cuando quiera que los padres quisiesen.
Landa (2001:111) anota otra fiesta que involucraba infantes y que se llevaba
a cabo en el mes de Yaxkin; en esta fiesta se untaba con betn azul los
instrumentos de todos los oficios, desde (los) del sacerdote hasta los husos de las
mujeres. Juntaban a los nios del pueblo y les daban unos golpecitos en l as
coyunturas de las manos para que saliesen expertos oficiales en los oficios de sus
padres y madres (Figura 4).
Villanueva y Prieto (2009) han destacado que no se encuentra en la relacin
de Landa mencin alguna del hetzmek, por lo que sugieren cautela al considerarlo
una ceremonia de origen prehispnico, aunque no niegan la posibilidad. Por otro
lado, estas autoras subrayan que, si bien el hetzmek es a veces concebido como
210
una especie de bautismo, es distinto del caputzihil tanto por la edad de los
infantes como por el significado y la relacin con el ciclo de vida, ya que este
ltimo era requerido para el casamiento. En una mencin mucho ms reciente
sobre el hetzmek, Hernndez (en Pinto y Santana, 1995: 173), en 1846, anota que
Para esto ponen alguna mesa con algn potaje en ella, y el padrino da a su
alrededor nueve vueltas con el nio en la cadera y en seguida le ponen en las
manos, cuando es hembra, un huso, una aguja y los tiles con que hilan las
mantas (Figura 5), mientras que, de tratarse de un varn, seala el mismo autor,
se le pona en las manos un jacha, un machete y todos los instrumentos que
debe usar cuando grande.
Comparando con el Mxico Central, Joyce (2000a, 2000b, 2006) mostr que
los nios aztecas eran presentados al nacer como materias primas, como piedras o
plumas preciosas que seran convertidas en ornamentos, y el contexto de
transformacin eran los rituales del ciclo vital. Uno de estos rituales es el que
hemos mencionado previamente para Yucatn, la colocacin del cordn umbilical
del beb de acuerdo con su gnero, en el fogn si era nia y en el campo de
batalla si era varn. Joyce (2000a) destaca de la informacin de Sahagn que, a
las palabras dichas al beb durante su primer bao ritual se aadan objetos
especficos; para los nios, pequeos escudos, arcos y flechas, mientras que a las
nias se les daba malacates y husos.
Cabe mencionar que algunas fuentes tambin muestran diferencias de
gnero en los rituales funerarios; visitas pastorales del siglo XVIII de los puebl os
de Tixcacalcupul, Uayma y Tixcacaltuyub anotan la colocacin de objetos en las
sepulturas, sealando el depsito de agujas en el caso de las mujeres y de
machetes y hachas para los hombres. En Bolonchenticul, por otro lado, se refiere
que en los rezos del rosario para los difuntos se pona una camisa, hacha y
machete en caso de varones y un huipil, fustn, husos y algodn en el caso de
mujeres (Medina Surez y Fernndez Souza, 2013).
La evidencia arqueolgica de rituales relacionados con la infancia, el ciclo
de vida y el gnero son ms elusivos; sin embargo s existen algunos indicios.
Joyce (1993) anota que en algunas figurillas, nios pequeos aparecen desnudos,
usando slo un pendiente, recordando las observaciones de Landa acerca de la
carencia de vestimenta de los infantes antes del bautismo.
Algunos entierros ofrecen valiosa informacin: en Yaxun, Ardren (2002: 76)
anota que Each juvenile female (n=7) was found with a marine shell pendant in
the pelvic area lo cual tambin puede contrastarse con el capultzihil . Trachman y
Valdez (2006) comparan los datos de Yaxun con enterramientos de Cuello y
Dancer Household Group en Belice, sugiriendo cierta continuidad en la prctica
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especfica de colocar ornamentos relacionados con gnero para nios, desde el
Preclsico hasta la poca en que Landa refiri el caputzihil.
Por otro lado, para el mbito colonial, con base en un anlisis sobre entierros
en sitios como Xcaret, Tip, Copanaguastla y Osumacinta, Garca Targa
(2007:307) identifica que los nios menores de diez aos eran colocados fuera de
los espacios prominentes de las iglesias, lo cual atribuye al hecho de que en
realidad no eran miembros de pleno derecho de la nueva sociedad; este autor
refiere igualmente al caputzihil como el rito a travs del cual el individuo formara
ya parte ntegra de la sociedad.
Adicionalmente, informacin epigrfica muestra que los casos de
gobernantes que accedieron al trono a temprana edad lo hicieron alrededor de los
doce aos, como fue el caso de Aj Wosal de Naranjo y de Kinich Janab Pakal de
Palenque; acerca de esto, Ardren (2006:14, 15) sugiere que this pattern indicates
something vital about the perception of status transformation and adulthood.
Discusin y consideraciones
Es posible plantear que existe una larga y temporalmente profunda presencia de
rituales que corresponden al ciclo de vida entre comunidades yucatecas, mismos
que se orientan tanto a la edad como a la identidad de gnero. Joyce (2000,
2000a, 2000b, 2006), analizando fuentes histricas del Altiplano Central y
yucatecas, identifica fases del ciclo de vida cuyos pasos eran acompaados por
rituales especficos, as como por cambios en la indumentaria y el adorno. Para el
caso de Yucatn, y con base en la relacin de Landa, Joyce (2006:286) anota que:
From four to five days after birth, following the first bath, through the three
days of life, children were provided with gender-specific ornaments but
otherwise wore no adult clothing (). At about age three, children underwent
a ritual called second birth in Yucatec (caput sihil) that was compared to
Christian baptism (). At this ritual, children participated in ritual for the first
time and were disciplined by their elders, also apparently for the first time.
Children ages 4-5, who would have recently gone through this ritual,
reportedly began to wear versions of adult clothing and began to use the name
they had inherit from their fathers (). The ritual of the second birth was a
prerequisite for marriage and was supposedly carried out at the latest by age
twelve.
Encontramos coincidencias entre lo anterior y lo que planteaba Villa Rojas a

mediados del siglo XX (1978): es a la edad de tres aos que los nios dejan de
estar estrictamente junto a sus madres. Actualmente, es a esta edad que los
pequeos inician el jardn de nios, comenzando de esta manera un tipo distinto
de socializacin a travs de la educacin formal. Otro cambio significativo pudo
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haber ocurrido entre los siete y los nueve aos; Villa Rojas (1978) seala esta
edad como el momento en el que las diferencias entre los nios y las nias se
acentan: los nios se orientan ms hacia la cacera y el monte, y las nias hacia
la casa y las tareas femeninas, adems de que se hacen ms pudorosas. Es
relevante anotar que es alrededor de los 8 aos que los nios aztecas
comenzaban tambin a incorporarse a tareas de ayuda laboral, segn el gnero, a
sus mayores (Joyce 2000a). Landa, para esta edad y antes del bautismo, ya nota
las diferencias de gnero reflejadas en la vestimenta, a travs de la cuenta y la
concha. Ardren (2006) organiza las diferencias en tres etapas de alrededor de
cuatro aos: desde que el beb nace hasta que llegan los hermanitos; de los tres
o cuatro aos hasta los nueve, cuando los nios se van diferenciando claramente
en sus tareas por gnero, y a partir de los doce, when young people assumed
adult levels of responsibility and began to form their own identities apart from
their families (Ardren 2006:9).
En el caso de Sih y otras localidades yucatecas contemporneas, es
importante destacar que el papel del ritual en la transmisin de los valores
culturales, en este caso involucrando identidad y roles de gnero, comienza desde
muy temprano, ya que la colocacin del cordn umbilical, el hetzmek y la retrica
con objetos relacionados con un gnero especfico ocurren a partir del nacimiento
y hasta los pocos meses de nacido.
Conclusiones
Se trata de ceremonias con participacin de un nmero importante de gente,
sobre todo familiares, e involucra aquello que la comunidad espera y desea para
los pequeos. Sin embargo, es importante destacar que, como hemos mencionado
lneas arriba, en comunidades yucatecas contemporneas la importancia otorgada
a la escuela hace que los nios y nias se distancien, o al menos retrasen la edad,
de actividades que sus padres y abuelos comenzaron a desempear ms
tempranamente (Figura 6). A pesar de esto ltimo, la consistencia en los tipos de
ritual y su relacin con el ciclo de vida sugieren, a pesar de todas las diferencias,
la long dure mesoamericana (Ardren, 2006:9; Joyce, 2000a) que se manifiesta
en formas de socializacin que involucran objetos y actividades especficos
determinados por el gnero y que coadyuvan en la construccin de la identidad de
los nios y nias.
En el mundo mesoamericano y maya en particular, prehispnico y colonial,
fuentes e investigadores muestran tendencias (desde luego con excepciones) a
que las mujeres se dedicaran a labores relacionadas con la elaboracin de
alimentos, el cuidado de los nios, la crianza de animales domsticos y la
elaboracin de textiles, mientras que los hombres estaban ms orientados hacia
213
tareas como la siembra, la cacera, el juego de pelota o la guerra (Joyce, 1993,
2000, 2000a; Landa, 2001; Rodrguez-Shadow, 2007; Pool y Hernndez, 2007;
Restall, 1995). Existe tambin coincidencia de estudiosos que subrayan el carcter
complementario de tales actividades (Clendinnen, 1982; Joyce, 1993; Restall,
1995) incluso en contextos rituales como la cueva de Balankanch, cuya presencia
de metates y malacates hace proponer a Vail y Hernndez (2013) la
representacin de la diosa Chakchel complementando el papel de Chak.
En el caso especfico del hetzmek, las variaciones observadas hoy en da en
Yucatn incluyen la colocacin tradicional de objetos de labranza y cacera para los
nios y objetos de cocina para las nias; pero tambin se encuentra la entrega de
un cuaderno y un lpiz para ambos gneros, como fue observado en
Kankabdzonot y Sih y como mencionan Tuz Chi (2009) y Villanueva y Prieto
(2009), as como juguetes que imitan laptops o telfonos celulares. Lo que
encontramos es que hay una tendencia conservadora ante el sentido de la
ceremonia, pero una flexibilidad hacia lo que se desea, se otorga y se espera de
los nios en sus comunidades y en su futuro. Y es esta flexibilidad la que permite
la duracin de la tradicin. Es importante destacar que los cambios son
sumamente variados segn las comunidades y regiones y es difcil anticipar qu
papel tendr la educacin formal a travs de la escuela en la preservacin o no de
las prcticas rituales. Pero de lo que no cabe duda es que la vanguardia terica de
Rosemary Joyce as como sus propuestas agudas y retadoras y su amplia visin
temporal formarn parte fundamental de la discusin futura.
214
Figuras
Figura 1. San Antonio Sih, Yucatn; rea central de la comunidad (Fotografa por
L. Fernndez Souza)
Figura 2. Koben, fogn de tres piedras (Fotografa por L. Fernndez Souza)
215
Figura 3. El baile de las cintas en la Telesecundaria Benemrito de las Amricas
en Sih (Fotografa por L. Fernndez Souza)
Figura 4. El hmen don Juan con su ayudante, su nieto Panchito. Ceremonia en

Sih (Fotografa por Lilia Fernndez Souza)
216
Figura 5. Malacates para hilado provenientes del sitio arqueolgico de Sih,
aledao a la comunidad contempornea (Fotografa por L. Fernndez Souza)
Figura 6. Doa Rosa en la preparacin de pozole con coco y tablillas de chocolate,

en Sih (Fotografa por L. Fernndez Souza).
217
Referencias citadas
Alonzo Farfn, Ceydi Patricia, Identidad juvenil y percepcin de los jvenes
rurales, en Investigacin y Sociedad 2. Globalizacin, procesos polticos, gnero y
educacin en el Sureste de Mxico, Jorge Pacheco Castro, Jos A. Lugo Prez,
Leticia Paredes Guerrero y Lizbeth Tzuc Canch (Eds.), Mrida, Universidad
Autnoma de Yucatn, 2006, pp. 122-149.
Ardren, Traci, Death Became Her: Images of Female Power from Yaxun Burials,
en Ancient Maya Women, Traci Ardren (Ed.), Walnut Creek, Altamira Press, 2002,
pp. 68-88.
_____________ Setting the Table: Why Children and Childhood Are Important in
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222
Fertility: A Place-based Gift to Groups
Cheryl Claassen
Introduction
In various publications Dr. Rosemary Joyce has examined sexuality, fertility,
gender, dress and gender performance not only in the Maya area but also broadly
across Old and New World cases ( e.g. Joyce, 2008). It is fertility that connects the
two arenas of sex and gender, and fertility is the starting point for Dr. Joyces book
Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives. Babies, mothers, and fertility are rarely the subjects
of archaeological investigation showing the pathbreaking thinking of Dr. Joyce (see
also Bolen, 1992; Claassen, 1992, 2011, 2013; Finley, 2013).
However, babies, mothers, and fertility were key figures in and key concerns
of their societies. We know from native and ethnographic accounts that much
medicine was directed at womens health and fertility, that calendar priests and
midwives were consulted about fates of newborns and appropriate dates for
birthing, naming, and bathing ceremonies, that women in several matrilineal
societies practiced seclusion during menses and birth, that much calendrically-
based ritual was directed at renewal of species and kin, and much personal ritual
was directed at womens and mens fertility and longevity of family (through
generations) using recently dead (womens concern) and long dead (mens
concern) ancestors (Marcus, 1998, 12; Rodrguez-Shadow, 2000).
Stages for fertility rites and their associated mnemonic devices are just
coming to the attention of archaeologists in northern North America. These include
rockshelter menstrual retreats such as Newt Kash Hollow, Kentucky (Claassen,
2011), an outdoor girls initiation place at the bleeding rock area known as Blood
of the Ancestors Grotto in southern Illinois (Stelle, 2012), bedrock mortars with
petroglyphs and pictographs on the Kentucky and Tennessee Cumberland Plateau
(Ison, 2004) and boys initiations in Mammoth Cave (Crothers, 2012). In addition,
shells and fetal animals were probably often used in fertility and renewal petitions
(Claassen, 2008, 2010).
These examples of fertility rites hint at the connection of fertility to places,
even landscapes. In Mexico, modern fertility petitioning rites and rain-callings
make it obvious that fertility is sought in places, and is derived from places (see
Rodrguez-Shadow y Shadow, 2002; Barba, 1993). In this article, I will offer
information about modern fertility petitioning in places within the Mexican states of
Guerrero, Mexico, and Morelos (addressing ahuahque, Jesus, or god). Many of
these places probably have been utilized for hundreds of years, if not more. I will
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begin with an annotation of these places and then pass on to a discussion of
fertility as a group concern.
Fertility, a place-based concept

Some landscape features were known to be the homes of earth deities and spirits
particularly approachable by humans with their fertility concerns. When such a
place was/is discovered, it was likely to have attracted generations of petitioners
(see Moya, 2013; Barba, 1998; Rodrguez-Shadow, 2003).
Caves and terrestrial water sources (springs, waterfalls, sinkholes, lakes)
were often places where the underworld deities -those responsible for new life-
could be accessed directly. Terrestrial water was feminine. Celestial water was
masculine, specifically delivered by Tlaloc whose home was a Mt. Tlaloc, east of
Mexico City. Aztecs made live offerings of babies and children to Tlaloc from
several mountain tops in months during the dry season, but the most elaborate of
these petitions was held from April 26 to mid-May and particularly May 1-3 (Broda,
1998). Fertilization was thought to occur when male rain mixed with the feminine
terrestrial waters and feminine earth and after humans had made numerous
reciprocal offerings of blood and earthly delights.
There is much about modern fertility petitioning in Guerrero, Mexico, and
Morelos states that would be familiar to the student of Aztec practices (see
Rodrguez-Shadow y Campos Rodrguez, 2010). Some of the people who engage in
fertility petitioning today still speak variants of Nahuatl language (Guerrero), in
fact, but others no longer do (Morelos), although most live in pueblos carrying
Nahuatl names. Over the past five years I have participated in rain calling
petitioning, and over the course of a decade I have visited several fertility shrines
some numerous times gathering information through observation and
conversation. The variety of places for rain-calling is impressive and extremely
instructional for those studying ancient landscapes.
Mountaintop petitioning
For the villages located in the Rio Balsas region of Guerrero mountaintops are the
most common places for petitioning rain/fertility today (Figure 1). These
mountaintops are typically north of the tributary pueblo and afford a view of the
active volcano Popocatepetl still further to the north. The fact that these
mountains are chosen to afford a view beyond them to a volcano suggests that
these mountains are actually altar mountains, a concept I borrow from Vincent
Scullys (1989) discussion of the Southwest Puebloan landscape, and that their
location to the north of the tribute village is accidental. In the cases that I know of,
these shrines are neither on the highest mountain visible nor the highest mountain
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accessible. Altar mountains allow for a village-dwelling population to make the
necessary sacrifices and present their petition while not exhausting the pilgrims or
the sponsors. The activities and offerings at these shrines are just enough to
deposit the petition that will be carried to the deity via vultures, smoke, prayer,
sound, and odor.
The three mountaintop shrines that I have visited are Mishuehue, north of
San Agustin Oapan (2009), the mountain shrine for Acatlan (2012), and Tepec,
north of Ameyaltepec (2013). The walk to the first two shrine locations took 4.5
and 5.5 hours respectively, while the donkey ride up Tepec took a little more than
1 hour.
The trek to Mishuehue began for me in the village of Oapan the morning of
May 1 where I first joined a large group of women preparing the food in a feast
kitchen (outdoors) to be carried to the shrine. Food, water, pulque, mescal, 2-liter
bottles of Coca Cola, bags of cooked tamales, plucked chickens, firewood, delicate
beeswax candles, leis of marigolds, bundles of gladiolas, large cooking vats,
styrofoam plates and cups, incensarios, and more had to be packed on horses and
burros and ported to the top of the mountain late that afternoon. The shrine spot
was higher still and all of the items then had to be hand carried along a
treacherous, narrow path on the side of the rocky promontory overlooking the Rio
Balsas valley directly below and beyond (Goode, 2001a).
The actual shrine was a rectangular stacked-stone altar with two embedded
crosses. When I arrived at the shrine, as the sun set, both crosses had been
dressed in silk clothing and encircled with leis and gladiolas in vases. Two young
women got on top of the altar and laid out a cloth, then received and placed
numerous slices of watermelon, liters of coke, the mole offering, and bread rolls
(Figure 2). On the ground, at the base of the altar, were dozens of white votive
and skinny orange beeswax candles, and clay incensarios. The white painted rocks
of the shrine had long ago been blackened by candle smoke. Six decorated bowls
made in the village, each the remnant of a previous rain calling, lay stacked upside
down at the back of the altar.
The petition also employed the readings by a male cantor using the Book of
Common Prayer, and five women who responded and sang on cue. The pilgrims
sat and at times knelt on the bedrock surface and chanted or sang when
appropriate, but the ritual specialist did most of the talking and conducted the
ceremony in Spanish until midnight. The pilgrims repositioned themselves, food
and alcohol were passed around, and conversations were held in muted tones in
Nahuatl. It began to sprinkle, and a terrific wind came up lasting for over three
hours. Throughout the night bottle rockets were hand held and lighted,
reverberating over the valleys below us on either side of the precipice serving up
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thunder and lightning simultaneously. Periodically we could hear the explosions of
bottle rockets sent from other mountain top shrines along the Rio Balsas valley.
The rain got more serious.
The ceremony resumed around 1 a.m. on May 2nd and lasted until first light.
The assembly disbanded, women began cooking coffee and warming tamales, and
the men concentrated on exploding the remaining bottle rockets as dawn broke.
Throughout the night men and women had taken turns reviving the incense,
walking the incensarios around the altar, reseating the candles, and renewing the
candle supply.
As the ritual specialist rested in front of the altar on the stone pavement, a
man and woman set about dismantling the offering. Caf de olla, mescal, colas,
breads, watermelon, oranges, and tamales -most taken from the altar-were
distributed to all with a greater proportion given to the specialist. People began to
carry items down the precipice and over to their equines and then descend the
mountain. As my Nahua friend and painter Marcial Camilo Ayala told me during our
descent that this ceremony had occurred not only throughout his lifetime but also
that of his parents and grandparents. However, the altar location had been
changed since he last had attended.
The rain-calling rites of the village of Acatlan begin early on the morning of
May 2 with an arduous pilgrimage traversing two mountains. Along the way are
eighteen way marker stacked stone shrines, each with a cross, drawing the
pilgrims attention and offerings. Most of these altars occupy rock outcroppings but
one of them is at a red and black streaked cliff face. The braided path passes
through limestone country with fossils visible in rocks and empty tree snail shells,
broken bits of gladiolas or marigolds petals along the path.
The shrine for the village of Acatlan is not only more distant that that of
Oapans but is significantly larger. Three big stacked stone altars, each with a huge
cross laden with leis and clothing, occupy one end of a meeting ground, and the
middle and opposite end of the ground are the stages for dances and for tiger
fights, roofed by stretched cut plastic streamers. The color scheme for the
streamers was red, white, and green, and each cross sported a Mexican flag
(Figure 3). A priest was present for a short period before the dancing began.
Vendors set up outside the dance ground.
As people arrived, including a few foreigners, many of them knelt before one
of the altars, prayed, lit candles, placed flower offerings at the base of the crosses
and the base of the altars, milled around, or found a stitch of shade. A cooking
area and chicken plucking area had been established below two trees to the side
of the altars. Bottle rockets were ignited throughout the day.
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With the arrival of two tigers (men and boys dressed in orange wearing
paper mache helmets with faces meant to be fearsome) carrying a limb of a
prescribed flowering tree, the other part of the rain-calling began, the dancing and
tiger fights. (These fights are not to be confused with the more famous rain calling
tiger fights of the neighboring town of Zitlala that take place on the fifth of May in
the town square.) Groups of spectators and fighters with their assistants formed
rings around pairs of boys dressed in tiger helmets and wearing boxing gloves who
hit away at each other until they were stopped, in an effort to draw a blood
offering to Jesus for rain.
Meanwhile the individual activities at the altars coalesced into a single ritual in
which a native specialist read from the Book of Common Prayer with his team of
women respondents. Over in the cook area several men and women brought out
pristine maguey leaves, created rope cradles for them, and then filled them with a
cooked chicken and tamales. Ten of these offerings were carried into the upper
branches of the trees over the cook station and secured for the vulture
messengers who serve Jesus and would transport the meat offering, and one was
placed on each altar (Figure 4).
After the rituals were complete and most of the fighters exhausted (although
a single ring carried on), one of the crosses was removed from its altar requiring
about fifteen men, and then slowly paraded (because of its weight and the density
of the crowd) around the circumference of the meeting ground. Spectators
strained to rub a breast against the cross, kissed the cross, held babies against it,
and hung leis over it. With great effort it was eventually reseated in its altar and
many of the spectators left the event.
The people of Ameyaltepec, like Acatlan, call rain for a single day during
daylight, but unlike the other two villages, they have built a chapel (Figure 5) on
the top of Tepec mountain, the nearest to the village (Good, 2001a). Well after the
pilgrims had arrived at the peak, decorated the altar and crosses, set up a food
preparation area and a bottle rocket stand, and claimed seats inside (women only)
or outside, a small group including three ritual specialists entered the ceremonial
ground carrying a litter with a boxed image of the Virgin Pascalita. This image was
placed on the altar, and the doors opened to reveal her. A two hour ceremony
commenced inside of the chapel during which the cantors rotated speaking and
song leading responsibilities using the Rezo del Santo Rosario and the Cantos
sagrados populares (1957) books. Women sat on the floor and along the side
benches, and the men and boys either watched over the half-walls of the chapel or
played in the rocks. There were food and drink to purchase but when the
ceremony ended, plates of free food were served to all.
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The peak of Tepec and the chapel siting allow for a view across northeastern
Guerrero and the volcano Popocatepetl. While I awaited the ceremony, a group of
boys and young men insisted that I come hunt for jumiles (bugs) with them, so we
climbed down the face of the mountain a ways and hunted jumiles in the crevices
of the rocks. The tools of choice were either a stick stuck into a narrow crevice to
which the jumiles clung and could be extracted, or an arm or hand. At the top of
the path we had clambered down, at the edge of the peak and in the center of the
view of distant mountains was a striking rock formation, a starbust of boulders
with a central vertical pillar rock and encircling rocks creating a basin at the base
of the pillar. Surely this formation had once attracted ritual attention, although in
2013 it was ignored.
Sinkhole
The rites held on May 1-2 at Ostotempan are sponsored by the village of Atliaca
(Good, 2001b). I came to Atliaca as one of twenty-eight people in a van from the
three hour distant village of Ahuehuepan. Mid-afternoon on May 1, 2010, in
Atliaca, I observed the procession of the offerings to be taken to Ostotempan, into
the Catholic church on the plaza for blessing by a priest. Aztec dancers from
Mexico City led the procession and there followed a large group of women each
carrying a lei of marigolds, a ceramic cup, and a roll, then a large group of women
and men, each carrying a covered basket with leis, and then a large group of men
each with tumpline and heavy wicker basket (Figure 6). These individuals would
later walk about four hours with these offerings and supplies to the sinkhole
arriving at midnight in a procession with mounted men, a large cross, and several
music bands. My van drove on another 2.5 hours sometimes on tracks, sometimes
bushwacking.
A scrub oak campground existed on one half of the huge, deep sinkhole.
Pilgrims from twenty-eight Nahua villages began arriving as early as April 26 to
prepare the site, to gather the hearts of maguey plants that would be offered, to
dress their village cross and to make their own offerings into the sinkhole. The
events and offerings of May 2 were exclusively those sponsored by and permitted
by the host village of Atliaca. There were no vendors present.
When our van arrived in the early evening of May 1 a group of young girls
dressed like brides were singing and slow stepping into the chapel. Two such
groups would dance unceasingly for the next fourteen hours. We set up camp next
to the Atliaca campsite, which itself was next to the chapel. At several nearby
campsites, large chunks of maguey plants, the core striped of leaves and hollowed
out, hung suspended from trees. Much of the space allotted to the Atliaca camp
was devoted to cookfires, crates of supplies, food preparation, stacked firewood
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and animated cooks. On the other side of our camp was that of the fireworks
stand builders who were busily tying firecrackers to the framework of a castillo, or
tower of fireworks.
Around the sinkhole, whose bottom cannot be seen, were twenty-eight
crosses, one per village, each dressed, and as night came on, increasingly
festooned with offerings of food (chocolate, breads and coffee) and flowers. Fires
burned at each cross throughout the night and numerous other fires burned at
campsites. Bottle rockets were continually shot into the sinkhole causing a huge
reverberation. Mescal and tequila were liberally offered and consumed. While the
girls danced and sang a foreboding tune, other groups of male dancers performed
and the chapel itself filled with duplicate crosses, flowers and candles that
increasingly took up the floor space. Many women passed the entire night in the
chapel contemplating and praying, and many also slept on the floor.
The foot and mounted pilgrims from Atliaca arrived around 12:30 a.m. on
May 2nd, passing between lines of spectators who then fell in behind the pilgrims
to accompany the offerings and cross to the chapel. Around 5 a.m. the fireworks
stand was erected in front of the chapel, men danced around it and it was ignited.
With dawn a line of offerings to be blessed began to form in front of the chapel
and women began to transform the floor of the chapel into tables and individual
settings outlined with marigold leis. The blessing occurred about 8 a.m., and a
subsequent line of people formed up outside the chapel then circumambulated the
sinkhole in counterclockwise direction led by the dancing girls, ritual specialists,
and the mayordomo, stopping at each cross. As the procession neared the chapel
people scattered around the sinkhole looking for a vantage point to watch the
offering ceremony. Those carrying offerings to be tossed into the sink formed
another line behind the chapel at the edge of the sink. Armed men policed
everything.
The ceremony on the morning of May 2 nd consisted of the mayordomo
receiving every offering, extending it in the four directions two times praying and
passing it on to the ritual specialist who repeated the actions while speaking, and
who then tossed the live chicken, turkey, or other offering into the sink. The
concluding acts were the offering of nine hearts of maguey, filled with mole,
mescal, and turkey, decorated with beeswax candles and smothered in marigolds,
laboriously carried on poles by four men groups to the edge of the sink and slid
over the rim. People returned to campsites, made breakfast, and broke camp by
11 a. m..
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Springs
Springs (and wells) are also venerated as places to petition rain, but in the
Acatlan-Zitlala area these rites are privately conducted by groups of male
tigers. Public rain-callings at springs, however, are conducted by specialists in
the surroundings of San Andres de la Cal in the state of Morelos, between
Tepotzlan and Cuernavaca (Peralta, 2010; Ruiz Rivera, 2001).
For a number of years the annual rain calling petitions at springs and caves
around San Andres have occurred on one day in May (in 2012 and 2013 these
were May 16 and May 17 respectively). The festivities for that day began in the
yard of a municipal building where the sacred bundles were assembled around 6
a.m., then thoroughly incensed and tied up in linen. Around 8 a.m. a procession of
the ritual specialists, their assistants carrying the bundles, and the family of the
mayordomo moved from the yard to a church where they and all pilgrims
assembled for a priest to bless them and the sacred bundles. The pilgrims
separated outside into three groups around 9 a.m., each with its own specialist.
The pilgrims were townspeople but also visitors from other towns and cities, many
attending for the first time. An old woman ritual specialist and a young woman
specialist led two of the groups, and both were assisted by other adults at each
stop although the assistants varied from place to place.
Over a four-hour period in 2013 eleven springs and caves were collectively
visited by the three groups; an altar was created, and a sacred bundle was
emptied at each place. Surprisingly, many of the offerings were plastic items
-water creatures including snakes and frogs, a male and female Barbie doll - but
also fruits, cigarettes, mole, pulque in Coke bottles, and a plastic flute played by
the specialist (Figure 7). They were placed upon red, white, and green crepe paper
(reference to the Mexico flag colors and the state in general) laid out at the foot of
a tree, between the roots of a tree, on boards across rocks, or simply nestled
against rocks. Broken items from previous years offerings could often be seen,
indicating that the location for the offerings and rites was not randomly chosen.
The young specialist leading the group I traveled with did not speak Nahuatl and
asked if anyone could offer prayers in Nahuatl at each stop. No one volunteered
until the final stop. We visited four springs including one at the town water
reservoir, and one cave.
While the groups were out in the country, dozens of women were in town
preparing the feast to follow the return of the pilgrims. A yard was the scene of
numerous cook fires, boiling aluminum vats, stacks of firewood, and tables loaded
with raw masa and surrounded by volunteer tamales makers. The last group
returned to town around 2 p.m., having visited two distant caves and consisted of
more men than women.
230
Rockshelter/Cave
The tigers of Acatlan, festoon several rock features in the Olmec cave of
Oxtotitlan with candles and leis of marigolds in the first days of May. On May 5 th
they walked together to the cave, built an altar, and conducted a short rite. Caves
were once apparently the main focus for petitioning rain and foretelling weather by
the specialists of San Andres de la Cal (Grigsby, 1986), although several of the
cave names he mentions are now associated with springs and share equal
attention with springs.
One petitions at caves for fertility not just in the form of rain but also in the
form of human pregnancy. Perhaps the most often visited rockshelter for
pregnancy petitioning is that beside the chapel-in-the-cave above the Chalma
church of St. Michael (Figure 8). Hundreds of baggies with umbilical cords, baby
socks, baby shoes, and photos of children hang from crevices in the indented rock
or the small tree in front of it. These items are removed periodically and burned,
perhaps unknowingly completing the offering.
Caves and rockshelters are also places for leaving offerings at a Wixarika
childs naming ceremony:
After five days of life, the family prepares for the naming ceremony of the
newborn. The father takes offerings including votive arrows hung with thread
crosses to the sacred places of particular gods as instructed by the shaman and
returns with bottles of sacred water from these shrinessome of these
special places are located in the vast cave complex known as Teekata, in the
region of Santa Catarina: 1) the house of children, 2) the home of Niweit+ka
goddess of birth, 3) the god house of Ut+anaka the earth goddess, 4) and the
cave of Takutsi Nakawe Grandmother Growth are the usual places (Schaefer,
2002:95).
The offerings of umbilical cords, baby socks, and offerings made at a naming
ceremony may strike the reader as something other than fertility petitions, but in
fact, fertility is seen and demonstrated in descendants. Birthing a child is just the
start of petitions to keep the child alive and healthy.
Cyprus trees
Cyprus trees of the species Taxodium mucronatum , known in Nahuatl as
ahuehuetes or in Zapoteco as tules occur at water sources, often with water
flowing to the surface through their roots. Several ahuehuetes are still venerated,
and several others frame Catholic pilgrimage churches, suggesting the reason for
the church.
231
Tixtlas Virgen de la Natividad church is squeezed between two large
ahuehuete trees with several more in the yard in front of the church (Figure 9). It
is no accident that a Catholic shrine to the virgin birth would be established amidst
a cluster of trees revered as fertility symbols. Every May 30 th pilgrims come to the
church to participate in the procession of the virgins image through decorated
pavement passing under flower laden ramadas and past city fountains and wells
reminding one of the sacredness of water.
Another sacred ahuehuete is the famous tree of Tule in Oaxaca, said to be
the largest tree in the world. Although no offerings make the fertility symbolism
obvious, while I was staring at the tree I was approached by a woman who
volunteered that if its branches were rubbed against a womans body, it would
make her pregnant. It is a miraculous tree, she told me repeatedly.
Yet another ahuehuete that is sought out for fertility petitions is that in the
town of Ocuilan, on one pilgrimage path to Chalma (Figure 10). Again baggies with
umbilical cords, photos of children, crucifixes, baby socks, and shoes hang from
the fence surrounding the tree and from the few limbs that are within reach. A
tremendous quantity of water issues from its roots.
These examples should convince the reader that fertility is and surely was in
the distant past, a place-based concept. Repetitive use of places leads to
permanent facilities, which constitute shrines (see Shadow y Rodrguez-Shadow,
1994). Although these shrines may be visited only a few days a year for
preparation and rites, the paths to all of them are used far more frequently to
access fields, firewood, and other communities. In the next section, I will focus on
the other points raised at the start of this essay, that fertility is a group enterprise
for all, not just for women, and not even just for young women, and that fertility is
viewed as a gift from deities.
Fertility as group practice and concern

The descriptions of rites given above contain many examples of the activities
required to petition for fertility and the lengths to which individuals but clearly
more importantly, groups are willing to go to seek it. Table 1 offers information
about various characteristics of the fertility rites. There are a few other points
about these petitions that I will highlight now.
We err, I have erred, in thinking that fertility is solely the concern and
burden of women and is derived from within the individual. Instead, native peoples
are/were aware that fertility is given to humans by a rain or earth deity/spirit or a
Christian god, and given not only to individuals but also to groups.
These groups are variable in size. The rites at Mishuehue involved about
thirty-five pilgrims at the shrine and probably several more at the feast kitchen
232
who did not make the trek. The pilgrims to the cave of Oxtotitlan were eighteen
young men tigers accompanied by two women. But the rites of Acatlan and
Atliaca attracted more than 500 people each, throughout the age spectrum and
seemingly equal numbers of men and women. Over 120 people from Ameyaltepec
walked to the top of Tepec, seventy-seven of them women.
While no longer framed in terms of fertility, the May 3 rd Day of the Cross
events also are community affairs. I have been told by women while attending two
of these observations (one at Acuitlapan, Guerrero at a mountain top shrine
overlooking the village) that this was a day for calling rain, and thus in some cases
the rites are still considered fertility rites by some. The event at Acuitlapan is
heavily populated by school children and their mothers, perhaps reminding only
me of the Aztec role for children in the rites.
Group support for fertility petitioning is seen not only in the number of
pilgrims but also in the mayordomo system. Village elders request a respected
couple to sponsor (organize and supply) these events, and an agreement in at
least San Andres de la Cal entails a three year commitment by the couple. The
elders and the couple arrange for the rain calling on behalf of the entire
community including those absent from the community.
As the reader can see, men are as involved in these fertility rites as are
women. I observed men cutting and hauling firewood, doing path and altar
maintenance, wrangling equines and packing them, processing heavy crosses,
climbing into the tops of trees to hang offerings, wearing airless jaguar/tiger
helmets and suits for hours, suffering punches and lashes, dancing in the middle of
the night, carrying heavy baskets with offerings or delicate leis and bunches of
gladiolas up steep mountains, carrying full water cans on foot, trekking up
mountains in spite of severe leg pain, reading out loud for hours while on their
knees, and bicycling for days to reach a shrine.
And elderly women, well beyond childbearing, often carried out essential
tasks and rites, not the least of which was preparing ample food for the offerings
and the pilgrims. Like men, elderly women also wish to secure for themselves not
only a family but also a lineage. Elderly women were the response group for the
cantors at each of these events, they were essential in the feast kitchen activities,
and they spent large proportions of time praying in the chapel at Ostotempan. The
oldest ritual specialist of them all, was the woman who led one group of pilgrims to
springs around San Andres de la Cal (Figure 7).
Broda (2003) states that as a result of the Spanish colonization process,
these rites for calling rain passed from the purview of the Aztec state into peasant
households where they were conducted as acts of identity and resistance.
Regardless of who conducted the rites, fertility of the fields, success of maize,
233
other plants, and animals, as well as the continuation of family lineages and
communities were the responsibility of groups of people engaging in dozens of
activities carried out over the entire calendar, all directed at petitioning the deities
and spirits in a reciprocal exchange relationship. In exchange for past fertility we
offer these items that please you in hopes that you will continue to bless us with
fertility (maize, deer, land, and babies). Fertility was/is the concern of everyone,
each person responsible for right actions toward deities and particularly of
community leaders who pass on the cargo and accept the cargo of petitioning. It
was/is a gift derived from the Other World.
Conclusion
As a place-based, feature creating, and artifact/ecofact using concept, fertility is
clearly within the domain of archaeologists. We have encountered these shrines in
caves and sinkholes in Mesoamerica but many other shrines are quite subtle.
Landscape archaeologists should be alert to their possible existence on mountain
tops, at ojos de agua, springs, and wherever there are ancient ahuehuete trees.
These rites and their places also have implications for archaeological
interpretations. For instance, the concept of commensals, animals that are
accidentally incorporated into a faunal collection -the frogs, lizards, snakes, snail
shells, voles and bats- may in fact be present intentionally as fertility referents or
elements in a ritual. For the scholar interested in gendered archaeology, ironically,
fertility, the bridge between biological sex and social gender, melds men and
women, and coheres groups. These rites take us away from a specific focus on
women and young women. The lessons I have learned from modern fertility
petitioning and I hope to have demonstrated in the brief descriptions given above,
especially that fertility is place-based for groups petitioning a deity for this gift,
were anticipated in several elements by Rosemary Joyce. I look forward to her
continued writing about fertility.
234
Figures
Table 1. Elements of Rain-Calling Fertility Petitions (numbers = counts; + =
present; - = absent)
Ostotempan Mishuehue Acatlan Tepec San
Places
Andres
Attribute
Sex segregated - - - + -
Cantor +1 +1 + + +
1 3 3
Women respondents - + + + -
Altar+cross + 28 +2 + + -
3 2
Crosses around + 28 - - - -
shrine
Offerings:
Virgin image - - - + -
Coca cola + + - - -
Mescal1 + + - - -
Fruit - + + + +
Marigolds&Glads + + + + -
Cigarettes - + - - +
Mole2 - + + + +
Female+male figs - - - - +
Bottle rockets + + + + +
Incensarios + + + + -
Buzzard helper + + + - -
All night event + + - - -
235
1 Pulque was placed on the altars of San Andres de la Cal and both drinks
were on the altar at Mishuehue.
2 While the custom is turkey in chocolate mole for Rio Balsas villages, at San
Andres green mole with a hardboiled egg was placed on each altar.
Figure 1. Mishuehue Peak (left), Rio Balsas Guerrero (Photo by author).
236
Figure 2. Altar on Mishuehue peak, village of San Agustin Oapan, Guerrero
(photo by author).
Figure 3. Altars at the shrine for Acatlan, Guerrero (photo by author).
237
Figure 4. Meat offerings placed in a tree at the altars for Acatlan for the vulture
messengers (photo by author).
Figure 5. Chapel at Tepec for village of Ameyaltepec, Guerrero, virgin sits

on altar (photo by author).
238
Figure 6. Taking offerings to be blessed in Atliaca, Guerrero (photo by author).
Figure 7. Specialist in a spring near San Andres de la Cal, Morelos (photo by

Marilyn Smith).
239
Figure 8. Umbilical cords, photos, socks and shoes at fertility rockshelter above
San Miguel church, Chalma, Mexico (photo by author).
Figure 9. Ahuehuetes usurped by a Catholic shrine to the virgin birth, Tixtla,

Guerrero (photo by author).
240
Figure 10. Umbilical cords in baggies hung in the branches of an ahuehuete at
Ocuilan, Mexico (photo by author).
241
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Esta compilacin tiene la finalidad de brindar un merecido homenaje a la
Dra. Rosemary Joyce. Por eso, en esta coleccin de ensayos, se han reunido
las aportaciones eruditas de especialistas de diversos pases -Mxico,
Espaa, Estados Unidos e Inglaterra- en las que se ofrecen los resultados de
investigaciones originales que han sido inspiradas en las propuestas
tericas, estrategias metodolgicas y temticas abordadas por la Dra. Joyce.
Los tpicos de investigacin que se presentan constituyen anlisis que
abordan aspectos novedosos y no tratados con anterioridad en el amplio
universo de los estudios arqueolgicos que adoptan un enfoque de gnero.
245

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CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS DE ANTROPOLOGA DE LA MUJER

Ana Esther Koldorf, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina

Los artculos que conforman este libro fueron

Primera edicin, 2013

D. R. Mara Rodrguez-Shadow y Susan Kellogg (Eds.)

CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS DE ANTROPOLOGA DE LA MUJER

Impreso y hecho en Mxico

Diseo e ilustracin de portada: Mtro. Aarn Luna

Primera Parte: El Gnero en Mesoamrica Antigua 17

Los aportes de Rosemary Joyce a la Arqueologa

Sexo, gnero y edad en la obra de Rosemary A. Joyce

Materializando el cuerpo del deseo:

Embodiment, Emotion, and Youthful Death at Chan

Multiproduccin domstica y espacio femenino:

Mesoamerican Bodies in Motion

Feminist Pedagogy: Implications and Practice

Gendering the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh

The Mysterious Mothers of Alva Ixtlilxochitl:

Estudios multidisciplinarios del cuerpo

Embodied Subjectivities within Bioarchaeological

El fogn, el monte y la escuela:

Fertility: A Place-based Gift to Groups

Alejandra Alonso Olvera es Doctora en Arqueologa por la Universidad de

Anna C. Novotny is a PhD student at the Center for Bioarchaeological Research

Cheryl Claassen was influenced by Michael Schiffer as an undergraduate doing a

Cynthia Robin is Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University. Her

Eleanor C. Casella is a specialist on historical and colonial archaeology in

Hannah Cobb is an Instructor in Applied Archaeology at the University of

Hctor Hernndez lvarez. Licenciado en Ciencias Antropolgicas en la

Julie K. Wesp is a PhD Candidate at the University of California, Berkeley under

Lilia Campos Rodrguez es doctora en Sociologa. Profesora invesyigadora en la

Lilia Fernndez Souza es profesora investigadora de la Facultad de Ciencias

Mara J. Rodrguez-Shadow es arqueloga por la Escuela Nacional de

Susan D. Gillespie is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida in

Susan Kellogg is Professor of History and Director of Latin American Studies at

Traci Ardren, doctora en Antropologa por Yale University, actualmente profesora

Wendy Ashmore is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California,

Ernesto Gonzlez Licn

Athens, J.Stephen, Ethnicity and Adaptation: The Late Period-Cara Occupation in

Bawden, Garth, An Archaeological Study of Social Structure and Ethnic

Brady, James E. y Keith M. Prufer, Maya Cave Archaeology: A New Look at

Claessen, Cheryl y Rosemary A. Joyce (Eds.), Women in Prehistory. North America

Joyce, Rosemary A. Performing Gender in Pre-Hispanic Central America:

__________ Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica , Austin, University of

__________ A Precolumbian Gaze: Male Sexuality Among the Ancient Maya , en

__________ Negociating Sex and Gender in Classic Maya Society, en Gender in

__________ Where we all Begin. Archaeologies of Childhood in the Mesoamerican

__________Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives. Sex, Gender, and Archaeology , New

Mrquez, Lourdes y Ernesto Gonzlez Licn, La socializacin de los nios en el

Miano, Marinella, Hombre, mujer y muxe en el Istmo de Tehuantepec , Mxico,

Mara Rodrguez-Shadow y Susan Kellogg

________ Dimensiones simblicas del traje en monumentos clsicos mayas: La

________ Images of Gender and Labor Organization in Classic Maya Society, en

__________ Womens Work: Images of Production and Reproduction in

__________ Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica , Austin, University of

__________ In-between People in Colonial Honduras: Reworking Sexualities at

Mrquez, Lourdes, La investigacin sobre la salud y nutricin en poblaciones

Mrquez, Lourdes y Patricia Hernndez, Los mayas prehispnicos. Balance de

Martin, Emily, The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction,

Prados, Lourdes, La arqueologa funeraria desde una perspectiva de gnero,

__________ Si las muertas hablaran Una aproximacin a los contextos

Sheptak, Russell N., Rosemary A. Joyce and Kira Blaisdell-Sloan, Pragmatic