This format offers an opportunity for more substantive conversation about works in progress than the traditional panel presentation. This year, we will be discussing two new projects exploring the word tlacatecolotl in the Florentine Codex and altarcitos to Guadalupe among Mexican American women. Both authors will share a brief overview of their work for the benefit of the audience; two respondents, who will have read the longer versions of the papers, will share comments and questions designed to stimulate discussion, encourage further investigation, and offer suggestions for preparing the papers for publication. Audience questions and suggestions will follow.
Tlacatecolotl is defined as: owl-person, sorcerer, witch, devil, demon, and many more of the like. Tlacatecolotl is a Nahuatl word that is found in the 16th Century Florentine Codex, that was created by Friar Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua scribes. The word is found is depicted through textual translation and through images, yet there is no one concise definition. In this presentation, I will go through a thorough textual and image analysis in order to discern what Tlacatecolotl actually means.
I offer an analysis of altarcitos devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe as an act of futuring rooted in the material religious practices of Mexican American women. I argue that this altar tradition centers the epistemological authority of Mexican American women and their orientation toward justice through the veneration of Guadalupe. Moreover, Guadalupan altars offer a future shaped around the altarista’s theological understandings, lived experiences, and commitment to maintaining life.