33862 - Native American Documentary Sources (1) (2nd cycle)

Course contents

Mesoamerican Ethnohistory. Indigenous documents as "Other Histories"

The course, following an introductory section devoted to ethnohistory's theory and methods, will concentrate on indigenous conceptions of history and on prehispanic Mesoamerican forms of memory recording, as well as on commenting some Early Colonial historical works, both pictographic and alphabetic.

Course beginning: Monday, February 1st, 2010

Hour and Classroom:

Monday, h. 15-17, Aula Seminari, Piazza di San Giovanni in Monte, 2.

Tuesday,  h. 17-19, Aula Seminari, Piazza di San Giovanni in Monte, 2.

Wednesday, h. 17-19, Aula Seminari, Piazza di San Giovanni in Monte, 2.

Readings/Bibliography

Florescano Enrique, "Concezioni della storia" , in Laureano Robles (a cura di), E la filosofia scoprì l'America , Jaca Book, Milano 2003, pp. 331-353. A copy of the article can be found at the Paleografia e Medievistica's Library.

Hill Boone Elizabeth, “ Pictorial Documents and Visual Thinking in Postconquest Mexico ”, in Elizabeth Hill Boone and Tom Cummins (eds.), Native Traditions in the Postconquest World, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C. 1998. Scaricabile nel sito: http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/Native/trad07.pdf

Todorov Tzvetan e Georges Baudot, Racconti aztechi della Conquista, Einaudi, Torino 1988 (only pages IX-L and 5-114, corresponding to texts in nahuatl language).

Domenici Davide, "Vesti di segni, disegni di vesti. Lo scambio di doni nei primi incontri tra aztechi e spagnoli", in Sergio Botta (a cura di ), America indigena, Quaderni di simbologia del vestire, Edizioni Nuova Cultura, Roma 2007. (scaricabile tra i materiali didattici di questo insegnamento)

Miguel León Portilla, El destino de la palabra. De la oralidad y los códices mesoamericanos a la escritura alfabética, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México 1996. N.B. Only pages 1-71. A copy of the text can be found at the Paleografia e Medievistica's Library.

Serge Gruzinski, La colonizzazione dell'immaginario. Società indigene e occidentalizzazione nel Messico spagnolo, Einaudi, Torino 1994, only pages 1-184.

Teaching methods

The frontal lessons, in which discussion of new findings and publication will be stimulated, will be integrated by discussion sessions and speeches aimed to inform the students about the ongoing field researches.

Assessment methods

The final exam will be an oral one, with questions aimed to verify the student's knowledge of the themes discussed during frontal lessons as well as those treated in the program's texts.

Teaching tools

The frontal lessons will be supported by Power Point presentations in order to visualize elements that, due to their "exotic" character, are scarcely known to the students. During classwork, selected parts of Early Colonial Mesoamerican historical sources will be read and commented.

Office hours

See the website of Davide Domenici