Indigenous Intellectuals in Early Colonial Mexico

The Case of Antonio del Rincón, Nahua Grammarian and Priest

Bibliographic Data

ID12413403
AuthorsKelly S Mcdonough (0000-0002-8316-4400, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume20
Issue2
Pages145-165
Publication date2011-07-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueColonial Latin American Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1060-9164 • E-ISSN: 1466-1802
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10609164.2011.585769
OpenAlexW1981315850
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited37

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements I thank Nicholas Spadaccini, Frances Karttunen, and the anonymous readers at CLAR for their thoughtful comments, critiques, and suggestions. Notes 1. For example, research by James Lockhart, Frances Karttunen, Louise M. Burkhart, Stafford Poole, Barry D. Sell, Susan Schroeder, Stephanie Wood, Rebecca Horn, Camilla Townsend, and Matthew Restall, among others, has showcased methods and sources that clearly point to indigenous intellectual activity in New Spain. New Philology methods utilize a combination of career pattern research with philological investigation bent on 'seeking patterns in the language and in behavior across a very broad spectrum' (Lockhart 1999 Lockhart, James. 1999. Of things of the Indies: Essays old and new in early Latin American history, Stanford: Stanford University Press. [Google Scholar], 366). See the volume Sources and Methods for the Study of Postconquest Mesoamerican Ethnohistory at http://whp.uoregon.edu/Lockhart/ (2007) for reading on New Philology and its practitioners. 2. All translations are the author's. 3. For excellent analysis of transformations of early colonial Mexican society, see Nutini and Isaac 2009, 39–43. 4. Lomawaima and McCarty (2006) utilize this three-pronged approach; I am grateful for their example. 5. See Robert Ricard's now classic The spiritual conquest of Mexico (1960), which discusses the Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustine orders at length. Kobayashi (1974) expertly addresses the relationship between Franciscan evangelization and education of Indians. For the Dominican order, see Fernández Rodríguez 1994 Fernández Rodríguez, Pedro. 1994. Los dominicos en el contexto de la primera evangelizacion de México, 1526–1550, Salamanca: Editorial San Esteban. [Google Scholar]; see also Gonzalbo Aizpura 2000. 6. Some suggest that behind the idea of evangelization in indigenous languages was to ensure that the majority of Indians remained linguistically isolated, further ensuring that they would be separated from the ‘bad influence’ of the Spaniards. Or that perhaps it was shrewd job protection on the part of the friars; if the Indians could not speak Spanish, the religious men would always be necessary to bridge both worlds (Ricard 1960, 52). 7. For more on the uneven installation of Castilian in the Americas during the early colonial period, see Lodares 2007, where he argues that linguistic heterogeneity, differences in Crown theories and practices in terms of linguistic policy, and expansion of the Spanish language correlating with the Empire's decline (as opposed to the Spanish language as technology of unilateral domination) were the defining characteristics of the time period. See also Binotti 1996 Binotti, Lucia. 1996. “La ‘lengua compañera del imperio’: Discursos peninsulares sobre la hispanización de América”. In Actas del III Congreso Internacional de Historia de la Lengua Española [1993], Edited by: Alonso González, A. Madrid: Arco/Libros. [Google Scholar]. 8. Examples of the double-edged sword of education for Indians can be found in Pérez-Rocha and Tena 2000, which contains early colonial documents written by Indians of New Spain (in Latin, Castilian, and Nahuatl), many demanding restitution and privileges from King Charles V and King Philip II. 9. See Philip II's 1565 order, ‘A los prelados de Nueva España: que procuren que los clerigos curas sepan el idioma de sus feligreses, Buengrado, 1565,’ in García and Pereyra 1905 García , Genaro , and Carlos Pereyra . 1905–1911 . Documentos inéditos o muy raros para la historia de México . Mexico City : Viuda de C. Bouret . [Google Scholar]–1911, 163–65. 10. See Philip II's letter ‘Al Arzobispo de Mexico: que por ahora no de las ordenes a los mestizos, sino solo a personas de reconocida suficiencia, El Pardo, 1578,’ in García and Pereyra 1905 García , Genaro , and Carlos Pereyra . 1905–1911 . Documentos inéditos o muy raros para la historia de México . Mexico City : Viuda de C. Bouret . [Google Scholar]–1911, 215–16. 11. In terms of the topic of Indians and the priesthood at the Third Provincial Council, it is not clear as to what extent the Franciscans and Jesuits participated in these conversations (Poole 1981, 650). 12. The ambiguity of the Third Provincial Council's rulings is expertly described and analyzed in Poole 1981, specifically pages 643–49. For further reading on the issue of the ordination of Indians, see Álvarez Mejía 1956 Álvarez Mejía, Juan. 1956. La cuestión del clero indígena en la época colonial. Revista Javeriana, 45: 57–67. [Google Scholar]; Menegus and Aguirre 2006; and Llaguno 1963 Llaguno, S. J. 1963. La personalidad jurídica del indio y el III Concilio Provincial Mexicano, 1585, Mexico City: Porrúa. [Google Scholar]. 13. Regarding the case of don Carlos Ometochtzin, see Lopes Don 2008; and Gibson 1960. 14. For recent analysis of the indigenous intellectual contribution at Tlatelolco, see SilverMoon 2007; also Cortés 2008 Cortés , Rocío . 2008 . The Colegio Imperial de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco and its aftermath: Nahua intellectuals and the spiritual conquest of Mexico . In A companion to Latin American literature and culture , Sara Castro-Klaren . Malden, MA : Blackwell .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. 15. Reports of Rincón's activities in Puebla are minimal in the available literature. My hope is that archival research in Puebla will add to a more complete understanding of this particular Nahua intellectual's biography. 16. The choice of Saint Ambrose is appropriate, as this patron saint of bees and beekeepers was known for his eloquence in preaching, sometimes called the ‘honey-tongued’ bishop. Now, with the help of Rincón's Arte mexicana, the Jesuit priests could more eloquently, and therefore more successfully, instruct and cultivate new adherents to the Christian religion. 17. One example is don Pablo Nazareo de Xacoltán, who wrote a lengthy letter in Latin to King Philip II demanding restitution and privileges reflecting his rank as a noble Indian in Latin. The text, with translation to Spanish, can be found in Osorio Romero 1990. 18. Regarding the seventeen extant colonial Nahuatl grammars and dictionaries, see Aguirre-Beltrán 1983 Aguirre Beltrán, Gonzalo. 1983. Lenguas vernáculas: Su uso y desuso en la enseñanza. La experiencia de México, Mexico City: SEP Ediciones de la Casa Chata. [Google Scholar]. 19. The Olmos grammar was known to have circulated since 1547, but was not actually published until 1875, by Remí Simeón. For a detailed analysis of Olmos's extraordinary texts and pioneering efforts in ethnographic/linguistic matters in New Spain, see Baudot 1995, specifically chapters 3 and 4. 20. For extensive analysis of Nebrija and the early Nahuatl grammarians, see Esparza Torres 2005 Esparza Torres , Miguel Angel 2005 . Nebrija y los modelos de los misioneros lingüistas del náhuatl . In Missionary linguistics III / Lingüística misionera III: Morphology and syntax: Selected papers from the third and fourth conferences on missionary linguistics, Hong Kong/Macau , Otto Zwartjes , Gregory James and Emilio Ridruejo . Amsterdam : John Benjamins . [Google Scholar]. 21. Molina does begin his prologue by stating that the Nahuatl language lacks letters. My assertion that Molina sees alterity, as opposed to a strict sense of ‘lack,’ has to do primarily with his global comparison of Nahuatl to Latin in terms of structure. Regarding the issue of lack of letters (seen repeatedly in colonial grammars), I believe this speaks more to the grammarian's audience (non-native speakers), which will attempt to come to terms with the new language by making correlations with their own, than to a sinister brand of eurocentrism. Indeed, perhaps the native speakers of Nahuatl found Castilian and Latin to have a lack or excess of letters, in comparison with their own. 22. For example, Garcilaso states that ‘... there are three different ways of pronouncing some of the syllables. They are quite different from the pronunciation in Spanish, and the differences of pronunciation give different meanings to the same word’ (1996, 5). See specifically pages 51 and 79–81 for more on this issue. 23. Rincón more than likely had access to Molina's grammar as his dictionary portion of the Arte follows Molina's unique system of citing verbs. Regarding Molina's system, see Lockhart 2001 Lockhart, James. 2001. Nahuatl as written: Lessons in older written Nahuatl, with copious texts and examples, Stanford: Stanford University Press. [Google Scholar], 153–54. 24. To be sure, Molina's extraordinary Vocabulario records all of the terms Olmos offers, and more. However, my interest rests with the lexical items included in the grammars since these are the texts that would be used to describe the language (and presumably) facets of the culture to other priests

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