The Echo of Voices after the Fall of the Aztec Empire

Bibliographic Data

ID2805544
AuthorsAlex Hidalgo (0000-0002-3311-814X, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume103
Issue2
Pages217-249
Publication date2023-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHispanic American Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2168 • E-ISSN: 1527-1900
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/00182168-10368894
OpenAlexW4376126189
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited32

The recent quincentennial of the Mexica forces' defeat at the hands of a Spanish-led coalition invites us to reflect on the changes in the region's acoustic ecology, the layers of sound that reverberated across geographic spaces. Expressions of sound allow us to consider the actions of past actors in relation to their physical surroundings, the stimulation of the senses, and patterns of religious conversion that guided social behavior. Vocal sounds produced by people of various ethnic and racial backgrounds formed part of this aural environment, and they carried meaning that has often escaped the attention of scholars. An analysis of routines of indoctrination centered on vocal modulations reveals that authorities hierarchized different forms of sounds, from singing and praying-which they encouraged-to screams and muffled noises such as murmur and chatter-which they attempted to silence. These routines took shape during daily masses, theater presentations, civic and religious rituals, confession, and, in some cases, formal training

Acoustics · Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Confession (law · Empire · Ethnic group · Ideology · Indoctrination · Meaning (existential · Political science · Politics · Silence · Singing · Sociology · Anthropology · Communication · Diverse Musicological Studies · History · Latin American and Latino Studies · Latin American history and culture · Law · Psychology

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