Copyright by Adam Wayne Coon 2015 The Dissertation Committee for Adam Wayne Coon certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Iajki Estados Onidos / She Went to the U.S.: Nahua Identities in Migration within Contemporary Nahua Literature, 1985-2014 Committee: Arturo Arias, Supervisor Jossianna Arroyo-Martínez Luis Cárcamo-Huechante Héctor Domínguez-Ruvalcaba Shannon Speed John Sullivan Iajki Estados Onidos / She Went to the U.S.: Nahua Identities in Migration within Contemporary Nahua Literature, 1985-2014 by Adam Wayne Coon, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August 2015 Dedication To my family in the U.S. and the Huasteca, for your love and strength, and for always believing in this project. Acknowledgements I express my deepest gratitude to Nahua artists throughout both Mexico and the United States for your inspiration to press forward with this project, our countless yollotl- felt discussions, and the hospitality I received in your homes. I thank the Luna family in San Bernardino, California for the conversations fifteen years ago that introduced me to the Nahuatl language and a Nahua family history of active participation in forming what we call Mexico and the United States today. To Nahua artist Natalio Hernández and Bertha Serrano for welcoming me to your home and inviting me to participate in community projects in Tepeco (Lomas del Dorado). To Armando Hernández, Marcelina Cruz Osorio, Tonanan Verónica, and Totatah Manuel for receiving me in your Huastecan home like family. I will forever treasure the many experiences we have had together. To my dissertation adviser Arturo Arias, for his constant help and for being the best mentor one could possibly hope for through the challenging times that inevitably arise in taking up the task of writing a dissertation. Thank you for taking the time, above and beyond expectations, to give such detailed comments and overall moral support. I will forever be indebted to you for all the invaluable discussions we have had and for your always believing in this project. I express my deepest gratitude also to Luis Cárcamo Huechante, who has also been there with me through difficult moments. Thank you for your support and for being such a wonderful mentor in publishing, developing courses, and seeking employment. Thank you for always reminding me of the ethical v implications of our work and leading me to pay attention to often overlooked elements such as the complexities of sound. Chaltu mai peñi. To Shannon Speed, for your constant support through the Native American and Indigenous Studies program and for introducing me to numerous Indigenous intellectuals from throughout Abya Yala. To Héctor Domínguez Ruvalcaba, for discussions that led me to explore more deeply the theme of migration and to question the traditional depictions of Indigenous communities in Mexico. To Jossianna Arroyo, for your support for this project since my first semester at the University of Texas at Austin. Chapter three of this dissertation began as a paper within her seminar on diaspora. I would like to acknowledge Kelly McDonough for being a volunteer mentor, a fount of moral support, and an all around wonderful person. Thank you to Jill Robbins for supporting this project since we first met at the KFLC in 2008 and for your invaluable guidance. I would like to acknowledge James Cox for his support that led to the publication of the first chapter of this project in the Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature. Thank you to Emilio Del Valle Escalante for helping lead a portion of chapter three of this dissertation to publication. To Michael Hardy for conversations that helped make the connection between colonial-period documents and the present. To Niyi Afolabi for your feedback on an essay that grew and transformed into chapter two of this dissertation. I would like to acknowledge the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Native American and Indigenous Studies, LLILAS, the Center for Mexican American Studies, the Mellon Sawyer faculty seminar, and the Fulbright Program for support from the faculty of these programs and for grants that made this research financially possible. To vi Laura Rodríguez for always working behind the scenes to make sure the administrative requirements are met and especially for being an emotional support to all the graduate students. Thank you to the Nahua professors at the University of Zacatecas, Abelardo de la Cruz, Delfina de la Cruz, Eduardo de la Cruz, Victoriano de la Cruz, Ofelia Cruz Morales, and Sabina de la Cruz, and to John Sullivan, for your introducing me to Huastecan Nahuatl and opening up the possibility to travel to the Huasteca and join a network of Nahua artists, professors, and community members. I thank you for always letting me know that I had a home away from home with you. Thank you to the Nahua youth in Tepeco for your insights and the privilege to get to work with you in the community, especially Heydi, Edgar, Yazmin, and Pati. To Noé and Gustavo Zapoteco Sideño for receiving me in your home and the many conversations we have had together throughout Mexico and the United States. I would like to acknowledge the wonderful people throughout Mexico who helped me during my travels: Ethel Xochitiotzin Pérez, Eneida Hernández, Citlalli H. Xochitiotzin, Refugio Nava, Juan Hernández Ramírez, Justyna Olko, Humberto Iglesias, Carmen Flores Cisneros, Jonathan Amith, Mili Mauricio, Fabiola Carrillo Tieco, Raquel Bronstein, René Esteban Trinidad, Juan Hernández Ramírez, Leticia Aparicio, Zabyna Mora, Mardonio Carballo, Juditzin Santopietro, Yankuik Metztli, Crispín Amador Ramírez, Ixchel Sáenz, Paulina Josh, José Antonio Flores Farfán, Arturo Gómez Martínez, Pedro Martínez Escamilla, Yolanda Matías García, Rosa Alba Tepole Quiahua, Dixie Lee Sullivan, Martín Tonalmeyotl, Ildefonso Maya, Refugio Miranda San Román, Sixto Cabrera González, Christopher vii Woolley, Sarah Kress, Ramón Tepole Gonález, Tirso Bautista Cárdenas, Betel Ortiz, Beti, Teo, Armandotzin, Mimi, and Diego. Thank you to the many other colleagues and friends who helped make this project possible, and made this time at UT Austin such a wonderful experience: Raúl Olmo Fregoso Bailón, Alejandra Ramírez, Ricardo Zúñiga, Yumiko Tokumoto, José Manuel Gallardo, Ailenne Mendoza, Charles Hale, Katie Arens, Sergio Romero, René Carrasco, Ignacio Carvajal Regidor, Anne Martínez, Margarita Huayhua, Gabriela Polit, Stephanie Wood, Rodrigo Lopes de Barros, Monica Detrick, Magnus Pharao Hansen, David Shook, Susan Zakaib, Giovanni B’atz, Daniela Sevilla, Carlos Armador, Nicolás Emilfork, Dan Olson, Amy Olen, and Rebecca Thompson. I thank Isabel Dulfano and Deyanira Ariza- Velasco for inspiring me to become a professor and embark on this project. I express my deepest gratitude to my family. This would have been impossible without your unwavering love and support. Thank you Dad for your feedback and wise counsel always. Thank you Mom for being an example of pressing forward when challenges arise. To my grandma Della for listening attentively to this project’s developments. To Marce and Chloe, for your support in this long journey with all its highs and lows. Thank you for your many prayers and love. Tlazcamati miac, nimechicnelia ihuan nochipa nimechilnamiquiz. Los quiero mucho. To everyone who has made a difference in this journey, thank you. viii Iajki Estados Onidos / She Went to the U.S.: Nahua Identities in Migration within Contemporary Nahua Literature, 1985-2014 Adam Wayne Coon, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2015 Supervisor: Arturo Arias Abstract: In this dissertation, I analyze contemporary Nahua literature from 1985 to 2014. I explore how these texts disarticulate the Mexican national narrative frame of vanquished Indians and antiquated religiosity. In this sense, they question and critique post-revolutionary Mexican identity, which champions an Occidentalist modernity where the pre-Columbian legacy just played a symbolic identitarian role. Nahua authors of the last three decades, though differing significantly in their literary styles and political strategies, complement one another in attempting to uproot the national narrative that positions them as “not present in the present” and reduces their religious and ethical perspectives to exotic folklore. They employ metaphors closely tied to their language and ceremonies in order to rewrite the official history that has marginalized Nahua worldviews. By doing so, they seek to open a space for alternative knowledges. These relate principally to a deep connectedness with natural surroundings, remembrance of ancestors’ philosophies, and an affective intelligence in which emotions are conjugated with cognition. I argue that such worldviews play a key role in a dynamic politics of identities for the empowerment and self-representation of Nahua communities within the nation-state. ix Table of Contents Introduction. Iajki Estados Onidos / She Went to the U.S.: Nahua Identities in Migration within Contemporary Nahua Literature, 1985-2014 .............................. 1 Cultural Criticism of the Context in which Contemporary Nahua Literature Has Emerged .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Survey of Studies on Contemporary Nahua Literature