Aztec Religion and Art of Writing: Investigating Embodied Meaning
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_book_id: 0 _book_language: en _book_alttitle: 0 _dedication_title: Dedication _publisher_id: 0 _collection_id_series: nus i Aztec Religion and Art of Writing © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004392014_001 ii Numen Book Series Studies in the History of Religions Series Editors Steven Engler (Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada) Richard King (University of Kent, UK) Kocku von Stuckrad (University of Groningen, The Netherlands) Gerard Wiegers (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) VOLUME 161 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nus iii Aztec Religion and Art of Writing Investigating Embodied Meaning, Indigenous Semiotics, and the Nahua Sense of Reality By Isabel Laack LEIDEN | BOSTON iv Cover illustration: The Aztec deities Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca as depicted in the Codex Borbonicus/ Cihuacoatl, folio 20 (1899 Hamy facsimile edition; digital reproduction by author). 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This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. v This book is dedicated to my longtime mentor, Gregor Ahn, whose passion for and dedication to the study of religion has been an ongoing source of personal inspiration ⸪ vi ContentsContents vii Contents Foreword xi Acknowledgments xiv List of Figures xix xx Introduction 1 1 Introducing the Subject 1 2 Indicating Sociopolitical Relevance 5 3 Realizing the Aesthetics of Religion 9 4 Outlining the Chapters 14 1 Methodology 16 1 Doing Research in a Postcolonial World 16 2 Writing History 27 3 Clarifying Perspectives and Objectives 37 4 Summary 56 2 Living in Cultural Diversity 59 1 Drawing on History 59 2 Living in the Central Highlands 62 3 Living in Religious Diversity 64 4 Conclusion: Diversity within the Nahua Tradition 76 3 Living in Relation: Being Human in Tenochtitlan 80 1 How the World Came to Be 80 2 How the Human World Came to Be 85 3 How the Cosmic Dynamics Unfold 88 4 Living in Cosmic Relations 96 5 Living in Social Relations 101 6 Living Properly—Living in Balance 104 4 A World in Motion: Nahua Ontology 109 1 Aztec Notions of “Divinity” 110 2 The Nature of Teotl 127 3 Teotl’s Realization: Nahualli and the Layers of Reality 136 4 A World in Motion: the Fifth Era 141 5 The Problem of Ephemerality: What Is Really Real? 144 Contents Contents vii viii Contents Foreword xi Acknowledgments xiv Figures xix Introduction 1 5 Understanding a World in Motion: Nahua Epistemology 149 1 Introducing the Subject 1 2 Indicating Sociopolitical Relevance 5 3 Realizing the Aesthetics of Religion 9 1 Epistemology 149 4 Outlining the Chapters 14 Chapter 1 2 Knowledge Experts: Wise (Wo)Men and Scribes 156 Methodology 16 1 Doing Research in a Postcolonial World 16 2 People with Special Insights 160 2 Writing History 27 3 Clarifying Perspectives and Objectives 37 3 The Inspiration of Knowledge and Its Expression 163 4 Summary 56 Chapter 2 Living in Cultural Diversity 59 1 Drawing on History 59 2 Living in the Central Highlands 62 6 Interacting with a World in Motion: Nahua Pragmatism and 3 Living in Religious Diversity 64 4 Conclusion: Diversity within the Nahua Tradition 76 Aesthetics 167 Chapter 3 Living in Relation: Being Human in Tenochtitlan 80 1 Human Agency: Seeking Balance 168 1 How the World Came to Be 80 2 How the Human World Came to Be 85 3 How the Cosmic Dynamics Unfold 88 2 Human Duties 174 4 Living in Cosmic Relations 96 5 Living in Social Relations 101 3 Interacting with Rituals 178 6 Living Properly—Living in Balance 104 Chapter 4 4 Involving the Senses and Aesthetic Media 192 A World in Motion: Nahua Ontology 109 1 Aztec Notions of “Divinity” 110 5 The Concept of the Teixiptla 197 2 The Nature of Teotl 127 3 Teotl’s Realization: Nahualli and the Layers of Reality 136 4 A World in Motion: the Fifth Era 141 5 The Problem of Ephemerality: What Is Really Real? 144 Chapter 5 7 Expressing Reality in Language: Nahua Linguistic Theory 203 Understanding a World in Motion: Nahua Epistemology 149 1 Nahua Oral Tradition 203 1 Epistemology 149 2 Knowledge Experts: Wise (Wo)Men and Scribes 156 2 Reconstructing Nahua Songs 208 2 People with Special Insights 160 3 The Inspiration of Knowledge and Its Expression 163 Chapter 6 3 Thinking in Nahuatl 225 Interacting with a World in Motion: Nahua Pragmatism and Aesthetics 167 4 Nahua Imagery 229 1 Human Agency: Seeking Balance 168 2 Human Duties 174 5 The Relationship between the Spoken Sign and Reality in 3 Interacting with Rituals 178 4 Involving the Senses and Aesthetic Media 192 Nahuatl 237 5 The Concept of the Teixiptla 197 Chapter 7 Expressing Reality in Language: Nahua Linguistic Theory 203 6 Nahua Imagery and the Problem of Rationality 243 1 Nahua Oral Tradition 203 2 Reconstructing Nahua Songs 208 3 Thinking in Nahuatl 225 4 Nahua Imagery 229 8 Materializing Reality in Writing: Nahua Pictography 246 5 The Relationship between the Spoken Sign and Reality in Nahuatl 237 6 Nahua Imagery and the Problem of Rationality 243 1 The History of Writing Systems in Mesoamerica 246 Chapter 8 Materializing Reality in Writing: Nahua Pictography 246 1 The History of Writing Systems in Mesoamerica 246 2 The Writing System of the Nahuas 249 2 The Writing System of the Nahuas 249 3 Social Text Practice 261 3 Social Text Practice 261 4 Books and Authors 264 5 Nahua Culture between Orality and Literacy 274 4 Books and Authors 264 Chapter 9 Understanding Pictography: Interpreting Nahua Semiotics 286 5 Nahua Culture between Orality and Literacy 274 1 The History of Evaluating Aztec Writing 286 2 Different Kinds of Meaning and Knowledge 292 3 Seeing Reality: Nahua Semiotic Theory 311 4 Interpreting Nahua Pictography 322 Chapter 10 9 Understanding Pictography: Interpreting Nahua Semiotics 286 Interpretative Results: Nahua Religion, Scripture, and Sense of Reality 342 1 From Religion to Being-in-the-World 342 1 The History of Evaluating Aztec Writing 286 2 From Scripture to Semiotics 347 3 Interrelationships: Semiotic Theory and Embodied Meaning 350 2 Different Kinds of Meaning and Knowledge 292 Conclusion 356 Figures 365 3 Seeing Reality: Nahua Semiotic Theory 311 Copyright of Figures 381 References 382 4 Interpreting Nahua Pictography 322 Index 427 Contents ix 10 Interpretative Results: Nahua Religion, Scripture, and Sense of Reality 342 1 From Religion to Being-in-the-World 342 2 From Scripture to Semiotics 347 3 Interrelationships: Semiotic Theory and Embodied Meaning 350 Conclusion 356 Figures 365 Figure Credits 381 References 382 Index 427 x Contents ForewordForeword xi Foreword With Aztec Religion and Art of Writing: Investigating Embodied Meaning, Indig- enous Semiotics, and the Nahua Sense of Reality, Isabel Laack makes a signifi- cant contribution to Mesoamerican scholarship. It is different from other books on Aztec religion in many ways. When I first read the manuscript, I was intrigued by its original title, Aztec Sacred Scripture? Searching for Their Sense of Reality, which included a glyph—a question mark—in its title! I read her question mark as a serious invitation to travel along as she negotiates her way through the Nahua writing system, the heated debates about Aztec philosophy, European-based theories of religion, and her delight in being part of what has been called the “aesthetic turn” in scholarship. This book is a brilliant, multi- layered “thought experiment meant to change the habitual thought patterns we typically use alongside the concept of religion.” Laack means the study of religion in general and Aztec religion in particular. What readers will find attractive is Laack’s combination of intellectual cour- age (she dwells within the pictorials as an outsider, jumps in and swings away at the León-Portilla/Bierhorst debate), her self-critical awareness about her methods, and a pragmatism about the much wider cultural task she believes we readers of the Aztecs must engage in. For Laack, the question mark swings both ways—in her direction and ours. On the one hand, she writes: This research study is concerned with the ancient Nahuas’ sense of real- ity—their cosmovision, ontology, epistemology, philosophy, and reli- gion—with a particular focus on their writing system. This includes the search for Indigenous semiotic theories about the relationship between written visual communication and reality as well as an interpretation of how the writing system worked, as seen from a contemporary perspec- tive.