DECONSTRUCTING CONVENTUAL FRANCISCAN SCHOOLS: SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ARCHITECTURE, DECORATION, AND NAHUA EDUCATIONAL SPACES by JOSHUA JACOB FITZGERALD A THESIS Presented to the Department of History and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts June 2012 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Joshua Jacob Fitzgerald Title: Deconstructing Conventual Franciscan Schools: Sixteenth-Century Architecture, Decoration, and Nahua Educational Spaces This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Department of History by: Dr. Robert Haskett Chair Dr. Carlos Aguirre Member Dr. Marsha Weisiger Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree Awarded June 2012 ii © 2012 Joshua Jacob Fitzgerald iii THESIS ABSTRACT Joshua Jacob Fitzgerald Master of Arts Department of History June 2012 Title: Deconstructing Conventual Franciscan Schools: Sixteenth-Century Architecture, Decoration, and Nahua Educational Spaces In the sixteenth century, during a process commonly called the “spiritual conquest,” evangelical priests refashioned Mesoamerican temples and schools into Christian churches and convents. Traditionally, scholars regarded this aspect of the Spanish Conquest as a top-down, foreigner-derived process of immediate cosmogenic transformation. Utilizing interdisciplinary methodologies and relying on Nahuatl voices, this thesis contributes to the recent scholarly effort to reinterpret spiritual conquest theory. This study compares and contrasts pre-contact and colonial schools, education techniques, and symbolic ornamentation in order to “read” the iconography and layout of the courtyard of the convent of San Andrés Calpan as a text. In the end, this thesis argues that visually-bilingual Nahua communities, using an existing architectural vernacular, created a nepantla or “a middle place” perfect for mutual misunderstandings and the persistence of local indigenous narratives alongside institutional Christian ones. Thus, Mesoamerican gods lived on in the very places designed to destroy them. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Joshua Jacob Fitzgerald GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake Community College, Salt Lake City, Utah DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts, History, 2012, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, History, 2010, University of Utah Associate of Arts, General Studies, 2007, Salt Lake Community College AREA OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Early Colonial Latin/Native America Education Colonial Architecture and Religious History PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of History, University of Oregon, Eugene 2010–2012 “Index” for Mesoamerican Memory: Enduring Systems of Remembrance, edited by Stephanie Wood and Amos Megged, University of Oklahoma Press (forthcoming) Database Entry, “Nahuavocab” Online Dictionary Project Wired Humanities Projects, University of Oregon Fall 2010 – Fall 2011 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: National Endowment for the Humanities: Mesoamerica and the Southwest Summer Research Institute, 2012 National Endowment for the Humanities: Spotlight on Oaxaca!, Summer Teaching Institute, 2011 Departmental Research Grant, Department of History, University of Oregon Departmental Scholarship, Department of History, University of Utah, 2009–2010 Dean’s List, University of Utah, 2009–2010 Gregory C. Crampton Scholarship, University of Utah, 2008–2009 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Though I take sole responsibility for the successes and missteps herein, the current project would be nothing without the constructive feedback and nurturing support that I have received from the faculty and my friends in the Department of History at the University of Oregon. First and foremost I would like to thank Bob Haskett for the intellectual stimuli and spiritual vivification in every close discussion of sources and the interpretive process of history. I continue to model myself after your analytical rigor as well as your compassionate presence in the classroom. Furthermore, your ability with words, both as a translator of Nahuatl as well as your critical gaze with my writing, have contributed greatly to the below. A thank you is also in order for Marsha Weisiger. Her readiness to offer a rag-tag group of grads the chance to delve into the craft of writing history and her devotion to details throughout the writing process contributed to every explication herein. My gratitude is also extended to Lisa Wolverton and her patience with my foundering through readings on medieval Iberian history. Thank you, as well, to Carlos Aguirre for the suggested readings on Andean architecture which have thus far been a fecund comparative avenue to explore in regard to the current study. Finally, thank you to all of my friends in the history department graduate enterprise. Though our conversations over the past two years have often skirted the thin line between Foucault and other “F” words, we always seemed to maintain a space for academic excellence. Next, I would like to honor Stephanie Wood. Her constant compassion with helping me during the grant writing process, as well as her interpretive genius regarding indigenous documentation continue to be two of the greatest treasures I have encounter over the past two years. My greatest admiration goes out to Ronald Spores. Never in my vi life did I think that I would be standing on the top of an active dig site with the premier authority on southern Mexican archaeology by my side. Thank you for answering my underdeveloped questions on ancient Mixtec schools with wisdom and interest, as well as your inspiration to continue doing what I am doing. Also, to my wonderful family back home, thank you, everyone (especially my parents: Connie, Eric, and Kevin), for your love and compassion, and financial support. My deepest respect goes out to the “gardener” of my grammar, my chief editor Connie Gardner. Y también, a mi “mamá” en Cholula, Maestra Lidia Gómez García y toda la familia de Cholula, Puebla (especialmente Bilhá, Eliú, y Adrián) muchas gracias. ¡Un gran abrazo a todos! The present research would be impossible without the financial support of several academic organizations. First, I am happy to thank the Department of History of the University of Oregon for a departmental research grant awarded to me in the summer of 2011. This funding brought me to the places that I studied in the current thesis; there is no greater gift for an historian such as myself than the ability to walk through the “texts” that I study. I also benefited greatly from monies provided by the Wired Humanities Projects and the National Endowment for the Humanities as a participant in a summer research institute in 2011. I also want to thank my friends and colleagues that participated in that institute. With all of the above support I was able to experience a process of spiritual vivacity that continues to enrich my life, and though words can never compensate, thank you all. vii DEDICATION For my warm and precious stone, Amber, whose inner brilliance has led me through the dark paths of this entire process, and to my precious little butterfly, Isabella, for your nightly reminders that whispers keep stories alive. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 II. BROKEN SCHOOLS: REEXAMINING THE SPIRITUAL CONQUEST AND THE PERSISTENCE OF “ROOFLESS” NAHUA EDUCATION ................ 27 III. (RE)CONSTRUCTED SCHOOLS: THE COMMUNITY OF SAN ANDRÉS CALPAN AND THE FRANCISCAN LESSON PLAN .......................................... 68 IV. READING SCHOOLS: INTERPRETATIONS ON THE ALTAR NARRATIVES OF THE POSAS OF SAN ANDRÉS CALPAN ............................ 109 V. CONCLUSION: COLONIAL SCHOOLS CONFOUNDED ............................. 170 REFERENCES CITED ............................................................................................. 181 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Tlachihualtepetl, Puebla, Mexico. ..................................................................... 43 2. “Artificial Mountain” exposed .......................................................................... 43 3. Relaciones Geograficas (1583) ........................................................................ 45 4. Side chapel, south side of Tlachihualtepetl ....................................................... 47 5. The refashioned spring of Tlachihualtepetl ....................................................... 48 6. The “frog-like” idol of Tlachihualtepetl ............................................................ 48 7. Layers of construction, Tlachihualtepetl, Building 3 ........................................ 55 8. Illustration Eighteen, the perfect Franciscan classroom .................................... 89 9. Illustration Eighteen, circular corner chapel (up close) ..................................... 91 10. Illustration Eighteen, instruction (close up) ..................................................... 94 11. Illustration Nineteen, Valadés’ Rhetorica Christiana (1579) .......................... 96 12. Information placard, the Convent of San Andrés Calpan ................................ 111 13. Mictlancihuatl (Lady of the Underworld) ......................................................