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Gender and ‘Earthly Names’ Among the Rural Nahua at contact

Gender and ‘Earthly Names’ Among the Rural Nahua at contact. Names provide a compendium of the history of a civilization--Tibon. Why are the names of ordinary Nahuas excluded from history? What do gender differences in names suggest about relations between the sexes?.

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Gender and ‘Earthly Names’ Among the Rural Nahua at contact

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  1. Gender and ‘Earthly Names’ Among the Rural Nahua at contact • Names provide a compendium of the history of a civilization--Tibon. • Why are the names of ordinary Nahuas excluded from history? • What do gender differences in names suggest about relations between the sexes?

  2. “Ordinary women…we don’t even know their names.”The Nahua Naming Ceremony

  3. Naming Ceremony (Florentine Codex)

  4. The Midwife Bathes the Newborn Babe “And all during the time that she bathed the baby, a pine torch stood burning. It was not extinguished.” “And then they there gave him a name, they there gave him his earthly name.”

  5. Earthly Names Ceremony differs for boys and girls Boys waitingto snatch the umbilical cord and eat it.

  6. And as she washed it all over, its hands, its feet, she gave a talk to all... Its hands, it was said, she cleaned of thievery. Everywhere on its body, its groin, it was said, she cleaned it of vice.

  7. Then she raised it as an offering in the four directions; then she lifted it up, she raised it as an offering to the heavens. The naming ceremony began at sunrise… and concluded with a banquet

  8. Debate: Condition of Nahua Women • Leon-Portilla: prominent and of great social recognition • Rodriguez-Shadow: devalued and dominated • Kellogg: gender parallelism: complementary and symmetrical

  9. From Classic Texts: Few Female Names • Sahagun’s General History, Persons and Deities: 436 Names, 47 occur in Cline’s Libro de Tributos, but only 2 female names. • Garibay’s Llave del Nahuatl: 12 pages of names but all male. • Schroeder’s genealogies for Chalco: 2 dozen female names--3 ordinary ones.

  10. Source: The Book of Tributes by S.L. Cline (INAH, v. 549) • Authentic Nahuatl texts written by native scribes, on fig-bark paper, according to prehispanic conventions (transcribed and translated by S.L. Cline).

  11. Museo de Antropología, Mexico City: “Here is the home of one...named…Cuilol”. …and translated Transcribed by Cline

  12. A census recorded in glyphs(Santa Maria Asuncion, Harvey)

  13. Cline on Libros and Names • “Although the writings themselves are in alphabetic form, the Nahuatl texts indicate very little impact from the Spanish world…” • Nahua names: “a linguistic thicket”

  14. Females Teyacapan 315 (First one) Tlaco 182(Middle one) Teicuh 182(Second one) Necahual 151(Quiet one) Males Yaotl 74(Rival/Enemy) Matlalihuitl 63(Rich Feather) Nochhuetl 52(Ideal Bean) Coatl 48(Serpent) 4 most common names for each sex. What are the differences? 1201 females 87 unique names 1303 males 574 unique names

  15. Females Xoco 53 (The Last one) Centehua 42(One’s Woman) Xocoyotl 38(Youngest one) Tlacoehua 22(Second daughter) Cihuaton 15(Littlest female) Tepin 15(Elder Sister) Males Tototl 19(Bird) Quauhtli 18(Eagle) Tochtli 17(Rabbit) Zolin 16(Quail) Matlal 12(Indigo Plant) Xochitl 12(Flower) Common names 6th-10th most frequent by sex

  16. Frequency of Common Female Names

  17. Common Male NamesNote low frequency of most names

  18. Names in a Tlatoani Family • Don Tomas [illegible]…zatzin. • Females: dona Maria TonallaxochiatlAna Tlaco, Maria Xocoyotl, Magdalena Tlaco, Cocoyotl, Maria Tlaco, Marta Xoco, Teicuh (2), Necahual, Magdalena Teya[ca]pan. • Males: Pedro Tecue[tlaca?], Pedro Omacatl, Cocoliloc

  19. Female names by marital status

  20. Male names by marital condition

  21. Conclusions: Earthly Names of Ordinary People • Rural focus important • Male names: individualized, symbolic, diverse • Female names: categorical, birth order, boring • Gender relations: asymmetrical and trapezoidal

  22. Nahua Gender Relations: assymetry, hierarchy, oppression • Division of Labor • Division of Names • Average age at marriage: girls: 12.7 yearsboys: 19.4 years • Widowhood: a female affair • Household: only male heads

  23. End

  24. Demography, percents and averages: • 4. Ever-married females, aged: 10-14: 50% married or widowed 15-19: 95% id. 20-24: 98% id. 25+: 100% id. • 5. Average marriage age (SMAM) = 12.7 years for females (+/-1 year) 19.4 years for males (+/-1 year)

  25. “Just a Little Old Man”

  26. “Just a Little Old Woman”

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