Anthropology G222. Aztecs and Spaniards in the Conquest of Mexico

Prof. Judith Zeitlin

Department of Anthropology

Fall 2001

Office: M 4-438

Phone: 287-6836

Office hours: W 3-5, F 3-4

email: judith.zeitlin@umb.edu

Description of the course

This Intermediate Seminar introduces students to a set of practical and conceptual issues in culture historical research by focusing on one of the most dramatic and culturally significant events of early modern history, the defeat of the Aztec Empire of Mexico by a small band of Spanish soldiers led by Hernán Cortés. For many years scholars have struggled to explain this unlikely conquest from several perspectives, looking in turn at the technological and strategic advantages of the Spaniards and the cultural and political weaknesses of Aztec society. Whatever the particular combination of factors may have been that favored Cortés, it was an encounter that was to shape permanently European perceptions of the world, at the same time that it subordinated Mexico's indigenous population to the institutions of colonial rule.

In this seminar we will study both sides of this important cultural encounter through a close examination of narratives about the conquest written a few days or a few decades after the events themselves; two are told from the Spanish perspective and the rest from the native perspective, but all will be read in English translation. Although the Spanish side seems more understandable by virtue of our shared Western tradition, we will be looking out for sixteenth- century conventions of storytelling and political motivations that may not correspond to our expectations about factual history. On the Aztec side we will use these narrations to catch a glimpse of a completely different way of viewing time and historical causation shared widely among the people of ancient Mexico. At the same time we will consider how those shared beliefs were being undermined by political and religious change.

About the Intermediate Seminar program

Intermediate Seminars offer students with 30 or more credits the opportunity to work on essential university capabilities in small-sized courses that are often thematic or problem-oriented and interdisciplinary in nature. Designed in part to help students prepare for the Writing Proficiency Requirement, Intermediate Seminars put special emphasis on critical reading, thinking, and writing. They focus on other essential capabilities as appropriate to the course and might therefore include attention to library research and information technology, collaborative learning, oral presentation, and academic self-assessment. Students who practiced reading, writing and critical thinking in a First Year Seminar at UMass Boston will practice them at a more advanced level in the Intermediate Seminar.

Only ONE Intermediate Seminar may be taken for credit. If you have taken another G200-level course in any department at UMB, you cannot receive credit for this one.

Prerequisites: English 101, English 102, First Year Seminar (or waiver), and 30 credits. First Year Seminar is automatically waived for students who enter UMB with 30 or more transfer credits.

Student referral program: If it appears to the teacher that you might not pass this Intermediate Seminar, and if the instructor cannot figure out how to support your success in the course, the instructor might inform Dr. Elsa Casas, Director of the Student Referral Program (M3-625; 287-5500). Dr. Casas or her staff would attempt to help you address the difficulties that are interfering with your success in the class. If you do not want your instructor to let the Student Referral Program know that you are having difficulty, please let your instructor know.

Assessment of these courses: In addition to course evaluation forms that are routinely administered at the end of each course at UMass Boston, an assessment committee will look at randomly chosen student writing from Intermediate Seminars. Please save all your writing in this course so that, if you are randomly chosen, you will have your work available. The purpose of this is to improve the program and to improve particular courses as necessary. You may remove your name from your papers if you choose to submit them anonymously.

Readings for this course

The four books that we will be using most intensively in the course are available for you to purchase in the bookstore. They are:

Bernal Díaz del Castillo, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico (Da Capo Press, 1996).

This is an English translation of Díaz' personal narrative of the conquest, Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España, completed in 1568. Díaz began this narrative in an effort to solidify his claim to special benefits the Spanish Crown accorded men who had participated in the initial conquest. It has long been valued for the author's plainspoken and natural storytelling style, as well as for the authenticity of his purportedly eyewitness account.

Miguel León-Portilla, ed. The Broken Spears, Lysander Kemp, trans. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992).

The book includes, among other indigenous narratives, an English version of León-Portilla's Spanish translation of large portions of Book 12 of the encyclopedic work known as the Florentine Codex. Compiled in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, by the Spaniard and Franciscan friar, Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, the Florentine Codex was

based on information collected from members of the Aztec nobility over a twenty-year period. Book 12 is Sahagún's 1578 transcription of the Aztec version of the conquest as told to him and illustrated by several groups of these nobles. We will also read selections from the other, less well-known native accounts included in The Broken Spears.

Serge Gruzinski, The Aztecs : Rise and Fall of an Empire (NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1992).

Gruzinski is a French ethnohistorian who specializes in the study of colonial-	period Aztec society. In this brief text he introduces Aztec politics and history and traces the broad impact of Spanish colonialism on Aztec society. A few special features of the book are its inclusion (at the end) of several passages from primary sources, as well as its numerous illustrations from colonial period paintings and manuscripts.

Enrique Florescano, Memory, Myth, and Time in Mexico: From the Aztecs to Independence, Albert G. Bork and Kathryn R. Bork, trans. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994).

Florescano is an eminent Mexican historian. In this work, he examines Aztec concepts of time and history, the impact of the introduction of alphabetic writing and colonial institutions on indigenous thought, and the development of Mexican national identity. While the book deals with some complicated issues concerning the ways in which different cultures, like that of the Aztecs, conceive of the universe and the world in which they live, it is well worth the struggle.

We will also consider more briefly two texts written closer to the events, Hernán Cortés' Second Letter to the Spanish king, written in 1520, and a native pictorial document, the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, which has a historical section completed in the 1550s. Photocopied excerpts from these documents and other articles included in the weekly assignments will be available for you to use at the reserve desk of the library.

Class participation and grades

Student participation in role-playing exercises and class debates will be an important strategy for getting everyone more deeply involved in these stories about the past. You are expected to come to class regularly, to have read assignments thoughtfully, and to be prepared to participate in class discussions and exercises, some of which will involve spontaneous writing.

Additionally, there will be four short formal writing assignments (usually 2-3 pages each) spread out over the semester, with a final longer paper (5-8 pages) addressing the impact of the conquest on the Aztecs and their descendants. There will be no formal exams. Written assignments are due on the day announced, and will be marked down if received late. You may revise any or all of your written assignments during the semester to improve your grade, so it is in your interest to turn in your work promptly and revise later, if needed. Revisions are required for the last two papers of the term. Grades for the course will be based upon class participation (20%), critical thinking and writing skills as demonstrated in the shorter written assignments and their improvement over the course of the semester (50%); the final paper, in which scholarly sources must be applied critically to elucidate a controversial topic (30%).

Each student will maintain a portfolio for the class in which he or she keeps both graded and ungraded writing assignments, teacher comments, as well as peer review assessments of written and oral presentations. The primary focus of these course assignments is improving your skills in critical reading, thinking, and writing through engagement with texts concerning the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs. Team work, library work, speaking and listening opportunities, and self-assessment are other GenEd capabilities addressed in this course.

Weekly schedule of topics and readings

1.	Sept. 5-7. First impressions of the encounter.

Readings

Díaz, pp. xi-40.

Writing

As you begin reading Díaz, you should keep a small notebook in which you write vocabulary words and terms that are unclear, as well as questions you have about the events taking place or the characters in the narrative. We will discuss these issues in class each day.

2.	Sept. 10-14. Exploring the mainland coast; the organization of 16th century Spanish society.

Díaz, pp. 40-115.

Writing

Everyone will choose from a list of characters featured in the early pages of Díaz' story and pay special attention to that character's role in the unfolding events. Adopting the voice of that character, you are to write a brief letter (1-2 pages) to a relative back home in Spain giving your perspective on what is happening in this journey so far. The letter is due at the beginning of class on Friday, Sept. 14.

3.	Sept. 17-21. The journey to Mexico.

Reading

Díaz, pp.115-196

Writing

You will be assigned to a small group to work jointly on a brief, in-class library project researching a question concerning Aztec cultural practices and institutions. We will spend part of class time this week in the library, with each group locating five appropriate library references to use in answering the question. The groups will prepare brief annotated bibliographies and collectively present their findings to the rest of the class next week.

4.	Sept. 24-28. What we know about the prehispanic Aztecs and how we know it. Presentation of group research questions on Aztec culture and society.

Readings

Díaz, pp. 197-225.

Gruzinski, pp. 13-71, 130-161.

León-Portilla, pp. xi-xlvi.

5.	Oct. 1-5. Aztec ways of looking at the world and their views of the first encounters.

Readings

Florescano, pp. 1-29.

León-Portilla, pp. 3-61.

Gruzinski, pp.162-166.

Writing

Students will choose one of four topics concerning native views of the encounter to focus their readings this week. A 2-3 page paper addressing the issues raised in the topic is due in class on Friday, Oct. 5.

6.	Oct. 8-12.. The capture and death of Moctezuma; the flight of the Spaniards. MONDAY HOLIDAY.

Readings

Díaz, pp. 225-326.

Cortés, "The Second Letter" (copy on reserve).

León-Portilla, pp.65-90.

Writing

Who killed the Aztec ruler, the Spaniards or his own people? In class next week, we will conduct a mock trial of the alleged murderer. Students will be assigned to various roles on the prosecution and defense sides. This week in class we will concentrate on preparing the witnesses and the legal teams. Each side will develop a strategy; witnesses will have to write up one-page "depositions," based on facts presented in the primary sources. The jury will develop its standards of evidence and rules of operation.

7.	Oct. 15-19. The murder trial. The Aztecs defeated.

Readings

Díaz, pp. 327-454.

Gruzinski, pp. 166-170.

León-Portilla, pp.91-144.

Writing

Each student will prepare a 3-page "brief" detailing a persuasive argument for who was responsible for Moctezuma's death. The paper must be supported with factual information drawn from the primary sources. It is due in class on Monday, Oct. 22.

8.	Oct. 22-26. Modern historians' views of the conquerors.

Readings (copies of articles will be on reserve)

Beatrice Pastor Bodner, "Hernán Cortés and the Creation of the Model
Conqueror," in her book, The Armature of Conquest (1992), pp. 50-100.

Francis J. Brooks, "Motecuzoma Xocoyotl, Hernán Cortés, and Bernal Díaz del	Castillo: The Construction of an Arrest," Hispanic American Historical Review 75(2): 149-183.

Writing: Peer review of murder briefs. Self-assessment of class portfolio.

9.	Oct. 29-Nov. 2. Legitimizing the establishment of the conquest state.

Readings

Florescano, pp. 65-99.

Liss, "Charles I and Mexican policy," in her book, Mexico Under Spain, 1521-
1556 (1975), pp. 31-47. (reserve).

Hanke, The Spanish Struggle for Justice in the Conquest of America (1965)

(excerpted passage on reserve).

Writing

In class we will discuss the historical debate between Bartolomé de las Casas and Juan Gínes de Sepúlveda on the rights of Indians and the legitimacy of their subjugation by the Spaniards. Students will each prepare a short (2-3 page) paper in which they evaluate the Aztec subjugation in terms of one of the principles Sepulveda invoked in his "just war" argument. First draft of this paper is due in class Monday, November 5.

10.	Nov. 5-9. The aftermath of conquest: disease, depopulation, and social dislocation.

Readings

Gruzinski, pp. 91-107.

Writing

Begin thinking about the final writing assignment for the class, a 5-8 page paper exploring one of several controversies surrounding the Mexican conquest and its impact on indigenous people. You may utilize information and arguments explored in class, but your paper must be based on at least three other scholarly resources (selected in consultation with the instructor) which take somewhat different perspectives on the issue in question. Your papers will be graded according to your success in understanding and evaluating scholarly arguments and in using facts and interpretations appropriately to build a strong case of your own toward a specific conclusion.

11.	Nov. 12-16. Changing the Aztec presentation of historical events.

Readings

Florescano, pp. 30-64.

Selections from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis (handouts).

Writing

A one-paragraph statement of your final paper topic is due on Wednesday, Nov. 14.

12.	Nov. 19-23. Cultural suppression and reformulation. THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY FRIDAY.

Readings

Florescano, pp. 100-184 .

León-Portilla, pp. 150-173.

Selected passages from colonial period works by indigenous authors (handouts).

Gruzinski, pp.109-127

Writing

A revised version of your "Just War"paper is due in class on Monday, Nov. 19. An introductory paragraph and an annotated bibliography of the sources you will use in your paper is due on Monday, Nov. 26.

13.	Nov. 26-30. The Aztec heritage in Mexico.

Readings

Florescano, pp. 185-232.

Gruzinski, pp.174-183.

Taylor, "The Virgin of Guadalupe: An inquiry into the social history of Marian

devotion." American Ethnologist (1986): 9-33 ( reserve).

Writing

Peer review of introductory paragraphs and bibliographies. Continue work on the paper at home.

14.	Dec. 3-7. Oral presentation of research projects for final paper.

Writing

A first draft of your paper is due on Friday, Dec. 7.

15.	Dec. 10-14. Oral presentations continue. Final in-class self-assessment based on class portfolios Friday, Dec. 14.

FINAL CORRECTED DRAFT OF PAPER DUE BEFORE 12 NOON, FRIDAY, DEC. 21.