Indigenous Elites And Creole Identity In Colonial Mexico, 1500-1800 (cambridge Latin American Studies)
by Peter B. Villella /
2016 / English / PDF
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Modern Mexico derives many of its richest symbols of national
heritage and identity from the Aztec legacy, even as it remains a
predominantly Spanish-speaking, Christian society. This volume
argues that the composite, neo-Aztec flavor of Mexican identity
was, in part, a consequence of active efforts by indigenous elites
after the Spanish conquest to grandfather ancestral rights into the
colonial era. By emphasizing the antiquity of their claims before
Spanish officials, native leaders extended the historical awareness
of the colonial regime into the pre-Hispanic past, and therefore
also the themes, emotional contours, and beginning points of what
we today understand as 'Mexican history'. This emphasis on ancient
roots, moreover, resonated with the patriotic longings of many
creoles, descendants of Spaniards born in Mexico. Alienated by
Spanish scorn, creoles associated with indigenous elites and
studied their histories, thereby reinventing themselves as Mexico's
new 'native' leadership and the heirs to its prestigious antiquity.
Modern Mexico derives many of its richest symbols of national
heritage and identity from the Aztec legacy, even as it remains a
predominantly Spanish-speaking, Christian society. This volume
argues that the composite, neo-Aztec flavor of Mexican identity
was, in part, a consequence of active efforts by indigenous elites
after the Spanish conquest to grandfather ancestral rights into the
colonial era. By emphasizing the antiquity of their claims before
Spanish officials, native leaders extended the historical awareness
of the colonial regime into the pre-Hispanic past, and therefore
also the themes, emotional contours, and beginning points of what
we today understand as 'Mexican history'. This emphasis on ancient
roots, moreover, resonated with the patriotic longings of many
creoles, descendants of Spaniards born in Mexico. Alienated by
Spanish scorn, creoles associated with indigenous elites and
studied their histories, thereby reinventing themselves as Mexico's
new 'native' leadership and the heirs to its prestigious antiquity.
