Tales From Aztlantis

In this brief dispatch, Kurly talks about the common mistranslation of the word "Tlalok."

More information on Tlalok (as well as the image of Tlalok on his mountain top throne) can be found here: https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/gods/god-of-the-month-tlaloc-1

Your host:

Kurly Tlapoyawa is an archaeologist, ethnohistorian, and filmmaker. His research covers Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the historical connections between the two regions. He is the author of numerous books and has presented lectures at the University of New Mexico, Yale University, San Diego State University, and numerous others. He is currently a professor of Chicano Studies at the Colegio Chicano del Pueblo, a free online educational institution.
@kurlytlapoyawa

Support the show

Ep 32 Show Notes 

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Azucena Verdín to discuss her work in Educational Psychology and the ways it intersects with Indigenous Chicano ways of knowing. We talk about her experience as a Chicana working in a field dominated by white academics and share a few thoughts on the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas.  

About our guest: 

She received a Master’s in the Arts in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2013 and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of North Texas in 2019. Her dissertation on Mexican-origin borderland mothers' experiences of epistemic injustice received the 2020 John L. and Harriette P. McAdoo Dissertation Award for excellence in research on ethnic-racial minority families from the National Council on Family Relations. She is an assistant professor in the department of Human Development, Family Studies, and Counseling at Texas Woman's University. Her research centers on identity processes among Mexican-origin families, including how racism, colorism, and anti-Indigeneity is internalized within Chicano families.  

You can reach Dr. Verdín through her email: averdin@twu.edu 

Works cited:  

Navarro, Armando. “The Post Mortem Politics of the Chicano Movement: 1975-1996.” Perspectives in Mexican American Studies, “Mexican Americans in the 1990s: Politics, Policies, and Perceptions” 6 (1997): 52–79. 

Verdín, Azucena. “E(Race)Ing Mexican Americans: Why Denying Racial Indigeneity Constitutes White Supremacy in Family Science.” National Council on Family Relations, 2021. https://www.ncfr.org/ncfr-report/fall-2021/eraceing-mexican-americans-why-denying-racial-indigeneity-constitutes-white-supremacy-family. 

———. “Mothering While Brown: Latina Borderland Mothers’ Experiences of Epistemic Injustice.” University of North Texas, 2019. 

Support the show

For this episode, I will be drawing heavily from the article “the word Azteca was not created by Von Humboldt” written by Ruben Ochoa, which originally appeared on the website Mexika.org.

Whenever some well-meaning individual posts a link to an article about any aspect of Aztec history to social media, they are inevitably met with a barrage of comments that usually sound something like this:

“actually, they never called themselves Aztecs.  They called themselves Mexica.”  

That refrain, or something very similar to it, has been repeated time and time again by countless Chicanos, Mexicanos, cultural practitioners, historians, etc., for who knows how long.  Hell, even I used to say it about twenty to twenty-five years ago.

Back then, the argument started innocently enough, I suppose.

“We didn’t call ourselves Aztec. That’s what an anthropologist called us ‘cause they didn’t know what we called ourselves.”  And that in turn turned into an anthropologist coming up with that name as an umbrella term to lump all the people of the Valley of Mexico together. That further changed to a white anthropologist decided to call us that, and then that white anthropologist became more specifically European.  At some point we even managed to identify the culprit who dared sully us with a name not our own, and that perpetrator has been identified as none other than Alexander Von Humboldt. People have become so confident that the above is true that the new chorus, with all the certitude in the world, is that Alexander Von Humboldt is to blame for the very existence of the word “Aztec,” a word that was presumably never uttered by our people.

But Is this really true? Is the word Aztec or Azteca solely an invention of 18th century scholars? Well, not exactly.

https://mexika.org/2014/05/31/the-word-azteca-was-not-created-by-von-humboldt/

Your host:

Kurly Tlapoyawa is an archaeologist, ethnohistorian, and filmmaker. His research covers Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the historical connections between the two regions. He is the author of numerous books and has presented lectures at the University of New Mexico, Yale University, San Diego State University, and numerous others. He is currently a professor of Chicano Studies at the Colegio Chicano del Pueblo, a free online educational institution.
@kurlytlapoyawa

Support the show

In this episode, we explore the "Moor" identity movement, it's history, and how it is actively weaponizing pseudohistory in order to erase the accomplishments of Indigenous and African people. Also, Kurly learns about ad blockers.

So strap yourselves in, because its a bumpy ride!

Support the show