Mexico’s Babel: Multilingualism, Law, and Society in Oaxaca from Colony to Republic

FAIN: FT-58851-11

Yanna Panayota Yannakakis
Emory University (Atlanta, GA 30322-1018)

Multilingualism posed a problem to Mexico’s rulers from colonialism’s inception. Mexico’s Babel analyzes how the use and interplay of Spanish and indigenous languages in local courts structured inter-ethnic relations, knitted together state-centered and customary law, and put into dialogue Liberalism and cultural pluralism. Set in Oaxaca, Mexico’s most multiethnic and polyglot region, Mexico’s Babel illuminates how language policy and linguistic practices shaped indigenous peoples’ access to courts and the interpretation and application of the law from late colonialism to early nationhood (1660-1852). Mexico’s Babel contributes to a burgeoning scholarship on late-colonial and national era changes and continuities by asking how indigenous peoples fared in their transition from subjecthood to citizenship through the lens of law-society relations.

Associated Products

Making Law Intelligible: Networks of Translation in Mid-Colonial Oaxaca (Book Section)
Title: Making Law Intelligible: Networks of Translation in Mid-Colonial Oaxaca
Author: Yanna Yannakakis
Editor: Yanna Yannakakis
Editor: Gabriela Ramos
Abstract: Via military conquest, Catholic evangelization, and intercultural engagement and struggle, a vast array of knowledge circulated through the Spanish viceroyalties in Mexico and the Andes. This collection highlights the critical role that indigenous intellectuals played in this cultural ferment. Scholars of history, anthropology, literature, and art history reveal new facets of the colonial experience by emphasizing the wide range of indigenous individuals who used knowledge to subvert, undermine, critique, and sometimes enhance colonial power. Seeking to understand the political, social, and cultural impact of indigenous intellectuals, the contributors examine both ideological and practical forms of knowledge. Their understanding of "intellectual" encompasses the creators of written texts and visual representations, functionaries and bureaucrats who interacted with colonial agents and institutions, and organic intellectuals.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/277/Indigenous-IntellectualsKnowledge-Power-and
Primary URL Description: Publisher's listing.
Publisher: Duke University Press
Book Title: Indigenous Intellectuals: Knowledge, Power, and Colonial Culture in Mexico and the Andes

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