Passion Plays of Eighteenth-Century Mexico: Nahuatl and Spanish Festival Performances Under the Eye of the Inquisition

FAIN: RQ-271230-20

SUNY Research Foundation, Albany (Albany, NY 12222-0001)
Louise M. Burkhart (Project Director: December 2019 to present)
Daniel O. Mosquera (Co Project Director: December 2019 to present)

Preparation for publication of a digital edition of 10 colonial Mexican Passion plays and contextualizing historical documents. (24 months)

Both Indigenous and Spanish-speaking residents of colonial Mexico put on performances of the Passion of Christ, creating locally-embodied enactments of this core Christian narrative. Always embroiled in disputes over religious authority and orthodoxy, these staged spectacles fell under stricter censure in the mid-eighteenth century, as church authorities added an Enlightenment-inspired disdain for emotive display to their distrust of popular, especially Indigenous, religion. Our digital publication project illuminates this facet of Mexican religious history by providing open access to four confiscated Spanish plays and related reports from an Inquisition investigation (1768–70), and to six Nahuatl-language plays from the same era. It hosts English translations and paleographic and standardized transcriptions. Essays on each play and on themes that cross-cut the corpus will orient users with respect to inter-connections and context, and suggest further research and student projects.

Associated Products

Passion Plays of Eighteenth Century Mexico (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Passion Plays of Eighteenth Century Mexico
Author: Louise Burkhart
Author: Daniel Mosquera
Author: Abelardo de la Cruz de la Cruz
Author: Rebecca Duefndach
Author: Nadia Marin-Guadarrama
Abstract: This is the primary grant product, still under construction as the project continues. It presents the Passion play transcriptions, translations, introductions, and audio excerpts, plus other general and analytical information.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://passionplaysofeighteenthcenturymexico.omeka.net/
Access Model: open access

Nahuatl Passion Plays in the Colonial Era: An Interview With Louise Burkhart (Blog Post)
Title: Nahuatl Passion Plays in the Colonial Era: An Interview With Louise Burkhart
Author: Andrew Breiner
Abstract: Interview with grant PI Louise Burkhart, posted on Insights blog, John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress
Date: 05/26/2021
Primary URL: https://blogs.loc.gov/kluge/2021/05/
Blog Title: Nahuatl Passion Plays in the Colonial Era: An Interview With Louise Burkhart
Website: Insights: Scholarly Work at the John W. Kluge Center

Passion Plays of Eighteenth-Century Mexico (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Passion Plays of Eighteenth-Century Mexico
Author: Louise M Burkhart
Author: Abelardo de la Cruz de la Cruz
Author: Rebecca Dufendach
Abstract: Presentation in international (remote) conference at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico on digital humanities projects involving Indigenous-language materials from Latin America. PI Burkhart, website manager Dufendach, and Native Language Consultant Abelardo de la Cruz de la Cruz presented on the purpose of the project, the design of the website, and the ways we are facilitating access for Native Nahuatl speakers.
Date: 11/05/2021
Primary URL: https://www.historicas.unam.mx/eventos/2021/coloquio_humanidades_digitales_lenguas_indigenas.html
Primary URL Description: Conference program and other information available on this website
Conference Name: Coloquio Humanidades Digitales y Textos Alfabéticos en Lenguas Indígenas

Diálogos de la Pasión de Jesucristo en náhuatl y en castellano, siglo XVIII (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Diálogos de la Pasión de Jesucristo en náhuatl y en castellano, siglo XVIII
Author: Louise M Burkhart
Abstract: Presentation on some of the culturally significant differences between the corpus of Nahuatl plays and the corpus of Spanish plays that we are presenting in our digital project. Event (with two other speakers) sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Utah; Universidad Veracruzana; and Instituto de Docencia y Investigacion Etnologica de Zacatecas
Date: 10/29/2021
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqoeVz1SOao&list=PLO7i29P1lsSQE2BN-O2GdjRE7jggPxip5&index=14
Primary URL Description: University of Utah Center for Latin American Studies YouTube broadcast of this event
Conference Name: Conversations and Reflections on Nahuatl Culture

---