Nahuat Myth and Social Structure

x+287 pages with diagrams, tables, appendixes and index. Royal octavo (9 1/4 " x 6 1/4") issued in green cloth with white lettering to spine. From the library of George M Foster. Texas Pan American Series. 1st edition.

James Taggart compares the folklore of two communities of Nahuat speakers of the northern Sierra de Puebla, in Mexico. Because of close historical, linguistic and cultural ties, these groups share many stories, but Taggart clearly illustrates how their differing positions as Indians in Mexican society influence the content of these stories. One community, for example, is unusually autonomous in their dealings with the Hispanic populace. In their tales they retain many Aztec religious personalities, including the anthropomorphized serpent gods Quetzalcoatl and Coatlicue. Like that of the ancient Aztecs, their oral tradition exhibits and integrated view of human-animal relationship. In contrast, the Nahuat whose ethnic community is dominated by their Hispanic populace have replaced many of their ancient gods with Spanish saints. They have stripped the Aztec religious figures of their human qualities better to express the sharp human-animal dichotomy of Judeo-Christian tradition. The antagonistic relationship between men and women in this community further affects their oral tradition, as men are the primary storytellers, and they incorporate into their tales a very negative image of women. This work is valuable reading for social anthropologists, linguists, and all others who are interested in the social uses of language through performance.

George McClelland Foster, Jr born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on October 9, 1913, died on May 18, 2006, at his home in the hills above the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as a professor from 1953 to his retirement in 1979, when he became professor emeritus. His contributions to anthropological theory and practice still challenge us; in more than 300 publications, his writings encompass a wide diversity of topics, including acculturation, long-term fieldwork, peasant economies, pottery making, public health, social structure, symbolic systems, technological change, theories of illness and wellness, humoral medicine in Latin America, and worldview. The quantity, quality, and long-term value of his scholarly work led to his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1976. Virtually all of his major publications have been reprinted and/or translated. Provenance from the executor of Foster's library laid in.

Condition:

Foster's stamp on front end paper. Jacket small stain at front spine hinge else about a better than very good copy in like jacket.