Bernal Diaz - The Conquest of New Spain
This is the main book I'm using. It's a primary document written by a conquistador. I'm focusing on his treatment of Aztec ritual.
Hernan Cortes - Letters from Mexico
This is going to substantiate the first book. It's also a primary document. It contains many descriptions of Aztec ritual and daily life.
Inga Clendinnen - Aztecs, an Interpretation
This book is a secondary source. I'll use it to compare it with my primary documents and look at discrepancies.
Anthony Pagden - European Encounters with the New World
We read excerpts of this book for class. I'm interested in engaging with his ideas on how Spaniards dealt with the New World (and particularly Mexico).
Hi Amir, Yes, the Pagden reading seems like a great source for you to use. I think the most difficult thing for your topic is going to be finding the theme by which you'll put Diaz and Cortes in dialogue with each other. Afraid I can't help much except to say that it would probably be helpful if it were pretty narrow.
ReplyDeleteHey Amir, I think it's great you have primary sources from both Diaz and Cortes. I think your topic should be an interesting ones, and I hope you find a good dialogue to compare your sources.
ReplyDeleteHey Amir, I seem to remember that you were interested especially in Aztec religious practices. There would definitely be a lot of secondary sources out there for you if that's still the route you want to go. However, I also remember reading about how this is also a highly politicized topic in Mexico so that might be something to watch out for. Good luck and looking forward to hearing more about your topic.
ReplyDeleteHey Amir,
ReplyDeleteIt seems smart to stick with Diaz as your main document. It is long, and a lot has been written about it, so you wouldn't want to stretch yourself too thin!
The idea of Aztec ritual seems an interesting thing to focus on, especially as these two writers were obviously heavily steeped in Catholicism. I'm interested to hear about how/whether they saw Aztec ritual as "religion" that was comparable to Catholicism.
It also might be interesting to get a couple more primary sources on Spanish impressions of Mexico and Aztec society. Cortes and Diaz were on the same trip... are there any other separate expeditions to that area before the Aztec Empire collapsed?
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you already knew what about the ritual you are going to be investigating? How it ties to the settler's views of religion? I feel like the only issue is with these books is that the encapsulate so much and the people who wrote them are quite famous. So making sure to focus in on a unique perspective would be ideal!
ReplyDeleteMackenzie Tudor
I would recommend using a database that specializes in scholarly articles (JSTOR is the one that immediately jumps out) to find more secondary sources, and in particular more sources that focus on the religious ritual focus of your paper - that focus is not currently evident from your list of sources.
ReplyDelete