When
Center for Latin American Studies, Spring 2023 Charlas con Café – a weekly space to hear lectures from a wide variety of experts and discuss topics relevant to the Latin American region, Fridays from 1-2 p.m. (unless otherwise specified).
In this talk, Dr. García Piña explores the reproduction of notions of social structure and status deployed in three major alphabetic-pictographic documents produced by Indigenous writers in the city of Huexotzinco (Puebla, Mexico) during the sixteenth century. The textual corppus reveals Huexotzinco’s socioeconomic dynamics and prominent presence of the Huexotzincan upper class as trialwitnesses, litigants, mediators, and advocates between Indigenous and Spanish institutions. Dr. García Piña posits that the Huexotzincan native elites utilized prehispanic and colonial notions of social stratification to navigate economic tribulations while positioning themselves as subjects of the Spanish Monarchy.
Dr. Tania Lizeth García Piña obtained her Ph.D. in Iberian and Latin American Languages and Cultures from The University of Texas at Austin. She also worked as a consultant and curator with the Benson Latin American Collection and the College of Education on the digital scholarship project “Indigenous Perspectives in the Americas (1492-1600)”. Her research interests encompass Mexican literature and culture, ethnohistory, Nahua studies, and colonial studies. Her recent article, “‘They no longer belonged to the governor, but to the king’: the politics of being in the Huexotzinco Codex'' was published in the Colonial Latin American Review. Dr. García Piña is developing the book project: Writing a People: Indigenous Politics, Agency, and Identity in Sixteenth Century Huexotzingo.