Archaeology and History of Colonial Mexico - Mixing Epistemologies

This is an archaeological and historical study of Mexico City and Xaltocan, focusing on the early years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire in 1521. The study of households excavated in Mexico City and the probate inventories of 39 colonizers provide a vivid view of the material and social lives of the Spanish in what was once the capital of the Aztec empire. Decades of archaeological and ethnohistorical research in Xaltocan, a town north of Mexico City, offers a long-term perspective of daily life, technology, the economy, and the adoption of Spanish material culture among indigenous people. Through these case studies, this book examines interpretive strategies used when working with historical documents and archaeological data. Focusing on the use of metaphors to guide interpretation, this volume explores the possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration between historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists working on this pivotal period in Latin American history.Table of ContentInception: mixing epistemologies; 1. Things the Spanish left behind; 2. Interethnic feasts; 3. Tacking in Lake Xaltocan; 4. Technology and time travel; 5. The color of majolica, or how 'natives' think, about majolica, for example?; Mixed epistemologies: materiality in the Spanish colonies.Biographical NoteEnrique Rodríguez-Alegría is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the coeditor of The Menial Art of Cooking: Archaeological Studies of Cooking and Food Preparation (with Sarah Graff, 2012) and of The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs (with Deborah Nichols, forthcoming). He was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) of Stanford University, California in 2010–11 and the recipient of a Howard Fellowship in 2012–13. He has done fieldwork in Central Mexico since 1996, including volunteer work with the Programa de Arqueología Urbana of the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City, as well as directing several seasons of excavation in Xaltocan.An archaeological and historical study of Mexico City and Xaltocan, focusing on the years after the 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztecs.