TY - JOUR
T1 - Missionary Methodology and the Making of Aztec Human Sacrifice
T2 - Decolonizing a Concept
AU - Jacobsen, Casper
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Images and texts in Spanish colonial manuscripts tell us that the Aztecs sacrificed humans. Among these sources, none has received a more iconic documentary status than the Franciscan missionary Bernardino de Sahagún’s tlamictiliztli account. This combines graphic depiction with text in Spanish and the Aztec language Nahuatl. Although Sahagún’s account is compelling and persuasive, its seeming realism dissipates when the analytical focus turns from the final product to its production. Using a new source-critical narrative approach that privileges methodological reflection, I analyze two versions of Sahagún’s composition to examine how the account was elicited, editorialized, and produced. Astonishing inconsistencies stress how Sahagún augmented a ‘sacrificial’ interpretation of Aztec violence, complicating both the testimonial value attributed to his work and an emic Aztec sense of ‘human sacrifice.’
AB - Images and texts in Spanish colonial manuscripts tell us that the Aztecs sacrificed humans. Among these sources, none has received a more iconic documentary status than the Franciscan missionary Bernardino de Sahagún’s tlamictiliztli account. This combines graphic depiction with text in Spanish and the Aztec language Nahuatl. Although Sahagún’s account is compelling and persuasive, its seeming realism dissipates when the analytical focus turns from the final product to its production. Using a new source-critical narrative approach that privileges methodological reflection, I analyze two versions of Sahagún’s composition to examine how the account was elicited, editorialized, and produced. Astonishing inconsistencies stress how Sahagún augmented a ‘sacrificial’ interpretation of Aztec violence, complicating both the testimonial value attributed to his work and an emic Aztec sense of ‘human sacrifice.’
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - Aztecs
KW - human sacrifice
KW - history of religion
KW - colonialism
KW - Bernardino de Sahagún
KW - Nahuatl
U2 - 10.1163/15700682-bja10116
DO - 10.1163/15700682-bja10116
M3 - Journal article
VL - 36
SP - 132
EP - 167
JO - Method and Theory in the Study of Religion
JF - Method and Theory in the Study of Religion
SN - 0943-3058
IS - 2
ER -