Indigenous Women: From Aztlan to Oaxacalifornia

4.0 credits

How are Indigenous women represented in art? What is revealed in the differences between autochthonous representations and those created by outsiders? Focusing on images of Nahuatl-speaking women specifically, this course considers the intersecting roles of gender and power, labor and knowledge, sacrifice and sustenance in the conception of Nahua femininities from the pre-Hispanic period to the present day. Topics include the changing perception of Aztec female deities in New Spain and their Chicana reclamation, as well as historical figures such as Malinche, “tongue” of Hernán Cortés, and Doña Luz Jiménez, muse to the Mexican Muralists who fostered a cultural and linguistic revival in her community.