Aztec Religion and Art of Writing : Investigating Embodied Meaning, Indigenous Semiotics, and the Nahua Sense of Reality /
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In her groundbreaking investigation from the perspective of the aesthetics of religion, Isabel Laack explores the religion and art of writing of the pre-Hispanic Aztecs of Mexico. Inspired by postcolonial approaches, she reveals Eurocentric biases in academic representations of Aztec cosmovision, ontology, epistemology, ritual, aesthetics, and the writing system to provide a powerful interpretation of the Nahua sense of reality. Laack transcends the concept of "sacred scripture" traditionally employed in religions studies in order to reconstruct the Indigenous semiotic theory and to reveal how Aztec pictography can express complex aspects of embodied meaning. Her study offers an innovative approach to nonphonographic semiotic systems, as created in many world cultures, and expands our understanding of human recorded visual communication. This book will be essential reading for scholars and readers interested in the history of religions, Mesoamerican studies, and the ancient civilizations of the Americas. 'This excellent book, written with intellectual courage and critical self-awareness, is a brilliant, multilayered thought experiment into the images and stories that made up the Nahua sense of reality as woven into their sensational ritual performances and colorful symbolic writing system.' - Davíd Carrasco, Harvard University
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004392014 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Crosscurrents in indigenous spirituality : interface of Maya, Catholic, and Protestant worldviews /
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The resurgence of indigenous cultures and the reappearance of their ancient spiritualities, during the 1990s, is of great interest to social scientists. Several such cultures are featured in this book. The indigenous populations of struggling multi-ethnic \'democracies\' in Latin America are demanding to be integrated into the national mainstream, together with their holistic values of family, economics and ecology. Institutional Christianity is being challenged by indigenous theologies that are critical of both traditional Christianity and liberation theology. While some see here a danger of syncretism, these developments can be experienced as a breath of fresh air. \'Much has been said about the Mayas, but they have not been allowed to speak for themselves\' (anthropologist Rafael Girardi, 1962). This book is an attempt to allow religious spokespersons from a very ancient and creative civilization to share their faith, which has remained hidden for five centuries.
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1 online resource (xvi, 329 pages) : illustrations, map. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-329) and index. :
9789004319981 :
0924-9389 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Mesoamerican religions and archaeology : essays in pre-Columbian civilizations /
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The main goal of this work is to produce a methodologically sound and ethically valid interdisciplinary introduction into the exciting world of ancient Mesoamerica.
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Previously issued in print: 2017. :
1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9781784915032 (ebook) :