Healing Like Our Ancestors

Healing like our Ancestors identifies five main ways — apparatuses– in which Spaniards attacked and colonized Nahua healing. Each of these five apparatuses coalesced diverse goals and efforts by Spanish institutions and individuals to establish and protect settler society in Mesoamerica. I explore each in the five chapters of my book. The first is the definition of Nahua healers, their knowledge, and practices using Spanish terms and perspectives. Second, Spaniards imposed Iberian gender norms on Nahua tiçiyotl and titiçih, and trivialized female titiçih, their knowledge, and ceremonial tasks. Third, Spaniards framed diagnostic and interpretive aspects of Nahua tiçiyotl as chance, illusory, or diabolical. Fourth, settlers invisibilized Nahua titiçih, most notably women, in the handling, creation, and application of pahtli. Lastly, Spanish settlers identified and targeted Nahua titiçih, especially women, as a detriment to Nahua communities, a barrier to Nahua hispanization, and ultimately a liability to settler society.

Below, Catalina Cruz, a friend and colleague, pronounces some key terms from Healing Like Our Ancestors. She is a Native Nahuatl-speaker from Chicontepec, Veracruz