I am thrilled to announce that my book, Healing Like Our Ancestors: The Nahua Tiçitl, Gender, and Settler Colonialism in Central Mexico; 1535-1660 will be available August 27, 2024 and you can pre-order it here.

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.

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How to Pronounce some key Nahuatl terms found in Healing Like Our Ancestors

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

Cuahuitl – Tree or Stick

Etl – Bean

Tiçitl – A man or woman that is a specialist in healing

Tiçiyotl – Central Mexican Nahua healing knowledge

Ololiuhqui – Seeds of the morning glory

Piçiyetl – Tobacco

Pahtli – A salubrious item

Xihuitl – Year or Leaf

Tetl – Rock