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Queer Nahuatl: Sahagún's faggots and sodomites, lesbians and hermaphrodites

Publication ,  Journal Article
Sigal, P
Published in: Ethnohistory
December 1, 2007

This article provides a method for interpreting the place of sexuality in texts that defy analysis. The author uses one source, the Florentine Codex, a large and complex bilingual Nahuatl and Spanish document, to decipher some elements about cross-dressing individuals, homosexualities, and gender inversions in Nahua society at the time of the Spanish conquest. The methodology used combines close narrative analysis with intellectual genealogy. The author argues that decoding the texts in this way allows us to uncover a cross-dressing male who engaged in "passive" homosexual acts and had a degraded but institutionalized role to play. Copyright 2007 by American Society for Ethnohistory.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

Ethnohistory

DOI

ISSN

0014-1801

Publication Date

December 1, 2007

Volume

54

Issue

1

Start / End Page

9 / 34

Related Subject Headings

  • Anthropology
  • 4401 Anthropology
  • 4303 Historical studies
  • 2103 Historical Studies
  • 2003 Language Studies
  • 1601 Anthropology
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Sigal, P. (2007). Queer Nahuatl: Sahagún's faggots and sodomites, lesbians and hermaphrodites. Ethnohistory, 54(1), 9–34. https://doi.org/10.1215/00141801-2006-038
Sigal, P. “Queer Nahuatl: Sahagún's faggots and sodomites, lesbians and hermaphrodites.” Ethnohistory 54, no. 1 (December 1, 2007): 9–34. https://doi.org/10.1215/00141801-2006-038.
Sigal, P. “Queer Nahuatl: Sahagún's faggots and sodomites, lesbians and hermaphrodites.” Ethnohistory, vol. 54, no. 1, Dec. 2007, pp. 9–34. Scopus, doi:10.1215/00141801-2006-038.
Journal cover image

Published In

Ethnohistory

DOI

ISSN

0014-1801

Publication Date

December 1, 2007

Volume

54

Issue

1

Start / End Page

9 / 34

Related Subject Headings

  • Anthropology
  • 4401 Anthropology
  • 4303 Historical studies
  • 2103 Historical Studies
  • 2003 Language Studies
  • 1601 Anthropology