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Draws on Nahua concepts to explore Nahua literary production and contributions to cultural activism from the 1980s to the present.
The Serpent's Plumes analyzes contemporary Nahua cultural production, principally bilingual Nahuatl-Spanish xochitlajtoli, or "poetry," written from the 1980s to the present. Adam W. Coon draws on Nahua perspectives as a decolonizing theoretical framework to argue that Nahua writers deploy unique worldviews-namely, ixtlamatilistli ("knowledge with the face," which highlights the value of personal experiences); yoltlajlamikilistli ("knowledge with the heart," which underscores the importance of affective intelligence); and tlaixpan ("that which is in front," which presents the past as lying ahead of a subject rather than behind). The views of ixtlamatilistli, yoltlajlamikilistli, and tlaixpan are key in Nahua struggles and effectively challenge those who attempt to marginalize Native knowledge production.
"Adam Coon's The Serpent's Plumes is a key contribution to the study of contemporary Indigenous literatures of Abiayala. Coon initiates the discussion by leveraging the symbol of the serpent, so central to Mexican state promotion of nationhood, and demythologizes its non-Indigenous appropriation throughout the volume by offering an analysis of contemporary Nahua writing." — Native American and Indigenous Studies
"The six chapters that comprise the body of the book give those who are unfamiliar with Nahua literatures a thorough introduction to the full scope of Nahua literary production, while those whose expertise is squarely in the field of Indigenous texts will find Coon's analysis meticulous and striking." — Chasqui
"The Serpent's Plumes makes an important intervention in Indigenous literary studies as well as cultural studies Highly recommended." — CHOICE
"Written in a luminous and engaging style, The Serpent's Plumes provides an extraordinary survey of poetry and prose works by contemporary Nahua writers in Mexico and the United States. While many readers know Nahua poetry through colonial works (such as Cantares Mexicanos), this book reminds us of the relevance of works by contemporary Nahua authors not merely as heirs to an admired literary tradition but as highly accomplished artists who bravely confront racism, discrimination, historical oblivion, and patriarchal hegemony in their work." — David Tavárez, author of Rethinking Zapotec Time: Cosmology, Ritual, and Resistance in Colonial Mexico
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Serpent's Quills, Keyboards, and Touchscreens: Writing, Not Being Written
1. More Mexican Because We Speak Mexican: Natalio Hernández Transgressing the Borders of Nationalist Discourse
2. Ritual Shouts of the Forgotten: Anti-colonial Protest in Martín Tonalmeyotl's Tlalkatsajtsilistle
3. Grinding Words: Ethel Xochitiotzin Pérez's Subversion of Nahua and Nation-State Patriarchy in Tlaoxtika in tlajtoli
4. Words of Water: Fluid Nahua Identities in Judith Santopietro's Palabras de agua
5. Redressing the Eagle and Feathered Serpent: Mardonio Carballo's Trans-Indigenous Dialogues and Descolonizing Contrapunteo
6. Nahuatl Language and Territory as Coping Strategies in Ateri Miyawatl's Neijmantototsintle (2018) and Tsintatak (2020)
Conclusion: Slinging Xochitlajtoli at Dams: A Prismatic Project(ion) of Contemporary Nahua Literature
Notes
Bibliography
Index