Mesoamerican Narratives at the British Museum

Ancient Writing, Contemporary Voices

Laura Ann Osorio Sunnucks, Omar Aguilar Sánchez, Iyaxel Ixkan Cojtí Ren, Alejandro José Garay Herrera, Osiris Sinuhé González Romero, Maarten E.R.G.N. Jansen, Raul Macuil Martínez, Romelia Mó Isém, Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9783110792324
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

This bilingual book is the outcome of a research project undertaken between the Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research at the British Museum and a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous archaeologists and activists from Mexico and Guatemala. The chapters include new interpretations of some written narratives in the Mesoamerican collection at the British Museum, as well as critical reflections on the politics of Indigenous participation in museum projects and collection research. The book includes new scholarly interpretations of the Tonindeye Codex, the Xiuhpohualli of Tenochtitlan and the Yaxchilan lintels and, seeking to read these Mesoamerican narratives in an embodied way, it hopes to foster temporal imagination in the museum. It also discusses Indigenous epistemologies while focusing on the relevance of mobilising this work strategically outside of the museum, among descendant communities. In this way, researchers and visitors might interrogate their political and emotional positions towards colonial collections.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Frontmatter
• Contents
• Indigenous Archaeologies in the Museum
• Arqueologías indígenas en el museo
• The Repression of Maya Spiritual Practices in Guatemala: Cultural Continuity and the Challenge of Fighting Against Discrimination and Racism
• La represión de las prácticas espirituales mayas en Guatemala: Continuidad cultural y el reto de combatir contra la discriminación y el racismo
• Towards a Mixtec Reading of the Mixtec Codices: The Anniversary of the Birth of Iya Nacuaa “Teyusi Ñaña”
• Hacia una lectura mixteca de los códices mixtecos: El natalicio de Iya Nacuaa “Teyusi Ñaña”
• Renaming and Reinterpreting an Early Colonial Book: The Codex Xiuhpohualli of Tenochititlan
• Renombrar y reinterpretar un libro colonial temprano: El Códice Xiuhpohualli de Tenochtitlan
• Museum Pieces and the Contemporary Indigenous Peoples of Central Mexico
• Las piezas de los museos y los pueblos indígenas contemporáneos del centro de México
• History, Rituals, and Family Life in the House of Ix K’abal Xook
• Historia, rituales y vida en familia en la casa de Ix K’abal Xook
• The Codex Tonindeye and Mixtec Reality
• El Códice Tonindeye y la realidad mixteca
• Index
• Índice