Title
Flesh as Text[ile]: How Toci's Embodiment in Ochpaniztli Provides an Alternative Reading of Aztec Gender
Date of Award
Summer 6-10-2013
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Religious Studies
First Advisor
Dr. Molly Bassett
Second Advisor
Dr. Kathryn McClymond
Third Advisor
Dr. Isaac Weiner
Abstract
This project situates the domestic and ritual sphere of the Aztec world and analyzes gender construction seen in each realm. The Aztec ritual of Ochpaniztli honored the goddess Toci/Teteo Innan who was embodied by male priest clothed in a female sacrificial victim’s flesh. This specific embodiment complicates the depictions of gender seen in accounts such as the Codex Mendoza and Florentine Codex, which represent gender as divided and strictly different from one another. Through exploring the daily tasks of sweeping, childbirth, warfare and the body both in the domestic sphere and the ritual sphere, the ritual of Ochpaniztli provides an alternative reading of gender. The transformative powers of brooms, metaphorical childbirth produced in ritual that mimicked Aztec warfare terminology, and the use of female flesh in Ochpaniztli illustrate that rather than gender roles being divorced from one another, a parallel and shared nature of gender existed.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/4312106
Recommended Citation
Yates, Kathryn, "Flesh as Text[ile]: How Toci's Embodiment in Ochpaniztli Provides an Alternative Reading of Aztec Gender." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2013.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/4312106