Homosexuality in Nahuatl

[Caroline Dodds]

Dear colleagues,

I am doing some work on homosexuality and 'unconventional' sexuality and gender identity in Aztec culture and wondered if anyone had any opinions on Geoffrey Kimball's retranslations of the Florentine Codex passages on homosexuality. The article reference is: Geoffrey Kimball, 'Aztec Homosexuality: the Textual Evidence', Journal of Homosexuality, 26.1 (1993), pp.7-24. Whilst his suspicion of the Dibble and Anderson translation seems reasonable at times, however, his own interpretations often seem a little loaded with modern references, so I would be very interested to hear any thoughts on his retranslations. In particular, he takes issue with the use of the term 'patlache' to mean 'hermaphrodite', contending that it should instead be translated as 'homosexual woman' and that the 'correct' term for hermaphrodite is 'cihuaoquichtli'. 

This material is intended to form a small section of a larger book on life and gender in Tenochtitlan, but is proving rather tricky to pin down! (I am sure it will provide the basis for some later more specialised work as well now.) I would be very grateful for any thoughts and opinions (on- or off-list) on Kimball's work, and also any additional references or pointers which people might care to offer on homosexuality, hermaphroditism, and transvestism in Tenochtitlan. 

Best wishes and thanks,
Caroline Dodds
------
Dr. Caroline Dodds
Junior Research Fellow
Sidney Sussex College
Cambridge
CB2 3HU

Tel: 01223 (3)30867
Mob: 07740675610
Email: ced44 at cam.ac.uk
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