McDonough, K.: The Learned Ones. Nahua Intellectuals in Postconquest Mexico
In her book, Kelly McDonough addresses the intellectual production of Nahua peoples as manifested in their writings in postconquest Mexico. Challenging the notion of the illiterate indigenous in Mexico that prevails in the minds of its society today, McDonough demonstrates that Nahuas began to master the production of written works in the Roman alphabet ever since its introduction during the 16th century, and have continuously done so until the present day. Her main question revolves around how Nahua knowledge production took place throughout the centuries, and what it means for Nahua people today. McDonough addresses this question by presenting a chronologically organized analysis of representative works such as those by Nahua authors Antonio del Rincón, Don Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Faustino Galicia Chimalpopoca, Doña Luz Jiménez, and Ildefonso Maya Hernandez. Their works reveal the life experiences of Nahua peoples, which, as McDonough argues have developed hand in hand with intellectual activity. By examining the lives and writings of these Nahua authors, McDonough effectively demonstrates the continuous manifestation of indigenous knowledge and its manifestation through the written word. The most significant contribution of this book is its treatment of both colonial and contemporary Nahua knowledge. Along with the life histories of the aforementioned intellectuals McDonough introduces the written reflections of contemporary Nahua researchers and students. By participating in reading circles of Nahua intellectual production, these scholars engaged with a documentary corpus whose existence was mostly unknown. Through these circles, McDonough seeks to reconnect the body of knowledge produced beginning in the colonial period to that being produced today, thus erasing the stigma around indigenous engagement with the written word. .
“Expectations of authentic indigenous people in Mexico are strongly linked to romantic, often imagined, ideas about the pre-Columbian past, a past that cannot be recovered. The ideological displacement of “real” Indians to the deep past does not allow for any other kind of Indian in the present. Thus, ideas of authenticity are a way in which to negate and disappear indigenous presence in modernity” (15).