Barbara E. Mundy
Tulane University
Materialities of Ancient American Books: Paper and Other Flayed Skins
The book tradition of ancient America, specifically Mesoamerica, dates back over two thousand years. Catholic campaigns to extirpate idolatry in the sixteenth century have left few surviving examples from pre-1520, but more were created over the remainder of the century. These books conveyed meanings to their publics as much by their materials as they did by the writing on the surfaces of their pages. Mundy’s talk will center on the paper used for books and other manuscripts, which was conceptually and materially the flayed skin of the amatl tree. Her central question is the nature of the connection between the flayed skin as a surface for graphic inscription and as an agent for the material transformation of human beings into deity impersonators (teixiptla).
Wednesday, January 26, 12:15 pm
Via Zoom
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