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DEPICTING THE MESOAMERICAN SPIRIT WORLD

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2016

Alessia Frassani
Alessia Frassani*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Postbus 9514, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
*
E-mail correspondence to: [email protected]
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Abstract

In this study I argue that modern ethnographic data can be used in the interpretation of ancient Mesoamerican art and pictography, in particular, beyond iconographic analysis. Ancient painted texts were read in a performative way, with recitation, enunciation, and context playing a fundamental role in conveying meaning. While normally pictography is approached as a provider of content information, the way meaning is encoded and decoded is also integral to pictorial language. In this essay, I attempt to trace durable forms of Mesoamerican religiosity by comparing ancient depictions, their colonial transformations, and modern Mazatec chants through the prism of the “religious specialist.” This figure embodies an ecstatic experience: a direct contact and communication with the divine, which requires a cognitive transformation materialized in words, texts, and pictures.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , Fall 2016 , pp. 441 - 459
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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