This fascinating; richly illustrated book explores basic Precolumbian beliefs about the soul among ancient Mesoamerican peoples. It focuses on the Central Mexican Aztecs―called the Mexica―who believed in multiple souls that animated the body; gave humans their shared and individual characteristics; and survived the body after death. Drawing on a wide range of sources; including visual representations on Precolumbian monuments; colonial Spanish chronicles; early medical and travel accounts; and modern ethnography; Jill McKeever Furst argues that the Mexica turned not to mental or linguistic constructions for verifying ideas about the soul but to what they experienced through the senses. According to McKeever Furst; Mexica definitions and characterizations of the souls were influenced by their observations of human physiology―including birth; temperature changes in the body; normal aging; and the processes of death and dying―and by their experiences with their environment; specifically the lands near lakes that provided them with unusual visual and olfactory sensations (one of the souls is based on the odor of marshes). Providing as supporting evidence native beliefs about the soul in the ideologies of other Uto-Aztecan speakers ranging from the United States to Central America; McKeever Furst challenges deconstructionist theories that cultural phenomena are purely mental constructs.
#3633321 in Books 1984-09Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.75 x 6.75 x 1.00l; #File Name: 0300031645304 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Needed to be written; a tad dryBy C. BradenThe story needs to be told; so kudos to author for research and writing it. Book tends to be dry; however. It is largely anecdotal with letters and then a minor discussion of the point raised. It can be overkill at points; as well; belaboring a point. Still; some great info; for example; did you know that 3-4% of the women who were single and went west to brave it all as independent women were women of color? Imagine the hardships; not only the physical; the fear of Indians; bad crops; bad weather; etc. the need for physical strengths; but the double stigma of being a spinster and being a black spinster and then being subject to the difficulties and dangers of living in a racist and hostile society...what brave women!1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Dale Ann ParsonsBook is in excellent condition
