Reducción and Subjectivity in the Books of the Chilam Balam: The Case of the Colonial-American Maiden Teodor

Abstract

Abstract:This essay discusses the complex socio-cultural and political milieus in which the Books of the Chilam Balam were compiled and the reasons for the appearance of the Historia de la doncella Teodor in these post-conquest manuscript miscellanies. It also argues that –given the modified content, structure, and language –the Maya versions of the maiden Teodor narrative are manifestations of the intercultural exchange between the Yucatec Maya and Spanish peoples and textual spaces in which the dynamics of power are complicated. Overall, this paper explains the Maya versions of the Historia de la doncella Teodor as materializations of the Spanish colonial project of "reducción" and describes the maiden as a subversive subject who obscures the meaning of language and challenges figures of authority.