The Serpent’s Plumes: Contemporary Nahua Flowered Words in Movement

The Serpent’s Plumes analyzes contemporary Nahua cultural production, principally bilingual Nahuatl-Spanish xochitlajtoli, or ＂poetry,＂ written from the 1980s to the present. Adam W. Coon draws on Nahua perspectives as a decolonizing theoretical framework to argue that Nahua writers deploy unique worldviews-namely, ixtlamatilistli (＂knowledge with the face,＂ which highlights the value of personal experiences); yoltlajlamikilistli (＂knowledge with the heart,＂ which underscores the importance of affective intelligence); and tlaixpan (＂that which is in front,＂ which presents the past as lying ahead of a subject rather than behind). The views of ixtlamatilistli, yoltlajlamikilistli, and tlaixpan are key in Nahua struggles and effectively challenge those who attempt to marginalize Native knowledge production.

Adam W. Coon is Associate Professor of Latin American Studies and Spanish at the University of Minnesota Morris.