The Return of the Native: The Indigenous Challenge in Latin America (2002)

Abstract

Some years after Cortés conquered Tenochtitlan almost five centuries ago, the chronicler Bernal Diaz del Castillo wrote that had it not been for Malintzin, an Indian woman who served Cortés as interpreter, the conquest of the fabulous Aztec empire might not have taken place. Malinche, as she came to be called, has since been portrayed in Mexico’s nationalist historical accounts as a traitor to her people and the term malinchismo became synonymous with kowtowing to foreign interests and selling out one’s country.

This text is based on The John Brooks Memorial Lecture I presented in The Chancellor’s Hall, Senate House, University of London, on 15 March 2002. This paper was published by the Institute of Latin American Studies of the University of London as Occasional Paper No. 27. (This chapter was first published in 2002 as: The Return of the Native: the Indigenous Challenge in Latin America Occasional Papers No. 27 (London: University of London, Institute of Latin American Studies). The permission to republish this text was granted on 20 July 2012 by Professor Linda Newson, Director, Institute for the Study of the Americas. School of Advanced Study, University of London, London, UK.).