Humor and Laughter Among the Pre-Hispanic Nahua

The Rabbit, the Navel, and the Jester Ruler
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-90-04-74515-5
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 14, 424 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: The Early Americas: History and Culture

What made the Nahua laugh? This book dives into colonial-era Nahuatl and Spanish sources to uncover the roles of humor and laughter in pre-Hispanic Central Mexico, offering a lively and original look at an often-overlooked dimension of Mesoamerican culture. From ritual clowns and sacred jokes to satirical songs and political mockery, laughter emerges as a powerful tool in religion, community life, and resistance. Drawing on lesser-known documents and on familiar texts viewed through a fresh interpretive lens, this volume reveals how the Nahua used humor to engage with the divine, critique power, and shape collective memory.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Brylak, Agnieszka

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte

Über Autor(innen)

Agnieszka Brylak, Ph.D. (2015), University of Warsaw, is a cultural historian and philologist at that university, specializing in pre-Hispanic and early colonial Nahua culture and religion. She has published articles on Mesoamerican studies and produced critical translations of colonial Nahuatl texts.