La adversa fortuna en el viaje de Cabeza de Vaca por tierras norteñas

Cabeza de Vaca es un caso paradigmático de los sufrimientos que llevaba aparejada la gesta americana en la mayoría de los casos. Lo que relata en sus Naufragios abarca el campo semántico de la desdicha ligado a la adversa fortuna: hambre, frío, muerte, dolor, lágrimas, temor, heridas, desventuras, miserias, trabajos, sufrimientos, etc. Padecimientos físicos y morales que actúan en eco.

Desenmascaramiento del mundo contemporáneo en el mosaico narrativo de Vicente Luis Mora: Fred Cabeza de Vaca

Analizamos la propuesta narrativa de Vicente Luis Mora en Fred Cabeza de Vaca. Mediante diversos mecanismos narrativos y estructurales, como la estética fragmentaria y la quiebra del discurso narrativo, la hibridación genérica y el perspectivismo, el escritor disecciona la contemporaneidad desde dentro y fuera del sujeto y plantea cuestiones de índole filosófica y estética, como la aniquilación y desintegración del sujeto, el vacío existencial y la incognoscibilidad y la indescifrabilidad de lo real.

Poética de la disgregación biográfica y de la ocultación en Fred Cabeza de Vaca de Vicente Luis Mora

A través de la confluencia de escritura y teoría, del ensamblaje entre el placer estético y la epistemología textual y de una premeditada discontinuidad discursiva y fragmentaria, Fred Cabeza de Vaca es una obra comprometida con la literatura como instrumento de conocimiento de la contemporaneidad y de indagación distópica. La fragmentariedad es la estructura narratológica a través de la cual el escritor aborda la disolución del yo cartesiano y la incognoscibilidad de lo real y la expresión de la poética de la ocultación.

Neither stable nor pristine: American bison populations were long influenced by humans

Populations of North American bison (Bison bison) are widely presumed to have remained stable, numbering in the tens of millions, right up until the hide hunts of the 1870s nearly brought about extinction. Recent scholarship from various disciplines consistently undermines this presumption. Indigenous people likely affected bison populations from their arrival toward the end of the Pleistocene. By the time of Columbus, indigenous populations were high and their impacts were felt keenly. As documented in the 16th century journals of Cabeza de Vaca, big game populations, including bison, were suppressed by hunting. That changed, however, with arrival of Old World diseases that are estimated to have reduced indigenous populations in the Americas by 90 % within a century of contact with Europeans. Such drastic reductions in indigenous human populations allowed bison populations to expand. Gradually, increased pressure from human hunters, along with competition from feral horses, introduced infectious diseases, habitat changes, and droughts, all suppressed bison populations well before the notorious hide hunts began in the 1870s. The hide hunts were the final blow to free-ranging bison, but reduced populations in the decades prior paved the way and helps explain why bison were reduced to near extinction within a few years.

Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: una mirada desde la Antropología

Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: una mirada desde la Antropología Es muy probable que la destrucción de México Tenochtitlán en poco menos de dos años, haya inyectado confianza a los conquistadores, que casi de inmediato buscaron nuevos derroteros para cumplimentar su ambición desmedida por obtener riqueza. Cuál sería su sorpresa, al constatar que al norte, había otras naciones a las que nunca lograron dominar del todo, ya que ahí habitaban grupos étnicos que los resistieron ferozmente. En fechas muy tempranas de la ocupación hispana, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca recorre parte de ese territorio norteño y narra tiempo después su experiencia de vida, al confrontarse con algunas etnias ahora ya extintas, y por esa razón, el rescate de los rasgos inherentes a sus culturas cobran interés, a fin de ir construyendo el conocimiento de esos grupos humanos. Es la pretensión de este documento.

Los Naufragios (1542) de Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: España y los albores de la legalidad internacional

En este artículo propongo una lectura de los Naufragios (1542) de Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca que se ciña a los términos del debate moral y político imperante en la España en que el explorador jerezano redactó su historia. A la luz de la Relectio prior de Indis recenter inventis (1538) de Francisco de Vitoria, se comprueba cómo el bagaje espiritual e ideológico de Cabeza de Vaca no fue fruto exclusivo de su periplo americano, sino más bien de su familiaridad con las coordenadas éticas propias de la España oficial de su tiempo: la que puso los cimientos de una incipiente legalidad internacional.

Laila Lalami’s The Moor’s Account: A Lost Narrative

From the earlier times the voices of the minorities especially the Muslims have been subjugated by the forces. Many of the texts written in the olden times, whether fictional or non-fictional hardly have any mention of Muslims in them. One such text being the historical account of the Narvaez expedition that took place in 1527, which was chronicled by Cabeza de Vaca, one of the four survivors of the expedition. What is surprising is that one of the survivors was an African slave, Estabanico but he is hardly mentioned in the original, despite being part of the expedition that stretched to eight year. Fast forward to the 21st century which is the age of postcolonialism and where the once oppressed communities are finally speaking about their truth, Moroccan author, Laila Lalami through her novel, The Moor’s Account decided to give voice and a backstory to the African slave, Estabanico. The current paper deals with the complexities of the novel and tries to provide reasons as to why Cabeza de Vaca intentionally omitted the Estabanico’s account of the travels. The paper also discusses the ingenuine use of narrative tools made by the author in the retelling of the story of a forgotten Muslim slave. It also narrates the importance of women characters in the Islamic culture of those days, when the western woman was not as liberated as she is today. Lastly, the paper draws a parallel between Estabanico’s condition during the expedition and that of the Muslim population in the post 9/11 world.

Lampejo do passado no presente

Pesquisam-se ações memoriais, fixadas em formas. Em 2016 surgiu o Memorial Cabeza de Vaca/PR e em 2020, o grafite de Mundano/SP alusivo à tragédia da Cia. Vale, em Brumadinho/MG. Como o ontem raia no hoje e rasga certezas? O que se omitiu? Quais soluções, técnica, material e poética usadas? Contra e a favor de quem se rebelam? Como se dá a reunião de recursos? Por que? Qual a diferença na abordagem da memória?

Narrative Circuits of New World Copper

In adapting a variety of printed forms to convey their faith in untried sources of imperial wealth, colonial writers, reformers, and projectors shaped the malleable possibilities of copper into creative narrative mediums. As they told and retold stories, their own and others’, such writers build an iterative archive of maps, reports, and “true relations” that redefined the meaning of experience, eyewitness testimony, and knowledge of metals in the colonial Americas. This chapter opens the section on copper by analyzing Hernando de Soto’s search for copperworks in La Florida, as inspired by Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, narrated by Portuguese footsoldier o Fidalgo de Elvas, and translated by English polymath Richard Hakluyt.