WOMEN OF DISCORD: FEMALE POWER IN AZTEC THOUGHT

Women in the Aztec (or, more properly, Mexica)¹world are an elusive force, occupying a position which may at times seem paradoxical. Narratives about the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, which flourished on the site of modern-day Mexico City from c. 1325 until the Spanish conquest of 1521, originate overwhelmingly from male points of view and tend to be dominated by the archetypally masculine characters of warriors and priests.²And yet, in the varied alphabetic, archaeological, and pictorial sources, women appear as formidable goddesses, influential queens, workers, mothers, tradespeople, doctors, and officials. But despite the power, prominence, and esteem which these numerous roles suggest, women are persistently associated with disorder in the records. Female figures are influential, and respected, but they are also frequently disruptive or threatening: leaders of rebellion, inciters of disunity, what scholars have sometimes dubbed 'Women of Discord', evoking a provocative sacrifice from the Aztec past. Such troublesome yet important women are a recurring theme, epitomizing the complex associations of femininity in Aztec thought.

This article traces the metaphorical and historical associations between women and disorder in Aztec culture, as well as exploring the ways in which beliefs about the female capacity for disruption reflected and shaped reality. After establishing the historical and historiographical context, and tracing the origins of 'Women of Discord', I will discuss their structural significance in Aztec thought, before examining the ways in which beliefs about disorderly women translated into reality, influencing ideals for male and male behaviour, and prompting gender-specific fears about their problematic potential. Scholars have previously emphasized the contentious influence of divine and mytho-historical female figures, but I argue that such issues can also be detected in the lives of 'real' women, affecting their behaviour and originating in their experiences. Although it can be difficult, from a modern perspective, to reconcile the fear of female power with women's everyday agency, it is impossible to extricate the terrestrial and spiritual in Aztec thought; these realms were profoundly entangled in the pre-Columbian world. During childbirth, it was believed that a woman's body was physically saturated with the being of the earth goddess, Cihuacoatl (Woman Snake), and women's ability to access such awesome power for both creation and destruction made them a formidable and ominous presence.³