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Performance and the Structure of the Mixtec Codices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

John Monaghan
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA

Abstract

This article begins with the assumption that the Mixtec codices were scripts to be performed. It reasons that as “scripts,” they contained clues to guide the performers in their public reading or chanting. It suggests that this reading would have corresponded to Mixtec canons of verbal artistry, and argues that the size and combination of figures in the codices reflect certain elements in the poetics of contemporary Mixtec speech.

Type
Special Section: Rethinking Mixtec Codices
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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