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Chapter 2. Indigenous interpreters on trial in the Spanish Empire

The rise and fall of the Maya interpreter Don Hernando Uz in seventeenth-century Yucatán
  • Caroline Cunill
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Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting
This chapter is in the book Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting

Abstract

In 1610, the Maya interpreter don Hernando Uz was accused of encouraging a rebellion against don Pedro Xiu, the Indigenous governor of Tekax, in Yucatán, New Spain. Building on the analysis of the trial, the chapter aims at distinguishing three categories of interpreters who provided services of cultural and linguistic mediation in the justice system of the Spanish empire: the General Interpreters officially appointed at the royal courts in the Americas, the Spanish governors’ personal interpreters, and the interpreters who sought informally to meet the Indigenous people’s needs for justice. I will show how thin the line between linguistic mediation and legal advice was, and how the concepts of trust and mistrust applied to the interpreters shaped the space where those professionals were required to act at court and, more broadly, in the vice-royal society.

Abstract

In 1610, the Maya interpreter don Hernando Uz was accused of encouraging a rebellion against don Pedro Xiu, the Indigenous governor of Tekax, in Yucatán, New Spain. Building on the analysis of the trial, the chapter aims at distinguishing three categories of interpreters who provided services of cultural and linguistic mediation in the justice system of the Spanish empire: the General Interpreters officially appointed at the royal courts in the Americas, the Spanish governors’ personal interpreters, and the interpreters who sought informally to meet the Indigenous people’s needs for justice. I will show how thin the line between linguistic mediation and legal advice was, and how the concepts of trust and mistrust applied to the interpreters shaped the space where those professionals were required to act at court and, more broadly, in the vice-royal society.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Voices from around the world 1
  4. Chapter 2. Indigenous interpreters on trial in the Spanish Empire 25
  5. Chapter 3. Interpreters of Mapudungun and the Chilean State during the 1880–1930 period 53
  6. Chapter 4. An overview of the role of interpreters during the Portuguese expansion through Africa (1415–1600) 81
  7. Chapter 5. Mediating a complex cultural matrix 120
  8. Chapter 6. Interpreting with “human sympathy” 145
  9. Chapter 7. The colonized in conflict 171
  10. Chapter 8. Interpreters of mission 193
  11. Chapter 9. Domesticating dragomans 212
  12. Chapter 10. The interpreter as “anti-hero” 238
  13. Chapter 11. When the armies went back home 268
  14. Chapter 12. Conclusion 288
  15. Biographical notes 296
  16. Place index 300
  17. Name index 302
  18. Language index 305
  19. Subject index 306
  20. Image index 309
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.159.02cun

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Voices from around the world 1
  4. Chapter 2. Indigenous interpreters on trial in the Spanish Empire 25
  5. Chapter 3. Interpreters of Mapudungun and the Chilean State during the 1880–1930 period 53
  6. Chapter 4. An overview of the role of interpreters during the Portuguese expansion through Africa (1415–1600) 81
  7. Chapter 5. Mediating a complex cultural matrix 120
  8. Chapter 6. Interpreting with “human sympathy” 145
  9. Chapter 7. The colonized in conflict 171
  10. Chapter 8. Interpreters of mission 193
  11. Chapter 9. Domesticating dragomans 212
  12. Chapter 10. The interpreter as “anti-hero” 238
  13. Chapter 11. When the armies went back home 268
  14. Chapter 12. Conclusion 288
  15. Biographical notes 296
  16. Place index 300
  17. Name index 302
  18. Language index 305
  19. Subject index 306
  20. Image index 309
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