The Flower and the Scorpion

“The Flower and the Scorpion is a fascinating history of understandings of Nahua sexuality from the precontact era through the early colonial period. Drawing on a stunning array of Nahuatl- and Spanish-language primary sources, Pete Sigal considers what the Nahua wrote about their beliefs, deities, rituals, and activities relating to sexuality. But The Flower and the Scorpion is not only about the Nahua; it is also about the Spaniards and what they thought about sexuality, their own and that of the Nahua. Sigal shows us how different the perceptions of the Nahua and the Spaniards were, especially as they related to sex, and how different their ideas remained well into the seventeenth century, even as they lived in close proximity to one another.”—Susan Schroeder, editor of The Conquest All Over Again: Nahuas and Zapotecs Thinking, Writing, and Painting Spanish Colonialism

“This book emerges from a scholarly utilization of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century primary sources to illuminate not only very complex Nahua thought and practices but also the colonial context that shaped the discourse around themes that defy our modern labels, such as ‘sex’ itself. Pete Sigal employs his training in Nahuatl to analyze terms and texts in their original language, producing his own translations and interpreting meanings, always with an effort to delineate Western frames and biases that might color our understanding.”—Stephanie Wood, author of Transcending Conquest: Nahua Views of Spanish Colonial Mexico

“The scholarship offered by this study is sound, enlightening, and interesting. This work contributes to our understanding of Nahua perceptions of gender and sexuality according to autochthonous frames, and how they adjusted to the demands of Christianity. The Flower and the Scorpion is clearly written and very enjoyable to read.”

“This is an important and provocative book, which deserves to be widely read by both Nahua specialists and gender historians. This is challenging territory, but those brave enough to venture there will find ideas which encourage us not only to rethink Nahua ideas of sexuality, but also to challenge the fixed nature of individual and collective identity.”

“By exceeding any previous analysis of Nahua rituals’ sexual aspects, Sigal has made a valuable contribution to the history of religion and the history of sexuality.”

“[A] masterful job…. This is a fascinating and challenging work. Sigal has taken the reader back to pre-Columbian times and attempted to strip away the colonial layers of Spanish discourse and worldview in order to reach the Nahua of before the conquest. His is a compelling argument and will certainly serve as a point of departure for further research.”