Philology and ethnohistory. A brief history of the "New Philology" in North America

Abstract

It has often been suggested that there are two reasons for the peculiar vitality of the ethnohistory of colonial Mesoamerica. A few years ago, John Kicza (1995:240) defined eloquently citing two reasons, first, the "integrity" and "vigor" of indigenous civilizations from prehistoric times to the present and, second, the richness and diversity of documentary sources relevant to the topic. Without disputing this argument-in fact based on the notion that these two factors can serve as assumptions-would suggest that there is a third factor is also relevant: the concatenation of the activities of a diverse group of researchers has created a collective vision methodological and interpretive and constructive impulse that has enabled the development and realization of that vision.