Abstract

VERA CASTANEDA, Julio. Medical herbs and colonial semiosis: Indigenous illustrations within two Novo-Hispanic manuscripts on American nature of the 16th century. Mem. am. [online]. 2019, vol.27, n.1, pp.188-207.  Epub June 01, 2019. ISSN 1851-3751.

This article proposes a new read of the herbal put together by “Doctor” Martín de la Cruz, translated into Latin in 1552 by Juan Badiano, and the “medical treaty” which is part of Bernardino de Sahagún’s Florentine Codex (1577) based on the notion of colonial semiosis. The combination of images and texts in these artifacts and the direct participation of wisemen of Náhutl origin allow the consideration of visual representations of medicinal herbs as statements that retain certain autonomy, despite being included within the genres of European representation. This peculiarity strains the alleged subordination of visual signifiers to the imperative of alphabetical writing, making it possible to assess the presence of heterogeneous representations within the context of Mesoamerican literacy in the sixteenth century.

Keywords : colonial semiosis; materia medica; medicinal herbs; representation.

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