The Europeanization of Prehispanic tradition: Bernardino de Sahagún’s transformation of Aztec priests (tlamacazque) into classical wise men (tlamatinime)

The Nahua wise men known as tlamatinime have been treated as core figures of Prehispanic indigenous culture in Mexico. Most scholars, basing their opinions heavily on the works of Bernardino de Sahagún (Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España, Coloquios y doctrina cristiana, and the Florentine Codex) portraying the tlamatinime as scholars, philosophers, scribes, poets, and physicians who reflected the advanced and highly civilized nature of Prehispanic Mexico. However, in this article, I argue that in their search for indigenous intellectuals, scholars have overlooked one of Bernardino de Sahagún's pet projects: ‘taming’ or domesticating Aztec religious authorities, turning them from threatening shaman-like figures into misguided but otherwise professional teachers, thinkers, and public speakers, thereby stripping them of their religious authority.     

The Role of Regulations in the Spanish Housing Dispossession Crisis: Towards Dispossession by Regulations?

This paper explores the role of regulations and economic policies implemented in post-crisis Spain in boosting a housing dispossession crisis. The article first claims that the post-2008 crisis has implied shifts in the mechanisms of rent extraction from housing in Spain. Second, it is argued that those shifts in rent extraction have been fuelled by the post-crisis economic policies and regulatory frameworks implemented since 2008. Third, it is claimed that dispossession has been a central strategy used by banks to cope with the new post-crisis regulatory framework. The article thus analyses the different strategies carried out by banks and hedge funds to enforce foreclosures and other dispossession strategies since 2008. Furthermore, it explores the different motivations and ideologies that led to the roll out of different banking regulations and the variegated impacts that these regulations have had on Spanish bank and hedge fund strategies vis-à-vis housing dispossession.