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A NEW ANALYSIS OF THE GENDER ATTRIBUTION OF THE “GREAT GODDESS” OF TEOTIHUACAN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2015

Elisa C. Mandell
Elisa C. Mandell*
Affiliation:
Department of Visual Arts, California State University Fullerton, P.O. Box 6850, Fullerton, California 92834-6850
*
E-mail correspondence to: elisaCmandell@gmail.com
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Abstract

This study explores the identification and gender attribution of the “Great Goddess” of Teotihuacan through re-examining what purportedly constitutes feminine and masculine in these representations. Recent efforts to reattribute this deity's gender have not offered satisfactory re-interpretations, but instead reify a binary model of Western ideas of gender. Transcending this binary model, I propose that one of the key figures identified as female—the central figure from the Tepantitla mural at Teotihuacan—can better be said to show characteristics of a mixed gender, a tradition for which there is significant precedence in the Americas.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , Spring 2015 , pp. 29 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

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