Abstract

BERMUDEZ HERNANDEZ, Luz del Rocío. The Dominican Order in Chiapas: from Mesoamerican Multilingualism to Castilianization (16^th-19^th centuries). Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2020, vol.41, n.164, pp.108-135.  Epub Oct 11, 2021. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v41i164.805.

Mexico being one of the countries with the greatest linguistic variety in the world, some studies confirm Chiapas as one of the states with the most speakers of indigenous languages (first place in 2020). However, the ways in which linguistic instrumentalization also becomes a historical means of power have yet to be further explored. In this sense, we can consider the case of the Dominican order, whose linguistic dominion was utilized since 1545 both to evangelize and, in the long run, to isolate and control exclusively the large tributary population of the bishopric of Chiapa and Soconusco. However, on the other hand, since the 18th century the friars began to abandon Mesoamerican multilingualism in favor of the more decisive Castilianization of the Bourbon royalism. This change of attitude culminated during the Mexican nationalism of the 19th century, through the literacy methods of two Chiapanecan Dominicans. “Spanish” was thus consolidated as an integrating and homogenizing sociocultural factor in the country, while the richness of Mesoamerican multilingualism still subsists under the sign of stigmatization and exclusion.

Keywords : Dominican Order; Chiapas; Mesoamerican languages; Mexican nationalism; discrimination.