ABSTRACT

Shortly after the US annexation of half of Mexico's territory in 1848, not only was slavery re-instituted, but Mexicans viewed the process as one of dispossession and humiliation. As a result many rebels, some real and some imagined, rose in defiance during the second half of the nineteenth century. The repeated idea of an empire boasting an illegitimate power arises in a very particular way, through power itself. To reverse this, the Aztecs resort to psychological shock. They invited representatives of neighboring villages to witness ritual massacres as a way to sustain their power through terror force. A feature of the pre-Hispanic world seems to be the conscience of destruction, abandonment, or resignation. Viracocha possesses the same duality as Quetzalcoatl, while being the creator of the world and a "cultural hero." As in Mesoamerican cosmology, creation is not unique but is preceded by failed attempts.