Tláloc: atmospheric knowledge and political epistemology in ancient Mexico

Abstract

Humankind experience in the world corresponds to the appropriation of its external environment and to its own self-conformation. The link of human collectives with what is called “atmospheric phenomena” in Occidental society is mainly expressed as climatic and meteorologic knowledge. In this article, this is examined through the analysis of the inscribed knowledge concerning the deity called Tláloc which was produced by the pre-Cortesian people from Anáhuac and through the study of the episteme that may have supported it. To inquire into the atmospheric knowledge inscribed in the deity and gain a glimpse into the atmospheric experience of pre-Cortesian people as well as their later epistemic and cognitive conquest and destruction by Spanish conquerors, we have selected a set of ancient iconographic inscriptions of Tláloc as our central object of study. The text begins with an interpretative framework of Tláloc’s pre-Cortesian images; then, we demonstrate the heterogenous constitution of an intellectual device clustered around Tláloc, the deified expression of its atmospheric and human capacities, and its posterior desacralization and dehumanization by Spanish conquerors; we conclude with a reflection on the study of the inscribed knowledge produced by the peoples of ancient Mexico.