Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca's Naufragios: notes en the anthropological relevance of the text

Abstract

Analyzes the references of Cabeza de Vaca to indigenous societies, and propases, rather than a strictly informative or ethnohistorical evaluation, an anthropological analysis in a double sense: insomuch as the book reveals a comparative perspective in American societies, and insomuch as nowadays we have an anthropological theory which helps us to understand better the position of the author regarding the "others". Psychoanalytical and literary approaches, added to this modern anthropological focus, also help us to understand Alvar Nuñez's paradoxical position in his daily dealings with the Indians of northern Mexico: in the one hand, the narrater styles himself as an evangelical traveller, but in the other hand, he adopts many native beliefs and experiences when practising as a witchdoctor.