Abstract

This article seeks to reconsider some colonial and contemporary readings around a paradigmatic figure: Malintzin. With this objective I will divide our approach into four correlated sections. The first introduces some elements around the construction of the term Malintzin, highlighting those that are related with the Nahua cultural world. The second takes up the colonial chronicles of Bernal Díaz del Castillo and Diego Muñoz Camargo, identifying their specific contents related to her figure. The third delves into some contemporary contributions of a literary, historiographical and philosophical nature. To this purpose I will recover the literary appreciations of Octavio Paz, the historical proposals of Matthew Restall, and the philosophical approach of Bolívar Echeverría. The fourth section functionalizes some final considerations related to Malintzin as useful perspective to problematize the contemporaneity of the conquest of Mexico. Lately, this article seeks to ask and reflect on Malintzin in terms of the construction of an imaginary that posits a multidirectional understanding of her figure.