Presencias espectrales en Alas a la palabra de Adela Calva Reyes: convergencia de voces en una mujer hñähñu

• Main Author: Milvet Alonso
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Prof. Dr. Vittoria Borsò, Prof. Dr. Frank Leinen, Jun.-Prof. Dr. Yasmin Temelli, Prof. Dr. Guido Rings 2019-07-01
• Series: iMex. México Interdisciplinario/Interdisciplinary Mexico
• Subjects: Spectrality; indigenous cultures; hñähñu; colonization; Mexico
• Online Access: https://www.imex-revista.com/xvi-convergencia-voces-hnahnu/

Alas a la palabra (2008) is a book of memoirs that speaks to the cultural and personal experiences of the hñähñu (or otomí) author Adela Calva Reyes, born in the community of San Ildefonso in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. The text offers the author’s memories interwoven with those narrated by her family. The memories present traditions, beliefs and events in the community that are also intertwined with the hñähñu worldview. Furthermore, some of the family stories denounce the pervasive scarcity and gender violence. The voices that converge in the discourse belong to departed ones, figures that are either dead or banished from the town. Based on the works of Jacques Derrida and Avery Gordon, this article analyzes the text from a spectrality perspective in order to examine these ghostly voices’ presence as a form of denounce and as a social figure that unveils a colonial system, which is still haunting postcolonial nations.