Imaginary Otherness. Malintzin: the language and image of the Other in the Conquest of America

Abstract

Malintzin, Mariana, Doña Marina or, later, La Malinche, handed over to Cortés in 1519, not only had a central role in the Conquest of America, but even now continues to shape the imaginary of otherness wrapped in darkness and the inexplicable. Body-word half way between the consciousness of oneself and the Other (the world, nature and men), Malitzin embraces the “Nocturnal Regime” of the anthropological structures of the imaginary according to G. Durand, mother, house, cave, earth, grave. The Other as an enigma, the matrix of creation of a plural otherness, but also ghosts that lead to autism and display a morbid image of the Other.