- Luz Jiménez
Luz Jiménez or Luciana (born Julia Jiménez González; 1897–1965) was an
indigenous Mexican model andNahuatl -language storyteller and linguisticinformant fromMilpa Alta , D.F.As a young woman she witnessed the
Mexican Revolution , and was present whenEmiliano Zapata and his revolutionary army entered Milpa Alta in 1911. Her eyewitness account is one of the only testimonies of Emiliano Zapata speakingNahuatl . In 1916 most of her male relatives were killed in a massacre by the Carrancistas.In the 1930s she served as a linguistic informant to linguists working to document the Nahuatl language. Among others she worked with
Benjamin Lee Whorf who credits her in his description of Milpa Alta Nahuatl. She also worked as a model for artistDiego Rivera and her portrait can be seen in at least three of his murals, one of them the famousTlatalolco market scene. In her old age she told her life's story to anthropologistFernando Horcasitas who published it with the title "Life and Death in Milpa Alta".As the
godparent s of her daughter Concha,Jean Charlot andAnita Brenner were her "compadre s". Luz died in 1965 after being hit by a car inMexico City .References
*cite web |author=Charlot, John |title=Jean Charlot and Luz Jiménez |url=http://www.hawaii.edu/jcf/JohnCharlotOnJean/JC%20and%20Luz.htm English original. Published in Spanish as: cite journal |author=Charlot, John |year=2007 |title=Jean Charlot y Luz Jiménez |journal=Parteaguas: Revista del Instituto Cultural de Aguascalientes |volume=2 |issue=8 |pages=pp. 83–100
*cite book|author=Horcasitas, Fernando (Ed.)|title=Life and Death in Milpa Alta: A Nahuatl chronicle of Díaz and Zapata|others=Narrated by Luz Jiménez|year=1972|location=Norman|publisher=Oklahoma University Press|ISBN=0-8061-1001-5
*cite book |author=Karttunen, Frances |year=1994 |title=Between Worlds: Interpreters, Guides, and Survivors |location=New Brunswick |publisher=Rutgers University Press
*cite journal |author=Karttunen, Frances |year=1999 |title=The linguistic career of doña Luz Jiménez |journal=Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl |pages=pp. 267–274 |volume=30
*cite book |year=2000 |title=Luz Jiménez, símbolo de un pueblo milenario, 1897–1965 |isbn=9701837762 |oclc=46321349
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