Life of La Malinche

Illustrations inspired by the different view of La Malinche. This is a art was created by a Native American Activist Jimmie Durham.

In this document you will find information on the life of Malinche before and after the Spaniards. The author argues that Malinche may had not been a traitor to her people but a survivor. Within reading this document you will see the different ways Malinche was portrayed and viewed. She is known to some as "New Mestiza" and to others "La Chingada." The document explorers the possible reasoning behind La Malinche's actions when she was held by the Spaniards.

Ruíz, Antonio. “El sueño de la Malinche” [“The Dream of Malinche”]. Oil on

canvas, 11 7/8 x 15 3/4". Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City, 1939.

“Malinche Translating from Palace Roof Top.” Pigment/ink on paper ca. 1570-1585. In Book 12, Chap. 18 of Florentine Codex, Bernardino de Sahagún et al.,
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Ital.
Malinche was a translator for Cortés, she spoke Nahuatl and Mayan.

Though mentioned only twice in his letters, Malinche’s role is made clear- she is la lengua.
This is a primary source.

Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. Chap. 22-23 in The Discovery and Conquest of

Mexico, 1517-1521. 1585. Translated by A. P. Maudsley. Noonday Press, 1965.

A more detailed description of a direct interaction with Malinche. Del Castillo thinks very highly of Malinche.
This is a primary source.

Bernardino de Sahagún. “Of how the Spaniards entered Moteucçoma's private

home, and what happened there." Book 12, Chap. 18, p.124, 126 in Florentine Codex. ca.

1570-1585. In We People Here. Translated and edited by James Lockhart. Berkeley and

Los Angeles: University of California Press.

An indigenous account of Malinche. Shows how indigenous people viewed her position as powerful.
This is a primary source.

“Cortés Greets Xicoténcatl.” Mid-16th century. Detail from Lienzo de Tlaxcala.

Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin.

Leibsohn, Dana. "Women in World History : MODULE 6." Women in World History : MODULE 6. Accessed October 13, 2016. http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/modules/lesson6/lesson6.php?c=credits

Teaching website that provides a biography of Malinche.

This is a song about Malinche by Lila Downs. This is a loving song to Maliche and you can see that it is the singer's belief that she does not think of Malinche as a traitor but possible as the Mother of the Mestizos.
Below are the english translation of the lyrics:

Along the way he will Malinche,
step powder and cinnamon
look I'm looking for
on the way to my heart

I come with my promise
looking for ceiba and a snail
look at playing this spindle
look at how he eats that shrimp

Walking the coast
with free passage tone sea
the brunette one rede load
gold and coral

Along the way will Malinche
step of love and penalties
I am looking in good morning
dance with Chilean Navy

I love you, morena
Heart girl Marina
dancing bull looks the military
looking looking for a raggedy bull

A well-known Chicana poem about Malinche. Tafolla took inspiration from the famous 1967 poem of the Chicano movement, “Yo Soy Joaquín,” but rewrites from an explicitly feminist perspective. The poem addresses the scene of European colonization, charting Malinche’s fate—as conquered woman, traitor, invincible survivor. Tafolla heightens the tension between traitor and survivor, raped slave and mother of la raza by writing as if Malinche herself was recounting her own history.