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CAssAnDeR L. sMItH University of Alabama Beyond the Mediation Esteban, Cabeza de Vaca's Relación, and a Narrative Negotiation In 1536 four men stumbled into the Spanish province of Nueva Galicia in northwest Mexico. They were weary, tanned, and unkempt, after having endured nearly a decade of hardships--starvation, shipwrecks, disease, captivity by Gulf Coast Indians--while trekking through regions of present-day Florida, Texas, and north Mexico. These men were the only survivors of Pánfilo de Narváez's doomed 1527 Spanish expedition to Florida. In his 1542 narrative of the ordeal, La relación, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca tells how the men survived by, in part, convincing native populations that they were powerful healers. Cabeza de Vaca relates that by the end of their journey they had become demigods, wielding power and influence over the natives. To maintain that stature--and a measure of mystique--Cabeza de Vaca and his two Spanish companions limited their interactions with the Indians, communicating with them most often through the mediation of the lone black African slave to survive the expedition, named Esteban. Cabeza de Vaca writes, "We had a great deal of authority and influence over [the Indians]. And in order to conserve this we spoke to
Early American Literature – University of North Carolina Press
Published: Jul 21, 2012
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