Serpent's Plumes

Draws on Nahua concepts to explore Nahua literary production and contributions to cultural activism from the 1980s to the present.2025 CHOICE Outstanding Academic TitleSilver Medal Co-Winner of the 2025 International Latino Book Awards, in the category of Best Academic Themed Book, College LevelThe Serpent's Plumes analyzes contemporary Nahua cultural production, principally bilingual Nahuatl-Spanish xochitlajtoli, or "e;poetry,"e; written from the 1980s to the present. Adam W. Coon draws on Nahua perspectives as a decolonizing theoretical framework to argue that Nahua writers deploy unique worldviews-namely, ixtlamatilistli ("e;knowledge with the face,"e; which highlights the value of personal experiences); yoltlajlamikilistli ("e;knowledge with the heart,"e; which underscores the importance of affective intelligence); and tlaixpan ("e;that which is in front,"e; which presents the past as lying ahead of a subject rather than behind). The views of ixtlamatilistli, yoltlajlamikilistli, and tlaixpan are key in Nahua struggles and effectively challenge those who attempt to marginalize Native knowledge production.