Coyolxauhqui imperative
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The Coyolxauhqui imperative is a theory named after the Aztec goddess of the moon Coyolxauhqui to explain an ongoing and lifelong process of healing from events which fragment, dismember, or deeply wound the self spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically. The imperative is the need to look at the wounds, understand how the self has been fragmented, and then reconstruct or remake the self in a new way. Repeatedly enacting this process is done in the search for wholeness or integration. The concept was developed by queer Chicana feminist Gloria E. Anzaldúa.[2][3][4]
Scholars have applied her theory in varying contexts, such as in the need for educational institutions to recognize their responsibility to serving marginalized students; to look at the wounds they have caused so that they can reconstruct themselves in ways which promote holistic healing for students of color.[5] The theory has also been applied in regard to identity, by uncovering aspects of the self that have been buried as a result of colonialism, and then reconstructing the self by looking at the complexity of the wounds and recognizing the fluidity and interconnectedness of the whole.[4] The theory is recognized as one of Anzaldúa's central contributions to Chicana feminist theory, along with Nepantla, spiritual activism, and new tribalism.[6]
The theory is named after Coyolxauhqui, who is an important figure in Aztec belief. Coyolxauhqui, the eldest daughter of Coatlicue, decides to kill her mother after being embarrassed from hearing of her sudden pregnancy of Huitzilopochtli. As Coyolxauhqui prepares for battle at the base of the mountain of Coatepec (the current site of which is unknown),[1] in collaboration with Coatlicue's other children (Centzon Huitznahuas), one of the children, Quauitlicac, warns Huitzilopochtli of the incoming attack while in utero. Now aware of the attack, Coatlicue miraculously births Huitzilopochtli, who is fully grown and comes out of the womb wielding "his shield, teueuelli, and his darts and his blue dart thrower, called xinatlatl."[7]
After she is beheaded by Huitzilopochtli, her body is dismembered as it falls down the mountain: "He pierced Coyolxauhqui, and then quickly struck off her head. It stopped there at the edge of Coatepetl. And her body came falling below; it fell breaking to pieces; in various places her arms, her legs, her body each fell."[7] In some accounts of the story, Huitzilopochtli tosses Coyolxauhqui's head into the sky and it became the Moon in order to comfort his mother so that she could see her daughter in the sky during the night.[8] Anzaldúa similarly draws on these accounts, referring to Coyolxauhqui as the Moon.[3]
