Spanish Conquistadors as God’s Chosen People: The Role of Biblical Metaphor in Angélico Chávez's Recounting of Southwest History

Authors

• Nicholas L. Chavez, University of New Mexico - Main CampusFollow

Abstract

This study presents a critical discourse analysis of Fray Angélico Chávez’s My Penitente Land: Reflections on Spanish New Mexico through a cognitive linguistic lens based on Hawkins’s notion of iconographic reference. A metaphor analysis first identifies Chávez’s framing of New Mexican history as biblical narrative, mapping Old Testament stories, locations, and characters onto Spanish colonial events. The iconographic reference analysis then demonstrates how this metaphor functions discursively: a biblical iconographic frame of reference allows Chávez to create a biblically-based heirarchy which maps onto Spanish–Indigenous relations, positioning Spaniards as a chosen people and implicitly justifying colonial atrocities by aligning Indigenous groups with the Canaanites. The study concludes by suggesting a possible link between Chávez’s narrative strategies and emerging patterns of Sephardic identity formation.

Recommended Citation

Chavez, Nicholas L. (2025) "Spanish Conquistadors as God’s Chosen People: The Role of Biblical Metaphor in Angélico Chávez's Recounting of Southwest History," International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest: Vol. 44: No. 1, Article 7.
Available at: https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/ijlasw/vol44/iss1/7