Alterity and conquest in Naufragios, by Alvar núñez Cabeza de Vaca

Abstract

From the reading of Naufragios, a document from the sixteenth century whichnarrates the experience of the Spanish Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca among theaborigines from North American territories, that today form a part of the UnitedStates and Mexico, this work proposes a reflection about the otherness’s andidentity’s problem. Considering the historical and cultural context in which thestory develops, the article analyzes the Alvar’s narration, taking as a model theethnographer’s experience and the “construction” of the knowledge about the“other”.