Of Enemies & Venison: First Materials for an Aztec Cosmotechnic

A groundbreaking philosophical inquiry into Aztec cosmology and the hidden knowledge colonialism sought to erase. This scholarly work excavates the ontological foundations of Nahuatl civilization through the lens of warfare and hunting—ritual practices that dissolved boundaries between human, animal, and divine.

Drawing on the philosophical anthropology of Descola and Viveiros de Castro, and tracing Heidegger's influence toward Yuk Hui's world-building technics, Lou Manuel Arsenault reconstructs an Aztec Cosmo-Technique of identification. In the post-classical Valley of Mexico, these sacred practices were inseparable from cosmological order itself. Jaguars, deer, enemies, and humans existed in fluid ontological relation, each encounter enacting a world with its own destiny. Colonial violence buried this knowledge—in archaeological layers, in fragmented texts, in suppressed memory. This book retrieves what lies dormant. It argues that "Deep Mexico," as Batalla named it, persists beneath the surface, waiting to be unearthed. Essential reading for those seeking to understand indigenous philosophy, cosmotechnics, and the decolonial future.