Week 9 Assignment

This is Wk 9 Assignment— use the instructions under that

I also submitted all the other assignements I submitted prior related to the topic of Adults with ADHD.

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Even though social workers might think of a compelling research question and have a desire to conduct research, this does not mean that the research is automatically supported by stakeholders or funded by an organization. To gain such approval, they must submit a research proposal. Much like an outline of a paper or a blueprint of a building design, the research proposal contains the framework so that stakeholders can see the key elements and the vision for the study.

For this Assignment, you write the first part of your research proposal, including the introduction, problem statement, research question, literature review, and methodological approach. You will work on the second part of the proposal next week.

To Prepare:

Review and gather content from previous Assignments and Discussions that includes elements of your research proposal. You should have significant material for your problem statement, research question, literature review, and methodological approach.
Revise these previous course submissions based on any feedback you have received.
Download the Research Proposal Template and review the guidance found within the document. Use this template for the Assignment.
You may wish to consult the Writing Toolbox in the left navigation of your classroom for additional resources relevant to writing your research proposal.
Write an introduction and refine and connect the various sections so that they work together as a cohesive research proposal.

By Day 7

Compile and submit the first part of your research proposal including the following sections in 3 to 4 pages:

Introduction (1 paragraph)
Problem Statement (1 paragraph)
Research Question (1 paragraph)
Literature Review (revision of previously submitted; 2 pages)
Methodological Approach (23 paragraphs)
Make sure to use the provided template and include appropriate APA citations and a reference list. 6

Quantitative Research Study Critique

Richard Davis
Walden University
SOCW 6301

Quantitative Research Study Critique

According to data from several recent research, there may be adults who fulfill the current criteria for ADHD but did not begin to exhibit symptoms until they were adults or adult-onset ADHD. This systematic review reviewed and combined the empirical data on adult-onset ADHD to determine whether the literature is reliable enough to evaluate this condition. Studies in this field frequently point out that parents with ADHD frequently struggle with emotional dysregulation, a lack of sustained attention and consistency, poor planning and problem-solving abilities, and other impairments. The research question for this chosen article was: “Is the extant literature strong enough to evaluate adult-onset ADHD?” Strict inclusion/exclusion requirements were satisfied by nine studies. According to the findings, the approaches used in the previous investigations were insufficient to assess adult-onset ADHD. Insufficient techniques currently provide uncertain information about the nature of late-onset symptoms. But during the past few years, there has been a lot of debate in the ADHD community over the possibility that symptoms could appear later in life, casting doubt on the neurodevelopmental classification of ADHD. This systematic review’s objective is to evaluate the evidence that is currently available on adult-onset ADHD (Taylor et al., 2021).

Title and Authors

The article title is
AdultOnset ADHD: A Critical Analysis and Alternative Explanations by Taylor, L. E., Kaplan-Kahn, E. A., Lighthall, R. A., & Antshel, K. M. The article was accepted and published online in 2021. The information in the article is current and up-to-date, which lends credibility to it. My study of adult ADHD makes use of the source. Both the authors and the source are reliable. The cited sources in the article are clear, easy to find, and unbiased. The article is peer reviewed and has been accepted and published online. The article is one of the most credible sources for ADHD in adults. The article has policies on copyright and peer review. The authors of the article have published other articles. The authors also have high numbers of “Cited By,” which shows credibility. From google scholar, the authors of this article have been cited by over a thousand people (Taylor et al., 2021).

Literature review

In order to determine if the current body of literature is reliable enough to assess adult-onset ADHD, the present systematic review will examine the currently available data. The neurodevelopmental disorder’s characteristics are described in this article. It explains how adult symptoms are more common because of greater environmental demands, the potential for improper assessment, or a failure to seek medical assistance at an earlier age. Symptoms cannot be observed in childhood but are more prominent in adulthood. Eight hundred and five adults who completed a self-report assessment and sought outpatient psychiatric care made up the sample size for this study. The information in this article about co-occurring disorders associated with ADHD, which may have prevented someone from having their ADHD symptoms evaluated at a younger age, is crucial to my research. Therefore, while certain similarities between the genders in this study are reported here, especially between the hyperactive groups who had ADHD at follow-up and those who did not, the authors caution against placing too much value on those findings until larger investigations have replicated them.
Additionally, the authors did not look into the psychological development or psychiatric condition of our hyperactive and control groups’ offspring at this outcome. While the majority of the control group (87%) had not yet given birth to children, only half (48%) of the hyperactive group had children, many of whom were too young to accurately document their psychiatric state by current methods. It’s been up for discussion for a while now whether adult-onset ADHD is possible when there are no prior symptoms in childhood (Taylor et al., 2021). In adults, symptoms do exist, but they are thought to be the outcome of signs that have already peaked, were misdiagnosed in the past, or weren’t found sooner.

Strategy of Research

The evaluation and synthesis of the empirical data on adult-onset ADHD was the goal of the quantitative study on the topic. It is exploratory. The goal and the research question are compatible. Nine studies met the strict inclusion/exclusion standards. According to the findings, the approaches used in the previous investigations were insufficient to assess adult-onset ADHD. Insufficient techniques currently provide uncertain information about the nature of late-onset symptoms.

Methodological Approach and Design

A longitudinal research design was used. This study uses a sample of 805 persons who completed a self-reporting evaluation and sought outpatient psychiatric care. This article is crucial to my research since it offers a wide range of information on co-occurring conditions linked to ADHD, which may have prevented some people from having their ADHD symptoms evaluated at a younger age. Strict inclusion/exclusion requirements were satisfied by nine studies. According to the findings, the approaches used in the previous investigations were insufficient to assess adult-onset ADHD. Insufficient techniques currently provide uncertain information about the nature of late-onset symptoms. A diagnosis of late-onset ADHD was not given to almost 95% of people who first tested positive on symptom checklists. The most frequent reason for diagnostic exclusion among people with impaired late-onset ADHD symptoms was symptoms or impairment occurring only in the setting of severe substance use. Most cases with late-onset started in adolescence and only manifested during this time. Independent of a complicated psychiatric background, there was no proof of adult-onset ADHD (Taylor et al., 2021).

Threats to Internal Validity

A causal relationship’s results are reliable and credible when they have internal validity. An experiment cannot prove a causal relationship between two variables without having strong internal validity. Instrumentation and testing are two instances of internal dangers to the study. The authors’ addition of a comparable control group mitigates all risks of single-group trials. Threats won’t impact the study’s findings if comparable control and treatment groups experience the same risks. A large sample size undermines testing since the results would be more sensitive to outcome variability. Testing hazards can also be mitigated using filler tasks or surveys to conceal the study’s goal.

Application to Practice

The limits of the literature and the current review are explored, along with future directions and clinical advice. The information provided in the article relates to social work practice. According to the article, a social worker should not undervalue the significance of psychosocial therapy. Although drugs are the most successful treatment for ADHD symptoms, symptom relief does not always mean improvements in day-to-day functioning. Numerous individuals with ADHD have benefited from psychosocial interventions, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy, which has been proven to be an indispensable auxiliary treatment. Although having ADHD is not the reason for having a gloomy outlook, individuals with ADHD frequently have formed one concerning specific life roles or responsibilities, which may make it difficult to practice new coping mechanisms. CBT may be useful in assisting these people as they work to transform their life.

References
Taylor, L. E., Kaplan-Kahn, E. A., Lighthall, R. A., & Antshel, K. M. (2021). Adult-onset ADHD: A critical analysis and alternative explanations.
Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 1-19.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01159-w 2

Articles on ADHD and Neurodevelopmental Disorder

Richard Davis
Walden University

SOCW 6301

Articles on ADHD and Neurodevelopmental Disorder

Introduction

There are many ways this question can be answered. The first would be to look at the current research and see if it provides insight into whether ADHD impairs learning and performance. This may be done by looking at articles from journals or other sources that address this topic and books on the subject. Another method would be to interview experts in the field, such as teachers or psychologists. Finally, it might also be possible to conduct surveys with people who have ADHD and see what they think about their condition and how it affects them.

1. Can ADHD impair a person’s ability to learn and perform cognitively?

In this article by Russell and other researchers, the authors investigated the impact of ADHD on adults’ lives. They used a mixed-method approach involving multiple research methods to obtain a complete picture. This study was conducted by using interviews and observations.
This study showed that adults affected by ADHD were less likely to be employed and more likely to live in poverty than their unaffected peers. This is consistent with previous research showing that adults affected by ADHD are more likely to be unemployed and less likely to have jobs with good hours and benefits (Russell et al., 2008).
In the article, the researchers used interviews to gain insight into what it means to have ADHD and how it affects adults’ lives. The researchers also collected quantitative data by administering a survey to a representative sample of adults diagnosed with ADHD as children. The survey asked about their daily activities and experiences with the condition over time. Finally, they analyzed their results to provide an overview of the effects of ADHD on adults’ lives today.

2. What are the characteristics of neurodevelopmental disorders?

The first section of this article by Taylor, begins by describing the types of neurodevelopmental disorders and their prevalence in children (in particular) and then moves into more specific topics, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The authors then discuss how these disorders are diagnosed through observation in children with ASD (Taylor et al., 2022).
The second section involves interviews with parents with children with ASD or other neurodevelopmental disorders. These interviews provide insights into families’ experiences as they have cared for their children with these conditions. Some of these experiences include difficulties at school or home due to sensory issues, difficulty finding appropriate treatment services, and difficulty finding community support systems that understand what it means to be a parent.

References

Russell A. Barkley, Kevin R. Murphy, & Mariellen Fischer. (2008). ADHD in Adults: What the Science Says. The Guilford Press.
Taylor, L. E., Kaplan-Kahn, E. A., Lighthall, R. A., & Antshel, K. M. (2022). Adult-Onset ADHD: A Critical Analysis and Alternative Explanations. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 53(4), 635653. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01159-w 2

Literature Review

Richard Davis
Walden University
SOCW 6310

Literature Review

Introduction

The significant impairments produced by ADHD include; difficulty maintaining focus, hyperactivity, impulsivity, inattention, and distractibility. These symptoms affect adults in a variety of ways.
Hyperactivity can cause problems with social relationships and work. Adults with ADHD are often misdiagnosed with other mental health disorders because they present differently from children with ADHD. This misdiagnosis can lead to the adult suffering from untreated ADHD symptoms for years before seeking help for their condition. The symptoms of ADHD may also make it difficult for some adults to hold down jobs or relationships with others (Weibel et al., 2020).
Impulsivity can negatively impact an adult’s ability to make good decisions when it comes time to act on those decisions. In addition, impulsivity can cause problems with personal hygiene. Hygiene habits that are important for personal hygiene habits, such as brushing teeth or flossing regularly, are essential for good oral health. That leads to potential tooth decay or gum disease later in life if not addressed early on by a dentist specializing in treating dental issues caused by tooth decay or gum disease caused by other conditions such as diabetes).
Inattention is another significant impairment produced by ADHD that impacts adults in many ways, including a lack of motivation and poor organizational skills (Castells et al., 2018).
Neurodevelopmental disorders consist of a group of disorders characterized by early-onset, severe intellectual disability, and severe physical impairments. There are several different types of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD), schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD), bipolar disorder with psychotic features (BDP), and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). These conditions are characterized by social, behavioral, and cognitive abnormalities that start in childhood or adolescence (Morris-Rosendahl et al., 2021).
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by social impairment and impaired communication skills. More than half of those diagnosed with ASD have very high levels of intellect; however, IQ scores below 70 are not uncommon. The average IQ score for children with ASD is between 50 to 70lower than that of typically developing children but higher than that of individuals with learning disabilities (Parenti et al., 2020).
Asperger syndrome is a form of ASD that presents at a younger age than typical cases. People with Asperger syndrome typically know how to communicate verbally but may struggle with complex social interactions, body language, and gestures such as eye contact and facial expressions.

References

Weibel, S., Menard, O., Ionita, A., Boumendjel, M., Cabelguen, C., Kraemer, C., … & Lopez, R. (2020). Practical considerations for evaluating and managing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in adults. L’encephale, 46(1), 30-40.
Castells, X., BlancoSilvente, L., & Cunill, R. (2018). Amphetamines for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (8).
Parenti, I., Rabaneda, L. G., Schoen, H., & Novarino, G. (2020). Neurodevelopmental disorders: from genetics to functional pathways. Trends in Neurosciences, 43(8), 608-621.
Morris-Rosendahl, D. J., & Crocq, M. A. (2022). Neurodevelopmental disordersthe history and future of a diagnostic concept. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience 2

ADHD in Adults

Richard Davis
Walden University
SOCW 6301

ADHD in Adults

Introduction

ADHD does not just affect children. It can also have a negative impact on adults’ lives, especially in the workplace. ADHD has four primary effects on adults: Inattentive ADHD can cause problems at work because people with this condition are more likely to make mistakes and take longer to complete tasks than people without it.
Hyperactive ADHD can cause problems at work because people with this condition tend to be unable to concentrate or sit still for long periods. This can lead to lost productivity and other issues that arise from having an employee who is fidgeting too much or who are not being able to focus on their work.
Impulsivity is often accompanied by hyperactivity, making it difficult for people with ADHD to stay focused on their job responsibilitiesespecially if those responsibilities require them to take detailed notes or read through files before making decisions about what needs to be done (Castells et al., 2019).
Difficulty paying attention makes it harder for people with ADHD to focus on the task at hand when they are trying something new at worklike learning how a new product works or starting up a new project from scratchand this can lead to frustration when trying.
Additionally, the effects of ADHD on adults are varied and can include organizational problems, difficulties with time management, and lack of self-discipline. Adults with ADHD may also have problems with memory, concentration, and attention (Parenti et al., 2020).
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects the brain’s ability to regulate behavior and focus attention. There are three characteristics of neurodevelopmental disorders based on what we know about ADHD: impulsivity, hyperactivity/inattention, and difficulty maintaining attention over time.

Impulsivity is acting without thinking about the consequences of one’s actions. For example, someone with ADHD may make inappropriate remarks or interrupt other people during meetings because they cannot pause before speaking or thinking about how their words might impact others.
Hyperactivity is defined as having an excess amount of motor activity. This would include fidgeting, running around, or jumping excessively in public spaces such as stores and restaurants. Difficulty maintaining attention over time is the “inability to stay focused for long enough periods.” This symptom can be exacerbated by distractions such as loud noises or bright lights (Weibel et al., 2022).

Characteristics of neurodevelopmental

Neurodevelopmental disorders are characterized by the onset of symptoms before the age of three and by a delay in brain development. These disorders affect the whole brain, not just one particular area.
There is no single cause of neurodevelopmental disorders, but they are thought to result from genetic and environmental factors interacting with each other over time. Genetic factors include Genetic mutations that predispose individuals to certain diseases or conditions; Genetic variations that affect how well a person’s genes function; Genetic variations that affect brain development and function (Morris-Rosendahl et al., 2022).
I will change, refine, or focus the research on the effects of ADHD on adults and characteristics of neurodevelopmental disorder based on my exploration of the literature by focusing on the following: The impact of ADHD on adults is often overlooked and misunderstood by adults themselves. This can lead to frustration with their symptoms and a lack of understanding about living with ADHD. The literature explores how this lack of understanding can harm adults’ health and well-being.
The literature also explores how adults cannot always access treatment for ADHD because they do not know how to find it or do not understand what it means to be treated for it and how it relates to their lives. In addition, there is a lack of understanding about why medication alone is not enough for many people with ADHD, which can make it difficult for them to understand why they need other types of treatment, like therapy or support groups, in order to overcome their symptoms.

References

Keywords: Adult ADHD, Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Outpatient

1) Russell A. Barkley, Kevin R. Murphy, & Mariellen Fischer. (2008).
ADHD in Adults: What the Science Says. The Guilford Press.

This article explained the significant impairments produced by the disorder of ADHD and how it effects adults in everyday life. This article will help the reader get a full understanding of the origin of ADHD and when it was first clinically practices in 1902 amongst 43 children at Royal College of Physicians. This article overviews many different studies which prove that this disorder exist in adulthood beyond developmental years.

2)
Taylor, L. E., Kaplan-Kahn, E. A., Lighthall, R. A., & Antshel, K. M. (2022). Adult-Onset ADHD: A Critical Analysis and Alternative Explanations.
Child Psychiatry & Human Development,
53(4), 635653. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01159-w

This article explains characteristics of the neurodevelopmental disorder. It breaks down how symptoms cannot be noticed in childhood but are more prevalent in adulthood due to higher environmental demands, possibility of not properly being assess, or failure to come to clinical attention at an earlier age.

3) Taylor, L. E., Kaplan-Kahn, E. A., Lighthall, R. A., & Antshel, K. M. (2022). Adult-Onset ADHD: A Critical Analysis and Alternative Explanations.
Child Psychiatry & Human Development,
53(4), 635653. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01159-w

This article follows a sample size of 805 adults seek outpatient psychiatric care completing a self-reporting assessment. This article is important to my research as it provides a variety of information on co-occurring disorders that are paired with ADHD, which may have overshadows ones ability to be assessed for ADHD at an earlier age.

history

all information is attached.
answer 1 of the 2 questions (guidelines for assignment are in the first attachment PLEASE READ in its ENTIRETY).
assigned readings are attached as well.

Cumulative Paper
HST 360
Spring 2022

Due 5/2/22

Directions

Please write a 7-9 page essay answering
ONE of the following questions. Please indicate at the beginning of your essay, which question you are addressing. Essays should be written in twelve-point font and double-spaced with one-inch margins. Please read the question carefully and answer all parts of the question in your essay. Evidence for answering these questions should come
ONLY from lectures, classroom discussions, and readings from this part of our course.
No outside sources are permitted
without prior approval by me.

To receive full credit, an essay should reference and/or cite specific evidence from Townsend, Lane, Boyer and Spurling texts, AND Lasso. All references, quotations, etc. should be cited with parenthetical citations or as footnotes. Please be consistent with your citations. References without quotes or citations will be treated as plagiarism. You may use material from the Restall & Lane textbook with proper citations as well. You may use material from course lectures without citations.

Essays should make a specific argument and avoid laundry lists of meaningless facts, plot narrations, and facile generalizations. Additionally, papers should be clearly organized and written in clean, readable prose. Because these are BIG, BROAD questions, I expect you to select themes within your chosen question, rather than trying to summarize/synthesize every possible instance relevant to that question in our course. In other words, go for depth rather than breadth.

Questions

1. Using specific examples from our course, identify several important characteristics of colonialism. How did Iberian (Spanish/Portuguese) colonialists advance these ideas? What challenges did these colonial projects face? In what ways were they left unfinished?

2. Iberian colonialism in the Americas involved the racial, cultural, and social mixture of three distinct societies (European, African, and Indigenous) that had little to no prior knowledge of each other. Colonizers imposed
categories of difference upon this mixture to make sense of what they saw as a chaotic situation. Over more than 300 years of colonialism, these structures evolved and changed. For this essay, please select a few categories of difference (i.e. racial, political, gender, class, occupational) and discuss how colonizers envisioned them to work. How did they work in reality? What room for flexibility/disregard existed between these categories as they evolved? Finally, what can these categories tell us about the long history of colonialism in Latin America? 46 Fi f t h Su n

Nezahualcoyotl responded that it would not be an easy task to collect
loyal families to follow him into battle, as Tezozomoc, after attaining power,
had made his own grandsons (his daughters children by the old Texcocan
king) the rulers of most of the regions villages. It was even said that Tezozomoc
had his people ask local children who were no more than nine years old if
their current ruler was the rightful one. At that age, the children did not have
the circumspection necessary to edit their responses: they gave away their
families political position as it had been discussed it in the privacy of their
own homes. Some of the prattling childrens families had been brutally pun-
ished since.36 But the fear that had been engendered by such acts had also bred
anger. Nezahualcoyotl said that he was game, indeed eager, to join the alli-
ance; he would gather what followers he could.

The ensuing battles were brutal, but village by village, the supporters of
Maxtla the Azcapotzalcan were brought down. Within a year or sothe
sources vary as to dateItzcoatl was able to declare himself tlatoani of the
Mexica. He was implicitly huey tlatoani, or high chief, of all the valley. He
soon had Nezahualcoyotl ceremoniously declared tlatoani of Texcoco, and
within another year or so after that, they had between them killed all of
Nezahualcoyotls remaining Azcapotzalcan half brothers and the husbands of
his Azcapotzalcan half sisters. They recorded in their histories: Nezahualcoyotl
sought out the descendants of Tezozomoc in all the places where they were
ruling; conquests were made in as many places as they were found. Maxtla
himself fled and disappeared in 1431.37

The kings of Tenochtitlan (of the Mexica people), Texcoco (of the Acolhua
people), and Tlacopan (of the Tepanec people) now ruled the valley as an
unofficial triumvirate. There was no formal statement to that effect. Later
generations would say that they initiated a Triple Alliance, even though in a
literal sense there was no such institution. In a de facto sense, however, there
most certainly was what we might call a lowercase triple alliance. No one
moved in the central valley without at least one of these three kings being
aware of it, and beyond the mountains that surrounded them, in the lands
that they gradually conquered, they had many eyes. They worked together to
bring down their enemies; they divided the resulting tribute payments judi-
ciously between them. The Mexica, with the largest population and having
played the most important role in the war, got the largest share, but they
werecareful not to engender resentment among their closest allies by taking
too much.38

It was a complex web that they wove among them. In a certain sense, the
political lay of the land remained almost unchanged. In general, each altepetl

Townsend, Camilla. Fifth Sun : A New History of the Aztecs, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/olemiss/detail.action?docID=5905185.
Created from olemiss on 2022-10-10 17:59:08.

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People of the Valley 47

continued to rule itself, choosing its tlatoani as the people thought best, and
rotating tasks and responsibilities among the various segments that composed
it, in the same fair-minded way as they always had. And if several altepetls had
a tradition of governing themselves as a unit, as a greater altepetl at least in
their foreign affairs, then that tradition generally continued, too.39 A sort of
democracy continued on a local level, in the sense that people continued to
discuss local matters among themselves and arrive at solutions that pleased
most of them. The same arrangement was allowed even to the non-Nahuas
who were conquered. The central valleys triumvirate was satisfied that it
should be so, as long as these other communities fought alongside them
whencalled upon to do so, participated in public workslike the building of
roads or great pyramid templesand paid their assigned tribute on time.
This was no Rome, one historian has commented succinctly, meaning
thatthe Mexica had no interest in acculturating those they conquered, no
desire to teach them their language, or to draw them into their capital or
military hierarchy.40

Yet despite the maintenance of local tradition, in an economic sense the
region was profoundly changed. Each altepetl that fell under the sway of the
triumvirate had to pay tribute wherever it was assigned. Often the financial
exigencies were head-spinningly complex. One part of a greater altepetl might
be assigned to pay tribute, for example, to nearby Texcoco, their regional boss
town. But by the terms of the peace agreement, the next segment of the same
greater altepetl might pay their taxes to Tenochtitlan. They might pay part of
the tribute (such as a certain number of bales of cotton) once a year, and
another part (such as some bags of corn or beans) three times a year. By neces-
sity, the calendar grew increasingly consistent across more and more territory,
for Itzcoatls collectors were timely, and the people had to be ready to receive
them. Different villages had adopted the calendar at different times, so one
altepetls year One Reed might be another ones Two Rabbit. Now they were
forced to try to synchronize their time counts. The calendars were never per-
fectly aligned, but they began to come closer.41

On one level, Itzcoatl enforced the same kind of tribute collection system
that would have been in place under Tezozomoc of Azcapotzalco in the old
daysand probably others before him in the deeper past. But now the central
valleys net of power spread wider. With three altepetls working together, the
armies they could send out were larger, the roads they had been able to build
were longer. Altepetls that had been far from old Tezozomocs grasp now
came within the central valleys reach. Many resisted, but those who fought
back against the new arrangements tended to lose. Then they were faced with

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48 Fi f t h Su n

tribute payments in perpetuity that sent shudders down every wise chief s
spine: they were tasked not only with sending corn and beans, or chocolate
and cotton, but also with supplying people to serve as sacrifices in the reli-
gious ceremonies of the central valley. A chief knew that this tax meant he
would be forced to constantly make war against his neighbors if he were to
avoid sending his own peoples children to the cutting stone. It was enough to
make anyone think twice before resisting. And chiefs had had it inculcated in
them from an early age that a good chief was a responsible chief, one who
avoided battles he was likely to lose and preserved his peoples lives in order to
protect the future of the altepetl. An impetuous chief could be referred to
derogatively as a child.42

If a town had fought strenuously against the Mexica with any significant
degree of success, and yet ultimately lost, then its fate was even worse. The
Huaxtecs (WASH-tecs) to the northeast, for example, fought back like wild
animals; their reputation for it became fixed in local lore, together with their
sad destiny. The soldiers from all the allied provinces took many captives,
both men and women, for they and the Mexica entered the city, burned the
temple, sacked and robbed the place. They killed old and young, boys and
girls, annihilating without mercy everyone they could, with great cruelty and
with the determination to remove all traces of the Huaxtec people from the
face of the earth.43 Their story was to serve as a lesson to other potentially
recalcitrant altepetls. And so it did.

After such a battle, the long lines of captives were tied together and taken
to Tenochtitlan (or perhaps Acolhua or Tepanec country). The terrified pris-
oners first passed by other villages like theirs, with their flat-roofed adobe
houses grouped in squares opening onto courtyards, where the women chat-
ted as they worked, grinding corn and patting out tortillas, while their men
labored in nearby fields.44 As they approached the capital, the towns that were
more closely entwined with the center of power were visibly wealthier, their
buildings and religious pyramids grander, some even built of stone or wood.45

A great causeway was being constructed by the defeated people of
Xochimilco. It stretched from the island to the southern shore of the lake, and
along this the prisoners walked. Most prisoners were distributed among the
nobility after a battle, but those who had been taken by a particular warrior
were sent to their captors neighborhood temple for sacrifice at local religious
festivals, or, if they were young women whom he wanted, to his household.
Some were earmarked to be sent to the citys two central pyramid temples,
one dedicated to Huitzilopochtli (the Mexica protector god) and the other to
Tlaloc (the rain god). The ones not needed in either temple were sold in a

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People of the Valley 49

slave marketthere was a huge one in Azcapotzalcoand might be bought
by neighborhoods in need of ceremonial sacrifice victims, or occasionally by
men seeking concubines. Women slaves bought for sacrifice could sometimes
convince their new masters to keep them alive to work in their household.46

Horrendous misconceptions have grown around the Aztec practice of
human sacrifice. In novels, movies, and even some of the older history books,
hundreds of people at a time were made to climb the narrow steps of the pyra-
mids to the top, where their hearts were cut out and their bodies hurled
downward, while the people screamed in near ecstasy below. In reality, it
seems to have been a gravely quiet, spellbinding experience for the onlookers,
much as we suspect it was in other old worlds, like that of the ancient Celts.47
The people who watched had fasted and stood holding sacred flowers. In the
early decades of Tenochtitlans life, when the altepetl was still gathering
strength, only a few people would have been sacrificed on the monthly reli-
gious festival days, and they were always treated as a holy of holies before they
died. After a sacrifice, the warrior who had captured and presented the victim
kept the remains (the hair and ceremonial regalia) in a special reed chest in a
place of honor in his home for as long as he lived.

Most of the victims were men, classic prisoners of war. Not all were, how-
ever. In one annual festival, for instance, a young girl taken in war was brought
from a local temple to the home of her captor. She dipped her hand in blue
paint and left her print on the lintel of his door, a holy mark that would last
for years and remind people of the gift she gave of her life. Then she was taken
back to the temple to face the cutting stone. It was an ancient tradition among
native peoples not to give way before ones enemies: such stoicism brought
great honor. Sometimes those who were to die could get through their part
without letting their enemies see them sob; sometimes they could not. Some,
in truth, wept, one man remembered later.48

The Mexica, like all their Nahua neighbors, believed they owed everything
to the gods. They are the ones who taught us everything, their priests would
later explain to the Spanish. Before them, we kiss the ground, we bleed. We
pay our debts to the gods, offer incense, make sacrifices. . . . We live by the
grace of the gods.49 Each group of Nahuas had carried sacred bundles devoted
to its own deity in the long marches from Aztlan; in the case of the Mexica, it
was the relics of Huitzilopochtli that they had protected year after year, until
they were finally able to bury them beneath a permanent temple. Other alte-
petls had carried relics of the rain god Tlaloc or his water-world consort, Jade-
Skirted Woman. Others honored Quetzalcoatl, Feathered Serpent, the god of
wind, who was at home both on earth and in the sky, a crosser of boundaries,

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50 Fi f t h Su n

special protector of priests. Some were most dedicated to Tezcatlipoca,
Smoking Mirror, a mischievous god who led humankind in a dance by assist-
ing chiefs and warriors to bring change through conflict. Cihuacoatl, Woman-
Snake, was known by many other names as well, but she was always sacred to
midwives; she often bore a shield and spear, for she helped birthing mothers
seize a new spirit from the cosmos. There were many gods and goddesses each
of whom appeared with a range of possible traits; today, we do not always
understand their characteristics as well as we would like to, for the Nahuas did
not write freely of them in the colonial era. They could write openly of his-
tory, but it was dangerous to write of the gods. We do know, however, that just
as in ancient Greece, all the altepetls honored and believed in a pantheistic
range of gods, not just the deity who had especially protected them.50

The gods asked human beings to appreciate what had been given to them
and to make sacrifices, mostly by bleeding themselves, but sometimes even by
giving the ultimate gift, that of human life. If human beings refused to do this,
the fragile world might come to an end. Other, prior worlds had ended in
disaster; the Nahuas never forgot that they were living under Nanahuatzins
Fifth Sun. In more ancient days one of their own children was probably
offered up. This seems to have happened around the world in the earliest eras,
before writing existed to document the practice in any permanent way. In the
Hebrew Bible, for instance, Hiel the Bethelite begins to rebuild the city of
Jericho by burying his eldest son beneath the gate. Likewise, in English lore,
Geoffrey of Monmouth, in speaking of Merlin, says that he had to talk his way
out of becoming a foundation sacrifice for a kings tower.51 The notion of a
youth dying for his people was hardly unique to the Nahuas.

However, as the Mexica rose, they sacrificed not their own young people
but rather, increasing numbers of prisoners of war. They and all the other
Nahuas had sometimes sacrificed their enemies: the burning of Shield Flower
in 1299 was proof of this. But now the Mexica were nearly always the winners;
they were no longer the ones who sometimes died themselves, and the num-
bers of their victims gradually grew. They allowed politics and the outcomes
of wars to affect the numbers who died in any one year. They did this even as
they prayed devoutly, even as they wrote heartrendingly beautiful poems and
painted their walls with images of shells that looked so real one might imag-
ine oneself in an eternal sea, transcending the struggles of this earthly life.52
Did they know that the world would not shatter like jade if they did not sac-
rifice living human beings? Did they laugh cynically at the terror they inspired
and the political power they wielded as a result? Probably there were some
brilliant strategists and far-seeing, experienced people who didperhaps like

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People of the Valley 51

Itzocatl. They would not have been alone among world leaders; we know that
there were some Greek and Roman leaders, for instance, who questioned the
very existence of the gods yet did not let it shake their worldview.53 Surely
there were many more of the Mexica who simply never thought much about
itlike people in so many times and places who choose not to see the pain
inflicted on other people when it is more convenient not to. Can we blame
them? Should we blame them?

Or perhaps they did think about it, as Itzcoatl himself must have done,
and decided that whatever their philosophical views, there was no choice.
After all, they did not live in a modern, liberal state, where certain protections
are guaranteed to the majority. They simply could not afford too much gener-
osity, for the real world that they inhabited was every bit as dangerous as the
cosmos they envisioned. The Mexica themselves had been on the other side
for more years than they cared to remember. For generations, it had been their
own young warriors and maidens who faced the fire and the cutting stone.
Even now, if they began to lose their wars at any point, it would be their turn
again. They knew this, as they sent their sons to practice the arts of war and
learned to construct maces with bits of jutting obsidian glass embedded in
them. In the midst of words of love addressed to their little doves, mothers
taught their children that the world was a dangerous place. On earth we live,
we travel, along a mountain peak. Over here is an abyss, over there is an abyss.
If you go this way, or that way, you will fall in. Only in the middle do we go,
do we live.54

The image of mothers teaching their children to live with these realities is
a compelling one. Everything we know about the Mexica tells us that mothers
valued their children dearly, more than anything else in lifethey said that
they were precious, like polished gems, or iridescent feathers, treasures fit for
high kings. They warned them of dangers and begged them to be responsible,
to care for themselves and their communities so that the altepetl would go on
forever.55 And children heeded their mothers words. This was far from a
world in which maternal figures were disparaged or in which women appeared
as interchangeable sex objects. In the first place, it was generally only the men
of noble familiesthose of the pilli class, the pipiltinwho had the right to
take numerous wives and bring home captive women from the battlefield, for
one had to be rich to afford to do such a thing. Even in that situation, who
ones mother was mattered to an enormous degree to each child; but one has
to admit that from an elite mans point of view, the women may have been
somewhat interchangeable. That, however, simply was not the experience of
the majority. The majority of the people were of the macehualli class, the

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52 Fi f t h Su n

macehualtin, and in their families, one husband lived with one wife, whose
cloak had been tied to his in a formal ceremony. Sometimes a household was
multigenerational or contained several siblings, but even there, each woman
had her own hearth in her own adobe apartment facing onto the common
courtyard. A woman raised her own children, teaching them to help her in
the labor that everyone recognized was essential. In a world without day care,
restaurants, vacuum cleaners, or stores, who would have dared to think that
childcare, cooking, sweeping, and making clothes were inessential activities?
No one, it seems, for the indigenous sources leave no record of disrespect, or
even of veiled misogyny. Womens roles were complementary to those of men,
and everyone understood this to be so; the house, the four-walled calli was
symbolic of the universe itself.56

So we should take seriously whatever the women said, for their own peo-
ple did. Women comforted their children, yet in the same breath warned
them in no uncertain terms that they must learn to be ruthless in maintaining
order, to do their duty, to take lives or give lives in the eternal wars if neces-
sary. They must be willing to be like the brave but modest Nanahuatzin, who
had jumped into the fire to bring forth the Fifth Sun for his people. These
mothers would probably have been confused if someone had tried to talk to
them about good and evil. They would have said that all people had the
potential to do good or to do harm, that it wasnt possible to divide people
into two camps on that basis. To do good, a person had to suppress egotism
and do what was best calculated to keep his or her people alive and successful
in the long term. Everyone was expected to give thought to the future. It
wasnt always easy. Often ones fate involved doing just what one did not want
to do. In some ways, it was not so much gratifying as exhausting, this playing
king-of-the-mountain for life-or-death stakes.

For the system to work over the long term, Itzcoatl and, later, his heirs had
to choose their military targets carefully. They had to be relatively sure of vic-
tory, based on rational calculations, not divine promises. Fortunately, the
highest level priests were members of the leading noble families, and they
seemed to understand this, too. At least, the gods whom they prayed to never
demanded that they wage unwinnable wars. There were certain pockets of
resistance that were more formidable than most and these had to be handled
carefully. The best known was the greater altepetl of Tlaxcala, a large city-state
composed of four independent sub-divisions, with four separate but united
kings, located just to the east of the central basin. Tlaxcala was relatively
wealthyits name meant place of the tortillas, or we might say Bread Town.
It was lodged securely in its own highly defensible valley and surrounded by

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People of the Valley 53

pine woods that served as havens for deer and woodland birds and other
game. These people were Nahuas, too, having arrived about the same time as
the Mexicathey even shared some of the same myths and storiesand they
werent going to give the latter an inch if they could help it. Early on, the
Mexica did launch several attacks against them, but it became clear that they
were going to become mired in a stalemate. It was likely as a result of this that
the Mexica initiated what they called the Flower Wars, a kind of Olympic
games played every few years, in which the winners, rather than earning a
crown of laurels, saved themselves from death. It is unclear whether these
games unfolded on a ball court or a battlefield, but probably the latter.
Thesystem worked well to keep young warriors on their toes even in times
when there was no current war. And it made it unnecessary to explain to
anyone why Tlaxcala was allowed to continue to exist without paying tribute.
Theworld at large could assume that Tlaxcala was being left alone to serve as
an enemy in the ceremonial Flower Wars. No one needed to discuss the fact
that bringing down the large polity would have been far too destructive of
Mexica resources, if it was even possible. Leaving Tlaxcala as a free enemy
with a recognized role was a clever strategy. The leaders could not have fore-
seen that one day in the future it would cost them dear, when a new enemy,
stronger than they, would land on their shores and find allies ready-made.57

Even a highly successful war-based polity of necessity faced certain prob-
lems. In this world that Iztcoatl negotiated so successfully, the ongoing wars
could make it difficult for the Mexica to trade with far-off peoples. If the
question of an attack was always imminent, few people would want to
approach the Mexica or their allies even to discuss mutually beneficial busi-
ness deals. Perhaps for this reason, not just the Mexica but all the Nahuas as if
by common consent accepted the existence of certain neutral trading towns
along the coasts and along the banks of rivers that led inland from the sea.
Near to where the Olmecs had once lived, for example, there was a coastal
town called Xicallanco (Shee-ca-LAN-co), and although it was nestled
within Maya territory, numerous Nahua merchants lived there. They facili-
tated trade with the eastern realms, buying textiles and cocoa, beautiful
shells, the plumages of rare birdsand eventually, the birds themselvesas
well as other luxury goods. They sold these in exchange for the goods made
by Tenochtitlans craftsmen, as well as excess slaves from the wars launched
by theMexica and their allies, women and children who had not been sacri-
ficed but rather turned over to long distance merchants. Further along the
coast, the island of Cozumel was another such neutral zone, and several
others existed.58

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54 Fi f t h Su n

In most of the Mesoamerican world, however, permanent truces did not
exist. Warfare and expansion were perennial, for the Mexica state needed to
grow wealthier as its polygynous noble families grew larger. And people
needed to be kept in a state of suspense in order for their old alliances to last,
rather than breaking down over minor arguments. And the battle zones
needed to be pushed outward if the inner sanctum of the valley was to know
only peace. It would have been a familiar story to any great monarch. Gone
were the days when the father of Shield Flower, the warrior maiden, could
declare war or make decisions based on his own needs and desires and those
of a few companions. Itzcoatl had won his gamble, attaining power, wealth,
and glory beyond any of his childhood dreams. But as a result, he had forged
a complex political organism, one that, for all his vaunted power, he could not
control simply by making a declaration.

One of the greatest threats to Itzcoatls control lay very close to home.
Either because he really did love them or because it would have precipitated
civil war, or both, Itzcoatl did not kill the surviving sons of his half-brother,
the late tlatoani, Huitzilihuitl, Hummingbird Feather. They, presumably for a
mixture of the same reasons, continued to support him. They were the ones
who by the law of custom should have ruled, not Itzcoatl. But he was the one
who had united the Mexica in a time of terrible crisis, found useful allies for
them, and led them all to victory. So they worked together during the four-
teen years of Itzcoatls reign. One nephew, Tlacaelel, was an active and suc-
cessful warrior who made a great name for himself as the Cihuacoatl: the
name of a goddess had become a title reserved for the man who was the sec-
ond-in-command after the tlatoani, the inside chief who governed domestic
affairs. Supporters of Huitzilihuitls old royal linemany of them Tlacaelels
own children and grandchildrenliked to say that Itzcoatl really owed every-
thing to Tlacaelel, that he was the one who had defeated the Tepanec villain
Maxtla, and that it was his savvy strategizing that helped Itzcoatl govern in
the toughest of times. When all the annals, not just those authored or orches-
trated by Tlacaelels descendants, are considered, this version of events strains
credulity. If the man were really so indomitable, he himself would have
emerged as tlatoani, rather than the bastard son of a slave girl. Still, it is clear
that he was a major force to be reckoned with. He must have been satisfied
with the power and the income he was given by Itzcoatl, for he maintained his
place and went on to become an adviser to four kings over the next several
decades. A council of four men from the extended royal family always worked
closely with the person serving as tlatoani, and Tlacaelel the Cihuacoatl was
the chief of these.59

Townsend, Camilla. Fifth Sun : A New History of the Aztecs, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/olemiss/d

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