Walter Little
SUNY: University at Albany, Anthropology, Faculty Member
- Anthropology, Economic Anthropology, Anthropology of Performance, Anthropology of space, Mesoamerica (Anthropology), Anthropology of Tourism, and 19 moreSocial Movements, Gender Studies, Languages and Linguistics, Political Economy, Linguistics, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Latin American Studies, Languages, Teaching of Foreign Languages, Guatemala, History, World Cultural Heritage, Urban Studies, Informal Economy, Street Vending, Tourism Studies, Heritage Studies, Mesoamerica, and Mayasedit
- Using a theoretical approach that combines political economy and interpretive perspectives focus on two primary lines... moreUsing a theoretical approach that combines political economy and interpretive perspectives focus on two primary lines of research: the socio-economic and political lives of Kaqchikel and K'iche' Maya handicraft vendors and the politics of urban space in heritage sites. With the research on Maya artisans and vendors, I am interested in how they use identity instrumentally for political and economic gain, the reasons why individuals and communities compete for tourism and development money, and why community continues to be a powerful way for Mayas to organized their economic, political, and social life in the context of global economic and cultural markets. In my research on heritage, I focus on the various ways that public space Antigua Guatemala is regulated, policed, and used by residents and visitors.
One of my other ethnographic research projects is the politics of Maya spirituality, which is in collaboration with two Kaqchikel Maya ajq’ija’ (daykeepers). Our research looks at the increased visibility and the formalization of Maya spirituality from modern historical, juridical, linguistic, and ethnographic perspectives.edit
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This book focuses on the economic, political, social, and cultural dynamics of street economies across the urban Global South. Although contestations over public space have a long history, Street Economies in the Urban Global South... more
This book focuses on the economic, political, social, and cultural dynamics of street economies across the urban Global South. Although contestations over public space have a long history, Street Economies in the Urban Global South presents the argument that the recent conjuncture of neoliberal economic policies and unprecedented urban growth in the Global South has changed the equation. The detailed ethnographic accounts from postsocialist Vietnam to a struggling democracy in the Philippines, from the former command economies in Africa to previously authoritarian regimes in Latin America, focus on the experiences of often marginalized street workers who describe their projects and plans. The contributors to Street Economies in the Urban Global South highlight individual and collective resistance by street vendors to overcome numerous processes that exacerbate the marginality and disempowerment of street economy work.
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Textiles have been a highly valued and central part of the politics of human societies across culture divides and over millennia. The economy of textiles provides insight into the fabric of social relations, local and global politics, and... more
Textiles have been a highly valued and central part of the politics of human societies across culture divides and over millennia. The economy of textiles provides insight into the fabric of social relations, local and global politics, and diverse ideologies. Textiles are a material element of society that fosters the study of continuities and disjunctions in the economic and social realities of past and present societies. From stick-loom weaving to transnational factories, the production of cloth and its transformation into clothing and other woven goods offers a way to study the linkages between economics and politics. The volume is oriented around a number of themes: textile production, textiles as trade goods, textiles as symbols, textiles in tourism, and textiles in the transnational processes. Textile Economies appeals to a broad range of scholars interested in the intersection of material culture, political economy, and globalization, such as archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, economists, museum curators, and historians.
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Like the original Harvest of Violence, published in 1988, this volume reveals how the contemporary Mayas contend with crime, political violence, internal community power struggles, and the broader impact of transnational economic and... more
Like the original Harvest of Violence, published in 1988, this volume reveals how the contemporary Mayas contend with crime, political violence, internal community power struggles, and the broader impact of transnational economic and political policies in Guatemala. However, this work, informed by long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Mayan communities and commitment to conducting research in Mayan languages, places current anthropological analyses in relation to Mayan political activism and key Mayan intellectuals’ research and criticism. Illustrating specifically how Mayas in this post-war period conceive of their social and political place in Guatemala, Mayas working in factories, fields, and markets, and participating in local, community-level politics provide critiques of the government, the Maya movement, and the general state of insecurity and social and political violence that they continue to face on a daily basis. Their critical assessments and efforts to improve political, social, and economic conditions illustrate their resiliency and positive, nonviolent solutions to Guatemala’s ongoing problems that deserve serious consideration by Guatemalan and US policy makers, international non-government organizations, peace activists, and even academics studying politics, social agency, and the survival of indigenous people.
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Este texto es fruto de un proceso de canonización de las técnicas empleadas en el aula, refinado por las necesidades de los estudiantes y las críticas de los maestros. Las energías de una generación de estudiosos nos ayudan a ofrecer este... more
Este texto es fruto de un proceso de canonización de
las técnicas empleadas en el aula, refinado por las necesidades de los estudiantes y las críticas de los maestros. Las energías de una generación de estudiosos nos ayudan a ofrecer este texto para el aprendizaje del idioma.
El método empleado es de “respuesta total”. El idioma se aprende en contextos naturalísticos, en el uso cotidiano de los hablantes. Los maestros sirven como modelos, tanto del idioma como de cultura. El aprendrizaje se basa en el entendimiento, que el lenguaje es la fuerza vital de la cultura; se mama del seno cultural; se respira en el aire del pueblo; se come con la tortilla. No se puede aprender el idioma de un libro, pero este libro le puede servir como respaldo y refuerzo para la experiencia vivida kuk’in ri Kaqchikela’.
Kojtzijon, tiqach’ab’ej ri Kaqchikel ch’ab’äl!
las técnicas empleadas en el aula, refinado por las necesidades de los estudiantes y las críticas de los maestros. Las energías de una generación de estudiosos nos ayudan a ofrecer este texto para el aprendizaje del idioma.
El método empleado es de “respuesta total”. El idioma se aprende en contextos naturalísticos, en el uso cotidiano de los hablantes. Los maestros sirven como modelos, tanto del idioma como de cultura. El aprendrizaje se basa en el entendimiento, que el lenguaje es la fuerza vital de la cultura; se mama del seno cultural; se respira en el aire del pueblo; se come con la tortilla. No se puede aprender el idioma de un libro, pero este libro le puede servir como respaldo y refuerzo para la experiencia vivida kuk’in ri Kaqchikela’.
Kojtzijon, tiqach’ab’ej ri Kaqchikel ch’ab’äl!
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Selling handicrafts to tourists has brought the Maya peoples of Guatemala into the world market. Vendors from rural communities now offer their wares to more than 500,000 international tourists annually in the marketplaces of larger... more
Selling handicrafts to tourists has brought the Maya peoples of Guatemala into the world market. Vendors from rural communities now offer their wares to more than 500,000 international tourists annually in the marketplaces of larger cities such as Antigua, Guatemala City, Panajachel, and Chichicastenango. Like businesspeople anywhere, Maya artisans analyze the desires and needs of their customers and shape their products to meet the demands of the market. But how has adapting to the global marketplace reciprocally shaped the identity and cultural practices of the Maya peoples?
Drawing on over a decade of fieldwork, Walter Little presents the first ethnographic study of Maya handicraft vendors in the international marketplace. Little's wide-ranging research challenges our current understanding of tourism's negative impact on indigenous communities. He demonstrates that the Maya are maintaining a specific, community-based sense of Maya identity, even as they commodify their culture for tourist consumption in the world market.
Drawing on over a decade of fieldwork, Walter Little presents the first ethnographic study of Maya handicraft vendors in the international marketplace. Little's wide-ranging research challenges our current understanding of tourism's negative impact on indigenous communities. He demonstrates that the Maya are maintaining a specific, community-based sense of Maya identity, even as they commodify their culture for tourist consumption in the world market.
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Las culturas heterogéneas que conviven en espacios comunes de coexistencia generan conflictividad social. Es preciso investigar, desde un conocimiento profundo de la realidad contextual, cuáles son los mecanismos que permiten superar... more
Las culturas heterogéneas que conviven en espacios comunes de coexistencia generan conflictividad social. Es preciso investigar, desde un conocimiento profundo de la realidad contextual, cuáles son los mecanismos que permiten superar estos conflictos, provocando procesos de convivencia. La investigación busca profundizar en el análisis de los conflictos territoriales del pueblo Tz’utujil de Santa María Visitación, desde la concepción de tierra y territorio hasta la creación del Título de
Propiedad. La metodología se plantea desde una perspectiva cualitativa, a través del trabajo de campo, utilizando las técnicas de revisión de fuentes primarias, la entrevista, la observación participante e historias de vida. Las conclusiones permiten mostrar una nueva concepción de territorialidad a través de un pensamiento que engloba una diferente interpretación espacial, favoreciendo los procesos de construcción
identitaria y de resolución de conflictos a través de estrategias de convivencia intercultural.
Propiedad. La metodología se plantea desde una perspectiva cualitativa, a través del trabajo de campo, utilizando las técnicas de revisión de fuentes primarias, la entrevista, la observación participante e historias de vida. Las conclusiones permiten mostrar una nueva concepción de territorialidad a través de un pensamiento que engloba una diferente interpretación espacial, favoreciendo los procesos de construcción
identitaria y de resolución de conflictos a través de estrategias de convivencia intercultural.
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This essay explores various reasons and politics behind learning a field research language that go beyond the merely pragmatic function of being a tool to collect data. Moreover, the role of language competency in one’s field language is... more
This essay explores various reasons
and politics behind learning a field
research language that go beyond
the merely pragmatic function of
being a tool to collect data. Moreover,
the role of language competency
in one’s field language is
interlinked with the ethics of conducting
research and by reflecting
on specific ethnographic contexts in
Guatemala, it is possible to explore
some of the contours of participatory
research. One dimension,
the appropriate language competency
in cultural context, collaboration
is considered foundational
to participatory research. It is argued
that ethnographers’ collaborators
and friends in their research
sites shape the roles and language
use. In some cases, it is unethical
and culturally disrespectful to not
use the language preferred by collaborators.
In short, the language
used in participatory projects is not
just about data collection, it is an
ethical choice. [field research language,
Guatemala, vendors]
ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp.
167–172, ISSN 0094-0496, 2020
and politics behind learning a field
research language that go beyond
the merely pragmatic function of
being a tool to collect data. Moreover,
the role of language competency
in one’s field language is
interlinked with the ethics of conducting
research and by reflecting
on specific ethnographic contexts in
Guatemala, it is possible to explore
some of the contours of participatory
research. One dimension,
the appropriate language competency
in cultural context, collaboration
is considered foundational
to participatory research. It is argued
that ethnographers’ collaborators
and friends in their research
sites shape the roles and language
use. In some cases, it is unethical
and culturally disrespectful to not
use the language preferred by collaborators.
In short, the language
used in participatory projects is not
just about data collection, it is an
ethical choice. [field research language,
Guatemala, vendors]
ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp.
167–172, ISSN 0094-0496, 2020
Research Interests:
This introduction explores particular ways in which participatory research is practiced in Mesoamerica by ethnographers. It provides an introduction to the history of participatory research and its interlinkages to a host of ethical... more
This introduction explores particular
ways in which participatory research
is practiced in Mesoamerica by
ethnographers. It provides an introduction
to the history of participatory
research and its interlinkages to a host
of ethical concerns that are explored in
greater depth in eight, reflexive ethnographic
essays by anthropologists who
conduct research in Guatemala and
Mexico. This introduction and the ten
essays in this issue, including two commentaries,
present several, sometimes
conflicting, discussions about the complicated
processes of conducting ethnographic
research in Mesoamerica and,
in particular, what participatory research
means in this linguistically and
culturally diverse region of the world.
In this introduction, key aspects of the
history of participatory research are
reviewed, as well as ethical issues related
to consent and confidentiality
in specific field sites that may conflict
with the requirements of funding
and academic institutions. This
collection of essays aims to capture a
panorama of ethnographic experiences
in Mesoamerican field sites to highlight
the collaborations, as well as the
ethical and pragmatic dilemmas encountered
in participatory research.
ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp.145–151, ISSN 0094-0496, 2020.
ways in which participatory research
is practiced in Mesoamerica by
ethnographers. It provides an introduction
to the history of participatory
research and its interlinkages to a host
of ethical concerns that are explored in
greater depth in eight, reflexive ethnographic
essays by anthropologists who
conduct research in Guatemala and
Mexico. This introduction and the ten
essays in this issue, including two commentaries,
present several, sometimes
conflicting, discussions about the complicated
processes of conducting ethnographic
research in Mesoamerica and,
in particular, what participatory research
means in this linguistically and
culturally diverse region of the world.
In this introduction, key aspects of the
history of participatory research are
reviewed, as well as ethical issues related
to consent and confidentiality
in specific field sites that may conflict
with the requirements of funding
and academic institutions. This
collection of essays aims to capture a
panorama of ethnographic experiences
in Mesoamerican field sites to highlight
the collaborations, as well as the
ethical and pragmatic dilemmas encountered
in participatory research.
ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp.145–151, ISSN 0094-0496, 2020.
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All UNESCO urban World Heritage sites are strictly regulated. In Antigua, Guatemala, this includes building façades and streets, as well as the use of public places. Homeowners and building owners, however, challenge regulations by using... more
All UNESCO urban World Heritage sites are strictly regulated. In Antigua, Guatemala, this includes building façades and streets, as well as the use of public places. Homeowners and building owners, however, challenge regulations by using unapproved paints, signs, and building materials. Residents modify building façades to accommodate cars and open walls to effectively blend home-based businesses with the street. At the same time, street vendors contest regulated public spaces by behaving inappropriately by selling goods on public streets rather than designated marketplaces. Rather than conceive of property owners and vendors behavior as outside and in contrast to the building and street vending regulations, I reframe their actions within what I am calling urban spatial permissiveness, a concept I derive from Roy's (2004) theory of the unmapping—flexible regulation—of urban space. Antigua offers an ethnographic setting that shows how regulations are not always rigidly enforced but are negotiated to deal with everyday contingencies that relate to residents' and vendors' rights to the city (Harvey 2008). By way of conclusion I consider Foucault's concept of governmentality as a negotiated process, in order to argue that relationships between building regulations and public space usage reveal the limits of legality and strict enforcement policies.
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Walter Little is assistant professor of anthropology at the State University of New York at Albany and codirector of Oxlajuj Aj, Tulane University's Kaqchikel Language and Culture class in Guatemala. He has conducted fieldwork among Maya... more
Walter Little is assistant professor of anthropology at the State University of New York at Albany and codirector of Oxlajuj Aj, Tulane University's Kaqchikel Language and Culture class in Guatemala. He has conducted fieldwork among Maya handicrafts producers and vendors since 1992 on issues related to tourism, gender roles, and identity performance, and this research is the subject of his book, Mayas in the Marketplace: Tourism, Globalization, and Cultural Identity (Austin: University of Texas, 2004).
ABSTRACT In Antigua, Guatemala, Maya handicrafts vendors work in a tourism marketplace that brings together multiple ethnolinguistic groups and international visitors. In this article I discuss the interrelationship between occupation and... more
ABSTRACT In Antigua, Guatemala, Maya handicrafts vendors work in a tourism marketplace that brings together multiple ethnolinguistic groups and international visitors. In this article I discuss the interrelationship between occupation and social movements to examine the essentialized identities propagated by the Maya Movement and Ladino racism. I argue that making a living helps shape the interrelated processes of economic and political mobilization.
ABSTRACT In Antigua, Guatemala, Maya handicrafts vendors work in a tourism marketplace that brings together multiple ethnolinguistic groups and international visitors. In this article I discuss the interrelationship between occupation and... more
ABSTRACT In Antigua, Guatemala, Maya handicrafts vendors work in a tourism marketplace that brings together multiple ethnolinguistic groups and international visitors. In this article I discuss the interrelationship between occupation and social movements to examine the essentialized identities propagated by the Maya Movement and Ladino racism. I argue that making a living helps shape the interrelated processes of economic and political mobilization.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the town of San Antonio Aguas Calientes, Guatemala, has been incorporated into transnational movements of people, commodities, and ideas through tourism, development, and religious evangelism.... more
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the town of San Antonio Aguas Calientes, Guatemala, has been incorporated into transnational movements of people, commodities, and ideas through tourism, development, and religious evangelism. The Kaqchikel Mayas living there have long looked outward from their community as they embraced, ignored, or criticized these global flows.
Guatemala, videos by Endangered Threads Documentaries, situate Maya textile production within two distinct forms of romanticism. In the former longer documentary, Maya textiles are presented as under threat and in danger of disappearing.... more
Guatemala, videos by Endangered Threads Documentaries, situate Maya textile production within two distinct forms of romanticism. In the former longer documentary, Maya textiles are presented as under threat and in danger of disappearing. In the latter shorter documentary, Margot Blum Schevill narrates,“Maya weaving and Maya weavers are alive and well today.” These perspectives can be taken as positions to stimulate interest in and promote action to help keep Maya textile production vibrant.
Abstract: Mobile retailers (peddlers) that sell handicrafts to tourists are commonly found in many tourism locations throughout the world. In this article, I discuss the vending practices and social relations of primarily female... more
Abstract: Mobile retailers (peddlers) that sell handicrafts to tourists are commonly found in many tourism locations throughout the world. In this article, I discuss the vending practices and social relations of primarily female ambulantes (mobile Maya handicrafts vendors) within economic and political contexts of Antigua, Guatemala.
For decades, Maya handicrafts vendors have been in conflict with the municipal government and the police of Antigua Guatemala over rights to sell in the city. This struggle is part of daily life for street vendors and those selling in the... more
For decades, Maya handicrafts vendors have been in conflict with the municipal government and the police of Antigua Guatemala over rights to sell in the city. This struggle is part of daily life for street vendors and those selling in the Compaiiia de Jesus marketplace. Over time, they have employed various strategies in order to stay in Antigua despite pressure from government officials and local businesspeople.
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Research Interests: Maya and Handicraft
When a young fruit and vegetable vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid, a small city in central Tunisia, on December 17, 2010, he ignited demonstrations that helped topple the country’s autocratic ruler (Fahim... more
When a young fruit and vegetable vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid, a small city in central Tunisia, on December 17, 2010, he ignited demonstrations that helped topple the country’s autocratic ruler (Fahim 2011). The volatility of the economy of the street helps explain his desperate act: he might have conducted business without a permit, city officials confiscated his goods, they even slapped him, and, meanwhile, his debt grew, making him unable to bribe officials to overlook his vending. In fact, changing combinations of circumstances like these give street economies their ambiguous nature and complicate the explanatory power of worn-out analytical dichotomies like public–private, illegal–legal, and informal–formal. Focusing on economic, political, social, and cultural dynamics of street economies across the urban Global South,1 this volume showcases the embeddedness of street economies with cultural practices and norms shaping vendors’ life worlds and t...
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ABSTRACT:This article addresses tensions between two dominant heritage practices in Antigua Guatemala, one that is oriented around the regulation of buildings and streets and another that is oriented around the regulation of people as... more
ABSTRACT:This article addresses tensions between two dominant heritage practices in Antigua Guatemala, one that is oriented around the regulation of buildings and streets and another that is oriented around the regulation of people as cultural and economic performers. I place these regulatory practices within a framework that uses Latour’s (2005) concepts of mediation and assemblage—the relationship between materiality and humans—to discuss the contexts of heritage politics and lived practices in heritage sites. This case study explores how UNESCO heritage politics and the Guatemalan state’s regulation of Antigua’s architecture and street workers are intertwined with tourism performance economies and residents’ cultural aesthetics of the city. In describing Antigua’s contemporary cityscape aesthetic, and, more specifically, the Arch of Santa Catalina, I draw on Latour’s assemblage theory to interpret the heterogeneous ways in which the materiality of the city contributes to watercolor artists’ social, economic, and political practices. I then draw on Rancière’s (2006) theory of aesthetic regimes to make sense of individuals’ everyday urban practices within public heritage sites. In other words, considering Rancière’s and Latour’s respective theories together approaches the analysis of a heritage site in a way that encompasses the everyday discourses, practices, and materiality of the Arch of Santa Catalina. Namely, I argue residents’ heritage aesthetics, within the larger political, regulatory, and aesthetic apparatuses of the State and UNESCO, illustrate how urban heritage sites are an assemblage that articulates with everyday social and material practices that lead to unexpected political outcomes that are tied to cultural and economic practices.
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This introduction explores particular ways in which participatory research is practiced in Mesoamerica by ethnographers. It provides an introduction to the history of participatory research and its interlinkages to a host of ethical... more
This introduction explores particular ways in which participatory research is practiced in Mesoamerica by ethnographers. It provides an introduction to the history of participatory research and its interlinkages to a host of ethical concerns that are explored in greater depth in eight, reflexive ethnographic essays by anthropologists who conduct research in Guatemala and Mexico. This introduction and the ten essays in this issue, including two commentaries, present several, sometimes conflicting, discussions about the complicated processes of conducting ethnographic research in Mesoamerica and, in particular, what participatory research means in this linguistically and culturally diverse region of the world. In this introduction, key aspects of the history of participatory research are reviewed, as well as ethical issues related to consent and confidentiality in specific field sites that may conflict with the requirements of funding and academic institutions. This collection of essays aims to capture a panorama of ethnographic experiences in Mesoamerican field sites to highlight the collaborations, as well as the ethical and pragmatic dilemmas encountered in participatory research. ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp.145–151, ISSN 0094-0496, 2020.
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This essay explores various reasons and politics behind learning a field research language that go beyond the merely pragmatic function of being a tool to collect data. Moreover, the role of language competency in one’s field language is... more
This essay explores various reasons and politics behind learning a field research language that go beyond the merely pragmatic function of being a tool to collect data. Moreover, the role of language competency in one’s field language is interlinked with the ethics of conducting research and by reflecting on specific ethnographic contexts in Guatemala, it is possible to explore some of the contours of participatory research. One dimension, the appropriate language competency in cultural context, collaboration is considered foundational to participatory research. It is argued that ethnographers’ collaborators and friends in their research sites shape the roles and language use. In some cases, it is unethical and culturally disrespectful to not use the language preferred by collaborators. In short, the language used in participatory projects is not just about data collection, it is an ethical choice. [field research language, Guatemala, vendors] ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 167–172, ISSN 0094-0496, 2020
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CJO Search Widget (Journal of Latin American Studies) What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... Jean Molesky-Poz, Contemporary Maya Spirituality: The Ancient Ways Are Not... more
CJO Search Widget (Journal of Latin American Studies) What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... Jean Molesky-Poz, Contemporary Maya Spirituality: The Ancient Ways Are Not Lost (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2006), pp. xx+201, £21.99, hb. ... As this article doesn't contain an abstract, the image below is necessary to enable the article to be indexed by certain search engines. Note, the resolution of the full-text PDF is much higher than that shown here.
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Introduction Part I. Creativity and Value Chapter 1. Exchange without Brokers: Weaver-Client Relationships in Senegal Laura L. Cochrane Chapter 2. Heritage and Authorship Debates in Three Sumatran Songkets Susan Rodgers Chapter 3.... more
Introduction Part I. Creativity and Value Chapter 1. Exchange without Brokers: Weaver-Client Relationships in Senegal Laura L. Cochrane Chapter 2. Heritage and Authorship Debates in Three Sumatran Songkets Susan Rodgers Chapter 3. Creativity, Place, and Commodities: The Making of Public Economies in Andean Apparel Industries Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld, Jason Antrosio, and Eric C. Jones Chapter 4. Tivaivai and Value in the Cook Islands Ritual Economy: The Creation of Value, Values, and Valuables in a Diasporic Community Jane Horan Chapter 5. The Political Economy of an Art Form: The Akotifahana Cloth of Madagascar Sarah Fee Part II. The Power of Cloth and the Sanctity of Power Chapter 6. Textiles and Chimu Identity under Inka Hegemony on the North Coast of Peru Cathy Lynne Costin Chapter 7. Late Classic Maya Textile Economies: An Object History Approach Christina T. Halperin Chapter 8. Hohokam Cotton: Irrigation, Production, and Trade in Perhistory Robert C. Hunt Chapter 9. Neighborly T...
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Like the original Harvest of Violence, published in 1988, this volume reveals how the contemporary Mayas contend with crime, political violence, internal community power struggles, and the broader impact of transnational economic and... more
Like the original Harvest of Violence, published in 1988, this volume reveals how the contemporary Mayas contend with crime, political violence, internal community power struggles, and the broader impact of transnational economic and political policies in Guatemala. However, this work, informed by long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Mayan communities and commitment to conducting research in Mayan languages, places current anthropological analyses in relation to Mayan political activism and key Mayan intellectuals’ research and criticism. Illustrating specifically how Mayas in this post-war period conceive of their social and political place in Guatemala, Mayas working in factories, fields, and markets, and participating in local, community-level politics provide critiques of the government, the Maya movement, and the general state of insecurity and social and political violence that they continue to face on a daily basis. Their critical assessments and efforts to improve political, ...
Research Interests:
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Abstract: Mobile retailers (peddlers) that sell handicrafts to tourists are commonly found in many tourism locations throughout the world. In this article, I discuss the vending practices and social relations of primarily female... more
Abstract: Mobile retailers (peddlers) that sell handicrafts to tourists are commonly found in many tourism locations throughout the world. In this article, I discuss the vending practices and social relations of primarily female ambulantes (mobile Maya handicrafts vendors) within economic and political contexts of Antigua, Guatemala. I argue that continued participation in the tourism market is not solely dependent on sales, but on the social relations that ambulantes maintain with each other and on the political contexts in which ...
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Abstract: In Mesoamerica, the processes of making and using hand-woven cloth are well known ritual and mundane practices often regarded as markers of primordial identity and clear indications of deep historical continuities with the... more
Abstract: In Mesoamerica, the processes of making and using hand-woven cloth are well known ritual and mundane practices often regarded as markers of primordial identity and clear indications of deep historical continuities with the pre-Columbian past. This chapter analyzes a set of commemorative wall hangings from Tecpán, Guatemala from the perspective of ritual economy to argue that ritual weaving persists in contemporary Mesoamerica within global economic contexts. The Tecpán textiles contain multiple ...
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Antigua, Guatemala, has been a tourism destination for over a century, a fact that residents and workers there promote with pride. They are also proud that Antigua has been named a National Monument, a Monumental City of the Americas and... more
Antigua, Guatemala, has been a tourism destination for over a century, a fact that residents and workers there promote with pride. They are also proud that Antigua has been named a National Monument, a Monumental City of the Americas and a World Heritage site. These designations, however, come with burdens, including building codes, imposed ideas about what constitutes cultural heritage and the expectations of tourists.
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¿ La utz awach? Introduction to the Kaqchikel Maya Language (Brown et al.). B Montgomery-Anderson INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AMERICAN LINGUISTICS 74:22, 275, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, 2008.
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Antigua, Guatemala, has been a tourism destination for over a century, a fact that residents and workers there promote with pride. They are also proud that Antigua has been named a National Monument, a Monumental City of the Americas and... more
Antigua, Guatemala, has been a tourism destination for over a century, a fact that residents and workers there promote with pride. They are also proud that Antigua has been named a National Monument, a Monumental City of the Americas and a World Heritage site. These designations, however, come with burdens, including building codes, imposed ideas about what constitutes cultural heritage and the expectations of tourists.
Abstract: In Mesoamerica, the processes of making and using hand-woven cloth are well known ritual and mundane practices often regarded as markers of primordial identity and clear indications of deep historical continuities with the... more
Abstract: In Mesoamerica, the processes of making and using hand-woven cloth are well known ritual and mundane practices often regarded as markers of primordial identity and clear indications of deep historical continuities with the pre-Columbian past. This chapter analyzes a set of commemorative wall hangings from Tecpán, Guatemala from the perspective of ritual economy to argue that ritual weaving persists in contemporary Mesoamerica within global economic contexts. The Tecpán textiles contain multiple ...
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In a nation that often silences them, Maya in Guatemala are increasingly expressing themselves through public murals. When teachers, artists, students, and other residents of San Juan Comalapa painted the history of their nation, town,... more
In a nation that often silences them, Maya in Guatemala are increasingly expressing themselves through public murals. When teachers, artists, students, and other residents of San Juan Comalapa painted the history of their nation, town, and people, they portrayed resistance, accommodation, and collaboration. The persistence of Mayan markers throughout the images stands as a reminder that Maya-Kaqchikel are not simply reinventing a sense of nation with murals; rather, they have been reclaiming the nation at every step in ...
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... I am also grateful for the help given me in Mexico and the United States by the following individuals: Shepard Barbash, William Beezley, Frances Betteridge, Katharine Chibnik, Carol Cross, Steven Custer, Bill Dewey, Ramon Fosado,... more
... I am also grateful for the help given me in Mexico and the United States by the following individuals: Shepard Barbash, William Beezley, Frances Betteridge, Katharine Chibnik, Carol Cross, Steven Custer, Bill Dewey, Ramon Fosado, Clive Kincaid, Enrique de la Lanza, Enrique ...
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Поиск в библиотеке, Расширенный поиск. ...
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Observers and fans of that curious “pale blue dot”(Sagan) in tertiary orbit about a middle-aged star will have noticed that Planet Three has entered an exciting new phase of development: Already conscious of its capacity for differential... more
Observers and fans of that curious “pale blue dot”(Sagan) in tertiary orbit about a middle-aged star will have noticed that Planet Three has entered an exciting new phase of development: Already conscious of its capacity for differential selfrepresentation—as evidenced by such practices as “Halloween” and “limited liability corporations”—participants in bardic culture and authority have begun to grok the tunable nature of the self-representation matrix. In short, many have hacked the crucial linkage between the scripts ...
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The ambitious project to publish nine large volumes of the Historia general de América Latina suffered chronic difficulties in funding that delayed publication significantly. For this reason, many recently published works were not... more
The ambitious project to publish nine large volumes of the Historia general de América Latina suffered chronic difficulties in funding that delayed publication significantly. For this reason, many recently published works were not incorporated into the series, which has finally become available in the past few years. A team of 20 historians contributed to volume 5, which covers an enormously complex period from around 1750 through the 1830s (John Lombardi's chapter includes material reaching up to 1850). There are inconsistencies, but ...
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ABSTRACT This story begins with a photograph of a group of young Mayas after the tragic massacre by the Guatemalan military at Panzós in 1978. The portrait piques the curiosity and, at the same time, leaves one with a sense of foreboding.... more
ABSTRACT This story begins with a photograph of a group of young Mayas after the tragic massacre by the Guatemalan military at Panzós in 1978. The portrait piques the curiosity and, at the same time, leaves one with a sense of foreboding. The Mayas in the photograph are activists: some are beauty queens, all are speaking out for their fallen compatriots and against the Guatemalan government. It is common knowledge that such voices of compassion and reason and rebellion were often assassinated or disappeared in a brutal erasing of those who opposed or were perceived to threaten the government. The photograph is Betsy Konefal's entry into a fascinating, hope-filled journey into Guatemala's all-too-tragic past. It is a brilliant way to begin, but also a great taking-off point for the research itself. Anyone familiar with Guatemala's history of the last 40 to 50 years will be astounded to learn that these brave men and women not only spoke up but lived though one of the country's darkest periods. Some have lived out their lives far removed from political activism, but others are still politically engaged. By listening to their stories and those of many others, Konefal is able to reconstruct a period of Maya activism in the 1960s and 1970s that has been little known beyond those Maya activists themselves. This work is significant because it fills important gaps in the history of Maya activism, gaps not recognized among others who focused on the division between labor organizations and language and culture activists. Indeed, several scholars have explored Mayan activists and deepened our understanding of why linguistic and cultural activism, taking shape in the 1990s, became highly visible in contemporary politics. But this research ultimately raises questions: What happened to the labor side of Maya political organization? Are there other, non-Maya language roots to Maya politics? Are Maya activism and political organization tied to earlier forms of Maya-specific organization and community leadership, or did La Violencia wipe out those links and legacies? Konefal begins to answer these questions. She also demonstrates that Maya activism, especially in the 1960s, unified labor and culture and language. In other words, the split that scholars of Maya activism describe at the quincentennial protests of the early 1990s and the later deluge of research on Maya cultural and linguistic activism are reflective of the politics of the moment, shaped in the spaces of neoliberal political and economic policies. Konefal gets at what these many other scholars have ignored, particularly with her focus on the voices of Maya activists and their organizing strategies and political perspectives before the genocide of Mayas from 1978 through the mid-1980s. Where Konefal falters is in the period leading up to the 1960s. She tends to demonize the Ubico period (Jorge Ubico;1931-1944), romanticize the Arevalo-Arbenz period (Juan José Arévalo, 1945-1951; Jacobo Arbenz, 1951-1954), and rightly condemn the successive military dictatorships. Ubico, especially with respect to Mayas, is an enigma. Contrary to what Konefal presents, he has been described contradictorily in Maya oral histories as fair and brutal. Ubico's distinctive way of meting out judgment did not automatically disregard Mayas' rights. It was Ubico, in contrast to what she reports, who heralded the first period of intense ethnographic research, especially by Americans such as Sol Tax, Robert Redfield, Ruth Bunzel, and others. With respect to the Instituto Indigenista Nacional studies in the late 1940s and 1950s during the Arevalo and Arbenz administrations, Mayas have reported being suspicious of the government's interest in them. It can be better conceived as the latest effort to modernize them, integrate them into the nation, and harness their labor. During this period, there does not seem to be the kind of celebration of the 'Indian' that was one part of the dual personality of the Ubico period. What Mayas thought about the October Revolution and how academics have analyzed its relationship to Mayas is highly controversial and constitutes a largely unresolved debate. Fortunately, Konefal focuses on the period starting in 1960 and going through the 1970s that the Maya activists and others lived and remember. The nuances she provides...
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Handicrafts play a central role in the symbolism of Mexican national identity and the representation of folk traditions. In this social life of handicrafts account, Flechsig is concerned with the “'backstage'of craft production”... more
Handicrafts play a central role in the symbolism of Mexican national identity and the representation of folk traditions. In this social life of handicrafts account, Flechsig is concerned with the “'backstage'of craft production” rather than the more public tourism market. In this ethnography, she asks what has contributed to the miniaturization of Mexican handicrafts by looking at one commonly known type of object, hand-woven figurines. She resists the temptation to reduce her explanation to that of tradition, basing her conclusions ...
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Since the late s, the effects of state violence against Mayas has been one of the major concerns of ethnographers working in Guatemala and Mexico. Victor Montejo's book, Voices from Exile, explains, ethnographically, the use of... more
Since the late s, the effects of state violence against Mayas has been one of the major concerns of ethnographers working in Guatemala and Mexico. Victor Montejo's book, Voices from Exile, explains, ethnographically, the use of state violence against Mayas from Guatemala's western highlands, which resulted in their subsequent flight from Guatemala, their exile in Mexico and the United States, and, for some, their eventual return to Guatemala.
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Understanding what is art or, more specifically, what is folk art is one of the central questions that this edited volume on women folk artists asks. Presented with this impossible-to-answer question, my thoughts periodically turned to... more
Understanding what is art or, more specifically, what is folk art is one of the central questions that this edited volume on women folk artists asks. Presented with this impossible-to-answer question, my thoughts periodically turned to craft fairs and tourism marketplaces, as I contemplated this collection. Although these are common throughout Latin America, it is controversial there and in the United States to describe and classify such objects as art.
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CJO Search Widget (Journal of Latin American Studies) What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... Hilary Kahn, Seeing and Being Seen: The Q'eqchi' Maya of... more
CJO Search Widget (Journal of Latin American Studies) What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... Hilary Kahn, Seeing and Being Seen: The Q'eqchi' Maya of Livingston, Guatemala and Beyond (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2006), pp. xi+242, £12.99, pb. ... As this article doesn't contain an abstract, the image below is necessary to enable the article to be indexed by certain search engines. Note, the resolution of the full-text PDF is much higher than that shown here. ... Hilary Kahn, Seeing and ...
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... Made in Mexico: Zapotec Weavers and the Global Ethnic Art Market by W. Warner Wood. RONDABRULOTTE. Article first published online: 3 SEP 2009. ... More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more content written... more
... Made in Mexico: Zapotec Weavers and the Global Ethnic Art Market by W. Warner Wood. RONDABRULOTTE. Article first published online: 3 SEP 2009. ... More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more content written by: RONDA BRULOTTE. ...
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In 1991, Playboy magazine published Cuba Libre, an eight-page pictorial of naked Cuban women. Implied in this title is the fact that Cuban women were being given freedoms that allowed them to pose nude in that American bastion of... more
In 1991, Playboy magazine published Cuba Libre, an eight-page pictorial of naked Cuban women. Implied in this title is the fact that Cuban women were being given freedoms that allowed them to pose nude in that American bastion of hegemonic masculine-based desires, ...
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Skip to Main Content. Wiley Online Library will be disrupted 4 Feb from 10-12 GMT for monthly maintenance. ...
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KULeuven. ...
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200 ENTERPRISE & SOCIETY lands. In the book Holiday in Mexico: Critical Reflections on Tourism and Tourist Encounters, editors Dina Berger and Andrew Grant Wood bring together an eclectic collection of scholarship by... more
200 ENTERPRISE & SOCIETY lands. In the book Holiday in Mexico: Critical Reflections on Tourism and Tourist Encounters, editors Dina Berger and Andrew Grant Wood bring together an eclectic collection of scholarship by historians, anthropologists, and Mexican studies scholars covering a range of topics about tourism in Mexico and critically situating the role of American tourists as guests abroad. Given the enormity of tourism's impact on the Mexican economy, this volume represents a timely contribution to an under-researched ...
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This is the latest book from David D. Gow, Professor of International Affairs and Anthropology in the International Development Program at the Elliot School of International Affairs of the George Washington University. He spent a large... more
This is the latest book from David D. Gow, Professor of International Affairs and Anthropology in the International Development Program at the Elliot School of International Affairs of the George Washington University. He spent a large part of his career working as a consultant for the World Bank and latterly the World Resources Institute. The indigenous peoples in question are located–and well contextualised–in Colombia, in particular three indigenous organisations from the Cauca region of the Colombian high plateau region ( ...
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Skip to Main Content. ...
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CJO Search Widget (Journal of Latin American Studies) What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... W. Warner Wood, Made in Mexico: Zapotec Weavers and the Global Ethnic Art... more
CJO Search Widget (Journal of Latin American Studies) What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... W. Warner Wood, Made in Mexico: Zapotec Weavers and the Global Ethnic Art Market (Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press, 2008), pp. xii+243, $55.00, $21.95 pb. ... W. Warner Wood, Made in Mexico: Zapotec Weavers and the Global Ethnic Art Market (Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press, 2008), pp. xii+243, $55.00, $21.95 pb. ... W. Warner Wood, Made in Mexico: Zapotec Weavers ...
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academic legitimacy. There are literally dozens of books, articles in reviews and newspapers, and internet discussions on the subject, written by respected academics and journalists on the island who know the subject and have no axe to... more
academic legitimacy. There are literally dozens of books, articles in reviews and newspapers, and internet discussions on the subject, written by respected academics and journalists on the island who know the subject and have no axe to grind. These sources are necessary for a serious and balanced academic study which will truly help us understand the phenomenon. They are lacking here, and the results unfortunately diminish enormously the usefulness of this volume.
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Oaxaca is a well-traveled place. It has been the object of tourists and academics from Mexico and the United States who for decades have gone looking for locked-in-the-past indigenous people and cultural traditions, Spanish Colonial... more
Oaxaca is a well-traveled place. It has been the object of tourists and academics from Mexico and the United States who for decades have gone looking for locked-in-the-past indigenous people and cultural traditions, Spanish Colonial architecture, revolutionary Mexico, savory delicacies like mole poblano and finely distilled tequilas, and skillfully made handicrafts, especially Zapotec textiles. This Oaxaca is well known and anticipated—the Oaxaca that attracts tourists, handicraft collectors, and anthropologists.
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This essay reviews the following works: The Ch’ol Maya of Chiapas. Edited by Karen Bassie-Sweet, with Robert M. Laughlin, Nicholas A. Hopkins, and Andrés Brizuela Casimir. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 251. $45.00... more
This essay reviews the following works:
The Ch’ol Maya of Chiapas. Edited by Karen Bassie-Sweet, with Robert M. Laughlin, Nicholas A. Hopkins, and Andrés Brizuela Casimir. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 251. $45.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780806147024.
Wellness beyond Words: Maya Compositions of Speech and Silence in Medical Care. By T. S. Harvey. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2013. Pp. vii + 256. $55.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780826352736.
Maya Market Women: Power and Tradition in San Juan Chamelco, Guatemala. By S. Ashley Kistler. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Pp. ix + 160. $44.68 paperback. ISBN: 9780252079887.
Southern Eastern Huastec Narratives: A Trilingual Edition. Translated and edited by Ana Kondic. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2016. Pp. vii + 197. $24.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780806151809.
Indigenous Bodies, Maya Minds: Religion and Modernity in a Transnational K’iche’ Community. By C. James MacKenzie. Boulder: University Press of Colorado; Albany: Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, 2016. Pp. ix + 368. $34.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781607325567.
Songs That Make the Road Dance: Courtship and Fertility Music of the Tz’utujil Maya. By Linda O’Brien-Rothe. Forewords by Allen J. Christenson and Sandra L. Orellana. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 244. $72.93 paperback. ISBN: 9781477305386.
Language and Ethnicity among the K’ichee’ Maya. By Sergio Romero. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 123. $50.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781607813972.
The Ch’ol Maya of Chiapas. Edited by Karen Bassie-Sweet, with Robert M. Laughlin, Nicholas A. Hopkins, and Andrés Brizuela Casimir. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 251. $45.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780806147024.
Wellness beyond Words: Maya Compositions of Speech and Silence in Medical Care. By T. S. Harvey. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2013. Pp. vii + 256. $55.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780826352736.
Maya Market Women: Power and Tradition in San Juan Chamelco, Guatemala. By S. Ashley Kistler. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Pp. ix + 160. $44.68 paperback. ISBN: 9780252079887.
Southern Eastern Huastec Narratives: A Trilingual Edition. Translated and edited by Ana Kondic. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2016. Pp. vii + 197. $24.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780806151809.
Indigenous Bodies, Maya Minds: Religion and Modernity in a Transnational K’iche’ Community. By C. James MacKenzie. Boulder: University Press of Colorado; Albany: Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, 2016. Pp. ix + 368. $34.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781607325567.
Songs That Make the Road Dance: Courtship and Fertility Music of the Tz’utujil Maya. By Linda O’Brien-Rothe. Forewords by Allen J. Christenson and Sandra L. Orellana. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 244. $72.93 paperback. ISBN: 9781477305386.
Language and Ethnicity among the K’ichee’ Maya. By Sergio Romero. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 123. $50.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781607813972.