"The Only True People": Linking Maya Identities Past and Present
edited by Bethany J. Beyette and Lisa J. LeCount
University Press of Colorado, 2017 Cloth: 978-1-60732-566-6 | eISBN: 978-1-60732-567-3 | Paper: 978-1-64642-044-5 Library of Congress Classification F1435.3.E72O55 2017 Dewey Decimal Classification 305.89742
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
"The Only True People" is a timely and rigorous examination of ethnicity among the ancient and modern Maya, focusing on ethnogenesis and exploring the complexities of Maya identity—how it developed, where and when it emerged, and why it continues to change over time. In the volume, a multidisciplinary group of well-known scholars including archaeologists, linguists, ethnographers, ethnohistorians, and epigraphers investigate ethnicity and other forms of group identity at a number of Maya sites and places, from the northern reaches of the Yucatan to the Southern Periphery, and across different time periods, from the Classic period to the modern day.
Each contribution challenges the notion of ethnically homogenous "Maya peoples" for their region and chronology and explores how their work contributes to the definition of "ethnicity" for ancient Maya society. Contributors confront some of the most difficult theoretical debates concerning identity in the literature today: how different ethnic groups define themselves in relation to others; under what circumstances ethnicity is marked by overt expressions of group membership and when it is hidden from view; and the processes that transform ethnic identities and their expressions.
By addressing the social constructs and conditions behind Maya ethnicity, both past and present, "The Only True People" contributes to the understanding of ethnicity as a complex set of relationships among people who lived in real and imagined communities, as well as among people separated by social boundaries. The volume will be a key resource for Mayanists and will be of interest to students and scholars of ethnography, anthropology, and cultural studies as well.
Contributors: McCale Ashenbrener, Ellen E. Bell, Marcello A. Canuto, Juan Castillo Cocom, David A. Freidel, Wolfgang Gabbert, Stanley P. Guente, Jonathan Hill, Charles Andrew Hofling, Martha J. Macri, Damien B. Marken, Matthew Restall, Timoteo Rodriguez, Mathew C. Samson, Edward Schortman, Rebecca Storey
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Bethany J. Beyyette is assistant professor of anthropology and sociology at University of Maryland University College, Europe Division. Her research is strongly interdisciplinary and focuses on ethnic identities and racial formation in postcolonial contexts.
Lisa J. LeCount is professor of anthropology at The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and director of the Actuncan Archaeological Project in Belize. She is an anthropological archaeologist who has published on provincial politics, feasting, kitchens, markets, and pre-Columbian pottery as markers of time and identity.
REVIEWS
"A 'must have' book for Mayanists." —Bodil Liljefors Persson, Malmö University
"This edited volume of 11 essays is one of the first to explore the issue of Maya identity in the most comprehensive terms from the point of view of Maya archaeology and epigraphy, linguistics, history, and ethnography. . . . The essays trace avenues for future research and showcase research techniques and data sources that can clarify the complicated, changing nature of Indigenous identities. Highly recommended." —CHOICE
"The diversity of critical perspectives on identity and ethnicity creates a mass of scholarship that. . . . should be read by all students of Maya archaeology, of ethnicity, and of postcolonial radicalization." —Latin American Antiquity
“This volume will be useful to scholars from a wide variety of disciplines and. . . . for undergraduates in the college classroom. . . . This work points to important methodological approaches and convincingly argues that reconsideration of an ethnic category taken at face value is long overdue. It should not be the last word on the matter but instead ought to point scholars in new directions as they call into question Maya ethnicity as a static, permanent condition in other contexts.” —Hispanic American Historical Review
“This volume is a stimulating, important exploration of Maya ethnic origins and development from a multidisciplinary perspective. . . . highly recommended not only to Mesoamerican scholars but all those interested in ethnogenesis.” —Journal of Anthropological Research
"The authors in this volume make important contributions to Maya studies through their data, which are rich and interesting. . . . How to interpret the data is open to debate and, in this respect, all the chapters here are excellent vehicles to begin this discussion."
—Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
List of Figures
List of Maps
List of Tables
Foreword - Jonathan D. Hill
Chapter 1. Introduction: On Constructing a Shared Understanding of Historical Pasts and Nearing Futures - Bethany J. Beyyette
Part I: Maya Identities of the Present and the Ethnographic Past
Chapter 2. Reimaging the World: Maya Religious Practices and the Construction of Ethnicity in a Mesoamerican Frame - C. Mathews Samson
Chapter 3. Ethnoexodus: Escaping Mayaland - Juan Castillo Cocom, Timoteo Rodriguez, and McCale Ashenbrener
Chapter 4. Itzaj and Mopan Identities in Petén, Guatemala - Charles Andrew Hofling
Chapter 5. Maya Ethnogenesis and Group Identity in Yucatán, 1500–1900 - Matthew Restall and Wolfgang Gabbert
Chapter 6. Differentiation among Mayan Speakers: Evidence from Comparative Linguistics and Hieroglyphic Texts - Martha J. Macri
Part II: Archaeological Explorations of Identity Construction
Chapter 7. Establishing the Preconditions for Ethnogenesis among the Classic Maya of the Upper Belize River Valley - Lisa J. LeCount
Chapter 8. He’s Maya, but He’s Not My Brother: Exploring the Place of Ethnicity in Classic Maya Social Organization - Damien B. Marken, Stanley P. Guenter, and David A. Freidel
Chapter 9. Considering the Edge Effect: Ethnogenesis and Classic Period Society in the Southeastern Maya Area - Marcello A. Canuto and Ellen E. Bell
Chapter 10. Copán, Honduras: A Multiethnic Melting Pot during the Late Classic? - Rebecca Storey
Chapter 11. Conclusion: Identity, Networks, and Ethnicity - Edward Schortman
List of Contributors
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
"The Only True People": Linking Maya Identities Past and Present
edited by Bethany J. Beyette and Lisa J. LeCount
University Press of Colorado, 2017 Cloth: 978-1-60732-566-6 eISBN: 978-1-60732-567-3 Paper: 978-1-64642-044-5
"The Only True People" is a timely and rigorous examination of ethnicity among the ancient and modern Maya, focusing on ethnogenesis and exploring the complexities of Maya identity—how it developed, where and when it emerged, and why it continues to change over time. In the volume, a multidisciplinary group of well-known scholars including archaeologists, linguists, ethnographers, ethnohistorians, and epigraphers investigate ethnicity and other forms of group identity at a number of Maya sites and places, from the northern reaches of the Yucatan to the Southern Periphery, and across different time periods, from the Classic period to the modern day.
Each contribution challenges the notion of ethnically homogenous "Maya peoples" for their region and chronology and explores how their work contributes to the definition of "ethnicity" for ancient Maya society. Contributors confront some of the most difficult theoretical debates concerning identity in the literature today: how different ethnic groups define themselves in relation to others; under what circumstances ethnicity is marked by overt expressions of group membership and when it is hidden from view; and the processes that transform ethnic identities and their expressions.
By addressing the social constructs and conditions behind Maya ethnicity, both past and present, "The Only True People" contributes to the understanding of ethnicity as a complex set of relationships among people who lived in real and imagined communities, as well as among people separated by social boundaries. The volume will be a key resource for Mayanists and will be of interest to students and scholars of ethnography, anthropology, and cultural studies as well.
Contributors: McCale Ashenbrener, Ellen E. Bell, Marcello A. Canuto, Juan Castillo Cocom, David A. Freidel, Wolfgang Gabbert, Stanley P. Guente, Jonathan Hill, Charles Andrew Hofling, Martha J. Macri, Damien B. Marken, Matthew Restall, Timoteo Rodriguez, Mathew C. Samson, Edward Schortman, Rebecca Storey
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Bethany J. Beyyette is assistant professor of anthropology and sociology at University of Maryland University College, Europe Division. Her research is strongly interdisciplinary and focuses on ethnic identities and racial formation in postcolonial contexts.
Lisa J. LeCount is professor of anthropology at The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and director of the Actuncan Archaeological Project in Belize. She is an anthropological archaeologist who has published on provincial politics, feasting, kitchens, markets, and pre-Columbian pottery as markers of time and identity.
REVIEWS
"A 'must have' book for Mayanists." —Bodil Liljefors Persson, Malmö University
"This edited volume of 11 essays is one of the first to explore the issue of Maya identity in the most comprehensive terms from the point of view of Maya archaeology and epigraphy, linguistics, history, and ethnography. . . . The essays trace avenues for future research and showcase research techniques and data sources that can clarify the complicated, changing nature of Indigenous identities. Highly recommended." —CHOICE
"The diversity of critical perspectives on identity and ethnicity creates a mass of scholarship that. . . . should be read by all students of Maya archaeology, of ethnicity, and of postcolonial radicalization." —Latin American Antiquity
“This volume will be useful to scholars from a wide variety of disciplines and. . . . for undergraduates in the college classroom. . . . This work points to important methodological approaches and convincingly argues that reconsideration of an ethnic category taken at face value is long overdue. It should not be the last word on the matter but instead ought to point scholars in new directions as they call into question Maya ethnicity as a static, permanent condition in other contexts.” —Hispanic American Historical Review
“This volume is a stimulating, important exploration of Maya ethnic origins and development from a multidisciplinary perspective. . . . highly recommended not only to Mesoamerican scholars but all those interested in ethnogenesis.” —Journal of Anthropological Research
"The authors in this volume make important contributions to Maya studies through their data, which are rich and interesting. . . . How to interpret the data is open to debate and, in this respect, all the chapters here are excellent vehicles to begin this discussion."
—Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
List of Figures
List of Maps
List of Tables
Foreword - Jonathan D. Hill
Chapter 1. Introduction: On Constructing a Shared Understanding of Historical Pasts and Nearing Futures - Bethany J. Beyyette
Part I: Maya Identities of the Present and the Ethnographic Past
Chapter 2. Reimaging the World: Maya Religious Practices and the Construction of Ethnicity in a Mesoamerican Frame - C. Mathews Samson
Chapter 3. Ethnoexodus: Escaping Mayaland - Juan Castillo Cocom, Timoteo Rodriguez, and McCale Ashenbrener
Chapter 4. Itzaj and Mopan Identities in Petén, Guatemala - Charles Andrew Hofling
Chapter 5. Maya Ethnogenesis and Group Identity in Yucatán, 1500–1900 - Matthew Restall and Wolfgang Gabbert
Chapter 6. Differentiation among Mayan Speakers: Evidence from Comparative Linguistics and Hieroglyphic Texts - Martha J. Macri
Part II: Archaeological Explorations of Identity Construction
Chapter 7. Establishing the Preconditions for Ethnogenesis among the Classic Maya of the Upper Belize River Valley - Lisa J. LeCount
Chapter 8. He’s Maya, but He’s Not My Brother: Exploring the Place of Ethnicity in Classic Maya Social Organization - Damien B. Marken, Stanley P. Guenter, and David A. Freidel
Chapter 9. Considering the Edge Effect: Ethnogenesis and Classic Period Society in the Southeastern Maya Area - Marcello A. Canuto and Ellen E. Bell
Chapter 10. Copán, Honduras: A Multiethnic Melting Pot during the Late Classic? - Rebecca Storey
Chapter 11. Conclusion: Identity, Networks, and Ethnicity - Edward Schortman
List of Contributors
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE