Browsing by Subject "Mayas"
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Item Discourse and identity in Guatemala: imaginaries of indigeneity and Luis de Lión’s decolonial grito/llanto(2015-05) Olen, Amy Therese; Arias, Arturo, 1950-; Del Valle Escalante, Emilio; Carcamo-Huechante, Luis; Romero, Sergio; Speed, ShannonThis dissertation examines Guatemalan discourses of identity and indigeneity from the colonial period to the mid-1980s. Through the theoretical lens of the coloniality of power and by means of a genealogical approach to discourse, I argue that Maya Guatemalan writer Luis de Lión’s (1939-1984) literary project decolonizes Guatemalan discursivities regarding Mayas in the nation. His work does so by problematizing the violence of the social myths and discursive “truths” about indigeneity circulating in Guatemalan society and literature, such as the “glorious Indian of the past” and the “miserable Indian of the present” binary. Additionally, Luis de Lión’s literary work articulates a discursive, emancipatory decolonial project for Mayas in the nation that moves beyond “clasista” and “culturalista” approaches to Guatemalan revolution during the armed conflict period by underlining both the coloniality of spirituality and gender racializing Indigenous subjectivities. I begin with an analysis of the political conceptualizations and policy debates regarding national identity and Mayas’ place within it from Criollo, Ladino (mixed Spanish-Indigenous), and Maya perspectives to evidence the construction and contestation of the notion of Mayas in the nation as a “problem”. Next, I trace how the social myths of indigeneity developed in the political sphere are articulated in literature from the colonial period to the mid-20th century in order to understand how literary discourses normalize social myths into imaginaries asserting discursive “truths” about Mayas. Finally, I consider a sample of Luis de Lión’s narrative production to argue that his work commences a veritable decolonial turn in Guatemalan discourses of Indigenous identity through the creation of a counter-discourse complicating the racial and gendered framing of Mayas in the nation, what I call his decolonial “grito/llanto”. I further evidence the different, “other” versions of Maya identity de Lión offers in his “rewriting” of a Maya cosmovision and his intertextual plays with the Popol Wuj, the Maya classical book. For his contestation of “truths” of indigeneity, de Lión’s work emerges as a complex, multifaceted, discursive emancipatory project for Mayas in Guatemalan textualities.Item Excavation and preliminary analysis of a Maya Burial at the Medicinal Trail archaeological site, Belize, Central America(2011-05) Drake, Stacy Marie; Valdez, Fred, Jr., 1953-; Creel, DarrellThe following report describes the excavation and preliminary analysis of Burial 5 at Group A of the Medicinal Trail archaeological site in northwest Belize. The excavation of Burial 5 occurred over the duration of the 2009 and 2010 field seasons, and this report focuses on the 2010 portion of this excavation, which was conducted within the field laboratory at the Programme for Belize Archaeology Project. In this report, I describe the methods utilized during the 2010 excavation and preliminary analysis processes. I also discuss some of the theory relevant to Maya mortuary practices as they relate to my interpretations of the findings from Burial 5.Item Power dynamics at a commoner hinterland community in the Maya lowlands : the Medicinal Trail site, northwestern Belize(2011-05) Hyde, David Michael; Valdez, Fred, Jr., 1953-; Rodriguez-Algeria, Enrique; Creel, Darrell; Doolittle, William; Houk, Brett; Morris, JohnMany studies on the power dynamics of Maya groups focused on large ceremonial sites, but more recent research, including this study, has identified similar dynamics within Maya hinterland societies. Hinterlands are the remote or less developed areas of a region, and generally associated with subsistence agriculture. The increasing prevalence of hinterland settlement studies in the Maya Lowlands find densely populated landscapes with a range of mound sizes and arrangements (e.g., formal east-focused plaza groups, less formal courtyard groups, informal clusters, isolated mounds), as well as a diverse assortment of features. Settlement and soil physiography studies have demonstrated the socio-economic impact of environmentally diverse landscapes, with small variations leading to an uneven distribution of economically important resources. In this study, I investigate the socio-economic organization of the Medicinal Trail hinterland community, located in northwestern Belize of the Maya Lowlands. Specifically, I argue that the limited nature of good agricultural land in the Maya Lowlands provided an opportunity for the inhabitants of pioneering households to establish a basis for wealth that those who arrived later could not replicate. The monopolization of this land led to inequality which was maintained through the construction of ancestral shrines. The inhabitants of the two largest and oldest formal groups within the community, Groups A and B, represent Maya commoners whose economic and socio-political status was elevated above most of the community’s inhabitants, providing them with limited social power. This power, however, was dynamic and shifted as a result of agentic struggles between Groups A and B, as they vied for community leadership. Evidence suggests that community power was held first by the inhabitants of Group A during the Late Preclassic and later, during the same period, shifted to Group B, where it was held until abandonment. Evidence for Postclassic pilgrimages at Group B substantiates the later importance of this group. Though the inhabitants of Group A were no longer community leaders, they remained a wealthy and, likely, influential household through the Classic period. This study demonstrates the complex and dynamic nature of hinterland commoner social organization.Item A seat at the table : a gendered approach to re-conceptualizing feasting practice(2010-05) Prociuk, Nadya Helena; Wilson, Samuel Meredith, 1957-; Rodriguez, EnriqueThe currently popular approach to conceptualizing feasting practices in the archaeological record leaves little room for diversity in motivation or identity. At the moment, the only social actor given attention in the literature concerning feasting events is hypothesized to be a self-aggrandizing, elite-aspiring male. The narrow conception of who was responsible for feasts, and the reasons for holding them, shuts out the multitude of other standpoints and motivations which have the potential to broaden our understanding of these important social events. Through the intersection of the ancient Maya ritual ballgame, associated feasting, and gendered participation, I demonstrate the necessity of accounting for, and incorporating, a variety of perspectives and motivations when considering the feast as an important form of social interaction.