Mexico's Indigenous Communities: Their Lands and Histories, 1500-2010 (Mesoamerican Worlds: from the Olmecs to the Danzantes) - Hardcover

Medrano, Ethelia Ruiz

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1607320169 ISBN 13: 9781607320166

Publisher: Univ Pr of Colorado, 2010

Synopsis

A rich and detailed account of indigenous history in central and southern Mexico from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries, Mexico's Indigenous Communities is an expansive work that destroys the notion that Indians were victims of forces beyond their control and today have little connection with their ancient past. Indian communities continue to remember and tell their own local histories, recovering and rewriting versions of their past in light of their lived present. Ethelia Ruiz Medrano focuses on a series of individual cases, falling within successive historical epochs, that illustrates how the practice of drawing up and preserving historical documents--in particular, maps, oral accounts, and painted manuscripts--has been a determining factor in the history of Mexico's Indian communities for a variety of purposes, including the significant issue of land and its rightful ownership. Since the sixteenth century, numerous Indian pueblos have presented colonial and national courts with historical evidence that defends their landholdings. Because of its sweeping scope, groundbreaking research, and the author's intimate knowledge of specific communities, Mexico's Indigenous Communities is a unique and exceptional contribution to Mexican history. It will appeal to students and specialists of history, indigenous studies, ethnohistory, and anthropology of Latin America and Mexico.

About this title

About the Author:

Ethelia Ruiz Medrano is a researcher at the Direccion de Estudios Historicos, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia in Mexico, and a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006.

Review:

"I know of no other work of its kind or in its league. It is entirely original: a wonderfully narrated uncompromising history that is thoroughly and masterfully researched. This book is bound to be a classic. . . a model for future research on the indigenous peoples of the Americas." --Kevin Terraciano, UCLA

"A reference work that will be useful for years to come... What comes across in this richly detailed book is the sense that while great loses have occured, they have not come at the price of indigenous dignity nor the destruction of the many arguments made through careful manipulation of indigenous symbols." --Theodore Macdonald, ReVista

"This deep, unique study is an indispensable resource for scholars interested in the survival and use of ancient manuscripts in postconquest Mexico... Essential." ----R. Sullivan, Choice

About this edition

• Publisher: Univ Pr of Colorado
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1607320169
• ISBN 13: 9781607320166
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 338