Making a Place for the Future in Maya Guatemala: Natural Disaster and Sociocultural Change in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch pounded the isolated village of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán in mountainous western Guatemala, destroying many homes. The experience traumatized many Ixtahuaquenses. Much of the community relocated to be safer and closer to transportation that they hoped would help them to improve their lives, acquire more schooling, and find supportive jobs. This study followed the two resulting communities over the next quarter century as they reconceived and renegotiated their place in Guatemalan society and the world.

Making a Place for the Future in Maya Guatemala shows how humans continuously evaluate and rework the efficacy of their cultural heritage. This process helps explain the inevitability and speed of culture change in the face of natural disasters and our ongoing climate crisis.

John P. Hawkins is a professor emeritus of anthropology at Brigham Young University. During his forty years at BYU, he conducted research in Guatemala, and he codirected the Anthropology Department Field School in Nahualá and Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán from 1995 through 2006 and in 2009. His books include Religious Transformation in Maya Guatemala: Cultural Collapse and Christian Pentecostal Revitalization (UNM Press).

Walter Randolph Adams received a Master of Science in nutritional anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, a PhD from Michigan State University, and a Master of Public Health from Concordia University. He codirected BYU’s long-term field school in Nahualá and Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán with John P. Hawkins.