Maya Saints and Souls in a Changing World

Watanabe, John M.

ISBN 10: 0292751370 / ISBN 13: 9780292751378

Published by University of Texas Press, 1992

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Maya Saints and Souls in a Changing World
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0292751370
• ISBN 13: 9780292751378
• Binding: hardcover
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

The Maya of Santiago Chimaltenango have experienced increasingly rapid, even violent, integration into Guatemalan society in the last fifty years, yet they still distinguish themselves ethnically from Spanish-speaking Guatemalans and other Maya. Why this sense of ethnic identity persists—and also changes—over time is the focus of Maya Saints and Souls in a Changing World, a beautifully written ethnography of a Mam-speaking Maya town in the western highlands of Guatemala.

John Watanabe uniquely explores how Chimaltecos themselves define their local distinctiveness. This approach uncovers significant continuities in lifeways and world view that might otherwise remain imperceptible to an outsider.

Another important feature of the study is that it updates Charles Wagley's pioneering research in the community during the 1930s. Watanabe identifies both the external, historical factors that have prompted change in the community since Wagley's time and the people's responses to these changes.

About the Author

John Watanabe is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Darmouth College.