Transnational Construction of Mayanness: Reading Modern Mesoamerica through US Archives

The Transnational Construction of Mayanness explores how US academics, travelers, officials, and capitalists contributed to the construction of the Maya as an area of academic knowledge and affected the lives of the Maya peoples. It is the first and only set of comparative studies to bring in US-based documentary collections as an enriching source of evidence.

Format: Hardback
Length: 242 pages
Publication date: 15 May 2023
Publisher: University Press of Colorado

The Transnational Construction of Mayanness delves into the intricate web of factors that shaped the perception of the Maya as a subject of academic inquiry and its impact on the lives of the Maya peoples, who have been the focus of anthropological research for generations. By expanding discussions of the neocolonial relationship between the United States and its southern neighbors and highlighting previously overlooked texts that are largely inaccessible to individuals in Mexico and Central America, this groundbreaking set of comparative studies offers a unique perspective. Contributors employ a diverse range of documentary, ethnographic, and ethnoarchaeological sources from North America to challenge established categories of fieldwork and archival research conducted within the national spaces of Mexico and Central America. A particularly rich and diverse collection of case studies explores the historical processes that transport sources from their original locations in the "field" to the United States, challenge prevailing notions about the geography of data sources available for research, and unveil a range of historical relationships that facilitated US actors in shaping the historical experiences of Maya-speaking peoples. This book provides valuable insights into transnational relations and presents fresh avenues for research that incorporate a broader corpus of materials that capture the profound interconnectedness between Maya-speaking communities and various gringo interlocutors. Serving as a crucial bridge between Mayanist anthropology and historiography, as well as broader literatures in American, Atlantic, and Indigenous studies, The Transnational Construction of Mayanness makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the complex and multifaceted dynamics that have shaped the Maya's historical trajectory.

Contributors:

• David Carey, M. Bianet Castellanos, and Matilde C.

Weight: 442g
ISBN-13: 9781646424252