Toward a cultural phenomenology of intersubjectivity: The extended relational field of the Tzotzil Maya of highland Chiapas, Mexico

Following the distinction between horizontal and vertical shamanism originally proposed by Stephen Hugh-Jones, this article examines the concept of nagualism in different Mesoamerican indigenous societies and the role that animal domestication has played in these conceptions. Through a comparative study of indigenous societies like the Nahua, Huave, and Tzotzil Maya, different relationships between the human and animal worlds are analyzed in order to show the changes in ontological frameworks that took place during the colonial period, through the introduction of extensive livestock farming. As a protective institution, post-colonial nagualism developed in indigenous societies that have domesticated animals because farmers see their relationship with their flocks similarly to the connection between themselves and their protecting spirits.

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Vital warmth and well-being: steambathing as household therapy among the Tzeltal and Tzotzil Maya of highland Chiapas, Mexico

Social Science & Medicine ◽

10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.044 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 61 (4) ◽

pp. 785-795 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Kevin P. Groark

Keyword(s):

Well Being ◽

Tzotzil Maya

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Religion, Autonomy, and the Priority of Place in Mexico’s Maya Highlands

Latin American Perspectives ◽

10.1177/0094582x16629461 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 43 (3) ◽

pp. 31-50

Author(s):

Ruth J. Chojnacki

Keyword(s):

Liberation Theology ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Agricultural Labor ◽

Biblical Literacy ◽

Religious Ritual ◽

The World ◽

Economic Collapse ◽

Highland Maya ◽

Tzotzil Maya

The irruption of Mexico’s highland Maya on the world stage with the 1994 New Year’s Day uprising by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation generated a torrent of publications. Relatively neglected in this literature is the deconstruction of costumbre (ancestral Maya tradition) by Maya youth dislocated by Mexico’s early-1980s economic collapse. In one exemplary Tzotzil Maya pueblo, the acquisition of biblical literacy and the cognitive skills it entails in Catholic Church–sponsored courses oriented to liberation theology propelled a generational religious revolt. The ensuing reclamation of ancestral territory from ladino ranchers upended colonial relations, enabling indigenous peasants in this and other highland Maya communities to institute autonomous modes of production. Driven by a dialectic of religious ritual and agricultural labor, this assertion of Maya agency attests to the salience of religion and the priority of place as indispensable resources for indigenous socioeconomic autonomy confronting neoliberal assault. La irrupción en el escenario mundial de los maya del altiplano mexicano con el levantamiento de Año Nuevo 1994 por el Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional generó un torrente de publicaciones. Relativamente ignorada en esta literatura es la deconstrucción de costumbre (tradición maya ancestral) por la juventud maya desplazada por el colapso económico a principios de los ochenta en México. En un pueblo tzotzil maya ejemplar, la adquisición de cultura bíblica y las aptitudes cognitivas que implica en los cursos auspiciados por la Iglesia Católica Romana orientados a la teología de la liberación impulsó una rebelión religiosa generacional. La consiguiente recuperación de territorio ancestral de hacendados ladinos turbó las relaciones coloniales, permitiendo a los campesinos indígenas en esta y otras comunidades maya del altiplano establecer modos de producción autónomos. Motivado por una dialéctica de ritual religioso y trabajo agrícola, esta reivindicación de agencia maya confirma la relevancia de la religión y la primacía del lugar como recursos indispensables para una autonomía socioeconómica indígena al enfrentar la arremetida neoliberal.

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Triad Tasks, a Multipurpose Tool to Elicit Similarity Judgments: The Case of Tzotzil Maya Plant Taxonomy

Field Methods ◽

10.1177/1525822x05277861 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 269-282 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Norbert Ross ◽

Tomás Barrientos ◽

Alberto Esquit-Choy

Keyword(s):

Plant Taxonomy ◽

Similarity Judgments ◽

Tzotzil Maya

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Myth and History Reconsidered: Archaeological Implications of Tzotzil-Maya Mythology

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/281221 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 53 (3) ◽

pp. 605-619 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

J. M. Levi

Keyword(s):

Data Sets ◽

Ancient Maya ◽

Burial Site ◽

Significant Information ◽

Maya Site ◽

Tzotzil Maya

This paper traces changing perspectives in archaeology and ethnology regarding the historical content of myth and demonstrates a method whereby mythological data are used to generate hypotheses amenable to falsification when integrated with other data sets. Based on a myth collected among the Tzotzil of San Pablo Chalchihuitan, Chiapas, Mexico, the presentation offers predictions regarding the location, contents, interpretation, and age of an unreported prehistoric burial site. It also sheds light on some currently unexplained aspects of an associated site in a neighboring community, and amplifies other ethnohistorical discussions relating archaeology to contemporary Indian mythology elsewhere in Mesoamerica. By showing how a modern Maya myth reveals significant information about an ancient Maya site, the study illustrates the complementarity of archaeology and ethnography through a suggested relation between myth and history.

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