This book is a collection of papers inspired by the work of Mary Elmendorf, a pioneer in applied anthropology and community development. Dr. Elmendorf spent much of her career studying the roles of women in Maya communities, as well as problems of health, community development, human rights and the environment. Unlike the classic festschrift that frequently is little more than a random assembling of papers united only by their being somehow related to the work of the honoree, this collection is intended as a unified work that will provide a detailed view of recent work on cultural ecology, biodiversity conservation, and development among the diverse communities inhabiting the Yucatan Peninsula. Thanks in large measure to Mary Elmendorf's work, this region has been an area of particularly creative and exciting projects. The editors of this volume are eager to share findings from these projects with a wider audience.
Written in a sophisticated, but accessible manner, this book will be of ready interest to cultural and biological anthropologists, development planners, international agencies and NGOs as well as any readers concerned about the problems of integrating development, biodiversity, and traditional lifeways in rapidly changing rural and small town situations.
| Foreword : living in a Mayan world | ||
| Preface : perspectives evolving from and with Mary Lindsay Elmendorf's work in Maya communities of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula | ||
| 1 | Introduction : an environmental and cultural history of Maya communities in the Yucatan Peninsula | 1 |
| 2 | Working with peoples and places through action : a history of the participatory research of Mary Lindsay Elmendorf | 31 |
| 3 | The many worlds of Mayan women | 39 |
| 4 | Shifts of strategies and focus of the conservation efforts of Pronatura on the Yucatan Peninsula : a personal history | 79 |
| 5 | Population and land use : an essential link for conservation in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve | 95 |
| 6 | Valuing the Maya forests | 117 |
| 7 | The end of innocence in a modernizing Maya community : "there is no more timber; let's sell the land!" | 131 |
| 8 | Economic, political, and environmental changes in a Yucatec Maya village | 163 |
| 9 | The landscape of Santa Rita Komchen : the role of metaphor in the ecological history of a Yucatecan rural estate | 175 |
| 10 | The transformation of "paradise" : deep, social, and political ecology among the Yucatec Maya of Coba, Quintana Roo, Mexico - a dialogical approach | 191 |
| 11 | Women's human rights issues among the Maya | 205 |
| 12 | The "Yucatan syndrome" : its relevance to biological conservation and anthropological activities | 225 |
| 13 | Conclusion : reflections on rights, resources, and responsibilities in participatory research | 255 |
Overview
This book is a collection of papers inspired by the work of Mary Elmendorf, a pioneer in applied anthropology and community development. Dr. Elmendorf spent much of her career studying the roles of women in Maya communities, as well as problems of health, community development, human rights and the environment. Unlike the classic festschrift that frequently is little more than a random assembling of papers united only by their being somehow related to the work of the honoree, this collection is intended as a ...