Telling Maya Tales: Tzotzil Identities in Modern Mexico

by Gary H. Gossen

Overview

Telling Maya Tales offers an experimental ethnographic portrait of the San Juan Chamula, the largest and most influential Maya community of Highland Chiapas, in the late twentieth century—the era of the Zapatistas. In this collection of essays, the author, whose field work in the area spans two generations of anthropological thought, explores several expressions of Tzotzil ethnic affirmation, ranging from oral narrative to ritual drama and political action. His work covers the current era, when the Chamula Tzotzils mingle chaotically and sometimes violently with the social and political space of modern Mexico—most recently, in the context of the Maya Zapatista movement of 1994.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415914673
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/19/1998
Series:	Economy; 21
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gary H. Gossen is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies at SUNY, Albany. He is the author of Chamulas in the World of the Sun(1974).

Table of Contents

Preface —Telling Maya Tales 1. The Other in Chamula Tzotzil Cosmology and History: Reflections of a Kansan in Chiapas 2. True Ancient Words 3. On the Human Condition and the Moral Order 4. Language and Indians' Place in Chiapas 5. The Chamula Festival of Games: Native Macroanalysis and Social Commentary in a Maya Carnival 6. The Topography of Ancient Maya Religious Pluralism: A Dialogue with the Present 7. Indians Inside and Outside of the Mexican National Idea: A Case Study of the Modern Diaspora of San Juan Chamula 8. Life, Death, and Apotheosis of a Chamula Protestant Leader: Biography as Social History 9. From Olmecs to Zapatistas: A Once and Future History of Maya Souls 10. Maya Zapatistas Move to an Open Future

Editorial Reviews

Offers a multiscenario ethnographic portrait of the Chamula Tzotzils in the late 20th century, and chronicles the author's own effort to move from traditional approaches to experiment with new forms of representation more suited to representing the contested spaces and evolving ethnic affirmations that characterize the modern Chaipas region. Chapters consist of essays written during the period 1986 to the present, and incorporate the voices of Tzotzil storytellers. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

Booknews

"Gary H. Gossen, a seasoned anthropologist with extensive field experience in Chiapas from the time of the "Harvard Chiapas Project" in the 1960s...offers many pieces of rich ethnography and interesting interpretation." — Latin American Research Review

From the Publisher