Life, Ritual, and Religion Among the Lacandon Maya

Life, Ritual, and Religion Among the Lacandon Maya
Title Life, Ritual, and Religion Among the Lacandon Maya PDF eBook
Author R. Jon McGee
Publisher
Pages 184
Release 1990
Genre History
ISBN

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Watching Lacandon Maya Lives

Watching Lacandon Maya Lives
Title Watching Lacandon Maya Lives PDF eBook
Author R. Jon McGee
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Pages 231
Release 2023-02-22
Genre Social Science
ISBN 1538126184

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Although romanticized as the last of the ancient Maya living isolated in the forest, several generations of the Lacandon Maya have had their lives shaped by the international oil economy, tourism, and political unrest. Watching Lacandon Maya Lives is an examination of dramatic cultural changes in a Maya rainforest farming community over the last forty years, including changes to their families, industries, religion, health and healing practices, and gender roles. The book contains several discussions of anthropological theory in accessible, jargon-free language, including how the use of different theoretical perspectives impacts an ethnographer’s fieldwork experience. While relating his own mishaps, experiences of community strife, and conflicts, Jon McGee encourages students to shed the romantic veil through which ethnographies are usually viewed and think more deeply about how events in our own lives influence how we understand the behavior of people around us. New to the Second Edition: Revised Introduction incorporates the author’s recent work with the Lacandon and discussions of anthropological writing, culture theory, and how events in the author’s personal life have changed his approach to anthropological fieldwork. Revised chapter, “Finding an Income in the Lacandon Jungle” focuses on families who have shifted from a subsistence farming economy to earning revenue by renting facilities to tourists, owning small community stores, working as hired labor for archaeologists, or make use of a variety of government rural aid programs created in the last two decades (Chapter 5). New chapter, “Forty Years Among the Lacandon: Some Lessons Learned,” discusses what the author’s 40 years of experience as an ethnographer has taught him about the discipline of anthropology and the concept of culture (Chapter 8)

Life, Ritual, and Religion Among the Lacandon Maya

Life, Ritual, and Religion Among the Lacandon Maya
Title Life, Ritual, and Religion Among the Lacandon Maya PDF eBook
Author R. Jon McGee
Publisher
Pages 184
Release 1990
Genre History
ISBN

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Hach Winik

Hach Winik
Title Hach Winik PDF eBook
Author Didier Boremanse
Publisher University Press of Colorado
Pages 212
Release 1998
Genre History
ISBN

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Hach Winik may be the last comprehensive study of traditional Lacandon Maya society based on intensive ethnographic fieldwork. In the 1970s and 1980s, Boremanse collected cultural data and textual materials from two groups of Lacandon who still remained relatively isolated. Topics presented here include the history of Lacandon contact with other peoples, settlement patterns, the life cycle, social control, residence and marriage, the kinship system, and the ritual expression of these social domains.

Ruins, Caves, Gods, and Incense Burners

Ruins, Caves, Gods, and Incense Burners
Title Ruins, Caves, Gods, and Incense Burners PDF eBook
Author Didier Boremanse
Publisher
Pages
Release 2019
Genre Incense burners and containers
ISBN 9781607817338

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Lacandón Maya in the Twenty-First Century

Lacandón Maya in the Twenty-First Century
Title Lacandón Maya in the Twenty-First Century PDF eBook
Author James D. Nations
Publisher University Press of Florida
Pages 257
Release 2023-09-12
Genre Social Science
ISBN 081307293X

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From the ancient traditions of the Lacandón Maya comes an Indigenous model for a sustainable future Having lived for centuries isolated within Mexico’s largest remaining tropical rainforest, the Indigenous Lacandón Maya now live at the nexus of two worlds—ancient and modern. While previous research has focused on documenting Lacandón oral traditions and religious practices in order to preserve them, this book tells the story of how Lacandón families have adapted to the contemporary world while applying their ancestral knowledge to create an ecologically sustainable future. Drawing on his 49 years of studying and learning from the Lacandón Maya, James Nations discusses how in the midst of external pressures such as technological changes, missionary influences, and logging ventures, Lacandón communities are building an economic system of agroforestry and ecotourism that produces income for their families while protecting biodiversity and cultural resources. Nations describes methods they use to plant and harvest without harming the forest, illustrating that despite drastic changes in lifestyle, respect for the environment continues to connect Lacandón families across generations. By helping with these tasks and inheriting the fables and myths that reinforce this worldview, Lacandón children continue to learn about the plants, animals, and spiritual deities that coexist in their land. Indigenous peoples such as the Lacandón Maya control one-third of the intact forest landscapes left on Earth, and Indigenous knowledge and practices are increasingly recognized as key elements in the survival of the planet’s biological diversity. The story of the Lacandón Maya serves as a model for Indigenous-controlled environmental conservation, and it will inform anyone interested in supporting sustainable Indigenous futures. A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase

Xurt'an

Xurt'an
Title Xurt'an PDF eBook
Author Suzanne Cook
Publisher U of Nebraska Press
Pages 715
Release 2019-08-01
Genre Social Science
ISBN 0803271557

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Xurt’an (the end of the world) showcases the rich storytelling traditions of the northern Lacandones of Naha’ through a collection of traditional narratives, songs, and ritual speech. Formerly isolated in the dense, tropical rainforest of Chiapas, Mexico, the Lacandon Maya constitute one of the smallest language groups in the world. Although their language remains active and alive, their traditional culture was abandoned after the death of their religious and civic leader in 1996. Lacking the traditional contexts in which the culture was transmitted, the oral traditions are quickly being forgotten. This collection includes creation myths that describe the cycle of destruction and renewal of the world, the structure of the universe, the realms of the gods and their intercessions in the affairs of their mortals, and the journey of the souls after death. Other traditional stories are non-mythic and fictive accounts involving talking animals, supernatural beings, and malevolent beings that stalk and devour hapless victims. In addition to traditional narratives, Xurt’an presents many songs that are claimed to have been received from the Lord of Maize, magical charms that invoke the forces of the natural world, invocations to the gods to heal and protect, and work songs of Lacandon women, whose contribution to Lacandon culture has been hitherto overlooked by scholars. Women’s songs offer a rare glimpse into the other half of Lacandon society and the arduous distaff work that sustained the religion. The compilation concludes with descriptions of rainbows, the Milky Way as “the white road of Our Lord,” and an account of the solstices. Transcribed and translated by a foremost linguist of the northern Lacandon language, the literary traditions of the Lacandones are finally accessible to English readers. The result is a masterful and authoritative collection of oral literature that will both entertain and provoke, while vividly testifying to the power of Lacandon Maya aesthetic expression.