Visionary historian Arguelles unravels the harmonic code of the ancient Maya providing valuable keys to understanding the next twenty years of human evolution.

According to several Maya calendars, time will end on December 27, 2012. Stuart Everly discovers that if he performs human sacrifices at ancient Maya sites in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the location of a valuable key to extend time beyond that date will be revealed. He must consummate the first offering under the full moon on a Mayan equinox. Russell Palmer, a Los Angeles professor of Central American civilizations, learns of the first sacrifice and rushes to Cancun to prevent future murders. Frustrated by dubious police officers and haunted by an unfortunate incident in his past, Russell must convince the wary authorities that he has well-founded intentions as the frantic search to prevent more sacrifices and to find the Maya key leads Russell and the police deep into the tropical jungles.

From his initial writings on imagination and memory, to his recent studies of the glance and the edge, the work of American philosopher Edward S. Casey continues to shape 20th-century philosophy. In this first study dedicated to his rich body of work, distinguished scholars from philosophy, urban studies and architecture as well as artists engage with Casey's research and ideas to explore the key themes and variations of his contribution to the humanities. Structured into three major parts, the volume reflects the central concerns of Casey's writings: an evolving phenomenology of imagination, memory, and place; representation and landscape painting and art; and edges, glances, and voice. Each part begins with an extended interview that defines and explains the topics, concepts, and stakes of each area of research. Readers are thus offered an introduction to Casey's fascinating body of work, and will gain a new insight into particular aspects and applications of Casey's research. With a complete bibliography and an introduction that at once stresses each of Casey's areas of research while putting into perspective their overarching themes, this authoritative volume identifies the overall coherence and interconnections of Edward S. Casey's work and his impact on contemporary thought.

In this valuable book, ethnographer and anthropologist Brigittine French mobilizes new critical-theoretical perspectives in linguistic anthropology, applying them to the politically charged context of contemporary Guatemala. Beginning with an examination of the “nationalist project” that has been ongoing since the end of the colonial period, French interrogates the “Guatemalan/indigenous binary.” In Guatemala, “Ladino” refers to the Spanish-speaking minority of the population, who are of mixed European, usually Spanish, and indigenous ancestry; “Indian” is understood to mean the majority of Guatemala’s population, who speak one of the twenty-one languages in the Maya linguistic groups of the country, although levels of bilingualism are very high among most Maya communities. As French shows, the Guatemalan state has actively promoted a racialized, essentialized notion of “Indians” as an undifferentiated, inherently inferior group that has stood stubbornly in the way of national progress, unity, and development—which are, implicitly, the goals of “true Guatemalans” (that is, Ladinos). French shows, with useful examples, how constructions of language and collective identity are in fact strategies undertaken to serve the goals of institutions (including the government, the military, the educational system, and the church) and social actors (including linguists, scholars, and activists). But by incorporating in-depth fieldwork with groups that speak Kaqchikel and K’iche’ along with analyses of Spanish-language discourses, Maya Ethnolinguistic Identity also shows how some individuals in urban, bilingual Indian communities have disrupted the essentializing projects of multiculturalism. And by focusing on ideologies of language, the author is able to explicitly link linguistic forms and functions with larger issues of consciousness, gender politics, social positions, and the forging of hegemonic power relations.

After neo-evolutionism, how does one talk about the pre-modern state? Over the past two decades archaeological research has shifted decisively from check-list identifications of the state as an evolutionary type to studies of how power and authority were constituted in specific polities. Developing Gramsci's concept of hegemony, this book provides an accessible discussion of general principles that serve to help us understand and organise these new directions in archaeological research. Throughout this book, conceptual issues are illustrated by means of case studies drawn from Madagascar, Mesopotamia, the Inca, the Maya and Greece.

The Bloomsbury Curriculum Basics series provides non-specialist primary school teachers with subject knowledge and full teaching programmes in a variety of key primary curriculum subjects. This book is a revised and up-to-date hands-on guide to planning and delivering primary history lessons in a fun and refreshing way. Updates in this revised edition include: - The expansion and decline of the British Empire - Life in Tudor times including Shakespeare and his most celebrated works - Changes within living memory - Teaching social history in KS1 and KS2 This edition is fully updated and in line with National Curriculum guidelines for KS1 and KS2, and features lesson plans, helpful summaries, vocabulary lists, lists of important people and dates, and a wealth of interesting facts. With new links to online resources, further ideas for trips, books and apps, exciting activities for whole-class involvement, as well as opportunities for individual and group learning, this book will bring the past to life with a bang! A must-have resource for primary practitioners, subject co-ordinators and history clubs.