The war for the heart & soul of a highland Maya town [[electronic resource] /] / revised edition by Robert S. Carlsen ; with a preface and a new final chapter and with a contribution by Martín Prechtel ; foreword by Davíd Carrasco

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910779254403321
• Autore: Carlsen Robert S (Robert Stanley), <1950->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Austin, : University of Texas Press, 2011
• ISBN: 0-292-73476-X
• Edizione: [Rev. ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (257 p.)
• Altri autori (Persone): PrechtelMartín; CarrascoDavid
• Disciplina: 972.8164
• Soggetti: Tzutuhil Indians - Social conditions; Tzutuhil philosophy; Tzutuhil Indians - Religion; Social change - Guatemala - Santiago Atitlán; Santiago Atitlán (Guatemala) Folklore; Santiago Atitlán (Guatemala) Politics and government; Santiago Atitlán (Guatemala) Social life and customs
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-220) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: pt. 1. Establishing place and imagining community -- pt. 2. History, peripherality, and social pluralism -- pt. 3. Death of community, resurrection of autonomy.
• Sommario/riassunto: This compelling ethnography explores the issue of cultural continuity and change as it has unfolded in the representative Guatemala Mayan town Santiago Atitlán. Drawing on multiple sources, Robert S. Carlsen argues that local Mayan culture survived the Spanish Conquest remarkably intact and continued to play a defining role for much of the following five centuries. He also shows how the twentieth-century consolidation of the Guatemalan state steadily eroded the capacity of the local Mayas to adapt to change and ultimately caused some factions to reject—even demonize—their own history and culture. At the same time, he explains how, after a decade of military occupation known as la violencia, Santiago Atitlán stood up in unity to the Guatemalan Army ; in 1990 and forced it to leave town. This new edition looks at how Santiago Atitlán has fared since the expulsion of the army. Carlsen explains that, initially, there was hope that the renewed unity that had served the town so well would continue. He argues that such hopes have been undermined by multiple sources, often with bizarre outcomes. Among the factors he examines are the impact of transnational crime, particularly gangs with ties to Los Angeles; the rise of vigilantism and its relation to renewed religious factionalism; the related brutal murders of followers of the traditional Mayan religion; and the apocalyptic fervor underlying these events.