Affiliation:
1. School of Education Central Washington University 400 E. University Way Ellensburg, Washington , USA
Abstract
Abstract
This study, based on fieldwork in rural Lanquín, Guatemala, discusses cultural continuity and the sense of historicity through agricultural rituals and worship of the agricultural deity Tzuultaq’as. The place, Lanquín, and the Q’eqchi’ Maya peasant farmers are situated within a two-fold tension and contradiction. Geographically remote in relation to the economic centers in Guatemala, and marginal in infrastructural development, while their cash crop harvests never fail to be effected by the fluctuations of the global market. From the eclectic stance merging both theories of cultural essentialism and constructivism, by juxtaposing the emblematic event of the anti-Monsanto Law movement in 2014 in Guatemala, and by the calendrical cycles of ritual events, routines, and ceremonials in rural Lanquín, the subsistence practices of milpa (corn field) cultivation emerge as a central theme for cultural survival and continuity. The aggregated clusters of ritual processions and the system of symbolism used manifest the Q’eqchi’ peasant thought and practice of sustainability and conservancy in their construction of a modern cultural identity that maintains congruency with the cultural essence of a nativist identity.
Subject
Anthropology,Cultural Studies
Reference31 articles.
1. Adams, Abigail E. 2001. The Transformation of the Tzuultaq’a: Jorge Ubico, Protestants and other Verapaz Maya at the Crossroads of Community, State and Transnational Interests. - Journal of Latin American Anthropology 6 (2): 198-233. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/jlca.2001.6.2.198.10.1525/jlca.2001.6.2.198
2. Akkeren, Ruud Van. 2012. Xib’alb’a el nacimiento del nuevo sol: una visión posclásica del colapso maya. Guatemala: Editorial Piedra Santa.
3. Bassie-Sweet, Karen. 1991. From the Mouth of the Dark Cave: Commemorative Sculpture of the Late Classic Maya. Norman, OK; London: University of Oklahoma Press.
4. Bird-David, Nurit. 1999. “Animism” Revisited: Personhood, Environment, and Relational Epistemology. - Current Anthropology (Special Issue: Culture - A Second Chance?) 40 (S1): S67-S91.
5. Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977 [1972]. Outline of the Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511812507
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献