Ancient cosmopolitanism: Feminism and the rethinking of Maya inter-regional interactions during the Late Classic to Postclassic periods (ca. 600–1521 CE)

Abstract

The consideration of cosmopolitanism in archaeology provides a useful lens for thinking about and expanding how to conceive of inter-regional interactions and experiences of belonging in the ancient world. Previous models in Mesoamerican archaeology often implicitly follow a cosmopolitanism of elite male citizens of the world. In incorporating a feminist perspective to the analysis of inter-regional relations, this paper examines Maya women’s roles in cosmopolitan encounters during the Late Classic to Postclassic periods (ca. 600–1521 CE) with a particular focus on merchant women, clothing as a statement of belonging in a larger world, and the adoption of new cooking practices. Such a perspective underscores the ways in which inter-regional interactions in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica may have been unevenly and contingently experienced, rather than homogenously adopted, and that the articulation of different worlds need not require everyone to be highly mobile.