Product Description
"This is a significant contribution to the field. . . . Quirigua, although well-studied archaeologically, has not received this kind of single dedicated study of monuments. . . . This is not because the site and its art are unimportant; as this study amply demonstrates, the artwork of the site is of great significance within the gamut of Classic Maya art."--Rosemary A. Joyce, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, BerkeleyThe ancient Maya city of Quirigua occupied a crossroads between Copan in the southeastern Maya highlands and the major centers of the Peten heartland. Though always a relatively small city, Quirigua stands out because of its public monuments, which were some of the greatest achievements of Classic Maya civilization. Impressive not only for their colossal size, high sculptural quality, and eloquent hieroglyphic texts, the sculptures of Quirigua are also one of the few complete, in situ series of Maya monuments anywhere, which makes them a crucial source of information about ancient Maya spirituality and political practice within a specific historical context. Using epigraphic, iconographic, and stylistic analyses, this study explores the integrated political-religious meanings of Quirigua's monumental sculptures during the eighth-century A.D. reign of the city's most famous ruler, K'ak' Tiliw. In particular, Matthew Looper focuses on the role of stelae and other sculpture in representing the persona of the ruler not only as a political authority but also as a manifestation of various supernatural entities with whom he was associated through ritual performance. By tracing this sculptural program from its Early Classic beginnings through the reigns of K'ak' Tiliw and his successors, and also by linking it to practices at Copan, Looper offers important new insights into the politico-religious history of Quirigua and its ties to other Classic Maya centers, the role of kingship in Maya society, and the development of Maya art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Pre-eminent scholarship
This is a book for scholars, for the dedicated avocational Mayanist, and for those who have been so fortunate as to visit Quirigua (and/or Copan) and care to look behind the intriguing scenes through the impressively perceptive eyes of a specialist and expert. Not for the casual, book-a-day reader, "Lightning Warrior" is weighty, both literally and figuratively, and it has a hefty price. It is also a fascinating story, explicated in minute detail.The exhaustive thoroughness of Prof. Looper's scholarship will, I think, ensure the lasting value of this outstanding and beautifully produced, large-format volume. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1978, a Maya community queen stood on a stage to protest a massacre of indigenous campesinos at the hands of the Guatemalan state he spoke graphically to the dead and to the living alike: 'Brothers of Panzos, your blood is in our throats!' Given the context, her message might come as a surprise. A revolutionary insurgency in the late 1970s was being met by brutal state efforts to defeat it, efforts directed not only at the guerrilla armies but also at reform movements of all kinds. Yet the young woman was just one of many Mayas across the highlands voicing demands for change. Over the course of the 1970s, Mayas argued for economic, cultural, and political justice for the indigenous 'pueblo'. Many became radicalized by state violence against Maya communities that soon reached the level of genocide. Scholars have disagreed about Maya participation in Guatemala's civil war, and the development of oppositional activism by Mayas during the war is poorly understood. Betsy Konefal explores this history in detail, examining the roots and diversity of Maya organizing and its place in the unfolding conflict. She traces debates about ethnicity, class, and revolution, and examines how (some) Mayas became involved in opposition to a repressive state. She looks closely at the development of connections between cultural events like queen pageants and more radical demands for change, and follows the uneasy relationships that developed between Maya revolutionaries and their Ladino counterparts. Konefal makes it clear that activist Mayas were not bystanders in the transformations that preceded and accompanied Guatemala's civil war - activism by Mayas helped shape the war, and the war shaped Maya activism. ... Read more

Product Description
James Sexton met Ignacio Bizarro Ujpán in 1970, when Sexton traveled to Guatemala for the first time as a graduate student in anthropology. Ignacio became Sexton’s research assistant and, as the men’s friendship grew over the years of fieldwork that followed, Sexton asked Ignacio to keep a detailed journal. In his diaries, Bizarro chronicles more than a quarter century of the turbulent history of Guatemala, returning again and again to the themes of community solidarity, civil violence, alcohol abuse, resistance to repression, political turmoil, and the reinforcement of traditional and religious values that color daily life in the Maya communities of Guatemala’s highlands.

Joseño: Another Mayan Voice Speaks from Guatemala covers the period from 1987-98 and is the fourth and latest volume of Ignacio’s diary, the authentic life history of a common man, a campesino, a principal (elder) in his town, and a Tzutuhil Indian whose life has spanned the ongoing struggle for democracy and economic justice in Guatemala. His vivid and plain-spoken account of life among the Maya during the war between guerrillas and the army in the 1980s and 1990s offers detailed descriptions of the atrocities committed by both sides and brings the reader into a Mayan world richly textured with indigenous beliefs and practices. Ignacio’s diary also records the Mayan cultural revitalization sweeping Guatemala, as well as the fortunes of the Indian peoples who have so often been pawns in the vicious power struggles between Left and Right. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Customer Review - February 8, 2002
Reviewer, Dr. Janet M. Carey from Littleton, CO
Within this extremely interesting and timely book Sexton translates Tzutuhil Mayan Ignacio Bizarro Ujpan's diary entries of eleven years from 1987 to 1998.Sexton's Introduction expertly presents a backdrop of the historical, political and cultural contexts the Guatemalan Indian people find themselves in today as they attempt to survive the modern political climate in their ancient land.Sexton skillfully blends Bizarro's eyewitness accounts of the horror resulting from being Indian in Guatemala.Bizarro tells the story of his people as they cope with being caught between opposing forces of state military troops and the guerrilla bands that have wrapped Guatemala in decades of civil violence.
Via Bizarro's graphic personal narrative, Sexton excitingly and sometimes somewhat sadly, brings to the reader the ongoing, heartbreaking realities experienced by Bizarro, his family and friends.Throughout this book it is evident, despite unbelievable hardship, that the Guatemalan Mayan Indian people continue to love their country and sense of place.Bizarro's statement of, "that is why I say that in Guatemala there is no peace," is followed with his words, "Guatemala is such a beautiful country, so good that God has placed its green countryside in the center of America, where the little birds sing their songs in praise of God All-Powerful.But it's a pity that my beautiful country is going everyday from bad to worse.Every day they [current political regimes] are bathing it with the blood of their [Mayan] children who loved so much this beautiful land of the quetzal."
Sexton's ability to pursue the anthropological method of life-history fieldwork with Bizarro, which now spans more than three decades, is not commonplace.Bizarro and Sexton have collaborated for a period of over thirty years.This fascinating, firsthand account of the modern Tzutuhil Mayan lifeway as told by Bizarro and translated by Sexton, is only made possible through their long, continuous relationship.Bizarro's is a most touching story.Sexton, in his choice of photographs, illustrations and admirable organization of the book, brings together the beauty and the strength of the Tzutuhil Mayan culture around Lake Atitlan as Bizarro tells how his people live with modern-day political dramas as they unfold in the highlands of Guatemala. ... Read more

Product Description
"Informative and beautifully illustrated. . . . It is both a detailed anthropological study, which delves into aspects of Mayan culture and examines historical and sociological forces brought to bear on Mayan communities of Guatemala, and a catalog of the stunning collections, containing descriptions of techniques, dying processes, and textile production."--Booklist ... Read more

Product Description
The best-selling account of the life of Latin American peasant woman and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.Now a global bestseller, the remarkable life of Rigoberta Menchú, a Guatemalan peasant woman, reflects on the experiences common to many Indian communities in Latin America. Menchú suffered gross injustice and hardship in her early life: her brother, father and mother were murdered by the Guatemalan military. She learned Spanish and turned to catechistic work as an expression of political revolt as well as religious commitment. Menchú vividly conveys the traditional beliefs of her community and her personal response to feminist and socialist ideas. Above all, these pages are illuminated by the enduring courage and passionate sense of justice of an extraordinary woman. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (50)

Zzzzzzzzzzzz
I sympathize with the people this book is about as I do all cultures, but I absolutely despise the embellished novels that supposedly chronicle the pain the people went through. In most if not all cases it is completely unnecessary and its a big let down when you find that one character is an amalgum of five different people or something like that. I found that to be the case withthis novel as well as dave eggers' "What is the what" and just about every single supposedly true biography I've ever read. The first few chapters were very interesting but afterwards I literally fell asleep. I had a paper on this book due in two days and was so sick of trying to get through the whole thing that I just had to wing it and write around what Idid read. It drags on and on and on. I recommend you read something else.

Book Review
The book came on time! It was in good condition! Overall I am a happy customer!

Big Hoax
This is the classic left wing - right wing myth that helps selling books.After all the absurdities lived during the cold war, a book of absurdities could be considered obsolete.As a matter of fact, buying things like this book contributes to give this lady a way of living.A leader she is not, a writer not either.Burgos' credit for this forgery could be claimed, but to call this book an epic...We still live in a lawless state in Guatemala. Instead of this, I would strongly recommend The Art of Political Murder, a much wiser investment if you want to know about what is going on in Guatemala.

This work devalues the Nobel Prize...
We have lived in Guatemala for several years and know people who know her and her family along with living through the war. It's too bad the Nobel people didn't do their research as this book is not the truth of what happened to her but a fabrication. It really does degrade the award. Then, after received the awared, while her people suffered there in Guatemala, she was living the high-life on the $1,000,000 prize. Not until there was great outrage by her home town, threatening to expose her, did she donate a small portion of her awared towards a local school. I agree however with another comment that says at least it drew attention to the atrocities that happened during the war. Those things were absolutely horrible!

Who's fiddling with the title?
The title of this book is, "Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans ..." and in light of the criticism of it, the generality in the title is important.
So who decided to change the title? ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs, published by Thomson Gale on September 7, 2006. The length of the article is 2044 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: GUATEMALA REPLAYS WARTIME ATTACKS ON INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES TO APPEASE U.S.
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs (Newsletter)
Date: September 7, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale


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Product Description
This digital document is an article from NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs, published by Thomson Gale on February 16, 2006. The length of the article is 1305 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: LITTLE PROSPECT OF AN INDIGENOUS PRESIDENT IN GUATEMALA.
Publication: NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs (Newsletter)
Date: February 16, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale


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Product Description
This digital document is an article from Health Law Review, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2006. The length of the article is 764 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Stories from Guatemala and North America: why indigenous beliefs matter in the debate on genetically engineered food.
Author: Shiri Pasternak
Publication: Health Law Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 15Issue: 1Page: 45(2)

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Product Description
This digital document is an article from NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs, published by Thomson Gale on September 28, 2006. The length of the article is 2071 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: EVO MORALES VISITS GUATEMALA, COULD CHANGE INDIGENOUS POLITICAL FUTURE.
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs (Newsletter)
Date: September 28, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale


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On the Trail of the Maya Explorer: Tracing the Epic Journey of John Lloyd Stephens (Alabama Fire Ant) ASIN: 0817354425 ... Read more

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What does it mean to be Maya in the modern world? Focusing on a Guatemalan town, this case study explores the cultural, political, and economic changes of this society over time.

This case study of a highland Guatemala town examines what it means to be Maya in a rapidly changing and globalized world. In providing an historical synopsis of the Kaqchikel Maya from pre-Columbian through Colonial times to the present day, this volume focuses on the use of language, dress, and crafts as emblems of ethnicity, nationality, and political allegiance. Tecpán considers the dynamics of ethnic boundaries in light of the use of the Kaqchikel language versus Spanish, the growing role of Protestantism and the revitalization of traditional Maya religion versus Catholicism, and traditional subsistence agriculture in the face of an expanding reliance on export crops. It examines in particular the role of weaving and other indigenous crafts in linking Tecpánecos to larger economic and political orbits and for defining local, regional, and national identities. As a result, this accessibly written book demonstrates that even traditional Maya cultural forms are actively constructed in the context of intense global connections. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very Insightful
I found this book to be very insightful into understanding the historic and social context of Tecpan.I was going to be visiting the town and wanted to learn more about it.

Tecpan is a relatively unimpressive town on the surface, but this book helps you see all the currents and change happening under the surface.I found it fascinating to personally seek out examples of the changing culture that the author writes about.Highly recommended.

An Ethnography of Mayan Everyday Life in an Age of Global Corporatism
Professor Fischer of Vanderbilt University and Carol Hendrickson of Marlboro College have combined their several but separate and different participant observations of the Maya in Guatemala to produce this ethnographic case study of Tecpan, a Guatemalan highland town in the region of Chimal Tenango situated about 30 miles northwest of Guatemala City.Much of Fischer's contributions are based on his graduate studies during the 1990s under the auspices of Tulane University's Kaqchikel Language and Culture School, especially from 1993-94 when he and his future
wife Mareike Sattler "lived and worked in Tecpan, based in a two-room former Mennonite school house".Hendrickson's ethnographic researches go back to the 1970s, when "Guatemalan civil war was entering its most intense stage.She also lived and studied in Tecpan from 1980-81.Both authors have returned numerous times since then to stay current in their observations of theactivities of the Tecpanecos.

The global context of the author's case study is U.S. foreign policy that supports rightwing dictatorships in Central American countries that pretend towards legitimacy via fraudulent elections, while open destablising democratically-elected governments such as the Arbenz government in Guatemala in 1954.Because the Catholic Church is pro-democracy, Catholics are often targets of rightwing violence.U.S. intervention in Guatemala is a constant problem, just as it is in the neigbouring countries of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada, Panama, Costa Rica, and Honduras - or the rest of the world for that matter.For example, during Hendrickson's ethnographic studies of the late '70s and early '80s, Guatemala was ruled by CIA-installed dictators - General Romeo Lucas Garcia (who ruled from '78-'81) and his successor General EfrainRios Montt.These CIA-installed dictators killed tens of thousands of indegenous Mayans at the behest of their bosses in Washington, District of Criminals.Tecpan did not escape U.S.-generated violence: a Catholic priest was murdered, the town hall bombed, and more than 20 clandestine graves were later uncovered.As a result of past and continuing U.S. intervention, Guatemala is a society of poor people ruled by a U.S.-backed wealthy elite - 2% of the landowners own 70% of the land (and that's the land best suited to agriculture).Fischer and Hendrickson show that this inequality has an ethnic component - none of the U.S.-backed wealthy elite are indigenous people.

The first several chapters of this ethnography provide the reader with an historical context: chapter 1 provides a general introduction to Tecpan; chapter 2 provides the socio-political history of Tecpan, including U.S.-sponsored violence; chapter 3 provides some history of the indigenous Mayan and of the Kaqchikeles who live in Tecpan; chapter 4 discusses the effects of the devastating 1976 earthquake and the subsequent civil war.It is from these chapters, that the reader learns of the murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi on April 26, 1998, two days after his Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala published a report entitled "Guatemala: Never Again", which clearly demonstrated "that the overwhelming majority of massacres in the highlands during the early 1980s were the work of government forces".The Bishop's killers were Guatemalan army officers Captain Byron Lima and Sergeant Jose Villaneuva, and accomplice Reverand Orantes, who all received prison terms, while their "intellectual authors of the murder . . . to be found higher up in the army's chain of command" such as Captain Byron Lima's father Colonel Bryon Lima escaping prison terms but not prosecution.

Chapter 5 is titled Kaqchikel Hearts, Souls, and Selves: Competing Religions and Worldviews.We learn that with the arrival of the Spanish not only came the misnomer "Indian" for the Native Mayans but also came Catholicism as state religion, although "Protestants - generally British - entered the Spanish/Catholic landscape of colonial Guatemala on occasion".In 1873, President Justo Rufino Barrios "stripped Catholicism of its status as state religion" and by 1947 there were three Southern Baptist churches.To Tecpanecos, Catholicism means drinking and smoking are accepted religious practices whereas Protestantism is opposed to these practices in addition to dancing.The drinking and smoking are often viewed as necessary crutches to surviving the haunting memories of the U.S.-sponsored "La Violencia"of the '70s and early '80s and that sometimes continues to reoccur as in the assassination of Bishop Girardi.

Chapter 6 looks at the inter-relations of dress and language in the on-going construction of identies in local culture.Chapter 7 examines local agriculture and carnation factory farm that ships globally.This is followed by a short conclusion that wraps up the Tecpan Mayan in the contemporary world: the growing pan-Mayan movement for indigenous rights and self-determination, a culture-based non-violent approach.But just across the border in Mexico, is another Mayan movement for indigenous rights called the Zapatista movement led by non-Mayan former university professor Rafael Guillen Vicente who wears a black ski mask and calls himself Subcomandante Marcos, and thus has become a symbol of Mayan Resistance: resistance is the key to success.

In conclusion, the authors did a competent job of participant observation of Mayan identity struggles in the face of U.S.-sponsored global corporatism.To flesh out the Mayan resistance movement in Guatemala would require covert participant observation, which would be difficult for the authors as non-Mayans to carry out.As a result, the rest of the Mayan story will have to await the work of future historians.In larger context, the plight of Guatemalans as the victims of U.S.-sponsored state terrorism is more than disturbing. It is a story where you can take out the word "Guatemala" and replace it with the word "Pakistan", "Syria", or "Iraq" and it loses none of its consistency.The CIA does not reinvent the wheel - their modus operandi is pre-packaged and transferable to any third world country.This book should be read along with "The 'Terrorism' Industry" by Edward Herman and Gerry O'Sullivan (1989).

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Product Description
This book studies three types of Guatemalan art that represent community. The particular techniques and structure of each set of works project an imagining of community that is unique to those pieces. However, studying the pieces together lays the groundwork for re-imagining the relation of arts and society. This study examines three types of art in relation to community: First are the paintings of Alejandro Wer (1959). He sets up dualities and then joins them through the painting's form and composition. When these dualities include contrasts between different ethnic groups, the joining becomes an imagining of a single community where now there are intermingling communities that occupy the same space but are mutually indifferent or hostile. The second study deals with marimba performance and its isomorphism with working. A continuous infusion of new energy into the musical flow distinguishes Guatemalan marimba performance. This infusion is exciting, expressive and intrinsically valuable, regardless of whether its outcome is expressive or merely entertaining. Likewise, working to produce non-expressive products, which are only instrumentally valuable, can be highly expressive.Imagined in terms of working, workers are intrinsically worthy. Reduced to the value of their product, they are not. The third set are weavings by Guatemalan women. In their textiles strong, contrasting colors generate spaces that are often incompatible with one another. The juxtaposition of kinds of space are a way of imagining the boundaries of a community's space and the nature of its contrast to what lies outside that space. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Enlightening,Entertaining and Wonderous Journey
This review refers to "Secrets of the Talking Jaguar" by Martin Pretchel...

This book is a rare treat. It's a look at the Mayan culture as never revealed before and is told in a way that will keep you involved and entertained as you become enlightened by Martin Pretchel's remarkable story. It's an incredible journey, one you may not want to end.

Pretchel's own journeys of travel and self-discovery are the basis for the first part of the story. He'll keep you smiling(and maybe even chuckling out loud sometimes) with his wonderful sense of humor, as he describes his wanderings and the fantastick encounters along the way. He is down on his luck when out of the blue he is "found" by an old Shaman who tells him it's about time he arrived. The Shaman takes him to a remote Guatamalan village, that is not yet ravaged by modern civilazation. It becomes the home he has been searching for, the people he felt he belonged to, and while training to be the next Shaman of the village, learns the wonders of a deeply rich and rewarding life. The ways of the villagers may seem primitave, but everything they do and believe in has great meaning,and is never self-serving. Their sense of the earth and everything connected with nature is incredibly intuitive and complex. Pretchel's, vivid descriptions of the ceremonies, the costumes, the land and even the food will bring wonderful pictures of this world to your mind.The detalied description of his training to become a Shaman are amazing and adventurous.

This book was a wonderful journey to the "heart of the indigenous soul". It's a precious history of an important culture, that had to give way to the modern world. I could hardly put it down and wanted to start it over the minute I finished it. Pretchel's written account is an invaluable history lesson and a lovely tribute to all indigenous souls!

enjoy...Laurie

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Customer Reviews (4)

Quick to Please
I was suprised at the quick delivery of the book with it's peasurable anchient writings.

The K'iche' Mayan sacred book
This "translation" of the K'iche' Mayan sacred book was not made from the original K'iche' Mayan text but rather it is a weak translation from an early Spanish version based on an even weaker French version. There are many many mistakes. Reader beware!

Sacred Book of the Maya
A common misconception is that the Native Americans did not have a written language. While it is true most Nations didn't, the fact is that the Zapotecs, Mayans and others in Mesoamerica did in fact have a great many books, though most of their sacred texts were lost to the fires of the Spanish conquistadors and missionaries. The Popol Vuh is a creation story and mythical history of the Quiche Maya, and one of their few books to survive. This first English translation of the book is still one of the best and certainly a great source for gaining an understanding of Mayan religion and belief.

The book opens with a wonderful introduction that gives a background both of Mayan literature and of this book in particular, mentioning different authors, translators and copies through time. Its a wonderful introduction for a history of the Popol Vuh. It then goes to the translation itself, which includes the Mayan Creation story (which includes the Creators, and several creations and subsequent destructions of the world and mankind, a theme repeated amongst many other Native American Nations of Mexico and Central America) as well as the hero twins Hunahpu and Xblanque and their exploits against the Lords of Xibala (again, the theme of hero twins being repeated amongst many Nations in North and South America) and the kings of the Quiche Maya. Here we see divine right used as a justification for monarchy, a theme common the world over.

This is a wonderful book, detailing Native American religions and one of the few such books that is not taken from the notes of outsiders. It gives terrific insights into Mayan culture both today and in pre-contact and colonial times. Its also pretty nice to learn about the early literary traditions of the Americas. I strongly recommend anyone with an interest in Native American cultures and history check out both this and other books in the Civilization of the American Indians series from the University of Oklahoma.

Great History
Anyone wishing to aquire a higher understanding of the Quiche` Maya and a most accurate interpretation of their Creation stories will Love this Book. While there are several interpretations of "Popol Vuh" in print,this is by far the definitive. Written as accurate to the originalmanuscripts as intended by the Mayan People. Highly recommend for anystudent of Antrhopology and/or Old-World Religion's. ... Read more