Monthly Archives: May 2011

Who Owns the Maya? (Part 3)

March 29, 2010: The state of Yucatan buys Chichen Itza for 17.6 million U.S. dollars. http://www.americanegypt.com/feature/sold.htm

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Tit-for-Tat at the Hacienda Spa (or: You put cucumbers on my back, I’ll smear honey on yours…by J. Heath Anderson)

One of the first things all students of anthropology learn is that the personal characteristics of a person doing ethnography will necessarily bias and distort the information gleaned from informants. It’s a kind of cultural Heisenberg principle in which the … Continue reading

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Pakal Ritual of Healing: Syncretism in Contemporary Maya “Healing”

“They had the same superstitious feelings as the Indians of Uxmal; they believed that the ancient buildings were haunted (p. 14). . . .in regard to this building [the Eglesia (sic) at Chichén Itzá] that on Good Friday of every … Continue reading

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On Local Development and Mexican Food (Part I)

Driving across the peninsula from west to east, from the Mayan ruins of Uxmal to the small resort town / Mayan ruin of Tulum, we decided to take the secondary roads rather than the main highway, which I particularly loved … Continue reading

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Who Owns The Maya? (Part 2)

Everywhere you go at the major tourist sites on the peninsula, you see vendors of all kinds of handicrafts — some complete kitsch, some mass-produced but authentic-seeming items, and some undoubtedly authentic artisanal products.  But what is striking is how … Continue reading

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Mayaland

Tell me what you pay attention to, and I will tell you who you are. — Jose Ortega y Gasset Word of the day:  Mayaland. Now that I’ve read Matt’s post I realize that I’m echoing him in deciding that … Continue reading

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Two Tours of Chichen Itza

Today we took two tours of Chichen Itza, the first guided by Heath, a Mesoamerican archaeologist, the second by Carlos, a local guide who had 30 years of experience.  Our idea was to compare and contrast the tours and see … Continue reading

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Who Owns The Maya? (Part 1)

This is a sign outside the artisan gift store at the major archaeological site of Uxmal.  Notice how the state appropriates and then regulates the whole idea of “artisan” or authentic crafts.  The sign reads “House of Artisan Handicrafts of … Continue reading

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Maya Inc.

The commodification of a culture is not a big surprise wherever a local population forms the service sector for a steady stream of foreign tourists.  Think of the identical tchotchske ceramic figurines of temples awaiting you outside any famous Buddhist … Continue reading

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Chichen Itza!

  “The patient industry of such a people may well be supposed to have reared the immense mounds and the great stone structures scattered all over the country (p. 18). . . .For a brief space only we broke the … Continue reading

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