Mayas in the marketplace : tourism, globalization, and cultural identity / Walter E. Little.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Little, Walter E., 1963-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cakchikel Indians--Commerce.

Cakchikel Indians.

Cakchikel Indians--Economic conditions.

Cakchikel Indians--Social conditions.

Maya business enterprises--Guatemala--Antigua Region.

Maya business enterprises.

Culture and tourism--Guatemala--Antigua Region.

Culture and tourism.

Tourism--Guatemala--Antigua Region--Attitudes.

Tourism.

Economic conditions.

Commerce.

Antigua (Guatemala)--Social conditions.

Antigua (Guatemala).

Antigua (Guatemala)--Economic conditions.

Guatemala.

Physical Description:

x, 320 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2004.

Summary:

Selling handicrafts to tourists has brought the Maya peoples of Guatemala into the world market. Vendors from rural communities now offer their wares to more than 500,000 international tourists annually in the marketplaces of larger cities such as Antigua, Guatemala City, Panajachel, and Chichicastenango. Like businesspeople anywhere, Maya artisans analyze the desires and needs of their customers and shape their products to meet the demands of the market. But how has adapting to the global marketplace reciprocally shaped the identity and cultural practices of the Maya peoples? Drawing on over a decade of fieldwork, Walter Little presents the first ethnographic study of Maya handicraft vendors in the international marketplace. Focusing on Kaqchikel Mayas who commute to Antigua to sell their goods, he explores three significant issues: how the tourist marketplace conflates global and local distinctions. how the marketplace becomes a borderzone where national and international, developed and underdeveloped, and indigenous and non-indigenous come together. how marketing to tourists changes social roles, gender relationships, and ethnic identity in the vendors' home communities. Little's wide-ranging research challenges our current understanding of tourism's negative impact on indigenous communities. He demonstrates that the Maya are maintaining a specific, community-based sense of Maya identity, even as they commodify their culture for tourist consumption in the world market.

Contents:

Introduction: Subjectivity and Fieldwork among Kaqchikel Vendors 3

Chapter 1 Guatemala as a Living History Museum 35

Chapter 2 Place and People in a Transnational Borderzone City 64

Chapter 3 Antigua Tipica Markets and Identity Interaction 89

Chapter 4 Mercado de Artesania Compania de Jesus and the Politics of Vending 115

Chapter 5 Gendered Marketplace and Household Reorganization 143

Chapter 6 The Places Kaqchikel Maya Vendors Call Home 178

Chapter 7 Home as a Place of Exhibition and Performance in San Antonio Aguas Calientes 203

Chapter 8 Marketing Maya Culture in Santa Catarina Palopo 227

Conclusion: Traditions and Commodities 261.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-313) and index.

"Chapter 7 is a revision of "Home as a Place of Exhibition and Performance: Mayan Household Transformation in Guatemala," which was previously published in Ethnology (The University of Pittsburgh) 39 (2): 163-181"--T.p. verso.

ISBN:

0292702787

0292705670

OCLC:

53847114