Social identities in the classic Maya northern lowlands : gender, age, memory, and place / Traci Ardren.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ardren, Traci, author.

Series:

Linda Schele series in Maya and pre-Columbian studies.

Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mayas--Yucatán Peninsula--Social conditions.

Mayas.

Maya--Yucatán Peninsula--Antiquities.

Maya.

Group identity--Yucatán Peninsula--History.

Group identity.

Social structure--Yucatán Peninsula--History.

Social structure.

Social archaeology--Yucatán Peninsula.

Social archaeology.

Yucatán Peninsula--Antiquities.

Yucatán Peninsula.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (223 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin, Texas : University of Texas Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Social Identities in the Classic Maya Northern Lowlands plumbs the archaeological record for what it can reveal about the creation of personal and communal identities in the Maya world. Using new primary data from her excavations at the sites of Yaxuna, Chunchucmil, and Xuenkal, and new analysis of data from Dzibilchaltun in Yucatan, Mexico, Traci Ardren presents a series of case studies in how social identities were created, shared, and manipulated among the lowland Maya. Ardren argues that the interacting factors of gender, age, familial and community memories, and the experience of living in an urban setting were some of the key aspects of Maya identities. She demonstrates that domestic and civic spaces were shaped by gender-specific behaviors to communicate and reinforce gendered ideals. Ardren discusses how child burials disclose a sustained pattern of reverence for the potential of childhood and the power of certain children to mediate ancestral power. She shows how small shrines built a century after Yaxuna was largely abandoned indicate that its remaining residents used memory to reenvision their city during a time of cultural reinvention. And Ardren explains how Chunchucmil’s physical layout of houses, plazas, and surrounding environment denotes that its occupants shared an urban identity centered in the movement of trade goods and economic exchange. Viewing this evidence through the lens of the social imaginary and other recent social theory, Ardren demonstrates that material culture and its circulations are an integral part of the discourse about social identity and group membership.

Contents:

Social imaginaries and the construction of classic Maya identities

Circulations and the urban imaginary of Chunchucmil

Memory, reinvention, and the social imaginary of later Yaxuna

Burial rituals and the social imaginary of childhood

Gendered imaginaries and architectural space

Why social identities?

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-292-76812-5

OCLC:

903584638