Deftly edited by Traci Ardren, Ancient Maya Women is a fascinating compilation... A very highly recommended compilation of amazing discoveries and extrapolations of a long-ago culture—and an essential, seminal, core addition to Mayan Studies academic reference collections.

- Betsy L. Hogam, Midwest Book Review

With a foreword from the eminent ethnographer, June Nash, and a broad concluding essay by W. Ashmore, Dr. Ardren introduces 10 thematic essays and case studies of archaeological, epigraphic and historical evidence for women's work and symbolic roles in the prehispanic period (with one paper venturing into the Colonial period too). Much of the evidence is from aristocratic contexts but four of the papers deal with domestic, agricultural and funerary evidence for ordinary people.

- Nicholas James, Antiquity

This volume provides a multidimensional view of women's activities and identities, based on diverse theoretical and methodological approaches that address severe gaps in our knowledge and inspire new questions.

- Rani T. Alexander, Journal of Anthropological Research

Se alle

At a time when social anthropologists are tending to abandon ethnographic criteria of objectivity and scope of sampling, these papers remind us of the importance of quantitative evidence and repetitive observations in favor of, as well as a supplement to, imaginative interpretations…. It is a welcome addition to feminist studies in critiquing androcentric assumptions that guided both the creators of texts, imagery, and sculpture, as well as ethnohistorical and ethnographic observers over the five hundred years of contact and assimilation.

- June C. Nash, CUNY,

The flood of archaeological work in Maya lands has revolutionized our understanding of gender in ancient Maya society. The dozen contributors to this volume use a wide range of methodological strategies—archaeology, bioarchaeology, iconography, ethnohistory, epigraphy, ethnography—to tease out the details of the lives, actions, and identities of women of Mesoamerica. The chapters, most based upon recent fieldwork in Central America, examine the role of women in Maya society, their place in the political hierarchy and lineage structures, the gendered division of labor, and the discrepancy between idealized Mayan womanhood and the daily reality, among other topics. In each case, the complexities and nuances of gender relations is highlighted and the limitations of our knowledge acknowledged. These pieces represent an important advance in the understanding of Maya socioeconomic, political, and cultural life—and the archaeology of gender—and will be of great interest to scholars and students.
Les mer
Edited volume tracing the state of knowledge of gender in Ancient Mayan society.
Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 1. Women and Gender in the Ancient Maya World Chapter 3 2. Gender and Mayan Farming: Chan Noohol, Belize Chapter 4 3. Gender Divisions of Labor and Lowland Terrace Agriculture Chapter 5 4. Spindle Whorls: Household Specialization at Ceren Chapter 6 5. Death Became Her: Imagery of Female Power from Yaxuna Burials Chapter 7 6. Engendering a Dynasty: A Royal Woman in the Margarita Tomb, Copan Chapter 8 7. Lady K'awil, Goddess O, and Maya Warfare Chapter 9 8. Women in Classic Maya Hieroglyphic Texts Chapter 10 9. Women in the Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of Chichen Itza Chapter 11 10. Women-Men (and Men-Women): Classic Maya Rulers and the Third Gender Chapter 12 11. Representations of Women in Postclassic and Colonial Maya Literature and Art Chapter 13 12. Encountering Maya Women Chapter 14 Index Chapter 15 About the Authors
Les mer
Deftly edited by Traci Ardren, Ancient Maya Women is a fascinating compilation... A very highly recommended compilation of amazing discoveries and extrapolations of a long-ago culture—and an essential, seminal, core addition to Mayan Studies academic reference collections.
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780759100107
Publisert
2001-12-17
Utgiver
Vendor
AltaMira Press
Vekt
485 gr
Høyde
228 mm
Bredde
148 mm
Dybde
20 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
320

Redaktør

Biographical note

Traci Ardren is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Miami. She codirects the Pakbeh Regional Economy Project centered at the ancient Maya trading city of Chunchucmil, Yucatan, Mexico. Her research has focused on gender, iconography, architecture and other forms of symbolic representation in the archaeological record.