Entanglements of the Maya Universe

Alonso Rodrigo Zamora Corona teaches Ethnology at the National School of Anthropology and History in Mexico. His research interests are in Indigenous cosmologies, ontology and Indigenous writing systems in Mesoamerica.

“This book constitutes an outstanding anthropological work delving on the current cosmo-sociopolitical configurations by K’iche’ Maya. It is full of keen observations ... an effervescent account of current local political and cultural nonlinear transformations.” • Alessandro Questa Rebolledo, Universidad Iberoamericana“Drawing on the philosophical insights of computer scientist Douglas Hofstadter, the author charts a new path for understanding non-Western cosmologies and their role in Indigenous societies, such as those of the Maya of Guatemala and Mexico. His arguments are subtle, complex, and well illustrated with anecdotes from fieldwork in Momostenango and interesting moments in the ethnohistory of the K’iche’. Altogether, Zamora Corona provides much rich and provocative material for contemplating the nature and place of cosmology in ethnography. Recommended.” Choice

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsNote on K’iche’ Ortography and TransliterationsMapsIntroduction: Mesoamerican Cosmologies and Social TheoryChapter 1. ‘The Law of Us, the Indigenous’Chapter 2. Seeing with Eyes of Fire: A Ritual Séance among a K’iche’ FamilyChapter 3. A Future That Already Happened: Time Magic in K’iche’ RitualsChapter 4. ‘If You See Me in Dreams, I Can Harm You’: On WitchcraftChapter 5. The Struggle for the Earth: The Cosmology of Activism and ResistanceChapter 6. Altars of History: War, Rituals and Social MemoryConclusion: What Is Cosmology?Appendix: Some K’iche’ Cosmological ConceptsGlossaryReferencesIndex