Traje, the brightly colored traditional dress of the highland Maya, is the principal visual expression of indigenous identity in Guatemala today. Whether worn in beauty pageants, made for religious celebrations, or sold in tourist markets, traje is more than "mere cloth"-it plays an active role in the construction and expression of ethnicity, gender, education, politics, wealth, and nationality for Maya and non-Maya alike.Carol Hendrickson presents an ethnography of clothing focused on the traje-particularly women's traje-of TecpÁn, Guatemala, a bi-ethnic community in the central highlands. She covers the period from 1980, when the recent round of violence began, to the early 1990s, when Maya revitalization efforts emerged.Using a symbolic analysis informed by political concerns, Hendrickson seeks to increase the value accorded to a subject like weaving, which is sometimes disparaged as "craft" or "women's work." She examines traje in three dimensions-as part of the enduring images of the "Indian," as an indicator of change in the human life cycle and cloth production, and as a medium for innovation and creative expression.From this study emerges a picture of highland life in which traje and the people who wear it are bound to tradition and place, yet are also actively changing and reflecting the wider world. The book will be important reading for all those interested in the contemporary Maya, the cultural analysis of material culture, and the role of women in culture preservation and change.

This case study of a highland Guatemala town examines what it means to be Maya in a rapidly changing and globalized world. In providing an historical synopsis of the Kaqchikel Maya from pre-Columbian and Colonial times to the present day, this volume focuses on the dynamics of clutural boundaries in light of the use of the Kaqchikel language versus

This book discusses the indigenous people of Tecpan Guatemala, a predominantly Kaqchikel Maya town in the Guatemalan highlands. It seeks to build on the traditional strengths of ethnography while rejecting overly romantic and isolationist tendencies in the genre.

This book discusses the indigenous people of Tecpan Guatemala, a predominantly Kaqchikel Maya town in the Guatemalan highlands. It seeks to build on the traditional strengths of ethnography while rejecting overly romantic and isolationist tendencies in the genre.

This book discusses the indigenous people of Tecpan Guatemala, a predominantly Kaqchikel Maya town in the Guatemalan highlands. It seeks to build on the traditional strengths of ethnography while rejecting overly romantic and isolationist tendencies in the genre.

In Why Draw?, Carol Hendrickson explores the potential of drawing within the context of ethnographic fieldwork. The book aims to inspire readers to immerse themselves in the generative process of thinking while seeing while drawing.To foster visual thinking and encourage experimentation, Hendrickson discusses a range of case studies that show the possibilities of drawing in the field and thinking through the resulting drawings. Richly illustrated, the book focuses on current theoretical and methodological considerations in the social sciences, including semiotic issues of representation and indexicality, embodiment and the senses, affect, collaboration, and temporality. Chapters are supplemented with exercises, practical advice, and short interludes that provide inspiration.At its heart, Why Draw? asks readers to create visual notes in new and different ways; contemplate a range of contemporary issues through the act of drawing; and explore the potential of drawing to act as a bridge between fieldwork and finished works destined for public presentation.

Traje, the brightly colored traditional dress of the highland Maya, is the principal visual expression of indigenous identity in Guatemala today. Whether worn in beauty pageants, made for religious celebrations, or sold in tourist markets, traje is more than "mere cloth"-it plays an active role in the construction and expression of ethnicity, gender, education, politics, wealth, and nationality for Maya and non-Maya alike.Carol Hendrickson presents an ethnography of clothing focused on the traje-particularly women's traje-of TecpÁn, Guatemala, a bi-ethnic community in the central highlands. She covers the period from 1980, when the recent round of violence began, to the early 1990s, when Maya revitalization efforts emerged.Using a symbolic analysis informed by political concerns, Hendrickson seeks to increase the value accorded to a subject like weaving, which is sometimes disparaged as "craft" or "women's work." She examines traje in three dimensions-as part of the enduring images of the "Indian," as an indicator of change in the human life cycle and cloth production, and as a medium for innovation and creative expression.From this study emerges a picture of highland life in which traje and the people who wear it are bound to tradition and place, yet are also actively changing and reflecting the wider world. The book will be important reading for all those interested in the contemporary Maya, the cultural analysis of material culture, and the role of women in culture preservation and change.

This case study of a highland Guatemala town examines what it means to be Maya in a rapidly changing and globalized world. In providing an historical synopsis of the Kaqchikel Maya from pre-Columbian and Colonial times to the present day, this volume focuses on the dynamics of clutural boundaries in light of the use of the Kaqchikel language versus

This book discusses the indigenous people of Tecpan Guatemala, a predominantly Kaqchikel Maya town in the Guatemalan highlands. It seeks to build on the traditional strengths of ethnography while rejecting overly romantic and isolationist tendencies in the genre.

This book discusses the indigenous people of Tecpan Guatemala, a predominantly Kaqchikel Maya town in the Guatemalan highlands. It seeks to build on the traditional strengths of ethnography while rejecting overly romantic and isolationist tendencies in the genre.

This book discusses the indigenous people of Tecpan Guatemala, a predominantly Kaqchikel Maya town in the Guatemalan highlands. It seeks to build on the traditional strengths of ethnography while rejecting overly romantic and isolationist tendencies in the genre.

In Why Draw?, Carol Hendrickson explores the potential of drawing within the context of ethnographic fieldwork. The book aims to inspire readers to immerse themselves in the generative process of thinking while seeing while drawing.To foster visual thinking and encourage experimentation, Hendrickson discusses a range of case studies that show the possibilities of drawing in the field and thinking through the resulting drawings. Richly illustrated, the book focuses on current theoretical and methodological considerations in the social sciences, including semiotic issues of representation and indexicality, embodiment and the senses, affect, collaboration, and temporality. Chapters are supplemented with exercises, practical advice, and short interludes that provide inspiration.At its heart, Why Draw? asks readers to create visual notes in new and different ways; contemplate a range of contemporary issues through the act of drawing; and explore the potential of drawing to act as a bridge between fieldwork and finished works destined for public presentation.