Introduction

On Constructing a Shared Understanding of Historical Pasts and Nearing Futures

BETHANY J. BEYYETTE

The invention of the Maya' could be attributed to Maya scholarship: the archaeologists, anthropologists, etc. who started to use this label for cultural horizons and continuities that interested them. Some of their numbers implicitly ascribe to these continuities an imagined Mayan essence transcending history. (Schackt 2001:11)

This goal of this volume is to evaluate views of Maya history and prehistory and more accurately characterize the uniqueness of the people called Mayas by exploring the construction of their identities, past and present. This volume brings together scholars representing a wide variety of Maya studies, including archaeologists, linguists, ethnographers, ethnohistorians, historians, epigraphers, and sociologists. Each author evaluates the distinctiveness of identifiable socio-cultural units, which we collectively refer to as "ethnicities." Together the contributors investigate ethnicity at a number of Maya places from the northern reaches of Yucatán to the Southern Periphery, from modern day to the Classic period. Each author challenges the notion of ethnically homogeneous "Maya peoples" for his or her region and chronology and has been asked to define how his or her work contributes to the definition of "ethnicity" for ancient Maya society. By addressing the social constructs and conditions behind Maya ethnicity, past and present, the volume contributes to our understanding of ethnicity as a complex set of relationships among people who live in real and imagined communities, as well as between people separated by cultural and physical boundaries.

How do we explore the histories that have contributed to ethnic formations of Maya peoples? We propose that the best way to understand and identify different identities is through the study of diachronic cultural processes in a regional perspective that acknowledge identities through the use of language, community, history, myth, and politics, as well as the material reflections of these, such as dress, pottery styles, political emblems, scripts, and architecture. Contributions in the volume go beyond issues of materialization and create a two-way discussion that applies ethnographic conceptualizations of ethnicity to the archaeological record, as well as identifies the contributions of archaeological research for a better understanding of contemporary Maya identities.

Archaeologists and anthropologists currently raise two major issues with the conceptualization and utilization of ethnicity. The first problem concerns the simple definition of ethnicity. How do different ethnic groups define themselves? To what scale, scope, and manner must they differentiate themselves from others to be members? How does expression change in the time-space continuum? How do these expressions alter anthropologists' external analytical explorations of ethnicity? There is no clear understanding of what ethnicity is for all of human society, and many authors err in not clearly defining what they mean by the term when discussing the topic. The second problem focuses attention directly on identifying ethnic differences. Even if we can define what ethnicity means and meant for present and past society, when and how is it expressed? When is ethnicity marked by overt expressions of group membership, and, conversely, when is it hidden from view? What are the processes that transform ethnic identities and their expressions?

It is not the intended goal of this volume to reach an overarching single definition of what contributes to Maya ethnic identities and how they are expressed, as these varied according to history and place. The goal is to conceptualize the processes behind ethnogenesis and ethnoexodus, as suggested by Cocom and Rodriguez (this volume). The chapters in this volume are written by ethnographers, historians, ethnohistorians, sociologists, linguists, epigraphers, and archaeologists from a variety of different anthropological and ethnic backgrounds, including European, American, Cherokee, Mexicano, and Yukateko. No two authors share identical views of Maya identity and ethnogenesis; nor do they rely on the same approaches and literature. Yet each shares the aim of better understanding human behavior and the forces that have shaped the history and future of Maya peoples. This volume is a multidisciplinary investigation into the possibilities of a multilingual and multiethnic landscape, past and present.

DEFINITIONS

It is common in anthropological discussions to use the term ethnicity to describe social identity. Kunstadter (1979) defines an "ethnic group" as a set of individuals with mutual interests based on shared understandings and cultural values. Ethnic identity is described as a permanent and fundamental aspect of human identity (Banks 1996:185), as well as a strategic conscious construct used to manipulate groups for social, political, and economic ends. Characteristics that unify groups under a common ethnic identity include common descent (van den Berghe 1986), shared experiences and social practices (Geertz 1973:109), and shared cultural attributes such as dress, bodily adornment, architecture, and language.

Most ethnographers, linguists, and ethnohistorians consider cultural differences, the maintenance of these divisions, and the functional role in both social and political landscapes as evidence of ethnic formation. Yet from an archaeological standpoint, "ethnicity" is not commonly used in reference to material culture and the people who produced it; nor is it...