Product Description
Witnessing the practice of ancient Maya religion in modern Latin America and explaining archaeological discoveries about Maya myth, a study of Maya culture shows how the Maya have survived centuries of religious oppression. 35,000 first printing $35,000 ad/promo. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Best serious book about ancient Maya
As an amateur interested in ancient Maya who has studied the subject for many years (and traveled extensively to Maya sites in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, & Honduras) I can say without hesitation this is the best book available for anyone seriously interested in understanding the unique mind and culture of the Maya.Linda Schele had a depth of understanding for the Maya that surpasses that of all other scholars in the field today.She tragically died young in 1998 but thankfully was able to complete this fantastic book.It's probably not the best book for a beginner, but if you already know a little about the Maya and you want to take your understanding to the next level, read this classic book.(If you are a beginner, you might try one of Schele's other wonderful books, Forest of Kings.)

Praise Creation!
Mayan Cosmos Mirrors Your Creation
I dream of an older woman. She is holding a ball of clay in her hands, pressing and molding it with her fingers. She reveals that working clay helps her prepare for creativity.
Preparing for creativity arouses thoughts of the Creator. The Creator's gift was not a one-time blessing of that initial molding called Genesis, but is an ongoing, abundant outflowing at this and every moment. My personal awareness is one window through which the Creator experiences the world. My own actions, although molded by this force, are a local agent of this creation. When I pause to acknowledge the presence and companionship of the Creator, I feel grateful. The Creator's blessing perfectly balances the burden of individual responsibility I carry in that relationship. A shared burden can be carried lightly, with joy. Praise creation!
This meditation upon creativity and companionship with the Creator is but one of the blossoms sprouting on my sacred tree as I contemplate the book, Mayan Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path (William Morrow). The authors, David Freidel and Linda Schele, are respected Mayan archaeologists at competing univesities in Texas. Their previously acclaimed book A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya presented the many secrets of Mayan history that were revealed with the recent breakthroughs in deciphering the enigmatic glyphs. Mayan Cosmos continues the revelations, presenting the Mayan spiritual philosophy and lifestyle.
There are so many congruences between Mayan mythology and the Christian faith that these two spiritually inspired civilizations were destined to meet. The Mayan recognizes in the Christian cross, for example, the secret of death and rebirth. That cross is the Mayan world tree, uniting heaven and earth, and providing passage between them. The common image of Jesus' exposed heart simultaneously dripping with blood while blossoming in a bouquet of flowers mirrors the Mayan perception of the sacrifice mutually required and offered between God and humanity.
I dream that I have decaptitated myself. I am looking in the mirror, marveling at how I can see with no head.
Mayan iconography of headless heroes portrays the necessary sacrifice of the personality so that the larger Self may enter into consciousness. The Creator needs reflection in the consciousness of the creature. To provide that reflection, the creature must relenquish pride of self-ownership and become a more transparent mirror of a greater reality. The mirror is also an important symbol, reflecting the universal truth, "As above, so below."
Among the many ways in which the Mayan finds the divine realm mirrored in the earthly sphere is in the ongoing fact of creation. The Mayans regularly celebrate creation by ritual enactments. They believe, in fact, that the Mayan's continued existence is totally dependent upon their remembering the Creator's presence. By properly reenacting the creation process, the Mayans provide God a conscious place in the world, a place that God needs and uses. By making themselves useful to God, the Mayans create for themselves a place in the cosmos that gives their lives meaning.
God created the Mayan race from corn. Their ritual acts of communion with this sacred food, much like the Christian rite of the last supper, not only provide their bodies spiritual nourishment, but gives God material, human embodiment and a window of experience through the Mayan awareness. Corn is the one grain that requires human assistance to seed itself. Corn is thus an archaeo-botanical riddle. It also reflects the Mayan's spiritual responsibility to the ongoing creation process.
What creation story do you use to guide your life? When was the last time you thought about that story, or participated in a ritual that re-enacted your creation? If you are uncertain of your creation story, you are not alone. Experts proclaim we are between creation myths and are wandering lost, reacting with anger to our frustrated need for meaning.
We devolve into a creature of habit when we lose the Creator awareness. When we forget our companionship with the Creator, our very existence is threatened.
Having a moment of silence before a meal, eating more slowly and mindfully are simple acts that can serve as reminders of our participation in the ongoing creation. In a home-study project with A.R.E. members, participants discovered, in fact, that such ritualized eating added priceless seasoning to the meal and extra nourishment for the soul.
Remembering, upon encountering a frustration, that God is molding the moment to inspire a leap of creativity, can help us make an opportunity out of the circumstance. In seeking a material expression through human actions and an individualized experience through human awareness, the Creator sometimes pinches the clay. We all have hearts through which the Creator shares love, and hands through which the Creator seeks to shape the world into a better home for that love.
I dream that a woman is teaching me how to dance among the sprouting corn plants. I am learning to step lightly. Praise creation! henryreed.com/publications/bookreviews

Excellent read for amateur and scholar!
I found this book to be very informative and interesting. Speaking strictly as an amateur Mayanist, with no college level education, the book captured my interest, and opened my eyes, to many things most people do not know about the Maya. This is a great read for anyone who has interest in the Maya of yesterday and today.

The First Book to Tell the Real Story About Maya Shamanism
As a person who has traveled in places where the modern Maya live--Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico--and who has taken the trouble to get to know what the history and culture of these admirable people is reallylike, I have always been appalled at the number of books that claim to beabout "Maya shamanism," but are really just New Age claptrap. While it is true that MAYA COSMOS does not read like a mass-marketpaperback, it is one of the most heartfelt, well-researched, and stunningbooks on the Maya that I have ever read.If you want the REAL story on whothe Maya are and how their spiritual and cultural beliefs have evolved overthe last 5,000 years, this is the book for you. Yes, there is somescientific data and research here, but I would rather a thousand times readthat than the silly cultural misinformation written by dozens of New Ageauthors who project their own interpretations onto the art and the citieswithout even being able to read the very texts they are claiming tounderstand. The late Linda Schele was one of the five major figures who wasresponsible for cracking the code of the Maya language.As an arthistorian, she was well versed in the complex and fascinating symbolism ofMaya culture. David Freidel has been a brilliant Maya archaeologist forover 25 years, and first became involved with the culture because of hisinterest in shamanism. Joy Parker, who, by the way, was the ghost-co-authorof A FOREST OF KINGS (check out the Acknowledgements and the Forward whereher work is credited) has spent over a dozen years working with the modernMaya (most recently, as an editor of Maya shaman Martin Prechtel's SECRETSOF THE TALKING JAGUAR and LONG LIFE, HONEY IN THE HEART) and with otherindigenous cultures such as the North Native Americans (check out her bookWOMAN WHO GLOWS IN THE DARK) and African cultures, so she brings a specialpersonal interest and flair to this project.The first-person stories toldin this book are priceless. I spent as many pleasurable hours reading it asI did the authors' first effort A FOREST OF KINGS. If you truly want tolearn about the history of the Maya, the tragedy of the Spanish conquest,and how the modern Maya find the strength to endure, this is the book foryou.

Not for the Beginner
I have to admit I didn't get more than halfway through this one - no way is this written for inquiring minds who aren't already versed in Mayan lore.

The book seems to describe the authors' discovery and fleshing-outof a new theory about how the Maya interpreted the stars. Apparently theircreation story was all written up in the sky and, as the stars and planetsmoved, episodes in the creation were cyclically reinacted. This is notdescribed very straight-forwardly, though, and I'm still not sure if I'vegot it right.

There is an attempt to make the whole thing read like amystery novel, sort of a la "Celestine Prophesy": the book startsout describing the eager young scientists mixing with the wise tribals inan ancient ceremony. Later, for several chapters, one of the authors isquoted at length about how she discovered some commonality amongst variousartifacts and codices which backed up some hypothesis, and which I entirelylost sight of by the end.She kept calling up friends and friends keptcalling her up until I thought I was watching a Gidget movie. All theauthors come off a little too New-Age loopy for me, adding lots of littleasides praising the aboriginal and putting down the modern, and talkingabout how their life has been changed by their discoveries. But then, myconfusion with all that Jaguar-3-Peccary-Holy-Twins-Tree-of-Life stuff mayhave made me just a bit grouchy.

At any rate, my point is, all thereviews on this page (except the very good Kirkus one) make the book soundlike an easy read, which it isn't. It's a delineation of a hypothesis withsome adventure stuff thrown in for better surface marketability.Theresult is, to me, confusing. Granted, it's not an easy subject, but thatmakes clear writing all the more important, especially if you're writingfor mass consumption.Better to start out with one of Michael Coe's booksand go from there. ... Read more

Product Description
A powerful story of one man's redemption through the Lakota Sun Dance ceremony.* Written by the only white man to be confirmed as a Sundance Chief by traditional Lakota elders.* Includes forewords by prominent Lakota spiritual leaders Leonard Crow Dog, Charles Chipps, Mary Thunder, and Jamie Sams.

The Sun Dance is the largest and most important ceremony in the Lakota spiritual tradition, the one that ensures the life of the people for another year. In 1988 Michael Hull was extended an invitation to join in a Sun Dance by Lakota elder Leonard Crow Dog-- a controversial action because Hull is white. This was the beginning of a spiritual journey that increasingly interwove the life of the author with the people, process, and elements of Lakota spirituality. On this journey on the Red Road, Michael Hull confronted firsthand the transformational power of Lakota spiritual practice and the deep ambivalence many Indians had about opening their ceremonies to a white man.

Sun Dancing presents a profound look at the elements of traditional Lakota ceremonial practice and the ways in which ceremony is regarded as life-giving by the Lakota. Through his commitment to following the Red Road, Michael Hull gradually won acceptance in a community that has rejected other attempts by white America to absorb its spiritual practices, leading to the extraordinary step of his confirmation as a Sun Dance Chief by Leonard Crow Dog and other Lakota spiritual leaders. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Thank you for sharing your life.
I want to thank Mike for writing this life story to share with others seeking some peace and happiness.The author shows a deep sense of despair over a life seemingly not worth living,and gives a personal account of his growth and recovery through native american ceremonies, specifically, the sun dance.His story is filled with elders' teachings and anecdotes that offer a glimpse into a path at once ancient and new.I honor those on this path and those seeking recovery from lifeways that no longer work.Read this and find hope for your own life through Mike's story.

A Spiritual Journey
Excellent reading from an educational or spiritual point of view. The clear language, content, and message helped me to look at myself from a new point of view. Michael's use of humor drew me in. His journey is that of a true human being. A look at recovery and healing through practice of Sacred Lakota ceremony. Truly an inspiration.

A Spiritual Journey
Excellent reading from an educational or spiritual point of view. The clear language, content, and message helped me to look at myself from a new point of view. Michael's use of humor drew me in. His journey is that of a true human being. A look at recovery and healing through practice of Sacred Lakota ceremony. Truly an inspiration.

Awestriking!
It is truly amazing that Mr. Hull has been able to guilt this many friends and family into writing reviews for him.Brava!

Sundancing/a spiritual journey
While reading this book it struck me that despite it's listing under Native Spirituality, it was ,as well, a book of inspiration, self-help, biography, and deep spirituality. I found Mr. Hull's self-disclosure and honesty refreshing without being offensive.His self revelations were helpful in leading me to inspect myself more deeply and affirming my own human nature as a gift to be learned from instead of suppressed. I am grateful that Mr. Hull has continued to live his vision and as a result written a wonderful book which can help those involved in their own healing and spirituality. ... Read more

Product Description
This book, first published in 1980, is a seminal study of Indian sacred festivals, appears here in a new, expanded and illustrated edition.The two related festivals considered here - Durgapuja, in honor of the Goddess Durga, and Gajan, in honor of the Lord Siva - are the most popular and most complex of Bengali rituals, involving elaborate preparation and wide and ever-increasing participation.The detailed description and interpretation of the rituals presents an inside view of society and remains the only complete ethnographic account of a major ritual cycle in India. ... Read more

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Although anthropologists have been observing and analyzing the religious practices of Mayan people for about a hundred years, this perceptive study suggests that anthropological interpretation of those practices and of Maya cosmology has never escaped the epistemological influence of Christianity. Whereas the objects used in Christian rituals are treated with reverence, such ritual objects as Mayan crosses can be used, reused, enshrined, communicated with or manipulated, disregarded, or destroyed - the apparent equivalent of defacing the image of Christ or the Virgin Mary. Astor-Aguilera holds that we cannot understand these practices by trying to fit them into a European Cartesian mindset but must instead recognize and try to understand indigenous Mayan epistemology. The western concept of religion, he suggests, is not the framework for understanding Mayan cosmology or practice. Using ethnographic, archaeological, and glyphic evidence, he traces modern Mayan attitudes toward sacrality and sacred objects back to Classic Maya beliefs. No scholar of Maya religion, archaeology, or history can afford to overlook this long overdue approach to a widely misunderstood subject. ... Read more

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This work examines the Midwinter ceremonial, the longest and most complex ritual of the Longhouse religion, in three parts. It looks at the principles of Iroquois ritualism, detailed accounts of the ritual as it is performed nowadays and its historical context. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A unique work of impressive and detailed scholarship.
In The Iroquois Ceremonial Of Midwinter, Elisabeth Tooker reviews andpresents a synthesis of materials related to the redemptive/absolutionceremony as practiced by Iroquoisin the 17th to 19th centuries.Materialfrom the Code of Handsome Lake is included as well as observations byBeauchamp, Hewitt, Morganspeck, Parker, Blau, and Fenton.The author's ownvast observation, experience and adoption into the Beaver clan are integralparts underlying the structural analysis of the rituals.This is avaluable work for both Native Americanand comparative religious studies. Though it is clear the speaker is nonNative, she challenges damagingassumptions such as the projection of aspiration to the dominant culture'svalues.I believe this book is also touching and memorable in its mourningof the passing of Seneca figures such as the author's friend, Elsina.Sheasks the painful question, can the religion of the Longhouse survive?Alsoof concern is the survival of the Seneca language.Though answers are notgiven,The Iroquois Ceremonial Of Midwinter presents as a unique,intriguing work with much painstaking detail and rich associations.Thetone is pure and passionate, a gift in such a fine work of scholarship,sure to appeal to students and lovers of Iroqouis culture andhistory.

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer ... Read more

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Since the end of World War II, Navajo healing traditions have slowly been integrated into the Western medical institutions that serve the Diné. The history of Western medical care on Navajo reservations in the twentieth century, however, demonstrates that the incorporation of indigenous healing practices did not come without struggle. The advent of American mass culture, urbanization, and other forces made it difficult for young Diné to learn and preserve the old ways. At the same time, non-Native medical providers, missionaries, and U. S. government officials sometimes hindered the effort of the Diné to use traditional ceremonies and medical care.

Focusing on the post-World War II period, Davies’s detailed study begins where Robert Trennert's White Man's Medicine (1998), the only other general history of Western medicine among the Navajo, ends. Chronicling the advent of so-called “western” or “scientific” medicine in the modern era, including thedevelopment of indigenous healing traditions and such new institutions as the Native American Church, Davies shows the skill and adaptability of Diné in accepting the services of physicians while keeping the work of traditional healers among their health-care options. Davies also explores contemporaneous Navajo critiques of both “high-tech” and traditional health-care modes, detailing Navajo battles to integrate their healing practices into government and private health-care systems.

The will of the Diné people to achieve self-determination in health care—and, indeed, to view health and healing in a broad and interactive context—has been so resolute that both tribal leadership and federal officials have been forced to acknowledge and contend with the Diné insistence on shaping Western medicine to fit their way of life. “The Diné,” one of Davies’ informants states,“are learning to function in two different worlds,” and, in so doing, are intent on seeking the best of both. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Documents the development of complementary, dual Western and Dine healing traditions and services
"Healing Ways: Navajo Health Care in the Twentieth Century" documents the development of complementary, dual Western and Dine healing traditions and services among the Navajo since World War II. The history is not always harmonious, but a gradual integration of the two main healing philosophies emerges. Author and history professor Davies highlights the determination and flexibility of Dine in "accepting the services of [Western] physicians while keeping the work of traditional healers among their health-care options."

"Healing Ways" adds to the previous work of author Robert Trennert's "White Man's Medicine (1998)," which singly covered the general history of Western medicine among the Navajo before World War II. Both histories add to the present picture of developing cooperative integrations and blendings of traditional Dine health practices into Western medical care systems. It also underlines the pervasive determination of the Dine to reshape their health care in an interactive model that both informs and educates, while preserving the best of both ways of life.

Greater understanding between cultures
I found this book to be helpful in understanding cultural differences not just between Western society and Navajos but other cultures as well.As someone who works as a volunteer with refugees from several different countries, the information in the book has given me a greater incentive to be more tolerant and understanding with the reservations that people of other backgrounds have to some of our medical practices and government procedures.I especially enjoyed the anecdotes collected by the author of personal experiences and opinions of Navajos.

Narrow, unfocused and not very well-written
Davies' book is extremely narrow and there is no real attempt to place the Navajo's experiences in a broader context.At the most basic level, Healing Ways reads like a dissertation and not a very good one at that.There are numerous errors in the text (better copy editing and, even more importantly, a better knowledge of the field of medical history would have made this book a better and easier read).The book is pitched as a second half to White Man's Medicine---a book written by one of Davies' professors in graduate school.White Man's Medicine is a much better book and I am sorry to see Healing Ways paired with White Man's Medicine.

Awell-researched scholarly study
This is a well-written study of a topic that really hasn't been dealt with in such thorough detail before. In fact, this is the only book I've been able to find anywhere about Navajo health care after World War II. I was impressed by the author's extensive use of interviews with the Navajos themselves for his research, in addition to the voluminous written records he used. It's only fitting, given the Navajos' rich oral tradition, that a study of their culture should draw heavily on firsthand, oral sources.
Prof. Davies' argument that both traditional Navajo healing and Western medicine have valid and valuable contributions to make is well supported, and the idea that each has something to learn from the other is encouraging not only for the future of Navajo health care but for all of Western medicine. Overall, this is a thoroughly professional study written in a clear hand that's easily accessible to any reader, not just professors and grad students. ... Read more

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For more than 100 summers and time unknown before, native people have journeyed great distances to gather at a peaceful lake in north-central Alberta. It has been said the waters of Lac Ste. Anne have miraculous healing powers. Documentary photographer Steve Simon's compelling and evocative photographs combine with quotes from the people gathered at the lake to tell a powerful story of faith and hope. ... Read more

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Tela Star Hawk Lake's life story, including Native healing secrets and ceremonies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Heartfelt Gift
This book is a generous telling of Tela Starhawk Lake's life and training.She shares so much of her personal experience that it is at times painful to read.Very informative about the obstacles to continuing traditional Native practices in a modern world, and her profound determination to continue because of or in spite of those obstacles.

Freaky owls, activism, and triumph over negativity
Since i am a Northwest transplant and OBSESSED with native american spirituality i was siked to read this book by a Yurok medicine woman.She gives some sorely needed insight into women's moontime ceremonies, herbs (ANGELICA!), and the meaning of some friendly and foelike animal spirits all over the country.Since i already fell in love with Sioux medicine people, my heart sang when she told of meeting Lame Deer and others, participating in a Sundance, and recieving full healing the Lakota way. I ate this book up.

Hawk woman dancing with the moon was great !
I liked Hawk woman dancing with the moon a lot , because it tells you a lot about indian culture and also gives practical instructions if you're interested in moon-ceremonies , for example . Tela Star Hawk Lake talksabout her own life (how she became a shaman , different ceremonies , herfamily ,...) , the life as an indian today and hundreds of years ago , hertribe and tells legends .All in all , I can really recommend this book toanyone that is interested in indian culture ! It's novel and informativebook at the same time . ... Read more

Product Description
Manuel Portugal is a devotee of the Sacred Initiatic Tradition which he translates with great eloquence. He offers us a mosaic of virtues of the Sacred and the validity of the ritualistic and the magical power of the Apucunas and Pachamamas in addition to showing us the vertiginous changes in the Andes. What he shows us is the constant rediscovery of the richness of the Spiritual Roof of the World. ... Read more

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Drawing on anthropologist Ana Mariella Bacigalupo's fifteen years of field research, Shamans of the Foye Tree: Gender, Power, and Healing among Chilean Mapuche is the first study to follow shamans' gender identities and performance in a variety of ritual, social, sexual, and political contexts. To Mapuche shamans, or machi, the foye tree is of special importance, not only for its medicinal qualities but also because of its hermaphroditic flowers, which reflect the gender-shifting components of machi healing practices. Framed by the cultural constructions of gender and identity, Bacigalupo's fascinating findings span the ways in which the Chilean state stigmatizes the machi as witches and sexual deviants; how shamans use paradoxical discourses about gender to legitimatize themselves as healers and, at the same time, as modern men and women; the tree's political use as a symbol of resistance to national ideologies; and other components of these rich traditions. The first comprehensive study on Mapuche shamans' gendered practices, Shamans of the Foye Tree offers new perspectives on this crucial intersection of spiritual, social, and political power. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A must for gender studies
I am not an anthropologist and read this for its gender studies content.The book is in the best tradition of post-feminist scholarship.The author begins by locating shamanism in its modern Mapuche-Chilean context then tackles issues of gender as they are represented in ritual and acted out in relationships -personal and political- both within the Mapuche community as well as in modern Chile.Contradictory discourses abound, even within the community of machi (shamans).We come face to face with the fact that pristine Mapuche attitudes to gender variability are impossible to reconstruct, lost as they are under layers of catholic propaganda, Chilean nationalism and Mapuche assimilation.Clear and well-written.

Excellent book
Amazing book about Mapuche shamanism. The book challenges so many stereotypes about gender, sexuality and spirituality. She tells the story from her experience as well as from an academic point of view.
... Read more

Product Description
One of the most remarkable features of life in the Southwest is the presence of Native American religious ceremonies in communities that are driving distance from Sunbelt cities. Many of these ceremonies are open to the public and Dancing Gods is the best single reference for visitors to dances at the Rio Grande Pueblos, Zuni Pueblo, the Hopi Mesas, and the Navajo and Apache reservations. Fergusson’s classic guide to New Mexico and Arizona Indian ceremonies is once again available in print. It offers background information on the history and religion of the area’s Native American peoples and describes the principal public ceremonies and some lesser-known dances that are rarely performed. Here is information on the major Pueblo rituals—the Corn Dance, Deer Dance, and Eagle Dance—as well as various dances at Zuni, including the complicated Shalako. Fergusson also describes the Hopi bean-planting and Niman Kachina ceremonies in addition to the Snake Dance, the Navajo!
Mountain Chant and Night Chant, and several Apache ceremonies.

“Still the best of all books about the Indian ceremonials of New Mexico and Arizona. . . .perceptive and simple, reverent and lucid.”—Lawrence Clark Powell, Southwest Classics ... Read more

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This book places the revival of Indian ceremonialism in a new light. The author aims at dispelling misconceptions and negative opinions by showing the traditional rituals to have well-defined and integrated therapeutic effects. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Showcases Native American ceremonial rituals and practices
A part of the rather impressive "Cultures in Review" series from Hancock House Publishers, Indian Healing: Shamanic Ceremonialism In The Pacific Northwest Today by anthropologist and cultural expert Wolfgang G. Jilek (Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, and Research Affiliate, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia) showcases Native American ceremonial rituals and practices while dispelling commonly held misconceptions and documenting the therapeutic effects of traditional Native American rituals as practiced for centuries among the Northwestern tribes. Enhanced with extensive references, as well as a glossary of key terms, Indian Healing is a welcome and seminal contribution to Native American Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Meant a lot to me to have read the details of such a lifesty
We had this book at The Evergreen State College Reservation Based Program. This Winter Quarter and I found my journal notes to be about twenty six pages long, this is how much it meant to me.I am thankful for the people to have shared this information with us to be able to treasure in our hearts for ever. ... Read more

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In Inka Bodies and the Body of Christ Carolyn Dean investigates the multiple meanings of the Roman Catholic feast of Corpus Christi as it was performed in the Andean city of Cuzco after the Spanish conquest. By concentrating on the era’s paintings and its historical archives, Dean explores how the festival celebrated the victory of the Christian God over sin and death, the triumph of Christian orthodoxy over the imperial Inka patron (the Sun), and Spain’s conquest of Peruvian society.

As Dean clearly illustrates, the central rite of the festival—the taking of the Eucharist—symbolized both the acceptance of Christ and the power of the colonizers over the colonized. The most remarkable of Andean celebrants were those who appeared costumed as the vanquished Inka kings of Peru’s pagan past. Despite the subjugation of the indigenous population, Dean shows how these and other Andean nobles used the occasion of Corpus Christi as an opportunity to construct new identities through tinkuy, a native term used to describe the conjoining of opposites. By mediating the chasms between the Andean region and Europe, pagans and Christians, and the past and the present, these Andean elites negotiated a new sense of themselves. Dean moves beyond the colonial period to examine how these hybrid forms of Inka identity are still evident in the festive life of modern Cuzco.

Inka Bodies and the Body of Christ offers the first in-depth analysis of the culture and paintings of colonial Cuzco. This volume will be welcomed by historians of Peruvian culture, art, and politics. It will also interest those engaged in performance studies, religion, and postcolonial and Latin American studies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not the book I thought it was going to be...
Dean's book examines the ambiguity of symbols inherent in the colonial experience.I often wondered-as with most historical reconstructions of "culture" and interpretations of practices long lost from memory-if there was enough "evidence" to make the claims she makes about the representation of sub-alterity.On the one hand, the Indian appears to constructing a colonial self through his/her dress, decoration, mannerisms, artistic expressive forms (such as dance or architecture), etc.But on the other hand, s/he is engaged in the hegemonic forces of "being Indian" within the dominant colonialist ideology.The question is, to what extent did the Indian have the freedom to make choices about dress, dance, decoration, etc. and to what extent was the image of the Indian under the control and creation of the colonialist/church?

I think the pressing need for an academic to take a "politically correct" stance in this day and age must sadly override the ability to present the honest truth in the case of colonial subjectivity.Allowing the indigenous people to speak for themselves is questionable in the case of iconic representation.For instance, where are the depictions of the Indians who carried the massive saints--where are these dark bodies in the paintings Dean examines.And if they are missing, why doesn't the author seem troubled by this?

Read the book and decide for yourself. ... Read more