Download or read book The Cult of the Jaguar written by Bonnie Hayman and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Centuries ago, in the darkest jungles of Mexico, a young boy named Xichantl witnessed his father and most of his tribe follow the hallowed jaguar into the Graylands, never to be seen again. Now, a divorced mother and her two daughters from What happened to the ancient native civilizations of Mexico and Central America, which disappeared without a trace? The Mayan and Aztec cultures left important archaeological sites in Middle America before their civilizations vanished from this earth.

Download or read book The Fire of the Jaguar written by Terence Turner and published by Hau. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not since Clifford Geertz's "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" has the publication of an anthropological analysis been as eagerly awaited as this book, Terence S. Turner's The Fire of the Jaguar. His reanalysis of the famous myth from the Kayapo people of Brazil was anticipated as an exemplar of a new, dynamic, materialist, action-oriented structuralism, one very different from the kind made famous by Claude L vi-Strauss. But the study never fully materialized. Now, with this volume, it has arrived, bringing with it powerful new insights that challenge the way we think about structuralism, its legacy, and the reasons we have moved away from it. In these chapters, Turner carries out one of the richest and most sustained analysis of a single myth ever conducted. Turner places the "Fire of the Jaguar" myth in the full context of Kayapo society and culture and shows how it became both an origin tale and model for the work of socialization, which is the primary form of productive labor in Kayapo society. A posthumous tribute to Turner's theoretical erudition, ethnographic rigor, and respect for Amazonian indigenous lifeworlds, this book brings this fascinating Kayapo myth alive for new generations of anthropologists. Accompanied with some of Turner's related pieces on Kayapo cosmology, this book is at once a richly literary work and an illuminating meditation on the process of creativity itself.

Download or read book The Forging of the Cosmic Race written by Colin M. MacLachlan and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-09-01 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Forging of the Cosmic Race" challenges the widely held notion that Mexico's colonial period is the source of many of that country's ills. The authors contend that New Spain was neither feudal nor pre-capitalists as some Neo-Marxist authors have argued. Instead they advance two central themes: that only in New Spain did a true mestizo society emerge, integrating Indians, Europeans, Africans, and Asians into a unique cultural mix; and that colonial Mexico forged a complex, balanced, and integrated economy that transformed the area into the most important and dynamic part of the Spanish empire. The revisionist view is based on a careful examination of all the recent research done on colonial Mexican history. The study begins with a discussion of the area's rich pre-Columbian heritage. It traces the merging of two great cultural traditions—the Meso-american and the European—which occurred as a consequence of the Spanish conquest. The authors analyze the evolution of a new mestizo society through an examination of the colony's institutions, economy, and social organization. The role of women and of the family receive particular attention because they were critical to the development of colonial Mexico. The work concludes with an analysis of the 18th century reforms and the process of independence which ended the history of the most successful colony in the Western hemisphere. The role of silver mining emerges as a major factor of Mexico's great socio-economic achievement. The rich silver mines served as an engine of economic growth that stimulated agricultural expansion, pastoral activities, commerce, and manufacturing. The destruction of the silver mines during the wars of Independence was perhaps the most important factor in Mexico's prolonged 19th century economic decline. Without the great wealth from silver mining, economic recovery proved extremely difficult in the post-independence period. These reverses at the end of the colonial epoch are important in understanding why Mexicans came to view the era as a "burden" to be overcome rather than as a formative period upon which to build a new nation.

Download or read book Tezcatlipoca written by Elizabeth Baquedano and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2015-01-15 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tezcatlipoca: Trickster and Supreme Deity brings archaeological evidence into the body of scholarship on “the lord of the smoking mirror,” one of the most important Aztec deities. While iconographic and textual resources from sixteenth-century chroniclers and codices have contributed greatly to the understanding of Aztec religious beliefs and practices, contributors to this volume demonstrate the diverse ways material evidence expands on these traditional sources. The interlocking complexities of Tezcatlipoca’s nature, multiple roles, and metaphorical attributes illustrate the extent to which his influence penetrated Aztec belief and social action across all levels of late Postclassic central Mexican culture. Tezcatlipoca examines the results of archaeological investigations—objects like obsidian mirrors, gold, bells, public stone monuments, and even a mosaic skull—and reveals new insights into the supreme deity of the Aztec pantheon and his role in Aztec culture.

Download or read book The Jaguar XK in Australia written by John Elmgreen and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Mexico written by Jaime Suchlicki and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 1996 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this fascinating thousand year survey of America's controversial and rapidly changing neighbor, a leading expert on Latin America explains how Mexico's present and future flow directly from its past. Going well beyond analyses of recent crises, Mexicois an engrossing, pellucid introduction to the Indian civilization, the harsh rule of the Spaniards, social violence and revolution, and the country's mercurial relationship with the United States up to the present. Jaime Suchlicki indicates that Mexico's turbulent history contains recurring and often contradictory trends. He convincingly describes how that history contributes to Mexico's current and arguably future difficulties. With an engaging style that brings a colorful story to life, the author provides sophisticated insights into the exciting historical development of America's increasingly important trading partner. Mexico contains numerous rare photographs and offers an up-to-date perspective on Mexico of today and tomorrow, including an assessment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its implications for the future of United States-Mexican relations. Upon its initial release, Mexico was hailed by Mario Ojeda Gomez, president of El Colegio de Mexico “as provocative and current. The writing is sharp and the ideas are clear and original. Suchlicki has focused on important aspects of Mexico's history and has explained them with intelligence, selecting what is really significant.” And Manuel Suarez Mier of the Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) writes that Suchlicki's book is “objective and appreciative, and will enable readers to better understand Mexico and its behavior. This is a fascinating and timely book.”

Download or read book Reconsidering Olmec Visual Culture written by Carolyn E. Tate and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2012-08-24 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recently, scholars of Olmec visual culture have identified symbols for umbilical cords, bundles, and cave-wombs, as well as a significant number of women portrayed on monuments and as figurines. In this groundbreaking study, Carolyn Tate demonstrates that these subjects were part of a major emphasis on gestational imagery in Formative Period Mesoamerica. In Reconsidering Olmec Visual Culture, she identifies the presence of women, human embryos, and fetuses in monuments and portable objects dating from 1400 to 400 BC and originating throughout much of Mesoamerica. This highly original study sheds new light on the prominent roles that women and gestational beings played in Early Formative societies, revealing female shamanic practices, the generative concepts that motivated caching and bundling, and the expression of feminine knowledge in the 260-day cycle and related divinatory and ritual activities. Reconsidering Olmec Visual Culture is the first study that situates the unique hollow babies of Formative Mesoamerica within the context of prominent females and the prevalent imagery of gestation and birth. It is also the first major art historical study of La Venta and the first to identify Mesoamerica's earliest creation narrative. It provides a more nuanced understanding of how later societies, including Teotihuacan and West Mexico, as well as the Maya, either rejected certain Formative Period visual forms, rituals, social roles, and concepts or adopted and transformed them into the enduring themes of Mesoamerican symbol systems.

Download or read book Mexico written by John W. Sherman and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-02-06 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This engaging book provides a brief, accessible introduction to the broad sweep of Mexican history, from pre-contact civilizations to the present. John Sherman explores the nation’s rich pre-Columbian heritage, including the great pyramids of Teotihuacán, while a stand-alone chapter addresses the Yucatán Maya, including a detailed account of Chichen Itzá. The drama of the conquest ushers in Mexico’s three colonial centuries. The author brings to life the pageantry of viceregal reign, the power of the Roman Catholic Church, the poignancy of Sor Juana’s poetry, the Virgin of Guadalupe, hacendados, silver barons, and pirates. The turmoil of the Hidalgo revolt, the loss of Texas, a cataclysmic war with the United States, French invasion, and the triumph of Benito Juárez define the era of early nationhood. He shows how the shrewd dictator Porfirio Díaz is toppled in rebellion, as Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa ride again. Exploring the breadth of the twentieth century, Sherman uncovers the roots of a vested oligarchy that still dominates Mexico today. In clear, vibrant style, he tells the dramatic tale of a nation whose history is integrally tied to that of the United States. Focusing on political and economic processes, the author provides a crisp narrative, enhanced with a rich array of maps and illustrations.

Download or read book No Job for a Lady written by Carol McCleary and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2014-06-10 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History, mystery, and murder are the traveling companions of Nellie Bly, the world's first female investigative reporter. In Carol McCleary's No Job for a Lady, Nellie defies the wrath of her editor and vengeful ancient gods while setting out to prove a woman has what it takes to be a foreign correspondent in dangerous Victorian times. Pyramids, dark magic, and dead bodies are what the intrepid Nellie encounters when she takes off for Mexico after her editor refuses to let her work as a foreign correspondent because "it's no job for a lady." It's 1886 and Mexico has not cast off all its bloodthirsty Aztec past. Among the towering pyramids in the ghost city of Teotihuacán, Nellie is stalked by ruthless killers seeking Montezuma's legendary treasure and an ancient cult that resorts to the murderous Way of the Aztec to protect it. Nellie travels with Gertrude Bell, who will go on to be called Queen of the Desert for her later exploits in Egypt, as well as the most glamorous and beautiful woman of the era, Lily Langtry, consort to the Prince of Wales. Along for the ride is a young gunfighter called the Sundance Kid. And there's the mysterious Roger Watkins, who romantically and physically challenges Nellie's determination to be an independent woman in a man's world. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Download or read book Jaguar s Shadow written by Richard Mahler and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2009-09-01 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the nature writer Richard Mahler discovers that wild jaguars are prowling a remote corner of his home state of New Mexico, he embarks on a determined quest to see in the flesh a big, beautiful cat that is the stuff of legend--yet verifiably real. Mahler's passion sets in motion a years-long adventure through trackless deserts, steamy jungles, and malarial swamps, as well as a confounding immersion in centuries-old debates over how we should properly regard these powerful predators: as varmints or as icons, trophies or gods? He is drawn from border badlands south to Panama's rain forest along a route where the fate of nearly all wildlife now rests in human hands. Mahler's odyssey introduces him to unrepentant poachers, pragmatic ranchers, midnight drug-runners, ardent conservationists, trance-induced shamans, hopeful biologists, stodgy bureaucrats, academic philosophers, macho hunters, and gentle Maya Indians. Along the way, he is forced to reconsider the true meaning of his search--and the enduring symbolism of the jaguar.

Download or read book Icons of Power written by Nicholas J. Saunders and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Icons of Power investigates why the image of the cat has been such a potent symbol in the art, religion and mythology of indigenous American cultures for three thousand years. The jaguar and the puma epitomize ideas of sacrifice, cannibalism, war, and status in a startling array of graphic and enduring images. Natural and supernatural felines inhabit a shape-shifting world of sorcery and spiritual power, revealing the shamanic nature of Amerindian world views. This pioneering collection offers a unique pan-American assessment of the feline icon through the diversity of cultural interpretations, but also striking parallels in its associations with hunters, warriors, kingship, fertility, and the sacred nature of political power. Evidence is drawn from the pre-Columbian Aztec and Maya of Mexico, Peruvian, and Panamanian civilizations, through recent pueblo and Iroquois cultures of North America, to current Amazonian and Andean societies. This well-illustrated volume is essential reading for all who are interested in the symbolic construction of animal icons, their variable meanings, and their place in a natural world conceived through the lens of culture. The cross-disciplinary approach embraces archaeology, anthropology, and art history.

Download or read book Soyala s Saga written by Richard Donahue and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Author House Review: The Sixth Coming is set within an original mythology to fascinating results. It combines vividly realized characters with spiritual themes and elements of Aztec lore. There is an incredible array of exciting sequences that could provide great material for adapting this work into another medium. Due to the nontraditional structure and storytelling style, live theater could be an interesting option. Film is another option; perhaps animation could make the most of the impressive locations, creatures, and spectacles. There are several elements that are very well suited for a film or theater piece. Because both these mediums usually feature the interactions between characters, the strong personalities of The Sixth Coming are essential to capture. Soyala is a great heroinefrom her borderline petulance over the Builders gift to her reluctant and confused acceptance of her destiny. She isnt perfect, which makes her all the more compelling as she overcomes overwhelming odds. Kajika, Burilgi, and the Minstrel are wonderful supporting characters. Each of these brothers has his own distinct personality, and their squabbling provides comic relief. Burilgi and the Minstrel in particular provide humor. Kajika could bring in sex appeal for female audiences while Soyala and Xochiquetzal could do so for males. Xochiquetzal/Tona-teootl is a fascinating villain. Her sinister sexuality when welcoming Soyala and Kajika could play very well in a film. The later scenes on the Barge are thrilling due to Tona-teootls increasingly evident madness. These scenes would provide terrific moments for an actor to really chew up the scenery. The Shield Maidens story begins with the reader being introduced to her loved ones. Each character is well developed and had distinctive characteristics. When bad things happen to them, we also feel her loss. We also learn more about how she came to be and how important loyalty is to her survival. The places that this story takes us to are either incredibly beautiful or eerily foreboding. The creatures in it are also very uniquely described and incredibly different from the mundane realm that we currently inhabit.

Download or read book The Olmec World written by Ignacio Bernal and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-11-10 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book North American Predators written by and published by PediaPress. This book was released on with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Aztecs written by Inga Clendinnen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-02-24 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recreates the culture of the city of Tenochtitlan in its last unthreatened years before it fell to the Spaniards.

Download or read book Handbook of Middle American Indians Volumes 2 and 3 written by Robert Wauchope and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2014-01-07 with total page 1099 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica comprises the second and third volumes in the Handbook of Middle American Indians, published in cooperation with the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University under the general editorship of Robert Wauchope (1909–1979). The volume editor is Gordon R. Willey (1913–2002), Bowditch Professor of Mexican and Central American Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. Volumes Two and Three, with more than 700 illustrations, contain archaeological syntheses, followed by special articles on settlement patterns, architecture, funerary practices, ceramics, artifacts, sculpture, painting, figurines, jades, textiles, minor arts, calendars, hieroglyphic writing, and native societies at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Guatemala highlands, the southern Maya lowlands, the Pacific coast of Guatemala, Chiapas, the upper Grijalva basin, southern Veracruz, Tabasco, and Oaxaca. The Handbook of Middle American Indians was assembled and edited at the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University with the assistance of grants from the National Science Foundation and under the sponsorship of the National Research Council Committee on Latin American Anthropology.

Download or read book Goddess of the Ancient Maya written by Douglas T. Peck and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2008-08-19 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since retiring from the USAF as a Command Pilot and Engineering Officer, Colonel Peck has become one of the leading historians of Spanish seafaring conquest in the New World. Drawn to an interest in the enigmatic Maya Colonel Peck entered into a decade- long field study of the prehistoric Maya and discovered that the current view of Maya accomplishments in science and seafaring was appallingly inaccurate. In previous published works Colonel Peck has shown that contrary to current consensus, the Maya had developed a variety of efficient bronze tools with which they constructed large seaworthy vessels and traveled to the Caribbean and the shores of Florida using a sophisticated method of celestial navigation a millennium before it was developed in Europe.