"This is a tremendously significant contribution to the field. . .
. It provides a new model of how social inequality first emerged in
ancient societies. It provides an accessible, convincing
demonstration of Judith Butler's performance theory. And it
resolves some quandaries about gender construction and the female
body that have plagued feminist theory. This is a huge, important
book." -- Elizabeth M. Brumfiel, John S. Ludington Trustees'
Professor of Anthropology, Albion College
Gender was a fluid potential, not a fixed category, before the
Spaniards came to Mesoamerica. Childhood training and ritual
shaped, but did not set, adult gender, which could encompass third
genders and alternative sexualities as well as "male" and "female."
At the height of the Classic period, Maya rulers presented
themselves as embodying the entire range of gender possibilities,
from male through female, by wearing blended costumes and playing
male and female roles in state ceremonies.
This landmark book offers the first comprehensive description
and analysis of gender and power relations in prehispanic
Mesoamerica from the Formative Period Olmec world (ca. 1500-500 BC)
through the Postclassic Maya and Aztec societies of the sixteenth
century AD. Using approaches from contemporary gender theory,
Rosemary Joyce explores how Mesoamericans created human images to
represent idealized notions of what it meant to be male and female
and to depict proper gender roles. She then juxtaposes these images
with archaeological evidence from burials, house sites, and body
ornaments, which reveals that real gender roles were more fluid and
variable than the stereotyped images suggest.
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