"[A]n important addition to the literature on ethnic arts in Latin
America, tourism, cultural identity, social change, and
globalization." -- The Americas "This book is not only very
readable, but also highly informative in the subject area of
performance, as well as place, and how indigenous peoples have
become engaged in, and deal with, that slippery phenomenon called
globalization." -- Journal of Latin American Geography "Walter E.
Little paints a complex and nuanced portrait of Maya identity
formation in Mays in the Marketplace." -- American Ethnologist
Selling handicrafts to tourists has brought the Maya peoples of
Guatemala into the world market. Vendors from rural communities now
offer their wares to more than 500,000 international tourists
annually in the marketplaces of larger cities such as Antigua,
Guatemala City, Panajachel, and Chichicastenango. Like
businesspeople anywhere, Maya artisans analyze the desires and
needs of their customers and shape their products to meet the
demands of the market. But how has adapting to the global
marketplace reciprocally shaped the identity and cultural practices
of the Maya peoples?
Drawing on over a decade of fieldwork, Walter Little presents
the first ethnographic study of Maya handicraft vendors in the
international marketplace. Focusing on Kaqchikel Mayas who commute
to Antigua to sell their goods, he explores three significant
issues: how the tourist marketplace conflates global and local
distinctions. how the marketplace becomes a border zone where
national and international, developed and underdeveloped, and
indigenous and non-indigenous come together. how marketing to
tourists changes social roles, genderrelationships, and ethnic
identity in the vendors' home communities.
Little's wide-ranging research challenges our current
understanding of tourism's negative impact on indigenous
communities. He demonstrates that the Maya are maintaining a
specific, community-based sense of Maya identity, even as they
commodify their culture for tourist consumption in the world
market.
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