• New releases
Dreaming with the Mountains. Maya Spirituality and Sacred Landscapes in the Ixil Region of Guatemala
Dreaming with the Mountains. Maya Spirituality and Sacred Landscapes in the Ixil Region of Guatemala
ISBN
978-83-242-3997-9
ISBN E-book
978-83-242-6830-6
Edition number
1
Publication date
2024
Premiere
2024-12-31
Number of pages
Format
140x205
Cover
Paperback with flaps
Book
Not available
Notify about availability
By signing up, I accept GDPR and website regulations
E-book
Not available
Notify about availability
By signing up, I accept GDPR and website regulations
You buy from the publisher
Fast shipping
Safe transactions

This book is devoted to the Ixil Maya from the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Amidst sacred mountains and caves, coffee plantations, and hydroelectric power plants, the Ixil persistently weave their narratives into the textures of their ancestral lands despite war and genocide. Through an analysis of these narratives, this book seeks to bring the reader closer to the subject of relation-ships that Indigenous Peoples hold with sacred landscapes and the environment. Cultivating those relationships through ritual, ceremony, and communication with earth-beings is part of the spiritual practices described, depending on the context, as Maya spirituality and costumbre. Reflecting on how those relationships and practices are represented in oral tradition, history, and contemporary testimonies, this book hopes to bring closer some of the aspects of the Ixil philosophy of tiichajil (“good life”) and traditional ecological knowledge, particularly that of women Ancestral Authorities.

An important contribution to the redefining of animism within the current extraordinary efforts within ontological turn methods, but also when examining contemporary religious dynamics, analytical work with narratives and the relationship to the landscape. Above all, however, it is excellently processed as a unique non-linear view of the local history. […] It brings completely new data to the field of Maya studies.

Professor Milan Kováč,

Department of Comparative Religion at Comenius University


Monika Banach holds a Ph.D. in Culture and Religion Studies from the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She is a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests include the intersections of spirituality, environment, gender, ecological spiritualities, and traditional ecological knowledge. Banach has conducted ethnographic research in Peru and Guatemala. Since 2013, she has been involved in various projects in the Ixil region, including sacred landscapes, ontology, and spirituality, as well as being a member of the Chajul Murals conservation project.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Purpose of the Study and Overview

The Ixil Region: Chajul, Cotzal and Nebaj

Notes on Ethnicity and “Mayanness”

Stories About the Place, Stories About the Landscape

Ethnography with a Disposition Toward the Pluriverse

Methods of Approach

Sacred Landscape of the Guatemalan Highlands

Chapter 1: THE PLACES AND THE RIVERS

K’atchb’al

The Prayer: Four Corners

Mundos

Structure of Authority

The Prayer: Enumerations and Dialog

Offerings and Ceremonies

Speaking with the Mountains

The Mama’

Naguales

The Rivers

Cambio del Año Maya: Costumbristas,

Spiritual Guides and Evangelicals

Chapter 2: B’AYAL I’ AND THE IXIL ANCESTORS

Archaeological Sites

Kamawiil

K’uy Kumam, the Ancestors

Places of Rest

Chapter 3: XE’ NALOJ, THE EMERGENCE OF MAIZE, AND THE APPEARANCE OF TX’OL VINAQ

The Split Place(s)

Naloj, the Ancestral Seeds

Xe’ Naloj, the Cave in Ilom

Tx’ol Vinaq – The First Ixil Ancestor

Congregations

Lacandones

The Four Invasions

Chapter 4: MUJERES DEL BUEN VIVIR: WOMEN ANCESTRAL AUTHORITIES AND LEADERS IN THE IXIL REGION

The Q’imb’al Women

Ixil Conceptualizations of Well-being and Good Life

Problems and Persecutions

CONCLUSIONS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACRONYMS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

LIST OF MAPS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Reviews about the book
0 reviews
Log in to add
Dreaming with the Mountains. Maya Spirituality and Sacred Landscapes in the Ixil Region of Guatemala
Book
Not available
Notify about availability
By signing up, I accept GDPR and website regulations
E-book
Not available
Notify about availability
By signing up, I accept GDPR and website regulations
Delivery
(from PLN 150 free!)
Delivery
InPost (parcel locker)
From 10.00 zł
Pocztex Point (pickup point)
From 10.00 zł
Pocztex 2.0 Courier
From 10.00 zł
Pocztex 2.0 Courier (cash on delivery)
From 15.00 zł
DPD Courier
From 12.00 zł
DPD Courier (cash on delivery)
From 17.00 zł
Pickup in person (Kraków, Żmujdzka 6B)
0.00 zł
Electronic shipping (e-books)
0.00 zł

From the same category

Loading...