Current faces of Maya shamanic renewals in Mexico
This article focuses on the study of identity issues in contexts of the renewal of pre-Hispanic Maya cosmologies and their dislocation within the realm of New Age and neo-shamanic spiritualities. It problematizes, more specifically, the relationships between transnationalism, the New Age, and Maya e...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Springer International Publishing
[2020]
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In: |
International journal of Latin American religions
Year: 2020, Volume: 4, Issue: 1, Pages: 48-74 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Mexico
/ Maya
/ Shamanism
/ Spirituality
/ Revival
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RelBib Classification: | AZ New religious movements KBR Latin America |
Further subjects: | B
Neo-shamanism
B life stories B Gender B neo-Mayanity B Transnationalization B ethnic boundaries B Identity renewal |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
Summary: | This article focuses on the study of identity issues in contexts of the renewal of pre-Hispanic Maya cosmologies and their dislocation within the realm of New Age and neo-shamanic spiritualities. It problematizes, more specifically, the relationships between transnationalism, the New Age, and Maya ethnicity, from the perspective of Transnational Studies, through the concept of “neo-Mayanity.” These relationships have been embedded in a broader socio-historical context, which is the construction of ethnic categories in Central America since the 1960s, and the growing importance given, at the end of the 1990s, to “Maya Spirituality” in identity processes, such as in Guatemala and Mexico. These debates over ethnicity allow us to analyze the recent emergence of neo-Indigenous performativities through thematic issues such as gender, spirituality, power struggles, religious mobility, life stories, and authenticity. This article aims to show current transformations in the field of “Maya identity,” ever since its contact with globalized New Age and neo-shamanic spiritualities. A variety of empirical examples from the Mexican fieldwork will support the analysis. They represent a very small portion of the data obtained from a multi-sited research I conducted between 2012 and 2015 across different neo-Maya circles in Guatemala, Mexico, Germany, and Switzerland. |
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ISSN: | 2509-9965 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: International journal of Latin American religions
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s41603-020-00094-3 |