Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Emergence Of Unique Regional Identity

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

Adriana Linares-Palma, of the University of Texas at Austin, will undertake research to study identity politics in San Juan Cotzal, Guatemala, during the Postclassic period. She will research why the Ixil Maya have a unique regional identity and how the Ixil Maya responded to K'iche' Maya expansionism during the Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1250-1530) in the Maya highlands of Mesoamerica. The project aims to understand what effect socio-political conflict and migration in the Mesoamerican region had upon people's relationship to landscape, territory, and social identities in Ixil Postclassic communities. To study the development of Ixil identity, research will focus on the regional settlement patterns, architecture, and artifacts of the Ixil, in comparison to those of other Maya groups in the region. Through archaeological, archival, and ethnographic investigation, researchers will examine Ixil settlement patterns and ancient materiality to determine if Ixil people were in isolation or in contact with other Maya groups in the area, and whether they formed networks or maintained autonomy with respect to diverse Maya groups in the area during the Postclassic Period. Linares-Palma will lead a team of students to conduct mapping of the archaeological sites under study as part of their professional development. The research will provide information into how traditional societies adapt within a regional context and interact with other groups. Research will be conducted at San Juan Cotzal, Quich?, one of three towns of the Ixil region. The researcher and team of students will map all the archaeological sites in order to explore the following questions: do Ixil settlement patterns and materiality reflect isolation from the expansionist tendency of the K'iche' political entity during the Postclassic period? Do they reflect instead contact, autonomy and perhaps even networks with diverse Maya groups of the highlands and lowlands during the Postclassic Period? Through spatial analysis of Ixil architectural configuration, incorporation of contextual data from previous archaeological research, as well as an analysis of ceramics and other artifacts, researchers will compare particular characteristics of the Ixil with other Maya highland and lowland settlements. They will incorporate socio-political organizations of lineages among the Maya highlands, which are visible through architecture, spatial configuration, and settlement patterns. Through archaeological, archival and ethnographic research at San Juan Cotzal, Quiche, Guatemala, researchers will expand on theories of migrations; regional political and cultural conflicts social networks and identity politics. Moreover, researchers will expand on theories of segmentary lineage organization previously proposed for the Maya highlands, as well as contribute to the refinement of previous interpretations of the Ixil region. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.