Mayas in the Marketplace: Tourism, Globalization, and ...

}A}n important addition to the literature on ethnic arts in Latin America, tourism, cultural identity, social change, and globalization. -- Lynn A. Meisch The Americas (01/01/2006)Walter E. Little paints a complex and nuanced portrait of Maya identity formation in Mayas in the Marketplace.(A)n important addition to the literature on ethnic arts in Latin America, tourism, cultural identity, social change, and globalization.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.(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 EthnologistpSelling 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?pDrawing 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 commu