The Indigenous Peoples of Mesoamerica and Central America

Their Societies, Cultures, and Histories

By (author) Robert M. Carmack State University of New York at Albany

Publication date:

29 August 2017

Length of book:

154 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

238x159mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781498558969

In The Indigenous Peoples of Mesoamerica and Central America, Robert Carmack focuses on K’iche’ natives of Guatemala, Masayan peoples of Nicaragua, and the native peoples of Buenos Aires and Costa Rica. Starting with Christopher Columbus’ proclaimed “discovery” of Central America, Carmack illustrates the Central American native peoples’ dramatic struggles for survival, native languages, and unique communities and states. Carmack draws on the fieldwork that he has conducted over the past fifty years to highlight the diversity of the Central American peoples, cultures, and histories, and to explain their significance relative to other native peoples of the world. This book is recommended for scholars of anthropology, Latin American studies, history, and sociology

Chapter 1: The Spaniards Discover Aboriginal Central America
Chapter 2: Native Peoples of the Three Major Pre-Hispanic Central American Socio-Cultural Regions
Chapter 3: Central American Native Peoples at the Time of Spanish Contact
Chapter 4: Mesoamerican Influence on and Ties with Central America’s Native American Peoples
Chapter 5: Case Study 1: The K’iche’-Mayan Peoples of Guatemala
Chapter 6: Case Study 2: Masaya and the Indigenous Peoples of Nicaragua
Chapter 7: Case Study 3: Buenos Aires and the Native Peoples of Costa Rica
Chapter 8: The Lasting Legacy of the Central American Native Peoples

[Carmack's] work could best be described as meticulous and groundbreaking with a clear commitment to disseminate the greatness of Mesoamerica-Central America indigenous peoples from precolonial to modern times. His book, The Indigenous Peoples of Mesoamerica and Central America: Their Societies, Cultures, and Histories, is no exception. . . . Overall, this book is another important contribution to the field of indigenous studies, and a remarkable endeavor to place the native peoples of Mesoamerica and Central America as equals on the stage of world history. Carmack’s research presented in this text will continue to influence future generations of students and scholars alike regarding the complex histories, societies, and cultures that developed in Mesoamerica and Central America, and that have undeniably outlived the test of historical time.