Tradition and Innovation in Mesoamerican Cultural History contains essays by leading authorities in their fields and rising scholars, covering important areas in a wide range of disciplines. This book is the result of a highly successful conference on Mesoamerica held at California State University, Los Angeles in May 2009, organized as a homage to the distinguished Mesoamerican scholar Tatiana Proskouriakoff (1909-1985) and as a commemoration of the first centenary of her birth. This volume contains papers ranging from linguistics, archeology, and ethnohistory, to art history and literary studies, representing cutting-edge contributions to all of these disciplines. While several papers relate to matters related to the Mayan cultural area, other contributors also provide recent research on other major Mesoamerican cultures such as the Nahuatl and Zapotec, thus encompassing all of the major geographic areas that constitute the cultural hub of Mesoamerica.

The volume is divided into four main sections: Tatiana A. Proskouriakoff and Mesoamerican Studies, Oaxaca and the Colonial Zapotec, Maya Writing, Ideology, and Funerary Rituals, and From the Mesoamerican Ballgame to Modern Representations of the Aztecs in Chicano Art and Literature.

Octavio Armand, Roberto Cantú, Jessica Joyce Christie, Michela Craveri, Michael Galant Ricardo García, Ignacio López-Calvo, Stephanie Lozano, Pamela Munro, Kevin Terraciano, Rogelio Valencia Rivera, and Tyson White have all provided original work that is comprehensive and interdisciplinary. The editors, Roberto Cantú, Professor of English and Chicano Studies, and Aaron Sonnenschein, Assistant Professor of English, both at California State University, Los Angeles, have provided a carefully edited book that will be an important source of information, interest, and enjoyment for our readers.

Table of Contents

Introduction Roberto Cantú

Nezahualcóyotl Octavio Armand

Part One: Tatiana A. Proskouriakoff and Mesoamerican Studies

1. Tatiana A. Proskouriakoff: The Selected Works Tyson White, La Trobe University¸ Australia

Part Two: Oaxaca and the Colonial Zapotec

2. Evidence about Proto-Zapotec from a Colonial Document Pamela Munro, University of California, Los Angeles

3. Writings to the Rescue: How a Zapotec Community Defended its Land Kevin Terraciano, University of California, Los Angeles

4. Kinship Terms in Colonial Valley Zapotec Michael Galant, California State University, Dominguez Hills

Part Three: Maya Writing, Ideology, and Funerary Rituals

5. The Voice of Writing: Orality Traces in the Maya Codices Michela Craveri, Università Cattolica di Milano, Italy Rogelio Valencia Rivera, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

6. Maya Palaces and Landscape: Ideological Appropriations of Space Jessica Joyce Christie, East Carolina University

7. Ancient Maya Funerary Urn Use Reveals Social Dimensions Stephanie Lozano, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Part Four: From the Mesoamerican Ballgame to Modern Representations of the Aztecs in Chicano Art and Literature

Lord 8 Deer's Beard The Mesoamerican Ballgame Tradition and its Protective Equipment Ricardo García, University of California, Los Angeles

9. Unproblematic and Strategic Identifications of Chicana/o Cultural Production With a Mythicized Aztec Past Ignacio López-Calvo, University of California, Merced

ISBN 9783862881628. LINCOM Studies in Anthropology 16. 214pp. 2011.