Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica

by Rosemary A. Joyce

Overview

Gender was a fluid potential, not a fixed category, before the Spaniards came to Mesoamerica. Childhood training and ritual shaped, but did not set, adult gender, which could encompass third genders and alternative sexualities as well as "male" and "female." At the height of the Classic period, Maya rulers presented themselves as embodying the entire range of gender possibilities, from male through female, by wearing blended costumes and playing male and female roles in state ceremonies.

This landmark book offers the first comprehensive description and analysis of gender and power relations in prehispanic Mesoamerica from the Formative Period Olmec world (ca. 1500-500 BC) through the Postclassic Maya and Aztec societies of the sixteenth century AD. Using approaches from contemporary gender theory, Rosemary Joyce explores how Mesoamericans created human images to represent idealized notions of what it meant to be male and female and to depict proper gender roles. She then juxtaposes these images with archaeological evidence from burials, house sites, and body ornaments, which reveals that real gender roles were more fluid and variable than the stereotyped images suggest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292740655
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	01/01/2001
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	287
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Rosemary A. Joyce is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• 1. Gender, Performance, Power, and Representation
• 2. Negotiating Sex and Gender in Formative Mesoamerica
• 3. Narratives of Gender among the Classic Maya
• 4. Transforming Gender: Classic to Postclassic Maya
• 5. Becoming Human: Body and Person in Aztec Tenochtitlan
• 6. Performance and Inscription: Human Nature in Prehispanic Mesoamerica
• Notes
• References Cited
• Index

What People are Saying About This

Elizabeth M. Brumfiel

This is a tremendously significant contribution to the field. . . . It provides a new model of how social inequality first emerged in ancient societies. It provides an accessible, convincing demonstration of Judith Butler's performance theory. And it resolves some quandaries about gender construction and the female body that have plagued feminist theory. This is a huge, important book.
— Elizabeth M. Brumfiel, John S. Ludington Trustees' Professor of Anthropology, Albion College