From Moon Goddesses to Virgins: The Colonization of Yucatecan Maya Sexual Desire

By Pete Sigal

Book Overview

For the preconquest Maya, sexuality was a part of ritual discourse and performance, and all sex acts were understood in terms of their power to create, maintain, and destroy society. As postconquest Maya adapted to life under colonial rule, they neither fully abandoned these views nor completely adopted the formulation of sexuality prescribed by Spanish Catholicism. Instead, they evolved hybridized notions of sexual desire, represented in the figure of the Virgin Mary as a sexual goddess, whose sex acts embodied both creative and destructive components.

This highly innovative book decodes the process through which this colonization of Yucatan Maya sexual desire occurred. Pete Sigal frames the discussion around a series of texts, including the Books of Chilam Balam and the Ritual of the Bacabs, that were written by seventeenth and eighteenth century Maya nobles to elucidate the history, religion, and philosophy of the Yucatecan Maya communities. Drawing on the insights of philology, discourse analysis, and deconstruction, he analyzes the sexual fantasies, fears, and desires that are presented, often unintentionally, in the "margins" of these texts and shows how they illuminate issues of colonialism, power, ritual, and gender.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292777531
• ISBN13: 9780292777538
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Different Type of Reading!

This book definitely takes a turn away from the traditional depictions of history. Instead of focusing on traditional issues such as politics, religion, or economics, it focuses on the importance of sexual desire in relation to these issues. It is quite interesting and is a refreshing view of Maya history and culture.