Review

Reviewed Work(s): In the Name of El Pueblo: Place, Community, and the Politics of
History in Yucatán by Paul K. Eiss
Review by: Ron Loewe
Source: Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol. 67, No. 3 (FALL 2011), pp. 486-487
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41303351
Accessed: 18-10-2016 15:29 UTC

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486 JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH

other aspects of the book she tends to downplay the links to later
and emphasizes the commonalities with Western civilizations. It is no
concludes that the Indus, similar to other early civilizations to the w
"undifferentiated natural/human/supernatural world inhabited by a
dominating elements of the natural world and the cosmos."
In the final chapter of the book, Wright presents a very abbreviat
decline and transformation of the Indus based on previously publish
some new information based on her surveys of the Beas River region
river changes and some climatic fluctuations were critical factors in
not the sole cause of decline. She discounts the idea that there are si
between the Indus and later urban developments in the northern subc
reference the considerable research on this topic. As noted above for
does not adequately deal with the Late Harappan occupations at sites
Ganga divide, and upper Ganga- Yamuna basin.
In conclusion, this book is definitely an important contribution to
presents a wide range of new data collected by the author in the larger
Indus studies. She also brings into focus the issues of agency, gender,
which have been overlooked or not well articulated in the literature.
Jonathan Mark Kenoyer
University of Wisconsin Madison

In the Name of El Pueblo: Place, Community, and the Politics of

Paul K. Eiss. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010, 327 pp. $2

In the Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books), Cliffo

commented that "Anthropologists don't study villages (tribes, towns,
study in villages" (1977:22), and then he went on to describe the man
processes one can study in a village: colonialism, power relations, g
same adage might be used to describe Paul Eiss's anthropologically
textured history of Hunucma, a rather inauspicious town on the wes
As Eiss himself notes, the study of Hunucma is not a study of a speci
of communalism in a defined region that could shed light on issues in
or even Latin America. And why bother reading it if it weren't?
Although this book has much to offer, Eiss's greatest contribut
the implicit challenge he poses to the conventional periodization of s
peninsula. Much, of course, has been written about the Caste War
between Liberals and Conservatives over trade that began in the la
turned into an epochal battle between Mayas and Creoles and continu
for a half-century. A good deal has also been written about the M
Yucatan (1915-1924), and the Cardenas agrarian reform of 1937, on
social experiments of the era. However, with the exception of the fo
War), peasants, ejiditarios, and especially peones acasillados (hacien
as essentially passive participants, reluctantly drawn into conflicts in
Eiss, in contrast, argues that social conflict is not only internally mo
continuous, but closely tied to the defense of communal lands. In
violence is seen as the result of struggle over farmland, salt pools, an
and its resources (wood, charcoal, etc.) in an era in which commercial
cattle ranching and the production of henequen (sisal), was expanding
seems to suggest that the involvement of Hunucma residents in natio
aimed at settling old scores within the community. In short, as Ti

Journal of Anthropological Research, vol. 67, 201 1

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 BOOK REVIEWS 487

Speaker of the U.S. House of Repre

Moreover, unlike many books, th
praise. In The Name of El Pueblo is,
scope." Eiss effectively covers the p
on a wide variety of archives at the
a wide range of sources: legal brief
and even the inscription on a facsim
ethnographic studies at the end of th
disrupt the thematic continuity of t
attempting to demonstrate the cont
the communal deer hunting and com
explores the concept of community
Anacleto Cetina Aguilar, an autodid
but ultimately dedicated his life to "
liberating and reclaiming" his native
Admittedly, having lived and wo
distance of Hunucma, I would have t
thick as mud. Fortunately, the writi
intrigue, horror, and bloodshed, and
are no identifiable heroes, except,
My only real suggestion is that Ei
more carefully. His engagement
drawing on well-known theorists a
and anthropology. His work would
North American and other ethnogra
thoughtful and engaging, a much-
well as the ahistorical ethnographies
Oh, and one other thing. This boo
Ron Loewe

California State University-Long Beach

Ancestral Maya Economies in Archaeological Perspective. Patricia A. McAnany. Ne

York: Cambridge University Press, 2010, 310 pp. $90.00 cloth.

The embedded nature of economic, social, ideological, and political institutions in

preindustrial, noncapitalist societies has been hailed by historical anthropologists as
fundamental difference with the modern West. This book chronicles the entanglemen
of Preclassic and Classic era Maya economies with other societal institutions, weaving
models from archaeology, ethnology, and history. McAnany' s propensity for comparativ
anthropological research makes the book interesting and relevant beyond the region
level. An agency approach focuses the author's theses on beliefs, power, strategies, an
productive capacities of different constituents of ancient Maya society. The book ope
with a critique of exclusively top-down or bottom-up approaches to studying the Maya pa
and embarks on a quest to track linkages and a more integrated perspective. This treatise
on Maya economies is timely as this topic is both current and controversial. Unresolv
debates regarding the degree to which the power of royals was supported by the economi
of daily life, including market exchange, will be tempered by the book's balanced approa
that allows for variation across time and space.
A number of rich themes are newly synthesized in the chapters. The concept of
indebtedness is used to explore relationships between humans, gods, and landscape featur

Journal of Anthropological Research, vol. 67, 201 1

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