Contemporary Theatre In Mayan Mexico: Death-defying Acts Project Muse Upcc Books

From the dramatization of local legends to the staging of plays by Shakespeare and other canonical playwrights to the exploration of contemporary sociopolitical problems and their effects on women and children, Mayan theatre is a flourishing cultural institution in southern Mexico. Part of a larger movement to define Mayan self-identity and reclaim a Mayan cultural heritage, theatre in Mayan languages has both reflected on and contributed to a growing awareness of Mayans as contemporary cultural and political players in Mexico and on the world's stage. In this book, Tamara Underiner draws on fieldwork with theatre groups in Chiapas, Tabasco, and Yucatán to observe the Maya peoples in the process of defining themselves through theatrical performance. She looks at the activities of four theatre groups or networks, focusing on their operating strategies and on close analyses of selected dramatic texts. She shows that while each group works under the rubric of Mayan or indigenous theatre, their works are also in constant dialogue, confrontation, and collaboration with the wider, non-Mayan world. Her observations thus reveal not only how theatre is an agent of cultural self-definition and community-building but also how theatre negotiates complex relations among indigenous communities in Mayan Mexico, state governments, and non-Mayan artists and researchers. From the dramatization of local legends to the staging of plays by Shakespeare and other canonical playwrights to the exploration of contemporary sociopolitical problems and their effects on women and children, Mayan theatre is a flourishing cultural institution in southern Mexico. Part of a larger movement to define Mayan self-identity and reclaim a Mayan cultural heritage, theatre in Mayan languages has both reflected on and contributed to a growing awareness of Mayans as contemporary cultural and political players in Mexico and on the world stage. In this book, Tamara Underiner draws on fieldwork with theatre groups in Chiapas, Tabasco, and Yucatán to observe the Maya peoples in the process of defining themselves through theatrical performance. She looks at the activities of four theatre groups or networks, focusing on their operating strategies and on close analyses of selected dramatic texts. She shows that while each group works under the rubric of Mayan or indigenous theatre, their works are also in constant dialogue, confrontation, and collaboration with the wider, non-Mayan world. Her observations thus reveal not only how theatre is an agent of cultural self-definition and community-building but also how theatre negotiates complex relations among indigenous communities in Mayan Mexico, state governments, and non-Mayan artists and researchers.--Amazon.com University of Texas Press CONTENTS 8 PROLOGUE. Incidents of Theatre in Chiapas, Tabasco, and Yucatán 10 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 16 INTRODUCTION 24 CHAPTER 1. Indigenous Bodies, Contested Texts 42 CHAPTER 2. ‘‘Más que una noticia . . .’’: Mayan Theatre in Chiapas 68 CHAPTER 3. Transculturation in the Work of Laboratorio de Teatro Campesino e Indígena 101 CHAPTER 4. Theatre and Community on the Yucatán Peninsula 124 EPILOGUE. Routes and Returns 144 NOTES 154 BIBLIOGRAPHY 178 INDEX 194 ISBN-13:,9780292702349 Tamara Underiner draws on fieldwork with theatre groups in Chiapas, Tabasco, and Yucatan to observe the Maya peoples defining themselves through theatrical performance. While each group works under the rubric of Mayan or indigenous theatre, their works are also in constant dialogue, confrontation, and collaboration with the wider, non-Mayan world. Tamara L. Underiner. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [131]-170) And Index.