Skip to content
Home/ Indigenous Cosmolectics: Kab'awil and the Making of Maya and Zapotec Literatures
Indigenous Cosmolectics: Kab'awil and the Making of Maya and Zapotec Literatures

Indigenous Cosmolectics: Kab'awil and the Making of Maya and Zapotec Literatures

by Chacón, Gloria Elizabeth
No customer reviews yet ISBN 9781469636757 The University of North Carolina Press

Latin America's Indigenous writers have long labored under the limits of colonialism, but in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, they have constructed a literary corpus that moves them beyond those parameters. Gloria E. Chacón considers the growing number of contemporary Indigenous writers who turn to Maya and Zapotec languages alongside Spanish translations of their work to challenge the tyranny of monolingualism and cultural homogeneity. Chacón argues that these Maya and Zapotec authors reconstruct an Indigenous literary tradition rooted in an Indigenous cosmolectics, a philosophy originally grounded in pre-Columbian sacred conceptions of the cosmos, time, and place, and now expressed in creative writings. More specifically, she attends to Maya and Zapotec literary and cultural forms by theorizing kab'awil as an Indigenous philosophy. Tackling the political and literary implications of this work, Chacón argues that Indigenous writers' use of familiar genres alongside Indigenous language, use of oral traditions, and new representations of selfhood and nation all create space for expressions of cultural and political autonomy.

Chacón recognizes that Indigenous writers draw from universal literary strategies but nevertheless argues that this literature is a vital center for reflecting on Indigenous ways of knowing and is a key artistic expression of decolonization.

About the author

Product details

BrandThe University of North Carolina Press
Pub dateNov 12, 2018
ISBN-101469636751
ISBN-139781469636757
Paperback260.0 pages
LanguageEnglish
Dimensions9.21 × 0.59 × 6.14 in
Weight1 lb
Last updated 2026-04-24 00:45
$121.58
In stock — ships in 24 hours with free tracking
Delivery by Monday, September 14, 2026
Qty
Sign in to Add to Saved list
Free delivery on orders over $35.
15-day returns. Any reason.
Secure checkout. We never store card details.

Readers who bought this also bought

More from Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
See all
Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature
Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature
$80.40
Americas' First Theologies: Early Sources of Post-Contact Indigenous Religion
The <em>Theologia Indorum</em> by Dominican friar Domingo de Vico was the first Christian theology written in the Americas. Made available in English translation for the first time, <em>Americas' First Theologies</em> presents a selection of exemplary sections from the <em>Theologia Indorum</em> that illustrate Friar Vico's doctrine of god, cosmogony, moral anthropology, understanding of natural law and biblical history, and constructive engagement with pre-Hispanic Maya religion. Rather than merely condemn the Maya religion, Vico appropriated local terms and images from Maya mythology and rituals that he thought could convey Christianity. His attempt at translating, if not reconfiguring, Christianity for a Maya readership required his mastery of not only numerous Mayan languages but also the highly poetic ceremonial rhetoric of many indigenous Mesoamerican peoples. <p/>This book also includes translations of two other pastoral texts (parts of a songbook and a catechism) and eight early documents by K'iche' and Kaqchikel Maya authors who engaged the <em>Theologia Indorum</em>. These texts, written in Highland Mayan languages both by fellow Dominicans and by Highland Maya elites demonstrate the wider influence of Vico's ethnographic approach shared by a particular school of Dominicans. Altogether, <em>The Americas' First Theologies</em> provides a rich documentary case example of the translation, reception, and reaction to Christian thought in the indigenous Americas<br>
$203.30
Removals: Nineteenth-Century American Literature and the Politics of Indian Affairs
Maddox, Lucy
$85.77
Future of Southern Letters
Humphries, Lowe
$175.86
Science and Religion: Are They Compatible?
Wong, Hertha Dawn
$115.80
Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony: A Casebook
Leslie Marmon Silko's <em>Ceremony</em>, the most important novel of the Native American Renaissance, is among the most most widely taught and studied novels in higher education today. In it, Silko recounts a young man's search for consolation in his tribe's history and traditions, and his resulting voyage of self-discovery and discovery of the world. The fourteen essays in this casebook include a variety of theoretical approaches and provide the reader with crucial information, especially on Native American beliefs, that will enhance their understanding and appreciation of this contemporary classic. The collection also includes two interviews with Silko in which she explains the importance of the oral tradition and storytelling, along with autobiographical basis of the novel.
$208.20