From moon goddesses to virgins : the colonization of Yucatecan Maya sexual desire

Author(s)

    • Sigal, Peter Herman

Bibliographic Information

From moon goddesses to virgins : the colonization of Yucatecan Maya sexual desire

Pete Sigal

University of Texas Press, 2000

1st ed

  • : hc
  • : pbk

Available at  / 7 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [299]-310) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: hc ISBN 9780292777446

Description

For the pre-conquest 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 post-conquest 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 hybridised 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 Yucatecan 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 analyses 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. Pete Sigal is Assistant Professor of Latin American History at California State University, Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

  • Contents: Searching for the Moon Goddess
  • Religion and Family
  • Framing Maya Sexual Desire
  • Fornicationg with Priests, Communicationg with Gods
  • The Unvirgin Virgin
  • Gender, Lineage, and the Blood of Rulers
  • Blood, Semen, and Ritual
  • Transsexuality and the Floating Phallus
  • Ritualized Bisexuality
  • Finding the Virgin Mary
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780292777538

Description

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.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgments Notes on Transcription and Translation Searching for the Moon Goddess To Desire the Moon Goddess Sexual Desire Colonial Maya Sexual Acts Colonial Maya Sexual Ideas The Historian's Method Religion and Family Religion Family Revisiting Hybridity Framing Maya Sexual Desire Defining the Hybrid Cultural Matrix Sex,Gender,and War Colonizing Sin Performing the Hybrid Fornicating with Priests, Communicating with Gods Having Sex in a Church Strategic Inversions Excess Sex: Adultery, Rape, and the Commoners Thinking of Sex The Unvirgin Virgin The Moon Goddess The Appearance of the Virgin Mary The Moon Goddess and the Virgin The Language of Virginity The Resilience of the Moon Goddess Gender, Lineage, and the Blood of the Rulers Bodies of Kings The Blood of the Name Blood, Naming,and Masculinity Blood, Semen, and Ritual Blood of the Vagina Blood of the Penis Phallic Motions and Transsexual Bodies Gendered Blood and Transsexual Bodies Transsexuality and the Floating Phallus The Phallus without a Body Transsexuality Colonialism, Oedipus, and the Floating Phallus Ritualized Bisexuality Sodomites, Homosexuals, Bisexuals Activity and Passivity Pedagogy, Pederasty,and Political Power Sexual Control Finding the Virgin Mary Sexual Acts, Symbols, and Desires Theorizing Hybridity and Sexuality Notes Abbreviations Bibliography Index

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