This ethnohistorical project, in its initial stages, will use archival sources to reconstruct social networks between Indigenous Maya families in colonial-period Guatemala (ca. 1550-1750). Indigenous sociopolitical structures were severely disrupted by a combination of disease, military invasion, political subjugation, and evangelization in the years following the first Spaniards’ foray into Guatemala in 1524. As a result, Maya communities found themselves having to rebuild their social networks using the resources available to them in the new colonial society, but we know very little about how this process actually happened or what it looked like on a local scale. This long-term project will include compiling literature and archival sources on colonial Guatemala and reviewing colonial-period manuscripts and secondary sources to identify key actors and events in the process of Indigenous community (re-)building.
Attention to detail, strong writing skills. A strong background in Spanish is required for students interested in working with primary sources, including archival manuscripts. Some knowledge of Central or Latin American history or statistics would be helpful but is not required.
The project is currently in its initial stages. Some semesters may be more active than others, and work will focus on different methods, questions, or datasets as the project progresses.
Duties would be determined in consultation with on the student volunteer and might include entering population data from colonial-period records into a database, conducting statistical analysis on those data, preparing social network visualizations, preparing literature reviews, or editing academic manuscripts for publication. Students commit to working for at least 2 consecutive semesters would have the opportunity to learn Spanish paleography (reading colonial-period handwriting) and to develop an independent study or honors project.
Bi-weekly meetings; work in between meetings is largely independent. Students are encouraged to sign up for RS 362 (Independent Research in Religious Studies) or ANT 358Q (Supervised Research in Anthropology).
