Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-31-2009
Publication Title
American Anthropologist
Abstract
Much recent literature on indigenous identity politics in Latin America has emphasized the emergence of new discourses on ethnic citizenship. However, the ways in which state-sponsored efforts to validate and revitalize the Yucatec Maya language become relevant to rural Yucatecans reflect far more continuity with older local narratives about the relationship between language use and modernity. Situating contemporary engagements with multicultural language policies within a broader history of locally meaningful language practices complicates the general model of indigenous language communities that has informed many recent studies of Latin American identity politics and reframes scholarly debates that have emphasized contrasts between emergent forms of essentialism or purism and more-traditional means of identity formation. This, in turn, suggests new routes through which multicultural and multilingual policies can be conceptualized for heterogeneous communities of indigenous language speakers.
Keywords
Language ideology, Maya, Mexico, Multiculturalism, Yucatan
Volume
111
Issue
3
First Page
360
Last Page
372
DOI
10.1111/j.1548-1433.2009.01138.x
ISSN
00027294
Rights
© 2009 by the American Anthropological Association.
Recommended Citation
Armstrong-Fumero, Fernando, "Old Jokes and New Multiculturalisms: Continuity and Change in Vernacular Discourse on the Yucatec Maya Language" (2009). Anthropology: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/ant_facpubs/9
Comments
Archived as published. Open access article