Book

The social and religious life of a Guatemalan village

American Anthropological AssociationMenasha, WisconsinPublished In 1949 • Pages: 150 , 6 photos on 3 end plates

By: Wagley, Charles.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This monograph, a companion volume to 1: Wagley, is concerned with a description of the social and religious life of the Mam in Santiago Chimaltenango. The first two chapters stress the social life and include discussions of kinship and the life cycle. The local civil-religious hierarchy is fully dicussed and there is some information on how the local officials fit into the governmental organization of Guatemala (here the reader should beware of Wagley's application of the term mnicipio to Chimaltenango since the town had lost that status in 1935). Major chapters are also devoted to the religious belief system and to a description of the annual ceremonial cycle. The monograph pertains to 1937 when Wagley did his fieldwork. There are a few hints of possible changes in Chimaltenango between the date of field work and date of publication, but these are not dealt with in any systematic way. An appendix of field notes written in 1944 by Juan de Dios Rosales, a researcher with the Carnegie Institution, is included and gives glimpses of daily life as well as what it is like to do field work in this village. Finally, there is an extensive index that is keyed to materials in 1: Wagley in addition to this volume.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Community structure
Community heads
Settlement patterns
Towns
Cultural identity and pride
Real property
Local officials
Inter-community relations
Lineages
Ethnosociology
Ethnic stratification
Household
Artificial kin relationships
Friendships
Congregations
Organized ceremonial
Status, role, and prestige
Age stratification
Shamans and psychotherapists
Revelation and divination
Elections
Prayers and sacrifices
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Mam Maya
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2010
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Middle America and the Caribbean
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Maya Area
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
Book
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Eleanor Swanson ; Martin Malone ; 1976
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
April-October, 1937
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1900-1944
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Santiago Chimaltenango; Cuchumatanes Highlands; Huehuetenango Department, Guatemala
NotesAdditional notes
Charles W. Wagley
Includes bibliographical references (p. 138)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
50003246
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Mam Indians/Indians of Central America--Guatemala/Indians of Central America--Social life and customs/Indians of Central America--Religion/Santiago Chimaltenango (Guatemala)