An Unbiased History

I also had this preconceived notion of the Mayans as this ancient civilization that left some very beautiful ruins but whose culture has pretty much been forgotten. Lovell's explanation of the history and struggles of the people of Guatemala really helped me to understand that there is much more deeply rooted culture still in existence than I would have ever imagined, and much of this culture survived years of war and political unrest.

I really liked how Lovell didn't simply try to make the beginning chapters a story of how the poor people of Guatemala were taken over by the big strong Spaniards, but instead try to make it an issue of how the Guatemalans were able to deal with the intrusion. As he states, "If we view the Mayas as subjects not as objects, we can see them instead as social actors, as human agents who respond to invasion and domination in order to shape key elements of their future"(114). He does bring to light the horrors of disease and warfare that were the initial problems with Spanish invasion, but then he discuss how the Mayans took on the "responsibility of being Maya in the Spanish scheme of empire" (116). Through his descriptions of the way of life during that period of time we are able to understand how the invasion of the Spaniards effected the Guatemalan way of life from a very unbiased source.

On another unrelated note, I found his interest in the T-shirts to be fascinating. I think its amazing that all the money for clothes is generally set aside for the women as it is a means of explaining community origin or affiliation. This somewhat reminded me of fashion and jewelry trends here in the U.S. where everyone seeks out the most expensive labels because of what it means to own those labels. I also though it was interesting the wearing American T-shirts wasn't a means of becoming more westernized, but instead simply a means of survival.