The Edge of Enchantment: Sovereignty and Ceremony in Huatulco, Mexico - Softcover

Gonzalez, Alicia Maria

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0971916306 ISBN 13: 9780971916302

Publisher: Natl Museum of the Amer Indian, 2002

Synopsis

Every spring along Oaxaca's Southern Sea, pilgrims visit El Pedimento, one of the many encantos known to the people of the region. Native speakers of Chontal, Zapotec, Mixtec, Chatino, and Huave arrive on foot, in taxis, and on trucks, to leave petitions and offerings at thie place of answered prayers. Almost every town in coastal Oaxaca has its encanto, a physical space where a fissure leads to an unknown, metaphysical world. In the past, conquests and disasters led to the eradication of a few encantos. Today, development and emigration threaten these enchanted places.

In rich, evocative text and brilliant photographs, The Edge of Enchantment addresses the history and culture of the Native people of Mexico's Huatulco region, those living in the area and others who have migrated north. This extraordinary book, the result of years of passionate research, intimately describes the land as the lifeline of these people and asks what transpires when their sovereignty is threatened.

About this title

From the Publisher:

An intimate look at sacred places in Huatulco, Mexico.

About the Author:

Alicia Maria Gonzalez (on the right, with dona Esperanza Garcia Gomez of Rio Seco) is a senior curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. She has served as a consulting scholar for several PBS series, including Chicano: History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement and The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World, and her essays have appeared in many publications. Dr. Gonzalez has a Ph.D. in anthropology and folklore from the University of Texas at Austin and has taught at the University of Southern California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Natl Museum of the Amer Indian
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0971916306
• ISBN 13: 9780971916302
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192