God and Production in a Guatemalan Town / / Sheldon Annis.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Annis, Sheldon,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021]; ©1988
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Texas Pan American Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (197 p.)

Since the late 1970s, Protestantism has emerged as a major force in the political and economic life of rural Guatemala. Indeed, as Sheldon Annis argues in this book, Protestantism may have helped tip Guatemala's guerrilla war in behalf of the army during the early 1980s. But what is it about Protestantism—and about Indians— that has led to massive religious conversion throughout the highlands? And in villages today, what are the dynamics that underlie the competition between Protestants and Catholics? Sheldon Annis addresses these questions from the perspective of San Antonio Aguas Calieutes, an Indian village in the highlands of midwestern Guatemala. Annis skillfully blends economic and cultural analysis to show why Protestantism has taken root. The key "character" in his drama is the village Indian's tiny plot of corn and beans, the milpa, which Annis analyzes as an "idea" as well as an agronomic productive system. By exploring "milpa logic," Annis shows how the economic, environmental, and social shifts of the twentieth century have acted to undercut "the colonial creation of Indianness" and, in doing so, have laid the basis for new cultural identities.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Mayor Carmelo Santos, at his desk, shortly before his assassination -- 2. Alcides Lopez, picking a güicoy from his plot in the laguna -- 1. How to Get an Indian's Attention -- 2. Colony of a Colony -- 3. The Economy of a "Rich" Indian Town -- 4. Milpa Logic and Wealth Differentiation -- 5. The Production of Christians -- 6. Religion and Why Women Weave -- 7. Textile Entrepreneurship and the Economics of Culture -- 8. Conclusion -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index