Time, Number, and History in the Maya World

KronoScope ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-61
Author(s):  
Anthony Aveni
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Problem Of Time ◽  
Knowing That ◽  
Present Worth ◽  
History Of ◽  
Perception Of Time ◽  
Made In

AbstractWhat better way to understand ourselves than to compare our habits, our customs, our behavior with those of another? This is the goal of anthropology: to comprehend our own culture by reflecting it from the mirror of otherness. When most effective its results can be unsettling. Consider the possibility of discovering other ways of knowing that challenge our own - that can even cause us to doubt whether the knowledge we hold dear really constitutes the whole of the matter. When it comes to the study of time there are few cultures, past or present, worth reflecting upon that match the ancient Maya of Yucatan. They have been characterized in their classical (AD 200-900) heyday as a people preoccupied with time, obsessed by time; they were worshipers of time: "The great theme of Maya civilization is the passage of time . . ." (Thompson 1954, p. 13). "The central importance of the calendar . . . and the central importance of religion to everything else conspire to make the history of [their] calendar something of a key to the general cultural history of the region." (Edmonson 1988, p. 4). "Nothing in man's life would be set apart as being unrelated to the realm of the destinies of time" (Leon Portilla 1989, p. 222). The study of Maya time offers us the added bonus that since all pre-Columbian cultures were hermetically sealed by two oceans from outside influence prior to Hispanic contact, whatever we may glean concerning the perception of time from its artifacts offers us the unique opportunity to seek cultural universals and to address specifically whether diverse civilizations might develop similar practices and ideas in their encounters with the problem of time. This essay examines the connections between time and history,with special emphasis upon the unusual role played by the concept of number, in the ancient Maya world.The resources for such a study are many and varied. I begin with a discussion of the content of the monumental inscriptions.A major focus of Mayanists since great advances in decoding the Maya script were made in the 1970's, most texts are carved on impressive stone stelae erected about the Maya ruins, well remembered by visitors to Tikal, Copan and Calakmul. I then move on to the esoteric world of the sacred books.Though scarcely a handful of them remain, they hold the keys to the deepest understanding of what time meant to the elite daykeepers who devised them. Along the way we supplement our understanding of these texts by referring to colonial period documents and ethnological studies of contemporary cultures descended from the ancient Maya. Here we discover a remarkable continuity of culture, which greatly illuminates our understanding of the Maya past.

The Chronology of Yaxuna

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Suhler ◽  
Traci Ardren ◽  
David Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Urban Center ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Middle Formative

AbstractResearch at the ancient Maya city of Yaxuna, located in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula, has provided sufficient data to suggest a preliminary chronological framework for the cultural development of this large polity. Primary ceramic and stratigraphie data are presented to support a five-phase scheme of cultural history, encompassing the Middle Formative through Postclassic periods (500 b.c.–a.d. 1250). In addition to chronological significance, the political ramifications of a pan-lowland ceramic trade are addressed. Yaxuna experienced an early florescence in the Late Formative–Early Classic periods, when it was the largest urban center in the central peninsula. A second renaissance in the Terminal Classic period was the result of Yaxuna's role in an alliance between the Puuc and Coba, in opposition to growing Itza militancy. This paper proposes a chronological framework for the cultural development of one northern Maya region in order to facilitate an understanding of this area as part of the overall history of polity interaction and competition in the Maya lowlands.

Lost (and Found) in Translation: A Cultural History of Translators and Translating in Early Modern Europe

2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER BURKE
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
General Phenomenon ◽  
Lost And Found ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Europe ◽  
Special Case ◽  
Made In

Attempting to combine cultural history with translation studies, this article examines translation between languages as a special case of a more general phenomenon, translation between cultures. It surveys printed translations made in Europe between 1500 and 1700, discussing which kinds of people translated which kinds of book from and into which languages. Particular attention is given to the reconstruction of the early modern ‘regime’ of translation, in other words the manner (free or literal, domesticating or ‘foreignizing’) in which translations were made.

scholarly journals THE IMPACT OF LEARNING CULTURAL HISTORY OF ISLAM USING VIDEO MEDIA ON SPIRITUAL STUDENTS: A STUDY OF UMAR BIN ABDUL AZIZ

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 320-327
Author(s):  
Bashir ◽  
Joko Nurkamto ◽  
M. Furqan Hidayatullah ◽  
Asrowi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Islamic Culture ◽  
Student Responses ◽  
Average Percentage ◽  
Central Java ◽  
Pedagogical Action ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Made In

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of learning the history of Islamic culture using Video Media on the spirit of students. Spiritual students in the story of Umar bin Abdul Aziz in terms of Umar bin Abdul Aziz's achievements and lessons (ibrah). Methodology: The research method used was pedagogical action research, data obtained from students' questionnaires, then analyzed descriptively qualitatively. The sample involved in learning consisted of 28 11th grade students in one of the Aliyah Madrasahs in Sukoharjo district, Central Java, Indonesia. Main Findings: The results showed that the impact of learning the history of Islamic culture using video on the spiritual of students was categorized very well, this was based on four main themes, namely the idea of God, leadership, social, and nature. Application of this study: While the average percentage of student responses on the ability to pick In from the highest is, the theme of nature or example is 99.11%, the theme of God is 97.62%, the social theme is 96.43%, and the theme of Leadership is 95.24%. Based on these results, video technology provides an effective impact on learning. Novelty/Originality of this study: Novelty the learning media of the history of Islamic culture, using animated videos. Cultural history is made in the form history of Umar bin Abdul Aziz.

Linguistic Turns, 1890-1950

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Hirschkop
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Dynamic Change ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Linguistic Turn ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Twentieth Century Europe ◽  
Made In ◽  
The Way

Linguistic Turns rewrites the intellectual and cultural history of early twentieth-century Europe. In chapters that range over the work of Saussure, Russell, Wittgenstein, Bakhtin, Benjamin, Cassirer, Shklovskii, the Russian Futurists, Ogden and Richards, Sorel, Gramsci, and others, it shows how European intellectuals came to invest ‘language’ with extraordinary force, at a time when the social and political order of the continent was in question. By examining linguistic turns in concert rather than in isolation, Hirschkop changes the way we see them—no longer simply as moves in individual disciplines, but as elements of a larger constellation, held together by common concerns and anxieties. In a series of detailed readings, he reveals how each linguistic turn invested ‘language as such’ with powers that could redeem not just individual disciplines but Europe itself. We see how, in the hands of different writers, language becomes a model of social and political order, a tool guaranteeing analytical precision, a vehicle of dynamic change, a storehouse of mythical collective energy, a template for civil society, and an image of justice itself. By detailing the force linguistic turns attribute to language, and the way in which they contrast ‘language as such’ with actual language, Hirschkop dissects the investments made in words and sentences and the visions behind them. The constellation of linguistic turns is explored as an intellectual event in its own right and as the pursuit of social theory by other means.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 180-194
Author(s):  
Albena Yaneva
Keyword(s):  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Knowing That ◽  
History Of ◽  
Architectural Knowledge

This chapter brings together a number of moves under different collectors that redefine an archive as a heterogeneous and relational aggregate that captures the distributed epistemic nature of an architectural oeuvre. It outlines archival ways of knowing that suggest how architecture can be grasped as a versatile addition of built forms. It also examines a composite understanding of architecture which causes a rethinking of what collections do to history, to architectural knowledge and its institutions. The chapter emphasizes how archiving discovers a history of architectural forms that unfolds as a diagram of active forces to challenge and reactualize the distributed ontological boundaries of buildings. It describes archiving as a semantic machine that continually evolves and develops possible futures for architecture.

scholarly journals Bishnuprasad Rabha as Cultural Icon of Assam: The Process of Meaning Making

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-76
Author(s):  
Parismita Hazarika ◽  
Debarshi Prasad Nath
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Cultural Icon ◽  
Close Resemblance ◽  
Cultural Codes ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Life ◽  
Iconic Figure ◽  
Visual Sign ◽  
Made In

AbstractThe term ‘cultural icon’ is generally used to refer to individuals or images, objects, visual sign, monuments, space etc. In semiotics the term ‘icon’ is used to refer to a sign that bears close resemblance to the object that it stands for. Icons are particularly influential signifiers because they are immediately identifiable and carry complex cultural codes in a compact image. In this paper the understanding of ‘cultural icon’ is not limited to semiotics. Following Keyan Tomaselli and David Scott in Cultural Icons (2009), we believe that cultural icons are purposive constructions. An attempt has been made in this paper to analyze the association of ‘desirable’ meanings to a cultural icon (while dropping ‘undesirable’ ones); thus, it is imperative that we look at the changing socio-political contexts behind such purposive constructions. With this in mind, we look at the iconic figure of Bishnuprasad Rabha who has been one of the most revered figures in the cultural history of Assam and has been appropriated as a cultural icon in different discourses of the national life of Assam that has emerged in recent times.

“The Eighth Fire”

2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-405
Author(s):  
Ric Knowles
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Indigenous Cultures ◽  
Knowing That ◽  
Key Technologies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relational Accountability ◽  
Sacred Fire

The Anishinaabe people of Turtle Island [North America] have a teaching called the Seven Fire Prophecies, which clocks the history of our time on this land, from how we received our earliest teachings, through the arrival of the “light-skinned race,” through the loss of our ways. According to many of our teachers, we are now living in the time of the seventh fire, a time when there will be “a rebirth of the Anishinaabe nations and a re-kindling of the sacred fire.”The eight fire is an extension of the prophecies, a suggestion and a wish that now is the time for the Indigenous people and the settler communities to work together to achieve justice, to live together in a good way.—Yvette Nolan (Algonquin), Medicine ShowsIn many disciplines where it has become apparent that scholarship has been one of the key technologies of colonization, complicit in the exploitation and decimation of the land and its human and nonhuman inhabitants, there has been a (re)turn to ways of knowing that are not about power/knowledge—naming, disciplining, categorizing, objectifying, and isolating elements—but about relationality, reciprocity, respect, and what Opaskwayak Cree scholar Shawn Wilson discusses under the principle, shared across many Indigenous cultures, of “relational accountability.”

scholarly journals Cultivating Positive Health, Learning, and Community: The Return of Mesoamerica’s Quetzalcoatl and the Venus Star…

Genealogy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Santiago Andrés Garcia ◽  
Claudia Itzel Márquez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Culturally Relevant Education ◽  
Knowing That ◽  
History Of

For more than 3500 years, since Olmec times (1500–400 BC), the peoples of Mesoamerica have shared with one another a profound way of living involving a deep understanding of the human body and of land and cosmology. As it stands, healing ways of knowing that depend on medicinal plants, the Earth’s elements, and knowledge of the stars are still intact. The Indigenous Xicana/o/xs who belong to many of the mobile tribes of Mesoamerica share a long genealogical history of cultivating and sustaining their Native American rituals, which was weakened in Mexico and the United States during various periods of colonization. This special edition essay sheds light on the story of Quetzalcoatl and the Venus Star as a familial place of Xicana/o/x belonging and practice. To do so, we rely on the archaeological interpretation of these two entities as one may get to know them through artifacts, monuments, and ethnographic accounts, of which some date to Mesoamerica’s Formative period (1500–400 BC). Throughout this paper, ancestral medicine ways are shown to help cultivate positive health, learning, and community. Such cosmic knowledge is poorly understood, yet it may further culturally relevant education and the treatment of the rampant health disparities in communities of Mesoamerican ancestry living in the United States. The values of and insights into Indigenous Xicana/o/x knowledge and identity conclude this essay.

The Havana Biltmore and the Buena Vista Social Club two iconic buildings in Havana, Cuba

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-499
Author(s):  
Peter John Read ◽  
Marivic Wyndham
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Social Club ◽  
The Past ◽  
Country Club ◽  
Buena Vista ◽  
History Of ◽  
Social Turmoil ◽  
Made In

The authors trace the physical and cultural history of two iconic buildings in Havana, Cuba: the Havana Biltmore Yacht and Country Club and the Buena Vista Social Club. The ‘Biltmore’, now renamed the Club Havana, flourishes after several periods in which its survival was doubtful. The ‘Buena Vista’ had already long ceased its original functions at the time the film of that name was made in 1997. The article illuminates the enormous cultural significance with which certain buildings may be invested when the emotional title to the past is magnified by revolution and social turmoil.

Officers and Office-Holding at the English Court: A Study of the Chapel Royal, 1485–1547

1999 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 1-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Kisby
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Royal Family ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
English Court ◽  
Comprehensive Information ◽  
History Of ◽  
Court Involved

There is an established literature on office-holding in the English royal household, which has focused on those members of the court involved in the royal body service and ceremonial; those associated with the domestic needs of the monarch, the royal family and wider domus and those involved in its administration. Yet this mainly deals with the late seventeenth century and beyond; comparable detailed and comprehensive information on this particular aspect of court history for earlier periods has yet to appear in print. The courts of the Tudors have, for example, suffered in this respect. This is surprising, for recent historical scholarship has shown that far from ossifying into a purely domestic establishment as an older generation of scholars thought, the Tudor Court was rather of central importance in the political, administrative, religious and cultural history of sixteenth-century England. By that time the royal domus was the centre of politics, patronage and power and access to the sovereign—the sole font of that power—and the ability to catch ‘either… [his/her] ear or… eye’ headed, to a large extent, the agenda of any ambitious courtier. A published investigation of the patterns and procedures of office-holding within this important institution is, therefore, long overdue.

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