John M. D. Pohl

Virginia M. Fields

Victoria Lyall

Alejandro de Ávila Blomberg

This beautifully illustrated volume offers an unprecedented look at the cultures of southern Mexico from pre-Columbian through contemporary times, featuring over 200 exemplary works and new, groundbreaking scholarship.

The Legacy of Quetzalcoatl in Ancient Mexico

Children of the Plumed Serpent

Nahua Art and Ritual of Ancient Southern Mexico

Sorcerers' of the Fifth Heaven

Claire L. Lyons

"This publication is issued in conjunction with the exhibition, The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire, on view in the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa in Malibu, from March 24 through July 5, 2010"--T.p. verso.

The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire

Jeremy D. Coltman

Approaching sorcery as highly rational and rooted in significant social and cultural values, Sorcery in Mesoamerica examines and reconstructs the original indigenous logic behind it, analyzing manifestations from the Classic Maya to the ethnographic present. While the topic of sorcery and witchcraft in anthropology is well developed in other areas of the world, it has received little academic attention in Mexico and Central America until now. In each chapter, preeminent scholars of ritual and belief ask very different questions about what exactly sorcery is in Mesoamerica. Contributors consider linguistic and visual aspects of sorcery and witchcraft, such as the terminology in Aztec semantics and dictionaries of the Kaqchiquel and K’iche’ Maya. Others explore the practice of sorcery and witchcraft, including the incorporation by indigenous sorcerers in the Mexican highlands of European perspectives and practices into their belief system. Contributors also examine specific deities, entities, and phenomena, such as the pantheistic Nahua spirit entities called forth to assist healers and rain makers, the categorization of Classic Maya Wahy (“co-essence”) beings, the cult of the Aztec goddess Cihuacoatl, and the recurring relationship between female genitalia and the magical conjuring of a centipede throughout Mesoamerica. Placing the Mesoamerican people in a human context—as engaged in a rational and logical system of behavior—Sorcery inMesoamerica is the first comprehensive study of the subject and an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Mesoamerican culture and religion. Contributors: Lilián González Chévez, John F. Chuchiak IV, Jeremy D. Coltman, Roberto Martínez González, Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos, Cecelia F. Klein, Timothy J. Knab, John Monaghan, Jesper Nielsen, John M. D. Pohl, Alan R. Sandstrom, Pamela Effrein Sandstrom, David Stuart

Sorcery in Mesoamerica

David Hurst Thomas

Research Archaeologist John M D Pohl

Every site discussed is fully accessible to the public and the author provides their locations, listing the museums that contain the primary artifacts for each."--BOOK JACKET.

John M. D. Pohl

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