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The Mayan in the Mall: Globalization, Development, and the Making of Modern Guatemala
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About The Mayan In The
Product Description In The Mayan in the Mall, J. T. Way traces the creation of modern Guatemala from the 1920s to the present through a series of national and international development projects. Way shows that, far from being chronically underdeveloped, this nation of stark contrasts—where shopping malls and multinational corporate headquarters coexist with some of the Western Hemisphere's poorest and most violent slums—is the embodiment of globalized capitalism. Using a wide array of historical and contemporary sources, Way explores the multiple intersections of development and individual life, focusing on the construction of social space through successive waves of land reform, urban planning, and economic policy. His explorations move from Guatemala City's poorest neighborhoods and informal economies (run predominantly by women) to a countryside still recovering from civil war and anti-Mayan genocide, and they encompass such artifacts of development as the modernist Pan-American Highway and the postmodern Grand Tikal Futura, a Mayan-themed shopping mall ringed by gated communities and shantytowns. Capitalist development, Way concludes, has dramatically reshaped the country's physical and social landscapes—engendering poverty, ethnic regionalism, and genocidal violence—and positioned Guatemala as a harbinger of globalization's future. Review “The quirky mind of J. T. Way reveals a Guatemala not even seasoned hands are likely to recognize, one deformed by development in myriad modernist guise, a curse to most of its citizens, the blessing of a venal few.”— W. George Lovell, Queen’s University, Canada "Finally, a history of Guatemala City, a place that most scholars flee from despite its centrality to Guatemala's history. J. T. Way has unearthed a wealth of material from archival, literary, and oral sources. In striking and vibrant detail, he skillfully traces the history of neighborhoods and individuals from the first half of the twentieth century to today and he uses this history to open up a remarkable and original discussion of the play of ethnicity and modernity in the making of a cultural texture and urban political economy that uses the 'Mayan' in the absence of Mayas, or worse, in the presence of their oppression. The Mayan in the Mall brings to life the city's residents in this 'society of vendors' and simultaneously delivers a devastating and brilliant critique of development."— Deborah T. Levenson, coeditor of The Guatemala Reader: History, Culture, Politics “This is an excellent book, in part because it is a thoroughly researched consideration of the relationship between poverty, development, the trajectory of politics in Guatemala, and real life. But its excellence is also rooted in the author's success in writing a study infusing observations born of scholarly research with a heartfelt and sharply phrased c ritique that moves beyond a clichéd academic celebration of radical politics. . . . Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries.“ -- J. M. Rosenthal ― Choice “The shift away from the highlands indigenous communities that have generally attracted North American scholarly attention opens a novel perspective on the making of what Way calls the ‘manmade ruin’ of Guatemala’s contemporary social and physical landscape.” -- Carlota McAllister ― American Historical Review “Both scholarly and highly personal, J. T. Way’s book is too rich in original insights, skillfully developed examples, and provocative arguments to do it full justice in so short a space. It is enough to state that it should be required reading for anyone interested in Guatemala’s recent history. Also, it is highly recommended to all students of development and modernization in general.” -- Stephen Webre ― Hispanic American Historical Review “…[A] fascinating narrative that complicates both sequence and chronology by weaving the hitherto hidden logic of everyday survival and resistance with the ‘rational’ logic of
