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The book describes the interaction in Maya communities between Maya and Catholic theological worldviews from the middle to the end of the twentieth century. Both worldviews were experiencing periods of crisis. The Maya crisis was rooted in loss of land and extreme poverty. This brought their theology into question since the covenant with their gods was supposed to protect their communities. The Catholic Church, following the Liberal suppression, had returned to Maya communities. It attempted to evangelize them according to the Catholic worldview formulated by the sixteenth-century Council of Trent. This did little to alleviate the Maya crisis. This shortcoming was systemic within Catholicism resulting in a crisis due to the inability of Tridentine theology to give meaning to people's lives in the twentieth century. A progressive sector of Catholicism attempted to confront the crisis by the Action Catholic movement with its foundation in biblical theology. In numerous Maya communities, groups studied biblical liberation and implemented it in programs of empowerment and social justice. But due to continuing structures of injustice, urban ladino Marxists infiltrated some Action Catholic communities resulting in armed rebellions. Assisting Maya liberation resulted in conversion experiences for some Catholic priests that led them to challenge the existing order of the Catholic Church and national governments. The study of the biblical liberation also led to the need for liberation from western theological categories by the development of a Maya Christian theology based on the Maya wisdom of ancestors manifested in the many myths of the Maya tradition.

All too often, anthropologists study specific facets of human migration without guidance from the other subdisciplines (archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistics) that can provide new insights on the topic. The equivocal results of these narrow studies often make the discussion of impact and consequences speculative. In the last decade, however, anthropologists working independently in the four subdisciplines have developed powerful methodologies to detect and assess the scale of past migrations. Yet these advances are known only to a few specialized researchers. This book brings together these new methods in one volume and addresses innovative approaches to migration research that emerge from the collective effort of scholars from different intellectual backgrounds. Its chapters present a comprehensive anthropological exploration of the many topics related to human migration throughout the world, ranging from theoretical treatments to specific case studies derived primarily from the Americas prior to European contact.

There are approximately seven million adult gay and bisexual men in the United States and 120 million adult gay and bisexual men globally. This book explores the cultural dimensions of AIDS among men who have sex with men (MSM). The traditional emphasis in HIV/AIDS research within gay communities has focused on sexual behavior and psychological issues. Yet to better understand the social and cultural dimensions of the disease, and to halt the spread of HIV infection, it is essential to recognize and understand the culture of MSM. Cultural anthropologists, unquestionably, are in a unique position to achieve this understanding. The editor has gathered a diverse group of experts to contribute to this collection, and the volume features a wealth of scholarly data unavailable elsewhere.