Both long time devotees of the Guatemalan mask/dance culture and newcomers to the subject will be equally fascinated by this colorful and informative book. Hundreds of masks, many accompanied by contextual photographs, appear in full color and are identified in detail. The author also explains how to evaluate the age of a mask through an examination of patina and repair. Village rental agencies, calledmorarias,their walls and ceilings covered with costumes and masks, are also featured, as are masks used by life-size folk saints. Several original dance scripts have been translated, giving the reader the rare opportunity to view the relationship of the masked characters to their place in the ritual dance culture.

In the Mexican states of Puebla and Veracruz, old masked dances have survived in isolated mountain regions. These dances include wonderful masks of humans and animals, masks with beautiful, comic, or wicked faces. Created by Indigenous master carvers, mascareros, these masks and puppets appear during religious fiestas. Over 700 vivid color photos reveal these masks and puppets in all their glory. The thoroughly researched text answers the questions about who made these beautiful works of art, who these dance characters are, and the nature of the religion they represent. The Spanish conquerors strove to convert the Indian inhabitants of Mexico to Christianity. However, these converts secretly retained important deities from earlier times to accompany Christian elements, creating a poetic blend of beliefs. Given that these indigenous peoples have suffered many injustices, the masks, puppets, and dance dramas reflect many unresolved societal tensions along with veiled wishes for divine justice.

The archaeologists/authors continue to entertain an avid international audience with their rousing historical epic of adventure, triumph, and heartbreak of the pre-Columbian peoples who struggled to make this great continent their home.

Theatre Masks Out Side In examines masks from different angles and perspectives, combining the history, design, construction, and use of masks into one beautifully illustrated resource. Each chapter includes key information about an element of mask study: history and uses, theatre traditions, practical principles for directing, performing exercises, design considerations, mask-making techniques, and considering makeup as mask. Artist interviews, theatre company profiles, and hundreds of images provide insight into the variety of mask styles and performance applications. Project suggestions, discussion questions, useful worksheets, creative prompts, and resources for sourcing masks are included to inspire further exploration. Theatre Masks Out Side In is designed with the beginning theatre maker in mind, as well as prop makers, costume designers and technicians, and actors learning to use masks in performance.

Drawing on secondary works in archaeology, art history, folklore, ethnohistory, ethnography, and literature, the authors maintain that the mask is the central metaphor for the Mesoamerican concept of spiritual reality. Covers the long history of the use of the ritual mask by the peoples who created and developed the mythological tradition of Mesoamerica. Chapters: (1) the metaphor of the mask in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica: the mask as the God, in ritual, and as metaphor; (II) metaphoric reflections of the cosmic order; and (III) the metaphor of the mask after the conquest: syncretism; the Pre-Columbian survivals; the syncretic compromise; and today's masks. Over 100 color and black-&-white photos.

Psychologists, says the old joke, know everything there is to know about the college sophomore and the white rat. But what about the rest of us, older than the former, bigger than the latter, with lives more labyrinthine than either? In this ambitious book, Karl E. Scheibe aims to take psychology out of its rut and bring it into contact with the complex lives that most people quietly live. Drama, Scheibe reminds us, is no more confined to the theater than religion is to the church or education to the schoolroom. Accordingly, he brings to his reflection on psychology the drama of literature, poetry, philosophy, history, music, and theater. The essence of drama is transformation: the transformation of the quotidian world into something that commands interest and stimulates conversation. It is this dramatic transformation that Scheibe seeks in psychology as he pursues a series of suggestive questions, such as: Why is boredom the central motivational issue of our time? Why are eating and sex the biological foundations of all human dramas? Why is indifference a natural condition, caring a dramatic achievement? Why is schizophrenia disappearing? Why does gambling have cosmic significance? Writing with elegance and passion, Scheibe asks us to take note of the self-representation, performance, and scripts of the drama that is our everyday life. In doing so, he challenges our dispirited senses and awakens psychology to a new realm of dramatic possibility.

Guatemalan indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Menchu first came to international prominence following the 1983 publication of her memoir, I, Rigoberta Menchu, which chronicled in compelling detail the violence and misery that she and her people suffered during her country's brutal civil war. The book focused world attention on Guatemala and led to her being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. In 1999, a book by David Stoll challenged the veracity of key details in Menchu's account, generating a storm of controversy. Journalists and scholars squared off regarding whether Menchu had lied about her past and, if so, what that would mean about the larger truths revealed in her book. In The Rigoberta Menchu Controversy, Arturo Arias has assembled a casebook that offers a balanced perspective on the debate. The first section of this volume collects the primary documents -- newspaper articles, interviews, and official statements -- in which the debate raged, many translated into English for the first time. In the second section, a distinguished group of international scholars assesses the political, historical, and cultural contexts of the debate, and considers its implications for such issues as the "culture wars", historical truth, and the politics of memory. Also included is a new essay by David Stoll in which he responds to his critics.