Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Ecological Context and the Methods of Inquiry and Praxes

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Indigenous Psychologies in an Era of Decolonization

Part of the book series: International and Cultural Psychology ((ICUP))

Abstract

This chapter describes the historical and geographical context of the southern region of Chiapas, Mexico since the Spanish colonization to contemporary times. The Maya cosmology and mythology are described and contrasted to the Spanish colonial ideology and religion imposed to usurp Indigenous lands and erase their knowledge and belief systems. The emergence of the Mestizo ideology is analyzed as a strategy for independence and continuous racist oppression of the Mexican Indigenous populations. Decolonial methodologies are presented as strategies to promote epistemic resistance and decolonial solidarity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Almeida, & de Rivera, D. (2017). Openness, humility, and trust. Community Psychology in Global Perspective, 2(3), 60–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baer, P., & Baer, M. (1952). Lacandon ethnographic materials. University of Chicago Microfilm Collection of Manuscripts on Middle American Cultural Anthropology, no. 34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baer, P., & Merrifield, W. R. (1971). Two studies on the Lacandones of Mexico. Norman, OK: Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of Oklahoma.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blom, F., & Duby, G. (1955). La Selva Lacandona (Vol 1 and 2). Mexico: Editorial Cultura.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonfield, B. G. (1996). Mexico profundo: Reclaiming a civilization. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boremanse, D. (1981). A Southern Lacandon Maya account of the moon eclipse. In Latin American Indian Literatures, vol. 5, pp. 1–6. University of Pittsburgh, Pensylvannia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boremanse, D. (1982). A comparative study of Lacandon Maya mythology. Journal de la Société des Américanistes, 68, 71–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boremanse, D. (1986). Hash Winik: The Lacandon Maya of Chiapas, Southern Mexico. The University of Albany, Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, Monograph 11. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boremanse, D. (2006). Cuentos y mitologias de los Lacandones: Contribuciones al estudio de la tradición oral maya. Guatemala: Academia de Geografia e Historia de Guatemala.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, R. D. (1974). El libro de Chan K’in. Colección Cientifica [Linguistica], no. 12. Mexico City: I.N.A.H., S.E.P.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, R. D. (1975a). Lacandon dream symbolism. Vol. 1. Mexico: Ediciones Americanas, Klaus Thiele.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, R. D. (1975b). Lacandon dream symbolism. Vol. II. Mexico: Ediciones Americanas, Klaus Thiele.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, R. D. (1976). Lacandon texts and drawings from Naha. Coleccion Cientifica [Linguistica], no. 12. Mexico City: I.N.A.H., S.E.P.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, R. D. (1978a). Figuras ceremoniales Lacandonas de hule. Mexico: Boletin del I.N.A.H., S.E.P.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, R. D. (1978b). The Popol Vuh and the Book of Chan Kin. Estudios de Cultura Maya, 10, 173–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunhouse, R., L. (1974; 2013). En busca de los Mayas: Los primeros arqueólogos. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casey, E., & Watkins, M. (2014). Up against the wall: Reimagining the U.S.-Mexican Border. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ciofalo, N. (2014). Cultural-religious empowerment, popular power, and contra-power: A demand for Indigenous rights. Psicologia Social Comunitaria. Segunda Epoca, 3, 452–481.

    Google Scholar 

  • De La Garza, M. (1975). La conciencia histórica de los antiguos Mayas. Mexico: Centro de Estudios Mayas de la Universidad Autónoma de Mexico.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Landa, D. (1985). Relación de las cosas de Yucatan. Madrid: Historia 16.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Las Casas, B. (1942; 2017). Del unico modo de atraer a todos los pueblos a la verdadera religión. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Vos, J. (1982; 2015). La paz de Dios y del Rey. La conquista de la Selva Lacandona por los españoles 1521–1821. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica; Secretaria de Educacion y de Cultura de Chiapas.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Vos, J. (1988; 1996). Oro Verde. La conquista de la Seva Lacandona por los madereros Tabasquenos 1822–1949. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica; Instituto de Cultura de Tabasco.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Vos, J. (2002). Una tierra para sembra sueños. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Girolamo. (2017). La visión cosmológica de los Mayas: La herencia de los libros sagrados. Roma: Cuadernos del Hipogrifo. Literatura Hispanoamericana y Comparada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duby, G. (1944). Los Lacandones. Su pasado, su presente y su futuro. Mexico: Biblioteca Enciclopedica Popular, S.E.P.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN). (n.d.) Declaración de la Selva Lacandona Chiapas, MX: EZLN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (2002). The archeology of knowledge. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia Marquez, G. (2006). One hundred years of solitude. London: The Folio Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gone, J. P. (2016). Alternative knowledges and the future of community psychology: Provocations from an American Indian healing traditions. American Journal in Community Psychology, 58, 314–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gomez Izquierdo, J., & Sanchez Diaz de Rivera, M. E. (2011). La ideologia mestizante, el Guadalupismo y sus repercusiones sociales: Una revisión critica de la identidad nacional. Mexico: Universidad Iberoamericana de Puebla, Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades “Alfonso Velez Pliego,” y Direccion de Fomento Editorial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanke, L. (2007). Introducción. In B. De Las Casas, Del unico modo de atraer a todos los pueblos a la verdadera religión (21–60). Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kowal, E. (2015). Time, indigeneity, and white anti-racism in Australia. The Australian Journal of Anthropology. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.12122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Land, C. (2015). Decolonizing solidarity: Dilemmas and directions for supporters of indigenous struggles. UK: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leyva Solano, X., & Franco, A. G. (1996; 2002). Lacandonia al filo del agua. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica; Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social; Universidad Autonoma de Mexico.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maldonado-Torres, N. (April, 2007). On the coloniality of being: Contributions to the development of a concept. Cultural Studies, 21(2–3), 240–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mignolo, W. (2000/2012). Local histories/global designs: Coloniality, subaltern knowledge, and border thinking. NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mignolo, W. (Winter, 2002). The geopolitics of knowledge and the colonial difference. The South Atlantic Quarterly, 101, 1, Duke University Press.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muench, P. (2008). El libro blanco de la Selva. México: EPYPSA-Prodesis-Sedesol.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obregon Rodriguez, M. A., Liendo Stuardo, R. (2016). Los antiguos reinos Mayas del Usumacinta, Yaxchilan, Bonampak y Piedras Negras. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica; Fideicomiso Historico de las Americas; El Colegio de Mexico.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pe-Pua, R. (2006). From decolonizing psychology to the development of a cross-indigenous perspective in methodology: The Philippine experience. In U. Kim, K. S. Yang, & K. K. Hwang (Eds.), Indigenous and cultural psychology: Understanding people in context (pp. 109–137). New York, NY: Springer Science + Business Media LLC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perera, V., & Bruce, R. D. (1985). The last Lords of Palenque: The Lacandon Mayas of the Mexican rain forest. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prilleltensky, I. (March, 2003). Understanding, resisting, and overcoming oppression: Toward psychopolitical validity. American Journal of Community Psychology, 31(1/2).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of power, eurocentrism, and Latin America. Nepantla, 1,3, Views from the South, Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Recinos, A. (trad., ed). (1995). Popol Vuh. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roeling, S. (2007). Shadow of Bonampak: An extensive ethnography of the Lacandon Maya of Chiapas, Mexico. Rotterdam: Uitgeverij S. Roeling.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz Ponce, H. (2017). Resitencia epistemica: Intelligentsia e identidad politica en el proyecto descolonial nuu savi. Universidad Autonoma Benito Juarez de Oaxaca; Instituto de Investigaciones Sociologicas: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; Programa Universitario de Estudios de la Diversidad Cultural y la Interculturalidad. Mexico: Juan Pablos Editor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Santos, B. de Sousa. (2016). Epistemologies of the south: Justice against epistemicide. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: research and Indigenous peoples. London, NY: Zen Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, E. S. (1970). Maya history and religion. University of Oklahoma Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tozzer, A. M. (1907). A comparative study of the Mayans and the Lacandones. London: Macmillan Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaconcelos, J. (1925). La raza cósmica: Misión de la raza Americana. Notas de viaje a la America del Sur. Madrid: Agencia Mundial de Libreria.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, M. (2015). Psychosocial accompaniment. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(1). http://jspp.psychopen.eu/article/view/103/html.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, M., & Shulman, H. (2008). Towards psychologies of liberation. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Black Point, Nova Scotia, Canada: Fernwood Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacifica Graduate Institute, 249 Lambert Road, Carpinteria, CA, 93013, USA

    Nuria Ciofalo

Authors
  1. Nuria Ciofalo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nuria Ciofalo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. West Hills, CA, USA

    Nuria Ciofalo

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Ciofalo, N. (2019). The Ecological Context and the Methods of Inquiry and Praxes. In: Ciofalo, N. (eds) Indigenous Psychologies in an Era of Decolonization. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04822-8_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation