‘The first duties of persons living in a civilized community’: the Maya, the Church, and the colonial state in southern Belize

In recent years, historical geography has been at the forefront of new scholarship on the spatiality of colonial power and its complex relations with indigenous communities. This literature shows that imperial policies – emerging through state and scientific institutions, cultural practices, and capitalist ventures – required particular ways of conceptualizing, mapping, and organizing spaces and territories which transformed the geographies of indigenous communities, livelihoods, and identities. Through a close reading of archival texts from the late 19th and early 20th century, this paper examines the spatial and political relations between three groups: the Catholic Church, the British colonial state, and the Maya communities of southern British Honduras. Differences between the Catholic Church and the British colonial state – in their aims and approach to winning hegemony over the Q'eqchi' and Mopan Maya – were accommodated and assuaged by a tacit agreement: that the Maya must be settled in permanent communities. Colonial power, in both its spiritual and statist modalities, was imminently geographical, and this geography comprised the common ground between Church and state in their approach to the Maya.     

Noble Traditions and Christian Principles: The Integral Spirituality of Bernard Narokobi

ABSTRACT

This article describes some of the major events in the Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea (PNG) following the Second Vatican Council, the ‘self study’ of the church in PNG in the 1970s, and the General Assembly of 2003–4. An outcome of the self study was the establishment of a national Catholic council in which Bernard Narokobi played a significant role. The article continues with a reflection on how Narokobi’s promotion of Melanesian spirituality finds links with a Catholic theology of grace and sacrament and how these two contribute to his understanding of the dual pillars of the PNG Constitution with its noble traditions and Christian principles coming together in the ideal of integral human development. The article lays out different ways Bernard Narokobi was formally involved with the church over his lifetime and how his bringing together of Melanesian experience and Christian faith provided a model for the integral liberation he envisaged and expressed – both in his work in the church and in the National Goals and Directive Principles of the PNG Constitution.     

City and region in the credit market of late colonial Guadalajara,Mexico

Regional studies of colonial Mexico have focused on economic, sociological and political themes that largely neglect developing relationships between urban centers and their regions. Understanding these relationships is necessary for a clearer determination of the beginning of dependency and underdevelopment. Data for this study come from loan and mortgage documents contained in the Libros de Hipotecas for Guadalajara, Mexico from 1721 through 1820. The records show that most of the credit necessary for rural economies to function came from creditors in the capital city of Guadalajara. Credit flows through the countryside corresponded to the distributional patterns of population, economic activities, and social networks. Districts with larger populations consumed greater amounts of credit in part because of the presence of many potential borrowers. Those areas involved primarily in trade and agriculture also needed much urban credit, particularly at critical stages in their economic development. Districts in which the region's wealthiest families resided also received more credit through the system of personal and business contacts which channelled the distribution of credit. The net flow of credit from city to region, however, does not necessarily indicate unilateral dependence of rural districts on the capital city. An analysis of the relative benefits to creditor and debtor indicates that the relationship between city and region was characterized by mutual dependence rather than urban exploitation of rural districts.     

Trade,tribute, and neutron activation: The colonial political economy of Xaltocan,Mexico

In Trade, Tribute, and Transportation, Ross Hassig argues that indigenous towns in the northern Basin of Mexico during the colonial period were largely self-sufficient. They traded with Mexico City mostly in elite goods, but for the most part they produced for their own subsistence or traded with nearby towns. Chemical characterization by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) of ceramics and obsidian from post-conquest contexts in Xaltocan, a site in the northern Basin of Mexico, reveals that Hassig’s model is partly correct for describing Xaltocan. The town focused on trade with nearby towns and it produced some ceramics for local consumption. However, Xaltocan was hardly isolated and self-sufficient in the post-conquest period. Instead, the data suggest that the people of Xaltocan also obtained ceramics and obsidian from a greater variety of sources than under Aztec domination. Rather than being an isolated rural site, Xaltocan either increased its external connections and number of trading partners after the Spanish conquest, or it managed to obtain a greater variety of products than before through a bustling market system.     

A State Within the State: The Inquisition in Enlightenment Thought

ABSTRACT

Enlightenment thinkers wrote many pages against the Inquisition. In particular, they widely criticized the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions, which they regarded as the epitomes of cruelty and fanaticism. Both inquisitions were established at royal request and remained subjected to the authority of the kings until they were abolished at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Indeed, therein the kings nominated the grand inquisitors, who were invested with civil jurisdiction for reasons that were at least as much political as religious. However, Enlightenment writers almost always portrayed the Inquisition as the ultimate example of the many ills derived from clerical authority, ecclesiastical autonomy and monastic despotism. Kings and civil magistrates were, in fact, usually depicted as victims of inquisitorial power. This common portrayal of the Inquisition reveals that the Enlightenment idea of toleration was essentially constructed for reducing the power of churches to disturb public peace and challenge civil authority. Thus, this idea of toleration was in effect less capable of denouncing political intolerance, let alone of promoting the separation of church and state.     

The ethno‐religious ambitions of the Roman Catholic Church and the ascendancy of communism in post‐war Poland (1945–50)

ABSTRACT. This paper differentiates between centrifugal and centripetal aspects of ethno‐nationalism to help account for the ascendancy of communism in the immediate aftermath of World War II in Poland. It argues that the directing of social antipathy to defined out‐groups allowed the Polish Workers' Party (PPR) to manage social anger and that the Roman Catholic Church's ethno‐religious agenda was aligned with the PPR's ethno‐nationalist policy. Furthermore, it is contended that the Church's toleration of hostile actions directed at minority communities supported the PPR's management of social anger. The paper concludes that the Church, despite its manifest intentions and contrary to contemporary perceptions, played a role in the PPR's achievement of hegemony.     

The Connolly Association,the Catholic Church,and anti-communism in Britain and Ireland during the early Cold War

ABSTRACT

During the Cold War era, the Connolly Association, an Irish republican socialist political organisation in Britain close to the Communist Party of Great Britain, was seen by British Communists as a potential means of winning recruits amongst Britain’s growing post-war Irish community. This view was shared by the Catholic Church, which, amidst the broader ideological atmosphere of the Cold War, placed an increased emphasis on anti-communism in the early post-war years. This article will discuss clerical opposition to the Connolly Association in early Cold War Britain and Ireland, drawing chiefly on diocesan archives and Catholic periodicals.     

The Mobile Politics of Emotions and Social Movement in Oaxaca,Mexico

In light of recent debates between affect and emotions in geography, this article focuses on how the emotional landscape of spatial struggles in Oaxaca articulated people together, thereby generating solidarities and a collective sociality offering the potentiality of interconnection that geographers of affect emphasize. Through an analysis of a women's march, I demonstrate how social movements move people, mobilizing them both physically and emotionally, with effects that go beyond a movement's political demands. Engaging with how emotions do movement‐building work means going beyond a focus on the relational construction of emotions and arguing instead for their collective agency, including their power to transform participants into activists. Highlighting the centrality of spatial struggles and emotions to the shifting, mobile politics of social movements brings into sharp relief the importance of a situated, historical analysis for theorists romanticizing the emancipatory possibilities of a revolutionary transnational articulation between social movements.     

On the current absence and future improbability of political Catholicism in Italy

Clerical ‘non-negotiable values’ were actively promoted by right-wing governments in the 2000s, the Monti government that replaced them was strongly supported by the Vatican and the Italian bishops, and the current left-wing government is led by a former member of the Catholic popolari who attends Mass every Sunday. But this article argues that, rather than a new golden age of political Catholicism, the return of Catholicism to Italian politics has taken a ‘low intensity’ form which lacks the robust combination of ideas, leaders, organizations, and interests that informed earlier, genuinely political forms of Catholic engagement. The article demonstrates this by focusing on the ‘Todi movement’, which played a crucial role in the Monti government, and on Matteo Renzi’s current leadership of the Partito democratico and the national government. It also proposes a theoretical framework to explain the apparent contradiction between the high visibility and the low political relevance of Catholicism in Italian politics.     

The ultimate return: Dissent,apostolic succession,and the renewed ministry of roman catholic women priests

ABSTRACT

Significant numbers of practising Roman Catholics dissent from the Church’s orthodox teachings, especially those relating to sex, gender and contraception. Many such dissenters even occupy positions of ecclesiastical authority themselves. This raises interesting questions about how dissent manifests differently in various Christian traditions; how disagreement about fundamental principles only become legible if expressed in particular ways. This paper draws on research on Roman Catholic Woman priests whose claim to sacerdotal legitimacy rests on their having been ordained in apostolic succession by bishops within the Roman Catholic Church. It asks how do women priests negotiate both difference and repetition at the very same time. The ethnography prompts deeper reflection on Christianity’s long history of dissent which I argue has been written from a predominantly male and Protestant perspective. One in which dissent that leads to institutional differentiation is prioritized over dissent borne quietly that seeks to contain itself.     

Symposium on Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust in Italy

The articles published in this section of JMIS were given at a symposium held early in 2001 on the role of Pope Pius XII in the rescue of Jews in Italy during the Holocaust. The discussion focuses on recent books on the subject by Susan Zuccotti and Ronald J. Rychlak. In the articles published here the authors and the panelists discuss the historical record (sources, facts and interpretations) and the nature of the obligations of the Papacy and the Catholic Church in the circumstances of the Second World War and the German occupation of Italy after the fall of Fascism.     

Geographies of gender and feminism in Mexico: a field in construction

Abstract

This paper sets out to present geographies of gender and feminism in Mexico in order to identify some of the conceptual contributions, thematic axes and key problems within the field’s corpus of knowledge that, while widely-recognized internationally, is only beginning to develop in Mexico. I examine the academic production of feminist geography with an emphasis on the institutional contexts that may facilitate or perhaps impede putting such studies into practice in different institutions throughout the country. Additionally, I provide an account of the main objects of study that have contributed to configuring original, committed field research under the conditions of exclusion and marginality that women face on a daily basis.     

The tourism and local development in world heritage context. The case of the Mayan site of Palenque,Mexico

This article discusses the effects of tourism on local development in the context of World Heritage sites. The ‘Pre-Hispanic City and National Park of Palenque’ in Mexico will be used as a case study, with especial attention on local Indigenous communities. It analyses the use of ‘World Heritage’ as a brand for tourism promotion and expected tourism growth, and the changes in the role of the Indigenous peoples in archaeology and UNESCO policies. Furthermore, it examines the implementation of World Heritage policies by the Mexican government and the local decision-makers in Palenque. It presents the touristic elements of the site and how other factors have impacted tourism flow. The article points out the empowerment processes of modern Mayan people, the response by the official managers and the Indigenous reaction to governmental investments in tourism infrastructure. The article concludes that a shift from the current type management model to a new, participatory one could contribute to reduce social tension, fostering local development through tourism and improving communities’ quality of life. The data used for my analysis were collected during fieldwork in Palenque in 2014 and 2016.     

The pattern of spondylosis deformans in prehistoric samples from west‐central New Mexico

A Pre‐Columbian skeletal sample (n=42) from two ancestral Pueblo sites in the Rio Grande valley of west‐central New Mexico was examined for frequency and severity of spondylosis deformans (vertebral osteophytosis). No significant sex differences were detected. Degenerative changes in the collective sample are generally confined to no more than well‐defined horizontal lipping at the joint margins. Advanced proliferative osteophytic change is infrequent even in the oldest age category. Not surprisingly, the lumbar vertebrae were the most frequently and most severely involved vertebral segment for all three adult age cohorts defined. The cervical vertebrae were the least involved. This pattern generally conforms with observations made on other archaeological samples from west of the Mississippi River, but it contrasts with the general pattern of more extensive cervical involvement in Pre‐Columbian North American samples from the Eastern Woodlands. This possible east–west difference is hypothesized (Bridges, P.S. 1994. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 93: 83–93) to be related to differential burden bearing habits. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Receiving End of Reform: Everyday Responses to Neoliberalisation in Southeastern Mexico

Abstract: This article builds upon the literature on neoliberalism and environment as well as studies on community forestry by examining the creative accommodations that rural producers have made in navigating Mexico's neoliberal turn. In contrast to previous work that emphasizes macro‐level processes (eg privatization of public natural resources) and local resistance, I employ Bourdieu's theory of practice to examine the symbolic and material dimensions of local responses to neoliberal policy reform. Drawing on research from nine communities in the state of Quintana Roo, I argue that local producers have accommodated neoliberal policies and programs by adopting hybrid logics, property regimes, forms of organization, and modes of exchange. Moreover, I contend that these creative responses constitute elements of a longstanding “culture of accommodation” to institutional change that predates Mexico's neoliberal reforms.     

The 2004 Deepwrecks Project: Analysis of World War II Era Shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico

In July and August 2004, C & C Technologies, Inc. of Lafayette, LA, USA partnered with scientists and film makers from across the United States and Canada to assess and document archaeological and biological aspects of six World War II shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico. The depth of the shipwrecks ranged from 285–6,444 ft (87–1,964 m) below sea level. All six shipwrecks were found during oil and gas related surveys. The United States Department of the Interior, Mineral Management Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Ocean Exploration under the auspices of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program sponsored this multidisciplinary study.     

Scab Ministers,Striking Saints: Christianity and Class Conflict in 1894 Chicago

Throughout 1894, Chicago's churches were as divided by class as the nation itself. During the Pullman strike and boycott, the city's leading Protestant and Catholic authorities hewed to an ideology of contract freedom that precluded support for the American Railway Union. Meanwhile, a handful of young Protestant ministers championed the strikers, echoing the criticisms of those working-class Protestants who had long decried the established churches’ ties to capital. This latter bloc expressed its frustration not merely with words but also through uprisings within local churches and even by founding a church of its own. In light of these findings, the author argues that a grassroots social Christianity preceded an elite Social Gospel; and furthermore, that the participation of working-class persons in the contests over the shape of modern Christianity demands a rethinking of the boundaries of both religious and working-class history.     

Diverse origins and timing of formation of basinal brines in the Gulf of Mexico sedimentary basin

A review of five different field areas in the Gulf of Mexico sedimentary basin (GOM) illustrates some of the potentially diverse chemical and physical processes which have produced basinal brines. The elevated salinities of most of the formation waters in the GOM are ultimately related to the presence of the Middle Jurassic Louann Salt. Some of these brines likely inherited their salinity from evaporated Mesozoic seawater, while other saline fluids have been produced by subsequent dissolution of salt, some of which is occurring today. The timing of the generation of brines has thus not been restricted to the Middle Jurassic. The mechanisms of solute transport that have introduced brines throughout much of the sedimentary section of the GOM are not entirely understood. Free convection driven by spatial variations in formation water temperature and salinity is undoubtedly occurring around some salt structures. However, the driving mechanisms for the broad, diffusive upward solute transport in the northern Gulf rim of Arkansas and northern Louisiana are not known. In the Lower Cretaceous of Texas, fluid flow was much more highly focused, and perhaps episodic. It is clear that many areas of the Gulf basin are hydrologically connected and that large‐scale fluid flow, solute transport, and dispersion have occurred. The Na‐Mg‐Ca‐Cl compositions of brines in the areas of the Gulf Coast sedimentary basin reviewed in this article are products of diagenesis and do not reflect the composition of the evaporated marine waters present at the time of sediment deposition. Large differences in Na, Ca, and Mg trends for waters hosted by Mesozoic versus Cenozoic sediments may reflect differences in: (i) the sources of salinity (evaporated seawater for some of the Mesozoic sediments, dissolution of salt for some of the Cenozoic sediments); (ii) sediment lithology (dominantly carbonates for much of the Mesozoic sediments, and dominantly siliciclastics for the Cenozoic sediments); or (iii) residence times of brines associated with these sediments (tens of millions of years versus perhaps days).