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Dissertation Information for Peter Herman Sigal

NAME:
- Peter Herman Sigal

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (1995)

ADVISORS:
- James Lockhart

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: Maya passions: Colonial Yucatecan ideas of sexuality, gender, and the body

Abstract: How do sixteenth to nineteenth century Maya texts interpret sexuality, gender, and the human body? This work seeks to answer that question by analyzing a large number of Maya language documents, which I translate here. I place these texts in the ethnohistorical context of colonial Yucatan. I compare the conclusions that I draw from them with many of the statements in both Spanish and Nahuatl language documents, thus determining similarities and differences between the various groups. I am able to draw conclusions authoritatively only because I use many different genres of Maya documentation.

This work shows that the Maya texts did not view the human body itself as a unified entity. The body is often seen only in its parts. These body parts were central to the Maya spiritual world in a way that the Spanish, emphasizing a dichotomy between the body and the soul, could not understand.

I show that the Maya did not assign identities to individuals based on their sexual behaviors. Unlike contemporary Western societies, the Maya did not label people as heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual. They believed that sexual acts, if excessive, could lead to death and destruction. They did not understand sexuality as a discernible category which they differentiated from other parts of life. While the Maya believed that sexual behavior strongly influenced the course of society, they did not divide sexuality between virtue and sin. The Christian introduction of the concept of sin led to a negotiation of the meaning of the term.

While most scholars have suggested that Maya society was a strictly patriarchal society, my research shows that the Maya defined gender in a more complex manner than a strict patriarchal organization would suggest. Maya women obtained significant power in the spiritual world. At the time of the conquest, the Maya determined kinship lines on both the matrilineal and patrilineal models, extending ritual kinship to both the gods and the goddesses. The Maya spiritual world also allowed deities, shamans, nobles, and commoners to cross genders. Ritual transgenderism did not, however, extend to any sort of transgender identity.

MPACT Scores for Peter Herman Sigal

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2009-01-25 11:27:43

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Students under Peter Herman Sigal

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None