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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

New Books in April 2011 Topic: Mexico and New Acquisitions from March 2011







New Books in April 2011: Topic: Mexico
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All book descriptions are those of the publisher.

The Stridentist Movement in Mexico: The Avant-Garde and Cultural Change in the 1920s
Paperback Lexington Books (April 16, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0739131575 ISBN-13: 978-0739131572
Elissa Rashkin 

Stridentism (estridentismo) was a literary, artistic, and cultural movement founded in Mexico in the 1920s by poets Manuel Maples Arce, Germn List Arzubide, and Salbador Gallardo, prose writer Arqueles Vela, painters Fermin Revueltas, Ram-n Alva de la Canal, Leopoldo MZndez, and Jean Charlot, and sculptor Germn Cueto. This book is a wide-ranging study of Stridentism that emphasizes the multifaceted nature of its contributions and addresses key debates in this period of Mexican cultural history.

U.S. Economic and Trade Relations With Canada and Mexico
Hardcover Nova Science Pub Inc (April 2011)
ISBN-10: 1612094473 ISBN-13: 978-1612094472
Daniel S. Morales (Editor), Luis A. Medina (Editor) 

This book presents and discusses the economic and trade relations between the United States, Canada and Mexico. Topics discussed include Canada-U.S. relations; the United States-Canada trade and economic relationship; NAFTA and the future of commercial trucking across the Mexican border and the Cuban migration to the United States.


Hacia el Futuro: Energy, Economics and the Environment in 21st Century Mexico
(Advances in Global Change Research Series) 
Paperback Springer; 1st Edition. edition (April 4, 2011) 
ISBN-10: 9048171911 ISBN-13: 978-9048171910
Maria Eugenia Ibarrarán and Roy Boyd 

The book focuses on the impact of future energy policies on fossil fuel use, environmental quality, and economic growth in Mexico over the next 20 years. 

The first part examines the growth of the Mexican energy sector and its link to international trade, government revenues, economic welfare, income distribution and environmental pollution. The scientific linkages between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change are presented with the economic theory behind various emission abatement strategies. The authors examine the harmful effects of climate change on economic well being in Mexico and explain the role of Mexico and Latin America in current climate change negotiations.

The second part develops a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model of the Mexican economy, paying attention to the energy sector and its linkages with other aspects of the aggregate economy. Conclusions for Mexico are placed in the wider context of the Americas. The effects of climate change policy are contrasted with that in Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil. Finally, by employing an integrated US-Mexican model the authors look at possible advantages of emissions trading between these two countries.

This book could serve as a supplemental text in a number of different classes in environmental and resource economics, development, modelling, and negotiation of international treaties. Executives from the energy sector would also benefit in the United States, Mexico, and throughout Latin America.


Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico
(Peoples of America Series) [Digital]Digital: 352 pages
Wiley-Blackwell (April 22, 2011)
Arthur A. Joyce 

Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico examines the history of the rich and complex societies that arose and flourished in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. 

Shortly after its founding as a hilltop epicenter of Zapotec culture in about 500 bc, Monte Albán became what is widely considered to be the first city in the Highlands of Mexico. 

Yet between 300 bc and ad 800, many other powerful urban polities developed in the disparate geographic regions surrounding the Valley of Oaxaca, including in the highland valleys of the Mixteca and lower Río Verde Valley along the Pacific Coast. 

By drawing upon the most recent archaeological, ethnographic, epigraphic, linguistic, and iconographic evidence, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos reveals the lengthy, complex strands of historical and cultural interactions woven among the diverse pre-Hispanic societies of Oaxaca. 

Along with comparing patterns in the settlement, art, architecture, and writing that developed in these regions, Joyce also uses contemporary social theory to challenge previous approaches and address many key problems in the archaeology of the Americas such as the rise and fall of civilizations and the role of religion and ideology in political control.

Informed by thoughtful analysis of recent evidence, anthropological breakthroughs, and ongoing fieldwork, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos will add clarity to the debates surrounding ancient Mesoamerican civilizations.

The Illusion of Ignorance: Constructing the American Encounter with Mexico, 1877-1920  
Paperback University Press of America (April 16, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0761853545 ISBN-13: 978-0761853541
Janice Lee Jayes

The Illusion of Ignorance examines the cultural politics of the American encounter with Porfirian Mexico as a precursor and model for the twentieth-century American encounter with the world. 

Detailed discussions of the logistics of conducting diplomacy, doing business, or traveling abroad in the era give readers a vivid picture of how Americans experienced this age of international expansion, while contrasting Mexican and American visions of the changing relationship. 

In the end, Mexico's efforts to promote Mexico as a partner in progress with the U.S. was lost to an American illusion schizophrenically divided between fantasies of American leadership toward, and refuge from, modernity. The Illusion of Ignorance argues that American ignorance of the experience of other nations is not so much a barrier to better understanding of the world, but a strategy Americans have chosen to maintain their vision of the U.S. relationship with the world.


The Last Caudillo: Alvaro Obregn and the Mexican Revolution
(Viewpoints Series) Paperback Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (April 26, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1405199032 ISBN-13: 978-1405199032
J?rgen Buchenau

The Last Caudillo presents a brief biography of the life and times of General Alvaro Obregón, along with new insights into the Mexican Revolution and authoritarian rule in Latin America.
  • Features a succinct biography of the life and times of a fascinating figure in Mexico's revolutionary past
  • Represents the most analytical and up-to-date study of caudillo/military strongman rule
  • Sheds new light on the networks and discourse practices that support rulers such as the Castros in Cuba and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and the emergence of modern Mexico
  • Offers new insights into the role of leadership, the nature of revolution, and the complex forces that helped shape modern Mexico

EVOLUCION DE LA VIVIENDA INGLESA EN TAMPICO: La influencia del modelo de vivienda inglesa en la Costa del Golfo de México
Spanish Edition Paperback Editorial Académica Española (April 1, 2011)
Language: Spanish
ISBN-10: 3844335862 ISBN-13: 978-3844335866
José Adán Espuna Mújica

Construir y modificar el medio ambiente natural se ha permeado en la conciencia de los usuarios de las vivienda, con la intención de lograr su particular concepto de comodidad. 

Como consecuencia, de la utilización cada vez mayor de aparatos electromecánicos que ayuden a atenuar los efectos del clima, ha minimizado el análisis del entorno, en donde se evalúen las ventajas de un espacio adecuado al contexto natural de la zona, trayendo como consecuencia el deterioro del medio físico y la inadecuación de la arquitectura al sitio. 

Esto trajo consigo la evolución o transformación de la vivienda, pues en aras del progreso, se han modificado los materiales constructivos, desde la utilizada en la ?arquitectura sin arquitectos?, elaborada con madera, cartón ?enchapopotado? como se le denomina en la zona a la lámina de cartón asfáltico y el ladrillo de barro, elaborado manualmente, hasta los diseños hechos por algunos arquitectos o algunas compañías extranjeras, importantes en la construcción de vivienda, como lo fue la Compañía Mexicana de Petróleo ?El Águila?, que se estableció hacia 1910 en Tampico.


A Comparison of Tomb Art: Examples from New Kingdom Egypt and Classic Period Oaxaca, Mexico
Paperback VDM Verlag Dr. Müller (April 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 3639343204 ISBN-13: 978-3639343205
Valeri Madigan 

Many wonder about the true meaning of art in tombs. Do they all have the same meaning? Or does each culture have their own reason behind painting elaborate scenes on tomb walls that no one may ever see? 

This is a compilation of images from tombs in Egypt and Oaxaca, Mexico that relate to the specific afterlife beliefs of each respective culture. The Egyptian examples focus on what is needed to get into the afterlife and convincing the gods that an individual belongs. In contrast, the Oaxacan examples focus on convincing the ancestors to keep watch over the family after an individual is gone. 

There has not been much research on this topic before now, so this analysis should help anyone interested in learning about tomb art motifs. Also, it is hard to find any information on Oaxacan tomb art so hopefully this can be used as one source to help shed light on their particular culture.


Bartolom de las Casas and the Conquest of the Americas
[Digital]
Lawrence A. Clayton (Editor) 

This is a short history of the age of exploration and the conquest of the Americas told through the experience of Bartolomé de las Casas, a Dominican friar who fervently defended the American Indians, and the single most important figure of the period after Columbus.
  • Explores the period known as the Encounter, which was characterized by intensive conflict between Europeans and the people of the Americas following Columbus’s voyages
  • Argues that Las Casas, ‘protector of Indians,' was primarily motivated by Scripture in his crusade for justice and equality for American Indians
  • Draws on the 14 volume Complete Works of Las Casas as a window into his mind and actions
  • Encourages students to understand history through the viewpoint of individuals living it

The Carnegie Maya III: The Carnegie Institution of Washington Notes on Middle American Archaeology and Ethnology, 1940-1957
Hardcover University Press of Colorado (April 18, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1607320592ISBN-13: 978-1607320593
John M. Weeks (Author, Editor)

The third in a series of volumes intended to republish the primary data and interpretive studies produced by archaeologists and anthropologists in the Maya region under the umbrella of the Carnegie Institute of Washington's Division of Historical Research, The Carnegie Maya III makes available the series Notes on Middle American Archaeology and Ethnology.

The series began in 1940 as an outlet for information that may have been considered too unimportant, brief, or restricted to be submitted for formal publication. However, these notes are often of great interest to the specialists for whom they are designed and to whom their distribution is restricted. 

The majority of the essays-most of which are on the Maya-are on archaeological subjects, epigraphy, ethnohistory and ethnography, and linguistics. As few original copies of the Notes series are known to exist in U.S. and Canadian libraries, the book will make these essays easily accessible to students, academics, and researchers in the field.
The corresponding e-book contains the complete set of The Carnegie Maya, The Carnegie Maya II, and The Carnegie Maya III, thus making hundreds of documents from the Carnegie Institution's Maya program available in one source.


Huichol Territory and the Mexican Nation: Indigenous Ritual, Land Conflict, and Sovereignty Claims
(First Peoples Series)
Hardcover University of Arizona Press (April 1, 2011) Language: English
ISBN-10: 0816529302 ISBN-13: 978-0816529308
Paul M. Liffman

The Huichol (Wixarika) people claim a vast expanse of Mexico's western Sierra Madre and northern highlands as a territory called kiekari, which includes parts of the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Durango, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí. This territory forms the heart of their economic and spiritual lives. 

But indigenous land struggle is a central fact of Mexican history, and in this fascinating new work Paul Liffman expands our understanding of it. Drawing on contemporary anthropological theory, he explains how Huichols assert their sovereign rights to collectively own the 1,500 square miles they inhabit and to practice rituals across the 35,000 square miles where their access is challenged. 
Liffman places current access claims in historical perspective, tracing Huichol communities' long-term efforts to redress the inequitable access to land and other resources that their neighbors and the state have imposed on them.

Liffman writes that "the cultural grounds for territorial claims were what the people I wanted to study wanted me to work on." Based on six years of collaboration with a land-rights organization, interviews, and participant observation in meetings, ceremonies, and extended stays on remote rancherías, Huichol Territory and the Mexican Nation analyzes the sites where people define Huichol territory. 

The book's innovative structure echoes Huichols' own approach to knowledge and examines the nation and state, not just the community. Liffman's local, regional, and national perspective informs every chapter and expands the toolkit for researchers working with indigenous communities. By describing Huichols' ceremonially based placemaking to build a theory of "historical territoriality," he raises provocative questions about what "place" means for native peoples worldwide.


The Maya World of Communicating Objects: Quadripartite Crosses, Trees, and Stones  
Hardcover University of New Mexico Press (April 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826347630 ISBN-13: 978-0826347633
Miguel Angel Astor-Aguilera

Although anthropologists have been observing and analyzing the religious practices of Mayan people for about a hundred years, this perceptive study suggests that anthropological interpretation of those practices and of Maya cosmology has never escaped the epistemological influence of Christianity. 

Whereas sacred objects used in Christian rituals are treated with deifying awe, objects such as Mayan crosses can be recycled, bartered with, communicated with, manipulated, disregarded, or destroyed the apparent equivalent of extorting or defacing a holy image of Christ or the Virgin Mary. Astor-Aguilera holds that we cannot fully understand these indigenous practices by fitting them to our European Cartesian mindset but must instead recognize and try to understand native Mayan epistemology. 

The binary based western concept of religion, he suggests, is not the best framework for understanding experiential Mayan cosmology or practice. Using ethnographic, archaeological, and glyphic evidence, he traces modern Mayan attitudes toward ritually charged objects and imagery back to the Classic Maya. No scholar of Mesoamerican religion, archaeology, or history can afford to overlook this long overdue approach to a widely misunderstood subject.


Border Boom Town: Ciudad Juárez since 1848
Paperback University of Texas Press (April 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0292729820 ISBN-13: 978-0292729827
Oscar J. Martíne

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Border Boom Town traces the social and economic evolution of Ciudad Juárez, the largest city on the U.S.-Mexican border and one of the fastest-growing urban centers in the world. 

Recent Acquisitions in March 2011


Randy Lopez Goes Home: A Novel
(Chicana & Chicano Visions of the Americas Series)
Hardcover Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) (June 10, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0806141891 ISBN-13: 978-0806141893
Rudolfo A. Anaya

A new novel by the master storyteller that explores what it means to go home
When he was a young man, Randy Lopez left his village in northern New Mexico to seek his fortune. Since then, he has learned some of the secrets of success in the Anglo world and even written a book called Life Among the Gringos. But something has been missing. Now he returns to Agua Bendita to reconnect with his past and to find the wisdom the Anglo world has not provided. In this allegorical account of Randy s final journey, master storyteller Rudolfo Anaya tackles life s big questions with a light touch.

Randy s entry into the haunted canyon that leads to his ancestral home begins on the Day of the Dead. Reuniting with his padrinos his godparents and hoping to meet up with his lost love, Sofia, Randy encounters a series of spirits: coyotes, cowboys, Death, and the devil. Each one engages him in a conversation about life. It is Randy s old teacher Miss Libriana who suggests his new purpose. She gives him a book, How to Build a Bridge. Only the bridge which is both literal and figurative, like everything else in this story can enable Randy to complete his journey.

Readers acquainted with Anaya s fiction will find themselves in familiar territory here. Randy Lopez, like all Anaya s protagonists, is on a spiritual quest. But both those new to and familiar with Anaya will recognize this philosophical meditation as part of a long literary tradition going back to Homer, Dante, and the Bible. Richly allusive and uniquely witty, Randy Lopez Goes Home presents man s quest for meaning in a touching, thought-provoking narrative that will resound with young adults and mature readers alike.


Paperback Wings Press (April 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 091672770X ISBN-13: 978-0916727703
Sofia M. Starnes

Written in a modern and experimental style, this poetry compilation by Sofia M. Starnes contemplates the aesthetics of faith. Often drawing from Bible stories, this collection indirectly alludes to Christian themes and creates extended metaphors that spill from one poem to another. Filled with passionately physical imagery, this is Starnes’s quest for spiritual union with the Trinity.

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Eduardo Corral and Carolina Monsivais to Tonight

Wed, April 13, 2011, 7pm. UT El Paso's Undergraduate Creative Writing Society presents The buttered toast Reading Series with special guests, Eduardo C. Corral, Carolina Monsivais, Barbara Jane Reyes at the UTEP Centennial Museum [Tom Lea Gallery].



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