[Aztlan] Aztlan Digest, Vol 38, Issue 10

[Jaime Andres Pretell]

Race or ethnicity? Race has been disproved scientifically, so to claim that
any group would naturally focus on it, is false. Obviously there are
regional variation in all populations, including the Americas, and those
regional variations can be used to distinguish ethnic differences. This is
the proto-concept that would lead to racism, but is not racism per se where
you believe there is a discrete biological difference in populations.

Ancestral origin is important to anthropologists to track how cultural
evolution and diffusion occurred. And to debunk outlandish ethnocentric
claims.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Janice Van Cleve" <janicevc at seanet.com>
To: <aztlan at lists.famsi.org>
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 1:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Aztlan] Aztlan Digest, Vol 38, Issue 10


> There is a difference between "recognition" of race and "preoccupation" 
> with
> race.  Both racists and politically correct anti-racists seem to me to 
> allow
> their ideologies to trump unbiased scientific work.  The Maya in the area 
> of
> the world I am working on - Copan in Honduras - appear to have been very
> aware of the fact that they were racially different from the Lenca peoples
> who inhabited the lands east of them.  They did trade with each other,
> however, and it appears some Lenca families lived in Copan and mingled 
> with
> the Maya there.  I don't see evidence of racially motivated activities -
> like slavery, choosing one race or another to be guests of honor at the 
> next
> sacrifice, or even economic discrimination.  Many cultural factors - like
> local government organizations, architecture, agriculture, ceramic 
> patterns,
> etc. - appear to have been shared or not between Maya and Lenca in 
> complete
> disregard for race.  I do not know enough about Lenca language patterns or
> religious practices to understand differences or similarities there.  The
> Maya were very conscious about bloodlines, especially among the elite
> classes, and this was one of the primary factors in my biography of 
> Eighteen
> Rabbit.
>
> Janice Van Cleve, MA
> Author of "Eighteen Rabbit: The Intimate Life and Tragic Death of a Maya
> God-King."  available through Xlibris.com or Amazon.com.  2006