Idealizing Maya Culture: The Politics of Race, Indigeneity, and Immigration Among Maya Restaurant Owners in Southern California

Based on an ethnography of Maya restaurant owners in Los Angeles, the article examines how Maya migrants use Yucatecan cuisine to negotiate the politics of indigeneity. In Mexico, Maya peoples are denigrated as “Indian.” In the U.S., Maya migrants are racialized as “Mexican.” These racialization processes are intended to discipline indigenous subjects both within and outside of national boundaries. By drawing on popular indigenous cultural symbols and tastes that reinforce an idealized Maya culture, Maya restaurateurs construct an alternative politics of recognition that opens the door for new conversations about what it means to be indigenous and Latino.