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3. Multiple Identities on the Plazas: The Classic Maya Center of El Palmar, Mexico
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50 ChaPter three Multiple Identities on the Plazas The Classic Maya Center of El Palmar, Mexico kenichiro TsukamoTo in classic maya society (aD 250–900), many centers had a wide variety of plazas in and around their civic core. a representative case in this regard is the classic maya center of El Palmar, where plazas of different sizes and means of access were constructed at both the civic-ceremonial core or the main Group and at its outlying groups. how did these many plazas play roles in constituting social relations, more specifically, identities, in the wake of power negotiations among El Palmar’s inhabitants? This chapter explores the relationship between the multiplicity of plazas and the formation of different identities in a community by examining both the scope of plaza construction and of ceremonial events on the plazas. in this regard, i will examine El Palmar’s plazas from three perspectives: (1) how collective identities were formed and transformed by power negotiations in the process of constructing large-scale plazas and the spectacles conducted in these plazas; (2) how El Palmar’s ruling elites accentuated social distinctions by means of physically and visually excluding the rest of the population from their ritual activities in a restricted plaza; and finally (3) how second-tier elites or intermediate elites claimed their group identity at an outlying plaza. a plaza can be an arena for producing and reproducing various identities, but in this chapter i will consciously focus on the most prominent identity perceived in the material remains of each plaza at El Palmar because this approach allows us to explicitly illuminate the different roles plazas played in classic maya society. While El Palmar consists of several discrete groups surrounding the main Group, i will focus on the eight plazas at the main Group and a small plaza located to the north in an outlying group, which we call the Guzmán Group (figure 3.1). Figure 3.1. Topographic map showing the location of the main Group, Justo Group, and Guzmán Group, created by Kenichiro Tsukamoto and Javier López camacho. [3.87.133.69] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 10:06 GMT) kenichiro tsukamoto 52 Constituting Multiple identities on the Plaza identity is the pivotal media through which social interdependence is cultivated . holland et al. (2001 [1998]:57) argue that an identity is formed by practices of a social group in a figured world or field (see also Bourdieu 1977). an individual belongs to several fields in a society through being incorporated into the structural properties of rules or schema that regulate gender, family, race, ethnicity, occupation, ancestry, social status, and so on. as Giddens (1979), Bourdieu (1977), and other practice theorists argue, these structural properties are not determinative but reflexive mediations, which recursively guide and constrain human practices, perspectives, and emotions. members in each field share similar bodily experiences and perceptions that evoke a group identity. Through being incorporated into various fields in one’s life, an individual acquires multiple identities in daily practice, which often contradict one another. The multiple identities associated with an individual are never fixed, but are inherently a continuous flow of experiences and thoughts interwoven in several fields (Butler 1993). These identities perceived in daily life are emphasized or repressed in public life through social interactions. The construction of public architecture and spectacles in a large plaza provide a critical opportunity for human interactions that create shared experiences among a large number of social members. in a small group, members constantly encounter face-to-face interactions in everyday life, sharing bodily experiences, structural properties, moral constraints, and emotions, all of which render a group identity. in contrast, once a population exceeds the capacity for its members to conduct regular face-to-face interactions in everyday life, public ceremonies endow participants with emotionally charged experiences that highlight their understanding of the community and themselves in the community (Geertz 1980; inomata 2006a; Kertzer 1988). similarly, a large construction program physically brings people together for a significant period of time beyond the daily circle of interactions (inomata 2006a). The substantial labor investment in public buildings and the process of coordinating monumental practice create a new scale of social relations in a community (Pauketat 2001). nevertheless, physical gatherings in the plaza and in the building project are far from creating a coherent identity recognized among the entire community because such a sense of affiliation with a collectivity “embodies a distinct network of power relations” (Janusek 2004:17). analyzing...