Gary H. Gossen's Chamulas in the World of the Sun, published by Harvard University Press, is a peer reviewed ethnographic monograph on the oral tradition and cosmology of the Tzotzil Maya community of Chamula in Chiapas, Mexico, structured around the community's own understanding of time and space in relation to the sun. Its strength is that it is built on the anthropologist's own direct fieldwork with the community whose tradition it describes. Its limit is its age, over fifty years, so a claim about the tradition's present day practice should be checked against more recent ethnographic work.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Tier one: Gary H. Gossen's Chamulas in the World of the Sun, published by Harvard University Press in its Symbol and Culture series, a peer reviewed scholarly monograph built on the anthropologist's own fieldwork among the Tzotzil Maya of Chamula, Chiapas. It remains the standard academic citation for this specific community's oral tradition and cosmology. Its limit is its age, over fifty years, so a claim about how the tradition is practiced or told today should be checked against more recent scholarship. NotesEthnography of the Tzotzil speaking Maya of San Juan Chamula, Chiapas, Mexico, the direct product of fifteen months of fieldwork recording Chamula oral tradition, cosmology and ritual language, published by Harvard University Press. The standard scholarly reference for Chamula religious and cultural life specifically, as distinct from Barbara Tedlock's comparably standard but separate account of the K'iche' Maya of Momostenango, Guatemala, a different Maya people and country the atlas had previously and wrongly credited with this material.
Citation
AuthorGary H. Gossen
PublisherHarvard University Press
Publication Year1974
Source TypeEthnography
Claims Backed By This Source (10 claims)
This source backs 10 claims across the atlas. As facts: 8 well-attested. As cited relationships: 1 holds. Plus 1 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 7 claims: 7 well-attested.
- Religions, 2 claims: 1 holds, 1 general references.
- Articles, 1 claims: 1 well-attested.
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