Under the Shade of Thipaak
The Ethnoecology of Cycads in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean
Joshua D Englehardt editor Michael D Carrasco editor Angélica Cibrián-Jaramillo editor Mark A Bonta editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:University Press of Florida
Published:30th Aug '22
Should be back in stock very soon
Under the Shade of Thipaak is the first book to explore the cultural role of cycads, plants that evolved over 250 million years ago and are now critically endangered, in the ancient and modern Mesoamerican and Caribbean worlds. This volume demonstrates how these ancient plants have figured prominently in regional mythologies, rituals, art, and foodways from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition to the present.
Contributors discuss the importance of cycads from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including biology and population genetics, historical ecology, archaeology, art history, linguistics, and conservation and sustainability. Chapters pay special attention to the enduring conceptual relationships between cycads and maize. This book demonstrates how a close examination of cycad-human relationships can motivate conservation of these threatened plants in ways that engage local communities, as well as promote the significance of ancient and modern practices that unite nature and culture.
“This groundbreaking volume takes the cycad-human relationship out of the scholarly shadows. It will serve as the primary source for the importance of the Cycadales order in past, present, and future human societies.”—Dolores R. Piperno, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
“Moves beyond the narrow focus of agricultural, culinary, and iconographic studies and demonstrates the importance of cycads in these different systems. Both fascinating and inspiring.”—Andrew R. Wyatt, Middle Tennessee State University
ISBN: 9780813069364
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 333g
342 pages