In the Name of El Pueblo

“[A] probing history of communities and debates about community in the Hunucmá region of northwest Yucatán. In revealing episodes, the study extends from the mid-nineteenth century to contemporary times. The analysis is innovative in important ways, notably by revealing communities’ often conflictive participations in key local and regional developments and by exploring their often contested constructions of their own historical understandings.” -- John Tutino * A Contracorriente *
“In a world of multisited, global ethnographies Eiss’s book reminds us of the value of deeply historical and ethnographic framings of the present. Enriched by contemporary social theory, In the Name of El Pueblo draws on the margins of the archive and the plurality and variety of forms of archives. Its recognition of dispossession rather than possession as a ground for ‘el pueblo,’ reminds readers that the most important forces in social life may not be found only in what appears to be fully present. For readers who have worked on similar issues in Mexico, this book beautifully captures the grounded and yet ephemeral sense of el pueblo.” -- JoAnn Martin * PoLAR *
“[Eiss] shows how el pueblo, and history more generally, happen as people conventionalize events in telling about them before, during, and sometimes long after the fact. That Eiss succeeds in this attests to his skills as both ethnographer and historian. . . . Historians will find here the rich makings of history, anthropologists an adroit dissolving of ethnicity, culture, and community into the flow of time.” -- John M. Watanabe * Hispanic American Historical Review *
“This work demonstrates a keen philosophical sensibility as it scrutinizes the complex undercurrents below the various struggles that indigenous Maya, non-indigenous townspeople, landowners, merchants, rebels, and government officials have each undertaken in the name of el pueblo. . . . Eiss’s work self-consciously seeks to avoid the mistake that many political philosophers make by turning el pueblo into an abstraction." -- Alexander V. Stehn * Pluralist *
"Eiss combines historical and anthropological data, methods, and approaches (microhistory, ethnography, and the history of the present) to explore the concept [of el pueblo] as realized in the Hunucmá region located in the northwest of Mexico's Yucatán peninsula. . . Following Michel Foucault, he does not consider communal identifications as stable but holds that present and previous modes of communal and collective identification may be radically different." -- Wolfgang Gabbert * American Historical Review *
“I find Eiss’s work thoughtful and engaging, a much-needed antidote to the official histories of Yucatán as well as the ahistorical ethnographies of an earlier era.” -- Ron Loewe * Journal of Anthropological Research *
"This work is a beautifully crafted and painstakingly researched micro-history that mines a rich vein of documentary and material sources, including theatrical performances, deer hunts, engravings on shotguns, religious celebrations, local histories and a treasure trove of petitions, land claims, and judicial records . . . . In the early 1970s, the late Mexican historian Luis González y González encouraged his graduate students to research and write compelling narratives of rural communities. I am confident he had arresting interdisciplinary studies like this book in mind when he issued that call." -- Allen Wells * The Americas *
“Paul Eiss has delivered a new, epic work of social history/ethnography concerning an especially turbulent region of the Yucatan Peninsula. . . . All told, this is a masterful work that will merit the attention of Latin Americanists for many years to come.” -- Paul Sullivan * Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology *
"With his excellent writing, Eiss has given scholars an enjoyable and thought-provoking read. … [T]his strong work provides a scholarly readership with a smart and well-written analysis of the long term struggles that formed an indigenous pueblo. Instructors will find the book an excellent choice for upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses. Ultimately, it is fortunate that Eiss managed to drag forth this deer from the Yucatecan wilds." -- Stephen Neufeld * Itinerario *
“Seamlessly blending archival research into the late colonial and national periods . . . with fieldwork in the region, Eiss demonstrates that rural Maya speakers were not ahistorical, but kept and interpreted a record of their past, from the pre-Columbian period to the present. . . . In the Name of El Pueblo provides an accessible, narrative-driven introduction to these genres that will work well in a classroom setting. Students will enjoy the Hunucmá district’s vividly depicted landscapes, stories, and personalities; scholars will find Eiss’s research and interdisciplinary approach solid; and researchers of Yucatán will find themselves feeling nostalgic for the countryside and the archives of the peninsula.” -- Mark Lentz * Ethnohistory *