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Fatalism, the Self, Intentionality, and Signs of Ill Portent in Quintana Roo, Mexico
Author(s) -
Callahan Robey
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
anthropology of consciousness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1556-3537
pISSN - 1053-4202
DOI - 10.1111/anoc.12066
Subject(s) - fatalism , intentionality , surprise , yucatan peninsula , maya , sign (mathematics) , sociology , epistemology , psychology , history , social psychology , philosophy , ecology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , biology
Severe illnesses and sudden deaths are all too common occurrences in the lives of the Maya of the Yucatán Peninsula, so it is perhaps no surprise that, as a people, they tend to be rather fatalistic. Maya fatalism finds one of its most prominent expressions in the tamax chi'—a type of omen that speaks of impending suffering, usually of a terminal nature, for a member of one's close family. In terms of components and mechanics, however, a tamax chi' is actually something more than a mere kin‐doom sign; it forms part of a hybrid, if somewhat limited, cultural self, one of whose key functions seems to be helping people cope. Through recourse to Goffman ([Goffman, Erving, 1981]) speaker roles and Danziger's (2013) hearer roles and through analysis of data derived from years of research in the region, I also demonstrate its relevance to more general understandings of self and intentionality.