Domestication and Liberation: How We Relate to Our Data, and What It Means for Understanding the Maya

Abstract

This article explores the anthropological goals of domesticating (through naming, categorizing, organizing) and liberating (through engagement with dynamism, process, complexity, contradiction) our data and the ways we consider culture. These complementary themes emerge in three volumes that explore Maya culture, past and present. The first theme offers powerful results by making named things real and valued. The second theme recognizes the multiple, contingent processes connected to people and cultures, with important ramifications for the use of cultural analogy over time. The two perspectives differ in how we relate to our data, and result in different ways of envisioning the Maya.