6 Alienating Ancient Maya Commoners

Abstract

ABSTRACT Determining whether or how ancient Maya commoners were alienated from the results of their labor first requires that scholars recognize what impediments or biases have hindered a theoretically informed view of commoners and their social roles. Using historical developments in Mesoamerican archaeology as a guide, I examine why Maya archaeology since the mid‐1980s has tended to focus so strongly on elites, often to the exclusion of commoners. I then discuss different identities that Maya commoners may have assumed based on alienable or inalienable social labor in both public and private contexts.