The Burden of Time
Photographs from the Highlands of Chiapas
Marcey Jacobson(Author)
Carol Karasik(Editor)
Stanford University Press
Published on 1. June 2002
Book
Hardback
168 pages
978-0-8047-3877-4 (ISBN)
Description
This book reproduces some 75 extraordinary photographs by Marcey Jacobson of the indigenous Maya and non-indigenous Ladino peoples of San Cristobal de las Casas in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Largely taken during the 1960s and 1970s, these stunning and historically revealing photographs depict the daily life and celebrations of the local population-selling goods in street markets, participating in religious rituals, begging in town squares, and a myriad of other activities. They offer a sensitive, respectful, and honest portrait of a region increasingly under pressure from the disruptive forces of modernization and political change. The metaphor of the burden of time is especially apt for this region of Mexico. Mayas have since the Classic era conceived of time as a cargo , as a burden to be carried on the backs of those who serve their communities, in a ritual that sustains the precarious harmony of human beings and deities living in a dangerous world. Even today's cargo system conceptualizes civil and ceremonial service as a tremendous burden akin to that which young and old alike must undertake for survival.
Jacobson's photographs tack back and forth through people's lives to explore the encumbrances and joys of the passage of time. The entire text of the book, including photo captions, appears in both English and Spanish.
Jacobson's photographs tack back and forth through people's lives to explore the encumbrances and joys of the passage of time. The entire text of the book, including photo captions, appears in both English and Spanish.
Reviews / Votes
"As a phorographer, I view Jacobson's work as a remarkably comprehensive unveiling of a culture that is largely hidden from view. It is astute work, the product of years of intelligent concentration. Her photographs accomplish something quite rare - she reveals significant detail in a way that is unstylized, unselfconscious, and unspectacular. By this, i mean that she relies on her subjects to depict themselves, rather than attempting to place them in some sort of artistic context. She subtly blends anthropology and art."-Joel Leivick, Stanford University "As an anthropologist, I think tha tJacobson's photography complements and in some ways corrects the standard visions of the highlands of Chiapas. exploring the connections of indigenous and non-indigenous cultures even as she documents their contrasts, Jacobson reveals the interpenetration of these worlds that has eluded social science analysisThe collection is coherent, of outstanding artistic value, and of both ethnographic and historic importance."-George A. Collier, Stanford UniversityMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Palo Alto
United States
Illustrations
100 half-tones
Dimensions
Height: 267 mm
Width: 229 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
916 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8047-3877-4 (9780804738774)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Marcey Jacobson has lived in San Cristobal de las Casas since 1956. Her photographs have been exhibited in more than twenty single and group shows in the United States and Mexico and have appeared in numerous books about Mexico.
Content
Acknowledgments; Prologue; Exposures; The photographs; Afterword.