The Highland Maya: a case study in economic anthropology

United States, 1983

Film
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Episode number 16 of Series “Faces of culture”.
Modern day Maya in the highlands of Mexico and Guatemala have fused the burdens of service to ancient gods and to the Christian God into the cargo system, during which a man must work his way up through four levels, paying out large amounts of money to the church, in order to gain prestige. Corn farming is no longer sufficient to pay the cargo, so that they often have to sell their labour to landowners far away from their homes. At the end of each year the cargo is passed to the next man and the next stage is undertaken.

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Collection

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Credits

director

Harry Ratner

producer

Ira R. Abrams

production company

Coast Community College District

Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Duration

00:30:00:00

Production places
United States
Production dates
1983

Appears in

Faces of culture

Group of items

Faces of culture

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Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

303950

Language

English

Subject categories

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Guatemala

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Indians of Central America

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Rites and ceremonies

History → Mayas

Places → Guatemala

Short films

Short films → Short films - United States

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/82782--the-highland-maya-a-case-study-in-economic-anthropology/ |title=The Highland Maya: a case study in economic anthropology |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=13 October 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}