'We are Children of the Mountain' Creolization and Modernization Among the Q'eqchi'es

In the present globalizing world, social actors are increasingly confronted with flows of people, capital, goods, symbols, information and images stemming from distant corners of the globe. Faced with these flows they feel compelled to react to new impulses, rework their representations and practices and redefine their identities. The Q'eqchi'es, about 600,000 people living in northern Guatemala, make up such a group of actors who are increasingly immersed in global flows. While they live relatively far from national and international communication centres and are renowned for their specific cultural characteristics, the cash crops they produce are for the world market, and global flows of religious meanings reach them through expanding churches. This monograph asks whether the various aspects of their social reality can be understood in terms of modernity or modernization and, if so, how they deal with these aspects. Are they exchanging premodern for modern aspects and simply heading for a modern destiny? This book deals primarily with their religion and economy, giving attention to the religious and economic meanings and practices of intervening agencies and to those of the Q'eqchi'es themselves.