Slash-and-burn agriculture is, under conditions with increasing pressure on resources, one cause of deforestation and land degradation. The Mayas of southern Belize use a type of slash-and-burn farming which is currently degrading the environment. On the other hand, cacao cultivation can be an integrated part of multi-storey agroforestry systems, indicated to provide capacity to maintain biodiversity. The Mayas have traditionally farmed cacao and it is now becoming an important cash crop in the district. Institutional stakeholders in Toledo district and six cacao farmers in two Mayan villages was interviewed for this study. The focus was to identify perceived constraints and prospects, as well as considerations of improvements, in shaded cacao cultivation. The farmers who participated in this study produce organic cacao under small-scale farming conditions, growing cacao under a canopy of mainly fruit and timber trees, providing income and food. Banana/plantain (Musa sp.), Salmwood (Cordia alliodora) and Cedar (Cederela odorata) are common shade species. Shade trees are randomly planted and timings for shade management is varying. Many of the farmers experience that their shade management can improve. Weather, disease, income and lack of knowledge are some of the issues in shaded cacao farming in the south of Belize. There is an on-going development of the local cacao market and the organic and Fair Trade production is constantly growing. More attention needs to be given to further research for improvements in shade management, as well as better access to resources for the local cacao farmers.

University, Diss., 2008--Frankfurt (Main). / Dt. Übers. des Hauptsacht.: Diversität, Verbreitung und Geochemie benthischer Foraminiferen in holozänen Lagunen von Karbonatplattformen (Belize, Zentralamerika).

This dissertation explores the nature, purpose, function and role of language documentation in order to further our understanding of mechanisms of language transmission and maintenance in the face of language endangerment and the repression of indigenous identity. Beyond its traditional use for generating linguistic data, I argue that the act and the process of language documentation can be understood as a comprehensive means to evaluate the interactions between speakers and researchers and as the stage where various beliefs and emotions are displayed. Extending the notion of “sites” developed by Silverstein (1998) and Kroskrity (2009), I argue that the act of language documentation can create “sites” of linguistic transaction, of self recognition, and of ideological and emotional stance shift. To attain this goal, this project linguistically and ethnographically documents and describes Belizean Mopan, an endangered Mayan language spoken in the southern Petén region of Guatemala and in the Maya Mountain region (Toledo District) of Southern Belize as a case study. Ethnographic and linguistic observation suggest that characteristics of Belizean Mopan do not simply stem from its linguistic features but rather are derived from ethnic complexity, language ideologies, identity politics, the history of Belize and speakers’ awareness of the self. Linguistic biographies, interviews, participant observation, and ethnographic accounts indicate that the individual’s emotional attachments to the language and the sense of belonging to one’s linguistic community are crucial keys for effective language documentation and revitalization. Discourse and grammatical analysis of sound symbolic words in narratives suggest that speakers’ linguistic affects can be evoked through sound itself. The devices used during language documentation, such as voice and video recorders can be understood as “signifying instruments” (J. D. Hill 2014), which amplify or evoke speakers’ and researchers’ linguistic ideologies and/or affects. Tzik ‘respect’ plays a pivotal role in distinguishing Mopans from other Maya groups and many stories and personal narratives either explicitly or subtly demonstrate the concept and importance of tzik for regulating and maintaining the traditional community and for having a successful life, which resembles the secretos ‘secrets’ described in Hofling’s (1996: 109) account of Itzaj Maya lives. Focusing on tzik gained through being a ch’ija’an kristiyanojo ‘the grown-up people’, I argue that storytelling is a primary device to transmit and circulate traditional knowledge, worldview, ideologies and memories of Maya people from the present, the immediate past, and the mythological past and that in a sense, the role and meaning of dream divination and my language consultant, Orlando Sho’s musical performances can be equated with the practice of storytelling. The act of language documentation is a portal to the site of linguistic and cultural transaction and of world learning, in which I see a key to successful language renewal and revitalization.

This thesis examines the bilingual discourse of a cohort of Belizean Spanish speakers who engage in robust language mixing between Spanish, English and to a lesser extent Belize Kriol, an English-lexified creole. The speakers selected for the current study have been identified as the “highest language mixers” in a corpus of 51 interviews conducted in northern and western Belize, areas which have been classified as two distinct dialect regions (Cardona Ramírez 2010; Hagerty 1979). While an abundance of research exists on Spanish-English bilingualism in the U.S. (e.g. Torres Cacoullos and Travis 2014; Silva Corvalán 1994; Roca and Lipksi 1993) there is less research on non-U.S. varieties of Spanish in contact with English, in particular, Belizean varieties of Spanish. Thus, by appealing to the comparative variationist framework (Poplack and Tagliamonte 2001), the major aims of the study are: (i) to describe the major patterns of use among those speakers of Belizean varieties of Spanish who engage in language mixing and, (ii) to determine the status of the single and multiword English-origin fragments which comprise the majority of non-native material in Spanish discourse. In determining the status of the English-origin material with regard to borrowing and code-switching, not only are the specific linguistic mechanisms used by these speakers elucidated, but insights are gained as to whether code-switching and borrowing are distinct linguistic phenomena. Diagnostics of subject position and gender and number agreement on English-origin nouns and verbal morphology and variable clitic placement for English-origin verbs revealed both these categories to pattern with Spanish suggesting that they are borrowings. The remaining one-third of the data, comprised of multiword fragments, consisted primarily of intrasentential and intersentential code-switching and a large category of multiword fragments which initially appeared to be neither code-switches nor borrowings. A comparative quantitative analysis revealed these items to be integrated into Spanish suggesting that they may be treated as single units of meaning. Results, for the most part, are consonant with the literature on bilingual speech. Data consists mainly of lexical borrowing (Thomason 2001; Pfaff 1979; Berk-Seligson 1986), specifically nouns, the most borrowed category cross-linguistically (Muysken 2000; Poplack et al. 1988). Speakers engage in “skilled” or equivalence intrasentential code-switching consistent with other Spanish-English data (Poplack 1980). In addition, only those speakers who reported being equally dominant in the respective languages exhibited robust intrasentential code-switching, thus, concurring with the prevailing assertion that code-switching is the domain of fluent bilinguals (Bullock and Toribio 2012; Lipski 1985; Poplack 1980). Some distinctive features of the language mixing employed by these speakers include the frequent and productive use of bilingual compound verbs (BCV) and a near categorical preference for BCVs as the mechanism for borrowing English-origin verbs. With regard to Spanish determiner marking on English-origin nouns, the masculine default is used almost exclusively, unlike the variability reported elsewhere (Dubord 2004; Smead 2000). By analyzing data from both dialect regions of Belize, this study provides insight both into the global picture of language mixing practices in Belize as well as regional patterns insofar as they are instantiated by the cohort analyzed.

No description available.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF PHILLIP JULIUS WANYERKA, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in ANTHROPOLOGY, presented on 25, February 2009, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: CLASSIC MAYA POLITICAL ORGANIZATION: EPIGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF HIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATION IN THE SOUTHERN MAYA MOUNTAINS REGION OF BELIZE MAJOR PROFESSORS: Dr. Charles A. Hofling and Dr. Don S. Rice This project investigates the nature of Classic Maya (A.D. 300-900) political organization from the hieroglyphic inscriptions of sites located in the Southern Maya Mountains Region of Belize, Central America. Using recent models of political integration as suggested by Grube and Martin (1994, 1995, 1998a, 1998b, 1998c), as well as by Rice (2004), I have sought to understand and define the basic political principles that operated during the Classic Period. In my view, Classic Maya political organization was structured by a combination of hegemonic practice informed by Maya calendrical science, namely the 256-year cycle known as the may. Scholars have struggled in their attempts to define and reconstruct Classic Maya political organization. Most of the previous approaches to this issue have been derived from anthropological theory based on various social, geographic, economic, and political factors observed or deduced from the archaeological record or from ethnographic analogies to pre-industrial peoples far-removed from Mesoamerican cultural tradition. Both Martin and Grube, and Rice's political models are based on the ethnohistoric descriptions and analogies to Postclassic and early Colonial Period Maya, the Mixtecs, and the Aztecs as well as the decipherment of several key hieroglyphic expressions that indicate agency, alliance, subordination, and warfare. This approach may explain how Classic Maya polities operated intra-regionally and how they interacted inter-regionally using the Maya's own written inscriptions as the basis for interpretation. The strength of this approach is its ability to illuminate possible avenues of archaeological research by revealing epigraphic relationships that can then be tested. By combining the methods of epigraphy, archaeology, and a direct historical approach to the hieroglyphic inscriptions of this region, I have not only been able to reconstruct the dynastic history of sites in the region, but I have also been able to reconstruct the political affiliations and hierarchies that existed among sites in this poorly understood region of the southern Maya Lowlands. The data presented here are restricted to the four major emblem-glyph-bearing sites in the region that recorded hieroglyphic texts: Lubaantún, Nim Li Punit, Pusilhá, and Uxbenká.

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This thesis undertakes detailed analysis of a sample of 229 small chert tools from a single locus at the Maya site of Caracol, Belize. Emphasis is placed on determining the function of these tools and on the nature of their use in the broader Caracol economic system. Analysis sought to determine whether they were used for day-to-day household tasks or for specialized craft activity within the specified household locus and/or if they were prepared for broader distribution at Caracol. By focusing detailed analysis on artifacts from a single locus, greater insight is provided into the impact of household production on the overall Caracol economy. The thesis draws on traditional techniques of lithic analysis, while assessing tool morphology and chert reduction techniques; however, it is different from previous analyses in the Maya area in that it develops and applies specific quantifiable statistical methods (e.g., Chi-square and Coefficient of Variable) for particular tool type(s) used in the production and modification of crafts. Application of quantifiable methods and a detailed level of analysis helps to differentiate and determine chert tool variation or standardization, thus establishing ideal tool types within a craft production locus. The determination of the presence of standardization and ideal tool types elucidates that craft production was indeed taking place just outside the epicenter at Caracol and therefore suggests that not only were elites controlling the distribution of crafts via markets located at and along causeway and termini, but may have controlled the production of crafts as well. Future research aims to reanalyze tools from previously excavated craft production areas and also plans to test for the presence of additional crafting areas at or near the site's epicenter. A detailed analysis of a craft production locus and small chert flake tools reveals insight into the nature of the ancient Maya economy and into models of control over resources.

Water management techniques in the Southern Maya Lowlands are both regionally diverse and site specific. This thesis examines the water management strategies of the Classic Period Maya at the site of Caracol, Belize. While it is likely that elites at Caracol controlled the redistribution of resources, i.e. craft and agricultural products, it is probable that the production of agricultural resources and the maintenance of water resource acquisition took place on a more local level. In order to test this hypothesis, a sample of five reservoirs were examined through original research -- and situated in conjunction with past settlement studies -- to determine the water storage capacity and likely function of different water management features throughout the built environment of Caracol. As a result, this thesis argues that the placement and construction of water management features -- i.e., reservoirs -- at the site of Caracol, Belize are indicative of specific landscape patterns which are expressed by a distinct vernacular construction style and are also a reflection of the socio-political organization present within the site during the Late Classic Period.

No description available.