A la suite d'une revue de l'historiographie sur les conflits agraires et les insurrections indiennes paysannes, l'objectif de ce mémoire est d'effectuer un bilan historiographique sur les origines de la guerra de castas au Yucatan en 1847. De 1940 à 1965, les intellectuels dits progressistes soutiennent que ce sont les changements économiques et les nouvelles structures agraires, amenés par les idées de progrès au XIXe siècle, qui exercent une pression considérable sur les communautés indiennes du Sud et de l'Est de la péninsule. Durant la décennie 1970, plusieurs révisionnistes expliquent principalement le conflit, soit par une opposition sociale de classes, soit par une lutte ethnique entre les Blancs et les Indiens. De 1985 à nos jours, les post-révisionnistes s'intéressent majoritairement aux problématiques qui s'articulent autour des mentalités des insurgés et du rôle des leaders intermédiaires qui mobilisent la paysannerie tandis que quelques-uns pratiquent une approche holistique. / Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 2014

A 12-month study of the ranging behaviour of 11 spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi yucatanensis) was undertaken at the Otochma' ax Yetel Kooh nature reserve in the state of Yucatan, Mexico. The aims were: 1) to evaluate the relationship between ranging patterns of the monkeys and ecological features i.e. climate and food distribution, 2) to assess the efficiency of ranging patterns, and 3) to test the hypothesis that spider monkeys navigate between important sources through spatial memory of key locations. A focal animal was followed daily for as long as possible and details of its ranging patterns recorded by entering positional fixes with a GPS receiver. Behavioural states were included in the observations to link them with the geographical information recorded simultaneously. The results revealed that the ranging patterns of spider monkeys at the study site were determined by the availability of key species of fruit in the area. Ranging was efficient, as evidenced by the fact that in most instances - particularly in the dry season when food was scarce - (1) spider monkeys moved in straight lines to distant food sources, (2) were able to orient their movement toward a food source at distances that could not have been in sight from the point where directed movement originated, and (3) the successive organisation of these linear segments was consistently forward, suggesting an ability to plan ahead of the next food source visited. I present these results as evidence of the use of spatial memory to move efficiently between important sources in their environment, and I argue in favour of higher-level spatial abilities in this species of New World monkeys.

No description available.

The investigation analyses the grammatical and semantic properties of a number of commonly occurring time words in Lakandon Maya, the least described of the four existing Yukatekan languages spoken in southern Mexico and in parts of Guatemala and Belize. Lakandon Maya has around 800 speakers who live in one of two settlements in the southeastern lowlands of Chiapas, Mexico. The language materials that the analysis rests on were collected by the author in the field as part of a documentation effort supported and funded by the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP) at SOAS, University of London. In Lakandon Maya, deictic time words such as 7uhch ('before', 'long ago') and ka7chik ('before', 'previously') have pragmatically dependent features of meaning that relate to the indexical ground rather than the before-after relations relevant to time reference proper. The salient meaning in the two forms can best be described in terms of knowledge asymmetries between the speech participants. However, such modal-like semantics do not exclude the forms from being considered as operators of time reference since they are only used in specific temporal contexts. The results of the investigation point to a shift in meaning in the forms that cannot be anticipated from the available literature on other Yukatekan languages. There, cognates of the investigated forms have been described solely as temporal operators with simultaneous, anterior, and posterior meaning. The investigation argues for a separation between time words that uses the speech situation as the sole point of reference and time words that denote a relation between two events. This separation is defined in terms of speaker-dependent and event-dependent time reference. These concepts are analogous to absolute and relative time reference but should be considered as separate due to the pragmatic motivations that underlie the function and use of the forms.

In Spanish Colonial America, as well as in the Iberian Peninsula at the same time, different jurisdictions intertwined in the same space. By way of consequence, the complex political organization of the New World was composed, at the local level, by the Indian and Spanish Councils, the doctrines, and the provincial structures called corregimientos. Although the officials of those institutions received precise instructions, in which the Spanish Crown defined and limited their functions, tensions were common between the Indian governors, the clergymen, the Spanish Councils’ officeholders, and the Spanish provincial magistrates, or corregidores. The present article will analyze a series of lawsuits that occurred in sixteenth century Yucatan and in which those authorities were implicated, in order to highlight not only the nature of the jurisdictional conflicts, but also the modalities of their resolution at stake in the Spanish Empire’s courts of justice. Special emphasis will be put on the jurisdiction of the Maya Councils with the objective of better understanding the scope of indigenous agency in Spanish Colonial America. We argue that the local control on the one hand, and the legal representation on the other, were key elements in these processes. / Al igual que en la península ibérica, en la América colonial se superpusieron distintas jurisdicciones en el mismo espacio, de modo que el complejo entramado político del Nuevo Mundo estaba conformado, a nivel local, por los cabildos indígenas y españoles, las doctrinas y los corregimientos. Aunque los representantes de aquellas instituciones recibieron detalladas instrucciones en las que la Corona española definía y limitaba sus funciones y prerrogativas, fueron frecuentes las tensiones entre los gobernadores indígenas, los alcaldes ordinarios, los curas beneficiados y los corregidores. A partir de una serie de pleitos en los que estuvieron involucradas estas autoridades, el presente trabajo analiza tanto la naturaleza de los conflictos jurisdiccionales que tuvieron lugar en el Yucatán del siglo XVI como las modalidades de su resolución en los foros de justicia de la Monarquía hispana. Se presta especial atención a la jurisdicción de los cabildos mayas con el fin de esclarecer el alcance de la participación indígena en el sistema político del Imperio hispánico. Consideramos que el control local, por un lado, y la representación legal, por otro, resultan fundamentales para comprender aquellos fenómenos.

Coastal karst aquifers are important water resources, often providing the only source of freshwater to coastal communities for agriculture, industrial usage and human consumption. In order to implement management strategies and preventative measures for future perseveration of this resource, it is imperative to understand how coastal groundwater conditions are controlled by the interaction of freshwater/seawater on local and regional scales, but also over recent and past time periods. However, there is a limited resource of published hydrological data on recent aquifer conditions. In the Yucatán Peninsula and other anchialine environments, this lack of information inhibits the understanding of the spatial and temporal interaction of the meteoric and marine water masses. Documenting how the aquifer is responding to forcing mechanisms such as large precipitation events, seasonal cycles and short-term sea level rise (e.g. storm surge) will assist in understanding modern aquifer condition but also the interpretation of paleo-records. Utilization of water level and salinity sensors in strategic positions in the aquifer demonstrate that meteoric water mass salinity varies over wet and dry seasons with the movement of the halocline, but also on a short-term basis though large rainfall events. Salinity in the meteoric water mass is influenced by mixing with the marine water mass during intense precipitation events associated with Hurricane Ingrid (2013), Tropical Storm Hanna (2014) and a series of unnamed events in 2015. During wet periods, induced flow from increase precipitation causes turbulent mixing with the marine water mass, increasing salinity in the upper meteoric lens. On the contrary, during dry periods, mixing is reduced, therefore making the meteoric lens less saline. This contemporary understanding of meteoric/marine water mass dynamics can be applied to developing and calibrating the geochemical record of calcite rafts, calcite precipitation at the air-water interface of cave pools, as a hydrological proxy for aquifer conditions. Our monitoring of calcite raft formation, deposition and geochemistry shows that raft accumulations (e.g., raft piles/cones) can offer a good paleoenvironmental archive of changing hydrological conditions. Based on a 2-year observational record, results indicate that calcite raft precipitation/formation occurs continuously but with only minor biases with intense rainfall events altering supersaturation conditions in the surface waters. Testing the use of calcite rafts in sediment cores from Hoyo Negro show that geochemical analyses (87Sr/86Sr, δ18O, δ13C, Sr/Ca and Cl/Ca) show that meteoric water mass salinity varied during the Holocene (~ 8.5 Ka – present) likely due to changing rainfall and or cave passage geomorphology, which is coherent with other independent climate records. Prior to this study, calcite rafts have never been considered a paleo-hydrological archive for aquifer conditions, however, the consistency and cross-validation with independent records demonstrates great potential for future paleohydrological reconstructions. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Ce mémoire porte sur l’expérience d’insertion d’une communauté côtière, celle de Río Lagartos, à une aire protégée, la Réserve de biosphère Ría Lagartos (RBRL), Yucatán, Mexique. L’auteure utilise l’approche de la production et de la construction sociale de l’espace pour comprendre, d’une part, comment les habitants du village et les acteurs de la conservation construisent leur rapport à l’environnement et, d’autre part, comment l’introduction de la RBRL influence et transforme la relation que les résidents entretiennent avec leur milieu. On retrouve à Río Lagartos une configuration particulière de l’espace, où les relations entre les acteurs et les différentes activités économiques qu’ils ont développées historiquement sont étroitement liées et s’articulent aux transformations socio-économiques qui ont eu cours simultanément dans le reste de l’état du Yucatán. Malgré l’instabilité indéniable des pêcheries artisanales dans la région, la pêche continue de jouer un rôle clé dans la consolidation de la communauté et demeure à ce jour le vecteur principal des relations socio-environnementales locales et un élément structurant de la vie quotidienne. Depuis sa création en 1979, la RBRL, quant à elle, marque l’organisation sociale de la communauté et induit des transformations dans la façon dont les habitants appréhendent, utilisent et ont accès à l’environnement. Bien que les acteurs locaux ne rejettent pas entièrement certains éléments de la conservation, ceux-ci sont interprétés différemment selon les individus et se voient contestés, questionnés ou négociés, parfois appropriés ou voire même intégrés par ces acteurs. Ainsi, de nouveaux discours, pratiques et savoirs par rapport à l’environnement local émergent de cette nouvelle logique. De même, de nouveaux groupes d’acteurs apparaissent, notamment les guides écotouristiques, qui adoptent de manière instrumentale les discours environnementaux afin de mettre de l’avant leurs propres intérêts. Ainsi, les marqueurs de pouvoirs traditionnels sont progressivement remplacés par de nouveaux marqueurs, comme la capacité de s’approprier et manipuler les discours sur l’environnement promus par les acteurs de la conservation. / This thesis examines the integration experience of a coastal community, that of Río Lagartos, within a protected area, the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve (RBRL), Yucatán, Mexico. Basing its approach on the social production and construction of space, it strives to understand, on the one hand, how the residents and the Reserve’s employees and collaborators each build their relationship to the environment and, on the other hand, how the RBRL influences and transforms the relationship the residents have with their environment. In Río Lagartos there is a particular configuration of space in which the relations between the social actors and the different economic activities they have developed historically are closely linked and relate to the socio-economic transformations that have taken place simultaneously in the rest of the State of Yucatán. Despite the undeniable instability of artisanal fisheries in the region, fishing continues to play a key role in community consolidation and remains the main vector of local socio-environmental dynamics and a structuring element of everyday life. Since it was founded in 1979, the RBRL has influenced the social organization of the community and has led to changes in the way people understand, use and have access to the environment. Although the residents do not completely reject some elements of environmental conservation, these are interpreted differently by individuals and are challenged, questioned or negotiated, sometimes appropriated, or even integrated by these actors. Thus, new discourses, practices and knowledge with respect to the local environment emerge from this new logic. Similarly, new groups of actors are emerging, in particular ecotourism guides, which adopt environmental discourses in an instrumental way only to put forward their own interests. Thus, traditional markers of power within the community are gradually being replaced by new markers, such as the ability to appropriate and manipulate environmental discourses promoted by conservation actors.

L'objectif de ce mémoire est d'analyser les représentations de deux voyageurs occidentaux du 19e siècle concernant l'origine des bâtisseurs des anciennes cités mayas et la société yucatèque de cette période. Notre analyse utilisera comme sources documentaires les récits de voyage de deux explorateurs occidentaux: le Français Jean Frédérick Waldeck et l'Américain John Lloyd Stephens. Nous entendons démontrer que leurs récits ont alimenté et développé la connaissance historique sur au moins deux sujets que nous avons cru utile d'étudier prioritairement: d'une part, les origines de la civilisation qui a construit les cités précolombiennes du Yucatan et, d'autre part, l'étude de la société yucatèque du 19e siècle. Nous entendons privilégier une approche fondée sur l'analyse quantitative et qualitative des discours des auteurs dans une perspective comparative. / Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 2013

This dissertation presents data to support the continuity of warfare throughout the Maya lowlands, and adjacent regions. I discuss the current problems with the archaeology of warfare, the continuity of conflict beginning with the Late Preclassic through the Terminal Classic. Additionally, I emphasize the influence that Teotihuacan had during the Early Classic throughout Mesoamerica, while in some areas there is evidence of diplomatic and economic relations, there is also clear evidence of forced relations at other sites. Conflict is identified on the archaeological record through the heterarchical analysis of a variety of data encompassing defensive features, settlement patterns, epigraphy, iconography, and forensic data. I examine data from San Jose Mogote, Monte Alban, Montana, Izapa, Kaminaljuyu, and sites located within the northern, central, and southern lowlands. The primary goal is to present a cohesive series of war-related events per lowland zone, and chronological time period. Some of the primary questions deal with how land use, and economic trade relations transform political relations and alliances throughout time. Additionally, how do changes in political alliances affect trade routes? By recognizing the important role warfare played in the lowlands, we also recognize how these events affected the elites and their interaction with other polities, and most importantly how these events affected the commoner populace. In the process of investigating conflict throughout the Preclassic and the Classic periods, we can attempt to pinpoint continuities, political and economic changes, and the sociopolitical responses undertaken by polities in a time of war. / text

Depuis 1974 le Canada recrute de la main-d’œuvre agricole mexicaine par l’entremise du Programme de travailleurs agricoles saisonniers (PTAS). Dans le présent mémoire, nous analysons les effets socioéconomiques de la migration temporaire sur les familles des travailleurs migrants à travers leurs regards, de même que les changements dans les rapports entre les femmes et les hommes sur le plan du pouvoir ou encore de la division sexuelle du travail. L’analyse repose sur une étude ethnographique ayant comporté une période de quatre mois d’observation non participante et la réalisation de 41 entretiens dans sept localités, participant au PTAS dans la région sud-est du Yucatán. L’imbrication entre la situation pré-migratoire, le type de migration, le statut des travailleurs à l’étranger contribue de manière complexe à la nature des retombées économiques et sociales de la migration pour les migrants et leurs familles.