Under the Shade of Thipaak

The important cultural role of an ancient, endangered

plant



Under

the Shade of Thipaak

is the first book to explore the cultural role of cycads, plants that evolved

over 250 million years ago and are now critically endangered, in the ancient

and modern Mesoamerican and Caribbean worlds. This volume demonstrates how

these ancient plants have figured prominently in regional mythologies, rituals,

art, and foodways from the Pleistocene-Holocene

transition to the present.



Contributors discuss the

importance of cycads from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including

biology and population genetics, historical ecology, archaeology, art history,

linguistics, and conservation and sustainability. Chapters pay special

attention to the enduring conceptual relationships between cycads and maize.

This book demonstrates how a close examination of cycad-human relationships can

motivate conservation of these threatened plants in ways that engage local

communities, as well as promote the significance of ancient and modern

practices that unite nature and culture.



Contributors: Francisco Barona-G?mez Emanuel Bojorquez Quintal Mark A. Bonta Edder Daniel Bustos-D?az D?nae Cabrera-Toledo Michael Calonje Michael D. Carrasco Ang?lica Cibri?n-Jaramillo Joshua D. Englehardt Jorge Gonz?lez-Astorga Naishla M. Guti?rrez-Arroyo Jos? Sa?d Guti?rrez-Ortega Thomas Hart Jaime R. Pag?n-Jim?nez Francisco P?rez-Zavala Luis Rojas Abarca Esteban S?nchez Rodr?guez Dennis William Stevenson Amber M. VanDerwarker Luis R. Vel?zquez Maldonado Andrew P. Vovides