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- Title
FACING OBJECTS: AN INVESTIGATION OF NON-HUMAN PERSONHOOD IN CLASSIC MAYA CONTEXTS.
- Authors
Jackson, Sarah E.
- Abstract
Research on Classic Maya personhood confirms that personhood was extended to non-human entities; however, questions about its operation and impact remain. What is the nature of the linkage between human beings and object persons, and how does personhood pass between them? What is the impact on an object of becoming personed? I approach these questions through depictions in Classic Maya iconography of faces shown on non-human objects, indicating potential to act in person-like ways. Close examination of "faced" objects reveals that Classic Maya personhood represents a substance that does not require humans as a source, and acts, instead, as an untethered resource accessed by entities able to act in social, relational ways. Furthermore, object personhood represents a state of identity in which essences of persons and objects co-exist, opening possibilities for complicating categories of being in the ancient Maya world.
- Subjects
NONEXISTENT objects (Philosophy); PERSONALITY (Theory of knowledge); IDENTITY (Philosophical concept); HUMAN beings; MAYAN antiquities
- Publication
Ancient Mesoamerica, 2019, Vol 30, Issue 1, p31
- ISSN
0956-5361
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/S0956536118000019