Houses in a Landscape: Memory and Everyday Life in Mesoamerica (review)

Houses in a Landscape: Memory and Everyday Life in Mesoamerica explores how social memory is constructed through material culture, challenging traditional views of memory as either individual or collective. Julia Hendon's study examines three late Classic/Post Classic Mayan communities—Copán, Cuyumapa valley, and Cerro Palenque—in Honduras, focusing on the interplay between memory, identity, and shared practices. She argues that memory is an active, practice-centered process deeply embedded in daily life, where objects like stelae (enchanting) and metates (humble) serve as focal points for remembering and forgetting. Unlike conventional archaeological studies, this work prioritizes theoretical insights over systematic data analysis of houses, illustrating how material engagement shapes historical consciousness across time and space.

(Ed.). (2010). Houses in a Landscape: Memory and Everyday Life in Mesoamerica (review). Anthropological Quarterly, 83(4), 927–930. https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.2010.0018