The Seriousness of Play: What Ballcourts Tell Us about Sociopolitical Negotiation in Nejapa and the Eastern Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Stoll, Marijke Maurine Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 04/10/2021 03:39:58 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/630223 THE SERIOUSNESS OF PLAY: WHAT BALLCOURTS TELL US ABOUT SOCIOPOLITICAL NEGOTIATION IN NEJAPA AND THE EASTERN SIERRA SUR, OAXACA, MEXICO by Marijke M. Stoll __________________________ Copyright © Marijke M. Stoll 2018 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2018 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Marijke M. Stoll 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS They say that writing a dissertation is one of the hardest things that you will ever have to do in your professional academic career. Never has an adage been more true, and never has one set out to prove itself so much, despite all of my best-laid plans and intentions: the financial collapse and Great Recession of 2008 that happened as I entered graduate school, making it hard to find funding for a project about ancient sports arenas; losing access to my first planned dissertation project and losing two years of research and writing grant applications; a string of broken laptops and dead hard drives that also always managed to lose important documents no matter how often I backed up them up…the list goes on. To say that this dissertation is a result of blood, sweat, and tears is a vast understatement, not only because I have cried rivers of tears and bled and sweated buckets while working on this, but also because without the dedication, love, and the blood, sweat, and tears of the people in my life – from friends and colleagues to family – I would never have been able to do any of this. My love of anthropology, archaeology, and the deep past began very early in life, and for that I owe much to my parents who always supported me in my decision to follow this career path, even when at 10 years old I proudly announced to my mom one day, “Mom, I want to be a paleoanthropologist”, and she wasn’t quite sure what I was babbling on about. Through all the successes, failures, hardships, and joy, my parents have stood by my side, always ready with words of encouragement, a good hug, or even a little financial help when I needed it. One of the best things they ever did was our big family vacation to Cancun, Mexico. It was during our day 4 trip Chichen Itza when, while gazing at the depiction of a human skull surround by flowery designs carved on the outside wall of the Great Ballcourt, that I fell in love with the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica, los antepasados. I will always remain forever grateful to my parents for always encouraging my passions for knowledge and exploration, for the many visits to our local library and museums, and for sharing my love of history and old things. And while he may only listen with half an ear whenever I talk about archaeology, I give thanks to Travis for being an awesome brother and a wonderful, caring person. My intellectual development was guided and nurtured by many wonderful professors I have had the pleasure of meeting throughout my life, beginning with my undergraduate experience at the University of Chicago. From the Uncommon Core where I first took a serious dive into the history of social theory and political thought, to the intense archaeology courses I took in the Anthropology Department, it was here at U of C where I first began to discover myself as a scholar. For that I have to give many thanks to two professors who had the most impact. First, Mark Lycett, a man who I always found to be a little intimidating but who always pointed me in the right direction. His grounded and common sense approach made the most dense theory relatable and interesting, which is why I tried to get into every class he offered. Second, Edward Swenson, whose class on Ideology, Ritual and the Moche really sparked my interest in these those and sent me on the road to the present research and dissertation. Since that first class I have had the fortunate to get to know Ed as a colleague and a good friend. Our undergraduate courses of course are only the beginning our development as academics and scholars; it is graduate school where we really come into our own. Although I had never imagined myself at the University of Arizona when I was younger, I am so thankful that this is where I ended up. I found myself welcomed into the fold of a warm, close-knit, and 5 intellectually stimulating department – even before I had officially entered the program! Even when there weren’t many points in common between our research interests, every faculty member I interacted always took the time to listen and offer advice. From the professors I took classes with to those who showed me how to teach as newbie Teaching Assistant, to the faculty members I only ran into in the hall or chatted with over beers at Happy Hour, you all have touched my life and helped me in uncountable ways, even at those times when I wasn’t my best. I am most especially thankful to (in no particular order) Dave Killick, Steve Kuhn, Lars Fogelin, Barbara Mills, Tom Sheridan, Daniela Triadan, Diane Austin, E. Charles Adams, T.J. Ferguson, James Watson, Michael Schiffer, and J.J. Reid. I will forever be grateful to John Olsen, a dear friend who helped me out when I was on my first field project in Mexico after becoming ABD and had had my funding taken away. Finally, my dearest thanks to Mark Nichter – you weren’t sure how I would be as your TA so I am glad that I could prove that archaeologists can hang! I enjoyed our before and after class chats, and I am glad to count you as a colleague and friend. As a graduate student, your advisor is one of the most important people in your life. I still remember my first lunch meeting with Takeshi Inomata when I told him, rather bluntly, that “I have no interest in the Maya and plan to work in Oaxaca, but I like your ideas and I think you can help me a lot.” I always wondered what he had thought about that! At times I felt like the red-headed stepchild, the one person not studying the Maya or working at Ceibel like his other students; and like that dreaded stepchild I know I have disappointed him at times and made him smile despite himself at others. Yet Takeshi has always been my advocate and has helped me find my footing intellectually, always reminding me to let the data speak for itself. I am forever grateful that Takeshi took a chance and took me on as a student. Through my future projects and contributions to archaeology, I hope to make him feel as proud of me as I am to be his student. 6 I also have to give many hearty and profound thanks to the other members of my committee who have also helped me so much over the course of the dissertation research and writing. I met María Nieves Zedeño my first year at Arizona and instantly liked her. My admiration and respect were further cemented when I ran into her wearing a teddy bear costume at a graduate student Halloween party that same year. Over the course of that first year I knew that she had to be a part of my committee. Nieves was key in helping me design, get permission for, and implement my ethnography of the pelota Mixteca players in Oaxaca. This project was a pivotal moment in my life. It shocked me out of the many romantic notions I had about the ballgame, but also showed me other critical insights that have had a great impact on my research and interpretations of the game. I would not have been so successful with the ethnographic project – really my first self-directed research study – without her guidance and wisdom. I had never planned to take GIS courses initially, but found myself doing so in the Fall 2010 when it appeared that I was to be in charge of GIS data processing and analysis for a big research project. Although that is not how life turned out, taking this course was another game changer for me in my graduate career and for my research. Gary Christopherson co-taught that course and won me over with his dry sense of humor.