Discarded Pages: Araceli Cab Cumi, Maya Poet and Politician

Kathleen Rock Martin

Araceli Cab Cum� is a contemporary Maya writer, grassroots leader, and political party activist from Mexico. She is also the only indigenous woman to have been elected to the State Congress of Yucatan, serving two terms of office.

Discarded Pages is Cab Cum�'s life narrative accompanied by her essays, poems, personal narratives, and political and public policy papers. Titled in honor of Cab Cum�'s earliest writings which she had thrown away thinking them of little value, Discarded Pages showcases her expressions and thoughts within the context of her eventful and unusual life. In addition to translations of her work, Cab Cum�'s original Spanish and Yucatec Maya writings are included in the book.

Gramsci's theoretically innovative concept of the "organic intellectual" is used to analyze Cab Cum�'s life and career. The book expands on Gramsci's original concept to include discussions of gender, new social movements, and the social context in which organic intellectuals labor as activists and thinkers. Throughout Discarded Pages Cab Cum� movingly represents the worldview of a Maya woman seeking to represent other Maya women.

Winner of the A. B. Thomas Award for best book on Latin America from the Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies (SECOLAS) for 2008.

"...the reader comes away from this study with admiration for Cab Cumí and considerable appreciation for Martín's respectful and affectionate approach to her subject."--The Americas

"...[a] vivid, compelling, and complex study....an important contribution to Maya studies."--A Contracorriente

"[Discarded Pages] is a fascinating look at a poet and a politician."--World Literature Today

Kathleen Rock Martín is associate professor of anthropology at Florida International University, Miami.

6 x 9 332 pages 27 halftones