Our book is now available in paperback, in the University of Nebraska Press Fall & Winter 2018 catalog on page 45
http://nebraska-press.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/21125205/FW18_LinkedCatalog.pdf
Our book is also in the University of Nebraska Press Spring & Summer 2016 catalog at http://issuu.com/nebraskapress/docs/ss16_catalog_linked/1.
To order The Mayans Among Us contact:
University of Nebraska Press c/o Longleaf Services, Inc.
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Chapel Hill, NC 27514-3808
phone 800-848-6224 or 919-966-7449 fax 800-272-6817 or 919-962-2704
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inquiries customerservice@longleafservices.org
online catalog nebraskapress.unl.edu bisonbooks.com potomacbooksinc.com
CATALOG DESCRIPTION
When Ann L. Sittig made a quick stop at a secondhand shop in a small meatpacking town in Nebraska, she overheard a couple speaking Spanish with the unmistakable inflection of Mayan. When she inquired further, the couple confirmed that they were Mayans from Guatemala and indicated there were lots of Mayans living in the area. Soon afterward, Sittig met Martha Florinda González, a Mayan community leader living in Nebraska, and together they began gathering the oral histories of contemporary Mayan women living in the state and working in meatpacking plants.
In The Mayans Among Us Sittig and González focus on the unique experiences of the Central American indigenous immigrants who are often overlooked in media coverage of Latino and Latina migration to the Great Plains. Many of the Mayan immigrants are political refugees from repressive, war-torn countries and as such are distinct from Latin America’s economic immigrants. Sittig and González initiated group dialogues with Mayan women about the psychological, sociological, and economic wounds left by war, poverty, immigration, and residence in a new country. The Mayans share their concerns and hopes as they negotiate their new home, culture, language, and life in Nebraska in order to survive and send economic support back home for their children. Longtime Nebraskans share their perspectives on the immigrants as well.
The Mayans Among Us poignantly explores how Mayan women in rural Nebraska meatpacking plants weave together their three distinct identities: Mayan, Central American, and American.
PRAISE
“This book makes for a fascinating read. Sittig and González help us understand the points of view of an almost invisible population. The stories of the Mayans, huge and heartbreaking stories, increase our moral imaginations. I wish this were required reading for all our politicians and policy makers. I recommend it to all who yearn to understand the America we live in today.”—Mary Pipher, author of The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community
“Ann L. Sittig and Martha Florinda González offer an instructive and significant depiction of the changes of work, religion, place, and life in small-town Nebraska.”—Elaine Carey, associate professor of history at St. John’s University and author of Women Drug Traffickers: Mules, Bosses, and Organized Crime
"The Mayans Among Us is a collection of heart-rending stories of the Mayan women who first suffered in the country of their birth and now suffer in their adopted country. It is an essential read to understand modern Mayan women and the issues they face. All students and experts of Latin America and Mayan civilization must read it." —Washington Independent Review of Books
AWARDS
Publication of this volume was assisted by a grant from the Friends of the University of Nebraska Press.
University of Nebraska Press Blog
Take a look at our blog at UNP.
And Ann's blog at UNP.