Peer-Reviewed Articles by S.B. West, PhD
South Atlantic Quarterly, 2023
This article imagines abolitionist politics in the Yucatán peninsula as one group, known as U jee... more This article imagines abolitionist politics in the Yucatán peninsula as one group, known as U jeets'el le ki'ki’ kuxtal, pushes against one portion of Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador's development plan known as the “Tren Maya.” I contend that U je'etsel's calls for autonomy speak to forms of radical abolitionist politics present in the United States, where we might observe the centrality of land in both abolition and decolonization. To this end, I first provide a definition of a trans feminist abolition radically focused on the otherwise, or the eradication of all forms of social oppression. This definition is followed by close readings of U je'etsel's communiqués regarding AMLO's 2021 visit to the Yucatán peninsula and the continued role the so-called “Caste War” plays in attempts to expand nationalized colonization into the region. My final goal is to proffer that “Caste War” constitutes a historicized form of radical autonomy as well as project of abolition subject to forces that seek to vacate it of its liberatory power. I demonstrate that part of U je'etsel's discursive project is to reclaim the “Caste War” narrative as part of an emancipatory project involving a radical reclaiming of autonomy's regional history.
Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, 2019
During Yucatán’s Caste War, described in the nineteenth century as the Mayan rebel uprising again... more During Yucatán’s Caste War, described in the nineteenth century as the Mayan rebel uprising against criollo (European-identified) hegemony, more than half the Yucatán Peninsula’s population either perished or fled, fearing for their lives. As one of the most violent indigenous uprisings in the Americas, it was also one
of the longest: the Caste Wars tormented the Mexican Southeast for over 50 years. While historical scholarship has examined the Caste War at length, the study of the peninsula’s literary production has yet to be considered for the contribution it makes to fully understanding the sociohistorical context of the war. In this article,
I examine the pirate novels of two of Yucatán’s most prolific nineteenth-century letrados—Eligio Ancona and Justo Sierra O’Reilly—as they delve into the anxieties that the Caste War provoked in the elite population. Through analysis
of the well-established genre of the pirate novel, I demonstrate the way literature served as a space to test new configurations of racial discourses that emerged from the criollo construction of a race war. When paired with historical monographs by the same authors, it becomes evident that the pirate took on new meaning
in the context of the Caste War, allowing criollo intellectuals to substitute their increasingly threatened mastery of the land (under attack by rural uprisings) for an imagined mastery of the sea.
Book Chapters by S.B. West, PhD
T’áalk’u’ Iknalítico: Omniausencias, Omnipresencias y Ubicuidades Mayas, 2024
Este capítulo ofrece algunas reflexiones sobre de la novela bilingüe de Georgina Rosado y Carlos ... more Este capítulo ofrece algunas reflexiones sobre de la novela bilingüe de Georgina Rosado y Carlos Chablé, En busca de María Uicab: Reina y Santa Patrona de los mayas rebeldes / Ich u k’aaxantil María Uicab (2021), reflexiones guiadas por la meta de proponer una exploración de género en la memoria de la (mal) llamada Guerra de Castas, el levantamiento más largo y exitoso de este hemisferio. Este capítulo ofrece una definición del género como una estructura colonizante y demuestra la importancia del abandono del binario de género —es decir, la articulación de hombre y mujer, o lo que se ha llamado posiciones de cisgénero— en el imaginario de mundos decoloniales. De ahí, considero el impacto que el género estructural tiene en la memoria de la Guerra de Castas a través de la yuxtaposición del trabajo antropológico sobre Uicab y novela de Rosado y Chablé.
Le ts’íiba’ ku k’ubik wa jayp’eel taamkach tuukulo’ob yo’osal u popolts’íibil Georgina Rosado yéetel Carlos Chablé, En busca de María Uicab: Reina y Santa Patrona de los mayas rebeldes / Ich u k’aaxantil María Uicab (2021), tuukulo’ob belbesa’an uti’al u xaak’alxokta’al ti’ xch’uup yéetel xiib ichil u k’a’ajbesajil le ma’ enaj u k’aba’ta’al u “Ba’atelil le Ch’i’ibalo’obo’”, u li’ik’ilba’atelil mas xanchajij ichil u náajatbilil way te tu jaatsillu’um yóok’ol kaabe’. Le múuch’ ts’íiba’, ku jets’ik género bey jump’éel tsoolilba’il u ti’al táanxel tu’ux -u k’áat u ya’ale’, le u p’a’at-tukulta’al máako’ob chéen je’ebix ch’uupo’ob wa chéen je’exbix xiibo’ob (cisgénero)- tu tuukulo’ob múuch’ kaajo’ob táanxelilo’ob. Te’elo’, kin máansik tukultbil bix u tak’bentubaj genero estructural ichil u k’a’ajbesajil u Ba’atelil le Ch’i’ibalo’obo’ tu’ux ku nupbesikubáaj u xaak’alxokta’al yóok’lal Uicab yéetel u u popolts’íibil Rosado yéetel Chable’.
Other Publications by S.B. West, PhD
Selected Courses by S.B. West, PhD
Invited Talks by S.B. West, PhD
But Some of Us are Brave: Narratives of Scholarship, Resistance and Activism by Women and Femmes of Color, 2023
Doctoral Thesis by S.B. West, PhD
Papers by S.B. West, PhD
South Atlantic Quarterly
This article imagines abolitionist politics in the Yucatán peninsula as one group, known as U jee... more This article imagines abolitionist politics in the Yucatán peninsula as one group, known as U jeets'el le ki'ki’ kuxtal, pushes against one portion of Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador's development plan known as the “Tren Maya.” I contend that U je'etsel's calls for autonomy speak to forms of radical abolitionist politics present in the United States, where we might observe the centrality of land in both abolition and decolonization. To this end, I first provide a definition of a trans feminist abolition radically focused on the otherwise, or the eradication of all forms of social oppression. This definition is followed by close readings of U je'etsel's communiqués regarding AMLO's 2021 visit to the Yucatán peninsula and the continued role the so-called “Caste War” plays in attempts to expand nationalized colonization into the region. My final goal is to proffer that “Caste War” constitutes a historicized form of radical autonomy as well ...
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Peer-Reviewed Articles by S.B. West, PhD
of the longest: the Caste Wars tormented the Mexican Southeast for over 50 years. While historical scholarship has examined the Caste War at length, the study of the peninsula’s literary production has yet to be considered for the contribution it makes to fully understanding the sociohistorical context of the war. In this article,
I examine the pirate novels of two of Yucatán’s most prolific nineteenth-century letrados—Eligio Ancona and Justo Sierra O’Reilly—as they delve into the anxieties that the Caste War provoked in the elite population. Through analysis
of the well-established genre of the pirate novel, I demonstrate the way literature served as a space to test new configurations of racial discourses that emerged from the criollo construction of a race war. When paired with historical monographs by the same authors, it becomes evident that the pirate took on new meaning
in the context of the Caste War, allowing criollo intellectuals to substitute their increasingly threatened mastery of the land (under attack by rural uprisings) for an imagined mastery of the sea.
Book Chapters by S.B. West, PhD
Le ts’íiba’ ku k’ubik wa jayp’eel taamkach tuukulo’ob yo’osal u popolts’íibil Georgina Rosado yéetel Carlos Chablé, En busca de María Uicab: Reina y Santa Patrona de los mayas rebeldes / Ich u k’aaxantil María Uicab (2021), tuukulo’ob belbesa’an uti’al u xaak’alxokta’al ti’ xch’uup yéetel xiib ichil u k’a’ajbesajil le ma’ enaj u k’aba’ta’al u “Ba’atelil le Ch’i’ibalo’obo’”, u li’ik’ilba’atelil mas xanchajij ichil u náajatbilil way te tu jaatsillu’um yóok’ol kaabe’. Le múuch’ ts’íiba’, ku jets’ik género bey jump’éel tsoolilba’il u ti’al táanxel tu’ux -u k’áat u ya’ale’, le u p’a’at-tukulta’al máako’ob chéen je’ebix ch’uupo’ob wa chéen je’exbix xiibo’ob (cisgénero)- tu tuukulo’ob múuch’ kaajo’ob táanxelilo’ob. Te’elo’, kin máansik tukultbil bix u tak’bentubaj genero estructural ichil u k’a’ajbesajil u Ba’atelil le Ch’i’ibalo’obo’ tu’ux ku nupbesikubáaj u xaak’alxokta’al yóok’lal Uicab yéetel u u popolts’íibil Rosado yéetel Chable’.
Other Publications by S.B. West, PhD
Selected Courses by S.B. West, PhD
Invited Talks by S.B. West, PhD
Doctoral Thesis by S.B. West, PhD
Papers by S.B. West, PhD
of the longest: the Caste Wars tormented the Mexican Southeast for over 50 years. While historical scholarship has examined the Caste War at length, the study of the peninsula’s literary production has yet to be considered for the contribution it makes to fully understanding the sociohistorical context of the war. In this article,
I examine the pirate novels of two of Yucatán’s most prolific nineteenth-century letrados—Eligio Ancona and Justo Sierra O’Reilly—as they delve into the anxieties that the Caste War provoked in the elite population. Through analysis
of the well-established genre of the pirate novel, I demonstrate the way literature served as a space to test new configurations of racial discourses that emerged from the criollo construction of a race war. When paired with historical monographs by the same authors, it becomes evident that the pirate took on new meaning
in the context of the Caste War, allowing criollo intellectuals to substitute their increasingly threatened mastery of the land (under attack by rural uprisings) for an imagined mastery of the sea.
Le ts’íiba’ ku k’ubik wa jayp’eel taamkach tuukulo’ob yo’osal u popolts’íibil Georgina Rosado yéetel Carlos Chablé, En busca de María Uicab: Reina y Santa Patrona de los mayas rebeldes / Ich u k’aaxantil María Uicab (2021), tuukulo’ob belbesa’an uti’al u xaak’alxokta’al ti’ xch’uup yéetel xiib ichil u k’a’ajbesajil le ma’ enaj u k’aba’ta’al u “Ba’atelil le Ch’i’ibalo’obo’”, u li’ik’ilba’atelil mas xanchajij ichil u náajatbilil way te tu jaatsillu’um yóok’ol kaabe’. Le múuch’ ts’íiba’, ku jets’ik género bey jump’éel tsoolilba’il u ti’al táanxel tu’ux -u k’áat u ya’ale’, le u p’a’at-tukulta’al máako’ob chéen je’ebix ch’uupo’ob wa chéen je’exbix xiibo’ob (cisgénero)- tu tuukulo’ob múuch’ kaajo’ob táanxelilo’ob. Te’elo’, kin máansik tukultbil bix u tak’bentubaj genero estructural ichil u k’a’ajbesajil u Ba’atelil le Ch’i’ibalo’obo’ tu’ux ku nupbesikubáaj u xaak’alxokta’al yóok’lal Uicab yéetel u u popolts’íibil Rosado yéetel Chable’.