‘The first duties of persons living in a civilized community’: the Maya, the Church, and the colonial state in southern Belize

Geographical approaches to religion in the past

“…Firstly, exploring why religious ideas and practices have moved, scholars have gained insights into the intersections between religion and significant social, cultural, and political processes. This has included insights into religion's relationships with empire building (DeRogatis, 2003; Lehr & Katz, 1995; Neal Leavelle, 2004; Porter, 2004; Quesada‐Garcia, 2022; Wainwright, 2009); war and conflict (Banerjee, 2018; Burlacioiu, 2018; Cunningham, 2013; Gregory et al., 2013; Stump, 2005); migration (Burlacioiu, 2018; Kark, 1983); and trade (Michaelopoulos et al., 2018; Smith, 2018). In particular, explorations of the geographical spread of Christianity since the seventeenth century have critically reflected on its contributions to colonial expansion, cultural imperialism, and race‐based violence (Taithe, 2009; Vallgårda, 2016).…”

“Los maestros garífunas” de Belice: herencias y apropiaciones de una categoría histórica colonial en contexto de construcción nacional

“…La solución propuesta por el Estado consistía en controlar la movilidad de los mayas, favoreciendo su agrupación en áreas limitadas para "liberar" el espacio previsto para la explotación forestal (Hoffmann, 2021, p. 44). El control de las poblaciones mayas era difícil, por lo tanto, la alianza educativa establecida entre el Estado y la iglesia católica funcionaba, también, con el propósito de "estabilizar" esas poblaciones en territorios asignados e integrarlos al orden colonial (Wainwright, 2009).…”

The Colonial Roots of Forest Extraction: Rosewood Exploitation in Southern Belize

“…Understanding the persistence of poverty in a place like southern Belize requires an alternative approach, one that scrutinizes the historical formation of the fundamental relations that shape the production and consumption of commodities (including land and labour power). In Belize, capitalist social relations were formed in the crucible of British colonialism (Wainwright, , ; Wilk, , ). Notwithstanding the ample literature on the indigenous Maya and Garifuna communities of southern Belize, there has been little analysis of the colonial political economy that transformed their livelihoods.…”

“…While Wilk's study explains household dynamics, it provides a limited basis for grasping the region's political economy. The only subsequent studies of the colonial political economy of southern Belize, by Wainwright (, , 2016), extends Wilk's research in some respects, yet we still lack an integrated historical analysis of the political economy of colonial southern Belize and its contemporary effects. This article contributes to filling this gap, focusing on forestry.…”