Joseno

Ignacio Bizarro Ujpan has served in numerous civil and religious offices in his town of San Jose la Laguna. He writes in his spare time, when he is away from his cornfields and coffee groves and when he is not helping his wife with her weaving projects. Bizarro has also collaborated with James D. Sexton on Mayan Folktales: Folklore from Lake Atitlan, Guatemala (UNM Press). James D. Sexton is Regents' Professor of anthropology at Northern Arizona University and is the author of many articles and books on cultural change in Guatemala's highland communities.

""Joseno" stands as a solid contribution to the genre of Central American testimonial literature. It serves as an excellent closing to the volumes that follow the life of a unique individual that straddles both the modern world and the traditional world of the indigenous community of San Jos la Laguna." "The greatest strength of "Joseño: Another Mayan Voice Speaks from Guatemala" is its bottom-up approach and vivid description of the human condition in rural Guatemala from 1987-1998. This life history will be of interest and value to scholars from a variety of disciplines in the liberal arts and social sciences including anthropologists, historians, sociologists, and political scientists. The book will also appeal to general readers interested in contemporary Guatemala." "This book, if taught within a context to synthesize its detail, is among the best of first-person narratives in Latin American and Native American studies."