The ''Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures'' is a three-volume set of articles by many specialists under the general editorship of

David Carrasco Davíd Lee Carrasco is an American academic historian of religion, anthropologist, and Mesoamericanist scholar. As of 2001 he holds the inaugural appointment as Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of Latin America Studies at the Harvard Divinity School ...

. Published in 2001, the encyclopedia builds on and updates the sixteen-volume ''Handbook of Middle American Indians'' (1964–76). The work's coverage spans

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...

from the

prehispanic In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

era to the turn of the twenty-first century. Articles are presented alphabetically, but a synoptic outline of contents gives the titles of principal articles. These include geography and history; Mesoamerican cultures and ethnicities; Mesoamerican studies, with an overview article and articles on approaches, methods, and institutions; written and oral sources divided into prehispanic manuscripts and colonial manuscripts and sources; economy and subsistence; social political and religious organization, with principal articles on civil-religious hierarchy, ethnicity, family and kinship, gender, labor, law, political organization, land tenure, slavery, social stratification, an urbanization; social differentiation; institutions and organizations; cultural interaction and processes of social change; cosmovision and ritual performance, creative expressions and material forms; Mesoamerican sites, cities, and ceremonial centers. There are also biographies of historical figures as well as scholars of Mesoamerican culture. There is no coverage of

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

per se, or race and racial conflict.Francie Chassen-López, “Review, ''Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures''”, ''The Americas'' vol. 61, No. 3. Jan 2005, pp. 545-47.

References

Latin American encyclopedias North American encyclopedias Mesoamerican studies 2001 non-fiction books Area studies encyclopedias {{encyclopedia-stub