Walter E. Little
Secondary Contact
PhD, University of Illinois, 2001
About
In addition to the Department of Anthropology, Professor Walter E. Little is affiliated with the Department of Africana, Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies. His ethnographic research in Guatemala and Mexico combines political economy and interpretive perspectives to understand identity politics, economic practices, and heritage tourism. He focuses on Kaqchikel and K'iche' Maya artisan and vendor livelihoods in urban heritage sites with attention to the articulation of these livelihoods with household organization, community politics, religious practices, and especially textiles.
Of note, he curated the exhibit, "Desafiando la autenticidad. La computarización en la producción y consumo de textiles mayas de Guatemala," for the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico (October 18, 2024 - December 31, 2024). View an online version of the exhibit.
His other interests include the development of pedagogical resources for Kaqchikel and Triqui languages, as well as supporting their broader cultural interest through collaborative projects. His next co-authored book is Kik’aslemal ri Kaqchikela’ - Kaqchikel Maya Life: Kaqchikel Maya Language, which will be published spring 2026. It is a follow-up to La ütz awäch? Introduction to Kaqchikel Maya Language (2006). And in 2019, Triquis Sin Fronteras (a community based organization), Lauren Clemens and he were awarded President’s Awards for Exemplary Public Engagement for the Triqui Project, which advances the department’s research and teaching while preserving the language and culture of the Capital Region Triqui community.
Past-President, Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology
Editor, Revista Mesoamérica
Research Interests
- Cultures
- Diversity
- Economics
- Indigenous peoples and languages of the Americas, Mesoamerica
- Latin America
- Popular Culture
- Tourism
- Urban Studies
Publications
He is the author of 13 books and edited volumes, more 60 articles, and multiple book reviews. His monograph, Mayas in the Marketplace: Tourism, Globalization, and Cultural Identity (2004), won the 2005 New England Council for Latin American Studies Best Book Award, and his co-edited volume, Street Economies in the Urban Global South (2013), won the 2014 Society for the Anthropology of Work Best Book Award. Other notable publications include a co-edited volume, Norms and Illegality: Intimate Ethnographies and Politics (2021), co-editor of a special issue of Annals of Anthropological Practice (2020, 44.2) “Participatory Research and Ethics in Mesoamerican Fieldwork”.
Editor, Revista Mesoamérica