The Transnational Construction of Mayanness: Reading Modern Mesoamerica through US Archives ed. by Armstrong-Fumero F. and Fallaw B. (review).

This volume, *The Transnational Construction of Mayanness: Reading Modern Mesoamerica through US Archives*, critically examines how US corporate and academic interests have shaped Maya studies and the control of Maya cultural knowledge since the late 19th century. Edited by Fernando Armstrong-Fumero and Ben Fallaw, the book uses US archival sources to reveal the extraction and appropriation of Maya artifacts by American corporations, the influence of US funding on archaeological research, and the marginalization of Indigenous voices in defining Mayanness. Contributions explore themes such as racialized labor, tourism, medical experimentation on Maya bodies, and the ongoing colonial dynamics embedded in knowledge production and heritage tourism in Yucatan. While the volume advances scholarship on North-South asymmetries in Maya studies, it is noted for its limited inclusion of contemporary Maya intellectuals, whose perspectives have been central to Maya identity and empowerment since the 1970s.