Description
Book SynopsisWendy Call visited the Isthmus of Tehuantepec - the lush sliver of land connecting the Yucatan Peninsula to the rest of Mexico - for the first time in 1997. Call's story invites readers into the homes, classrooms, storefronts, and fishing boats of the isthmus, as well as the mahogany-paneled high-rise offices of those striving to control the region.
Trade Review"[Call] writes lively narrative, detailed description, and engaging scenes that render her subjects—a schoolteacher, fishermen, activists—three-dimensional. By relating the lives and concerns of isthmus dwellers and the struggles they face, the author raises awareness of globalization's effects on the village economy."—
Publishers Weekly"The rapid prominence of a global economy does not come without its struggles.
No Word for Welcome: The Mexican Village Faces the Global Economy discusses the challenges faced by these smaller Mexican communities and the challenges put before them. . . . A deep study of the effects of this rapid change,
No Word for Welcome is an excellent study of these factors that are affecting smaller communities all around the world."—James A. Cox,
Midwest Book Review"Call's graceful movement between cultures demonstrates her considerable skills as a writer, and especially as a translator. For indeed she has a translator's ear for discerning the importance of the Huave language, Ombeayiüts, a word that literally means "our mouth." . . . Wendy Call's book is at once a portrait and a piece of that resistance, and a warning to the rest of the citizens of our global village."—Clare Sullivan,
Iowa Review "We should be grateful for Wendy Call's delightful, yet painfully truthful, story of the challenges facing one of Mexico's lesser-known regions."—Jeff Conant,
Orion Magazine"Call, who worked for Grassroots International many years ago, embeds herself in the communities as the Trans-Isthmus Megaproject lurches toward the beaches, estuaries, and forests where they live. Yet this is no dismal read. True, the villagers seem to face insurmountable odds. But as economic and political forces encircle them, they are alive to their changing circumstances and are far from conceding defeat . . . In Call's patient telling, the character of the indigenous villagers slowly reveals itself against this backdrop of upheaval and loss."—Orson Moon,
Monday Developments"[This book] cuts through the rhetoric of globalization . . . . Author Wendy Call shows the effects of industrialization not by preaching against it or by romanticizing village life from afar. . . . In beautiful prose, she profiles a teacher, a fisherman and several activists in the region in order to show how even the threat of change can divide a community."—Michelle Seaton, Head Juror, Grub Street National Book Prize for Nonfiction
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments 000
Introduction: Drawing an Old Map 000
1. Learning the Lay of the Land 000
2. Time Travel 000
3. Ocean's Mouth Empties 000
4. A Village of Sand 000
5. Worshipping a Wooden Cross 000
6. Isthmus Defended 000
7. We Come Here to Name Ourselves 000
8. Peregrination 000
9. Outpost of the Poor 000
10. Celebrate Saint Francis of the Sea 000
11. Gourd Full of Gold 000
12. Redrawing the Map 000
Source Notes 000
Index 000
