The Maze of History
Komal Hok, O'odham Teachings, and an Earth-Based Sense of Time
$156.00
- Hardcover
224 pages
- Release Date
16 June 2026
Summary
A major contribution to O’odham studies and Southwest history, Martínez offers a new perspective on the life and knowledge of Komal Hok, an important Akimel O’odham storyteller also known as “Thin Leather.”
The Maze of History refers to the man-in-the-maze symbol that has adorned O’odham baskets for generations. According to O’odham oral tradition, the maze is the home to I’itoi, “our elder brother,” the sacred being that taught ancestral O’odham their way of doing things, th…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780826369123 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 082636912X |
| Author: | David Martínez |
| Publisher: | University of New Mexico Press |
| Imprint: | University of New Mexico Press |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 224 |
| Release Date: | 16 June 2026 |
| Weight: | 411g |
| Dimensions: | 229mm x 152mm x 20mm |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
“David Martínez succeeds brilliantly in framing O’odham oral tradition as history and Indigenous intellectual history from the perspective of a renowned O’odham intellectual who is deeply grounded within a genealogy of O’odham intellectuals.” – Seth Schermerhorn, author of Walking to Magdalena: Personhood and Place in Tohono O’odham Songs, Sticks, and Stories“Martínez has wrangled an enormous O’odham archive of resistance to present a uniquely O’odham philosophy of history. Thanks to this pathbreaking book, we may (and may we) never again hear about the ‘peaceful warriors’ Americans encountered along the Gila River or the ‘mysterious’ architects of Casa Grande who faded away into history. This is O’odham jeved (land) and O’odham history.” – Fantasia Painter, assistant professor of global and international studies, University of California Irvine
About The Author
David Martínez
David Martínez (Akimel O’odham / Hia-Ced O’odham / Mexican) is enrolled in the Gila River Indian Community and is a professor of American Indian and transborder studies at Arizona State University. He is also the director of the Institute for Transborder Indigenous Nations. Martínez’s previous works include Life of the Indigenous Mind: Vine Deloria Jr. and the Birth of the Red Power Movement and My Heart Is Bound Up with Them: How Carlos Montezuma Became the Voice of a Generation.
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