Axis Mundi in the Tropics: Uses and Abuses of Eliade’s Phenomenology of Religion in the Schelean Maya Studies

Abstract Ever since the 1980s, the Maya Studies became seeped with influence of the theories of Mircea Eliade. The article traces the origins and contexts of this influence and evaluates both the results it yielded and the problems it brought to the discipline. First of all, it shows that the way Eliade’s influence has been brought to the Maya Studies (mainly via the Maya Cosmos monograph) is seriously problematic, since it does not discuss or even acknowledge the Eliadian origins of its main concepts. This lack of theoretical reflection opened the door to simplifications and misunderstandings, which spread through the discipline. At the same time, the fundamentally empirical character of Maya Studies practically prevented any deeper conceptual discussion of Maya religion. The article therefore calls for a much needed theoretical and methodological self-reflection of Maya Studies and its concepts related to ancient Maya spirituality.