The Pipil Migrations in Mesoamerica

Drawing on comparative studies of migrations from the U.S. Southeast and Southwest, I propose a new model for the interpretation of the Pipil migrations from central Mexico to southeastern Mesoamerica. These studies indicate that identity politics associated with cultural construction (sensu Pauketat) are often closely related to historical processes of migration, population movements, and displacements. Assuming the essential accuracy of this model, material culture traits often taken as direct archaeological data on the Pipil migrations are reinterpreted as evidence of the daily practices, social identities, and political differentiations of immigrant groups and their construction of new landscapes and cultural traditions.