In the Land of the Lacandón

A French explorer's search for the “lost” Maya, deep in the Mexican jungle.

In the mid-1930s Bernard de Colmont ventured into the borderlands of Mexico to study the Lacandón people, considered to be the closest living relatives of the Maya. In the Land of the Lacandón transforms de Colmont’s narratives and images into a 1930s adventure comic, accompanied by a historical essay and a poem by Tsotsil writer Manuel Bolom Pale.

Richard Ivan Jobs is professor of European history at Pacific University.Van Wolputte Steven :

Steven Van Wolputte is professor of anthropology at KU Leuven.Pale Manuel Bolom :

Manuel Bolom Pale is a translator, researcher, and Tsotsil poet from Huixtán, Chiapas, Mexico.

Richard Ivan Jobs is professor of European history at Pacific University.

Steven Van Wolputte is professor of anthropology at KU Leuven.

Manuel Bolom Pale is a translator, researcher, and Tsotsil poet from Huixtán, Chiapas, Mexico.

“This captivating graphic history is a wonderful teaching tool, showing how historians today can work with unpalatable materials inherited from colonialism.” Alice Conklin, author of In the Museum of Man: Race, Anthropology, and Empire in France, 1850–1950

“I’ve seen very few graphic novels that cover this space. Its story is notably transnational and touches on themes related to colonialism in a clear way. It is an excellent addition to the teaching toolkit for this subject.” Samuel J. Redman, author of Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology

“An innovative and enjoyable project that enriches our understanding of the popular impact of European ethnographic discourse.” Brian Gollnick, author of Reinventing the Lacandón: Subaltern Representations in the Rain Forest of Chiapas

“In the Land of the Lacandón brings us into the world of the 1930s adventurer and amateur anthropologist. It does so creatively as well as critically. Its intertextual strength lies in the comic genre, the historical analysis, and the Indigenous contributions.” Bernard Perley, author and illustrator of Going Native