Los dos cuerpos mayas: Esbozo de una antropología elemental indígena

the purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the indigenous maya distinction between two types of human bodies: a carnal body, shared with animals, and a specifically human phenomenic body. this distinction, in turn, is equivalent to the indigenous distinction between two souls: a soul in a human shape and a soul in a non-human shape, generally of an animal species. the parallelism between bodies and souls leads me to propose a reorganization of the mesoamerican concept of person in terms of a quaternary model which remains essentially binary (body/soul), yet permits the integration of elements which are different to each other, like the two bodies and the two souls, and yet mutually necessary to make up the person.