Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

Griffith Davis Photograph Collection, Donna M. Wells, Melvin Barrolle, Meaghan Alston, Jaclynn Martin

Prints and Photographs Department

In 1981 Griffith Davis donated to the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center 7,000 photos and negatives taken in Liberia. It was the largest pictorial donation given to the Center. The collection dates between 1949 and 1974 but the bulk of the collection covers 1949 through 1952-the years of his travels to Liberia. The photographs are comprised of a rich variety of individuals including, Emperor Haile Selassie, Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, Liberian President, William V.S. Tubman, missionaries Dr. Albert Schweitzer and Dr. George Harley, Howard University President Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, and general shots of Liberia documenting the country’s social and economic change.

How South Asian Activists Queer The Model Minority Myth: A Critical Oral History Project, Noorie Baig

Communication ETDs

The model minority myth (MMM) is predicated on stereotypical perceptions of Asian Americans as subservient high-achievers who comply with the ideologies of meritocracy, whiteness, and capitalism. However, South Asian American (SAA) activists and community organisers, the focus of this study, are working to confront and abolish racist, heterosexist, and other exclusionary injustices, policies, and practices. This dissertation seeks to understand the historical influences of the MMM, the challenges SAA activists and organisers face, and the communication strategies they use to negotiate the MMM through their activism. Oral history methods and critical thematic analysis are used to elicit and analyse personal …

The Yellow Qipao, Feibi Wang

Honors Projects

This is a creative project centered around the pre-production of a short film about queer Asian American Christianity and the research that went into it. The synopsis of the script written for the short film is a life in the day of Aspen. Aspen prepares for church and is indecisive of the clothes they want to wear, because they are gender non-conforming. They come out to their mom and there is conflict. My research going into this project consists of researching media representation of queerness, Asian American identity, and Christianity, and how the three identities intersect in Aspen’s life and …

Viaje Por Las Ruinas De Una Antigua Civilización En Yucatán: Alfred Tozzer Y Chichén, 1902, José Luis Escalona Victoria

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

El trabajo muestra las condiciones para visitar las ruinas de una ciudad antigua ubicadas en la finca Chichén, en la península de Yucatán, en 1902. A pesar de que en esa época se habían ampliado las posibilidades de trasladar productos y personas y de visitar la península, gracias al transporte de vapor por agua y tierra, aún faltarían otros cambios (servicios turísticos) para modificar la forma de pasear por lo que se volvería uno de los sitios arqueológicos más visitados en la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Las notas de campo de uno de los antropólogos que estaban en ese …

Prince Jaguar, Ismael Briceño Mukul

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

“Prince Jaguar” is an original poem by Ismael Briceño Mukul, a well-known Maya poet and scholar. This poem in English has been translated from the Yucatec Maya that also appears in this issue of Maya America.

Bàalam Ajaw, Ismael Briceño Mukul

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Bàalam Ajaw es un poema original de Ismael Briceño Mukul in his Yucatec Maya language. Se presentó en español y en inglés en otro lugar de esta revista bajo el título Príncipe Jaguar y Prince Jaguar.

The Power Of Counterstory With Martín Alberto Gonzalez, Martín Alberto Gonzalez

PDXPLORES Podcast

In this episode of PDXPLORES, Chicano & Latino Studies Professor Martín Alberto Gonzalez discusses the counterstory. As Gonzalez explains, counterstories are a narrative form of scholarly communication that uses stories to disrupt oppressive narratives established by empowered groups. Counterstory does so by pointing to the roles that systems of oppression, like white supremacy, racism, sexism, and capitalism, play in society, and higher education, in particular, by providing alternative narratives.

Click on the "Download" button to access the audio transcript.

Ritualidad Y Nuevas Tecnologías Entre Los Mayas: El Hetzmek En La Migración, El Trabajo Y El Turismo, Cristina Oehmichan Bazán, Consepción Escalona Hernández

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

En las últimas décadas las comunidades mayas de la península de Yucatán, México, han estado involucradas en procesos de cambio derivados de la globalización y la transformación económica y social. La migración, la incorporación masiva al trabajo asalariado y la expansión turística en sus territorios son algunos de los procesos más visibles y materiales del cambio. Hay, sin embargo, otras prácticas que tienen que ver tanto con los imaginarios y con la relación con nuevos actantes (Latour, 2005). Las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) constituyen un actante que vasculariza el cambio sociocultural, cuya importancia se expresa …

Introducción: Turismo En Las Tierras De Los Mayas, Cristina Oehmichen

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Spanish Introductory Note

A Rebel Territory Behind The Tourist Scene: Negotiating National Belonging And Indigeneity In Quintana Roo, Mélissa Elbez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

When we think of tourism or migration, we think of international mobility. However, the history of Quintana Roo teaches us that tourism and migration can be forces of nationalization. This article invites us to revisit the history of the southeast Yucatan peninsula, in order to understand the mechanisms that presided over its inclusion into the Mexican nation and the logic of the resistance movement that was opposed to it. Furthermore, this article delves into the ritual practices, social organization and territoriality inherited from the Cast War, that are kept alive by the rebels’ descendants (Cruzoob), unbeknownst to the gaze of …

Las Vías De La Mayanización: Turismo, Tren Maya Y Representaciones De La Mayanidad En La Península De Yucatán, Marco Almeida Poot, Samuel Jouault, Yassir Rodríguez Martínez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

En este trabajo se analiza cómo diversos actores sociales, autoidentificados o no como mayas, activan variadas representaciones de la mayanidad ante el Proyecto Tren Maya en su fase de construcción, tanto para gobernar la diversidad y promover el desarrollo, como para obtener beneficios económicos principalmente de actividades vinculadas al turismo. Con este propósito, se ofrece la ruta conceptual que nos permite hablar de representaciones de la mayanidad. Posteriormente, se exponen tres ejemplos que visibilizan los tipos de representación, así como las estrategias concretas de los actores ante el Proyecto Tren Maya.

Brave Storytelling: Diasporic Indigenous Students, Vulnerability, And The Arts, Luis Javier Pentón Herrera

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

In this article, I explore how vulnerability is imposed on diasporic Indigenous students in U.S. classrooms and how, through the arts, language and literacy educators can remove these vulnerabilities. For this, I weave elements of storytelling to first introduce Mariela and diasporic Indigenous students. Then, I share two examples of how my diasporic Indigenous students used poetry and drawing in our high school English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classroom to overcome vulnerabilities imposed on them by our school system. For clarification, throughout this manuscript, I use the term diasporic Indigenous students to describe Indigenous students who migrated to …

Introduction: Tourism In The Lands Of The Maya, Cristina Oehmichen

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

English Introductory Note

Conjuro De Las Nueve Palabras, Donny Limber De Atocha Brito May

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Conjuro de las Nueve Palabras es un poema original de Donny Limber de Atocha Brito May. Este poema en español ha sido traducido del maya yucateco que también aparece en este número de América Maya.

Biographies/Biografías, Cristina Oehmichen, Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Author Biographies

Apocalypse Eternal: "The Road" And "Parable" Series As Pilgrimage, Caleb Gurule

Senior Honors Theses

Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road represent two different views on how humans create meaning in a postapocalyptic world. The authors’ writings utilize the critical dystopia genre, in which the protagonists’ surroundings are bleak but the possibility of redemption remains. As Butler’s Lauren Olamina travels from her burned-down home to a place where she can begin a new community with her religion, Earthseed, as the foundational structure, she brings together a group of diverse and useful people who aid her in her pilgrimage to a better place. The protagonist’s identity as a mentally impaired black …

Príncipe Jaguar, Ismael Briceño Mukul

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

"Príncipe Jaguar" es un poema original de Ismael Briceño Mukul. Este poema en español ha sido traducido del maya yucateco que también aparece en este número de América Maya.

Incantation Of The Nine Words, Donny Limber De Atocha Brito May

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Incantation of the Nine Words is an original poem by Donny Limber Brito May. This poem in Yucatec Maya and in Spanish also appears in this issue of Maya America.

U Kunali’ Bolon T’Aano’Ob, Donny Limber De Atocha Brito May

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Poema original de Donny Limber de Atocha Brito May en Yucatec Maya

Seated On The Bank Of The Yichk’U River, Daniel Caño

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

The six poems included here are presented in Q’anjob’al Maya and in English, side by side for language comparison. Collectively, the poems convey reflections on the poet’s renderings of beauty, wisdom, romance, and the natural world; in a style of eloquence amplified by directness and brevity. Glimpses of village, family, childhood and old age, life and death, are interwoven with cosmological wisdoms. Palpable resentment toward the Church and ladinos are graciously tempered with lightness and humor. Reprinted from “Sentado en la orilla del río Yichk’u “ POE Talleras, (2018) Huehuetenango, Guatemala, with permission from the author and publishers.

Apuntes Para Comentar El Libro "Sentado En La Orilla Del Río Yichk’U", Sergio Vives

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Sentado en la orilla del río Yichk’u, es el título de un trabajo en el que Daniel Caño nos invita con la generosidad que le caracteriza a acompañarlo en un viaje por distintos episodios de su vida iniciando precisamente en el escenario de la orilla de ese río que corre y que forma parte de la vida cotidiana de la comunidad Payconob´, la misma que le vio nacer en territorio ancestral del pueblo maya Q’anjob’al en lo que hoy conocemos como el municipio de Santa Eulalia. En esta obra su autor entrelaza elementos simbólicos de la cosmovisión maya con momentos …

Análisis Discursivo Del Tren Maya: Fragmentación Territorial De Una Promesa Desarrollista, Ivet Reyes Maturano

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

La Península de Yucatán, al sur de la República Mexicana vive una profunda transformación derivada de la implementación de proyectos de gran infraestructura tanto públicos como privados. Tal es el caso del proyecto denominado Tren Maya (TM) y megaproyectos energéticos. Si bien existen varios estudios referentes a los posibles efectos socioambientales relativos al carácter material de estos megaproyectos, en este breve trabajo me pregunto cómo la dimensión discursiva, no material, del proyecto TM sustenta su despliegue y afecta la reconfiguración territorial. Específicamente, describo cómo los análisis técnicos de estos proyectos recurren a la fragmentación del territorio y de los proyectos …

Complete Issue: Volume 4 Issue 2, Cristina Oehmichen, Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

The full Issue 2, Volume 4 of Maya America, published December 2022

Sentado En La Orilla Del Río Yichk’U, Daniel Caño

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

La poesía y las historias de Daniel Caño nos hablan sobre la vitalidad de su cultura y su lengua. Los seis poemas que se incluyen se presentan en la lengua maya Q'anjob'al y en español, uno al lado del otro para su comparación. Los poemas transmiten un conjunto de reflexiones acerca de la interpretación del poeta sobre la belleza, la sabiduría, el romance y el mundo natural; en un estilo de elocuencia enaltecido por la franqueza y la brevedad de la palabra. Las visiones del pueblo, de la familia, de la infancia y la vejez, y de la vida y …

A Collaborative Effort Joins North Omaha And Convences A Joint Effort To Hold Oppd Accountable For Toxics From Coal Burning, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

I share an important issue affecting all of Omaha but critically affecting North Omaha residents. Coal burning creates toxic air and many other public health issues. Coal plants are responsible for 42 percent of US mercury emissions, a toxic heavy metal that can damage the nervous, digestive, and immune systems, and is a serious threat to the child development. Just 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury deposited on a 25-acre lake can make the fish unsafe to eat. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Emissions Inventory, US coal power plants emitted 45,676 pounds of mercury in 2014 …

Full Issue, Palara Guest Editors

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

No abstract provided.

Being La Dominicana: Race And Identity In The Visual Culture Of Santo Domingo, Lydia Platón Lázaro

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Rachel Afi Quinn Review by Lydia Platón Lázaro

“Together We Arrived And Together We Shall Leave”: The Gouverneur Parents Association And The Politics Of Race And Disability In Postwar New York, Jorge A. Matos

Publications and Research

This essay documents the history of the Gouverneur Parents Association (GPA), a group of mostly Black and Latinx parents whose disabled children were institutionalized at the Gouverneur Division of the infamous Willowbrook State School in New York City. The GPA, in coalition with Black, Latinx, and White parents and activists, led a campaign during the 1970s and 1980s to close Willowbrook, then part of a national network of sites denounced by disability activists during the heyday of the deinstitutionalization movement. In this essay I argue that the postwar migration of Black and Latinx communities into New York City amid an …

The Anti-Racist Pedagogical Approach To Jane Eyre And The Victorian Novel, Jazmine Casas

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Work Beyond The Work: Amplifying How Black Women Educators Experience Teacher Preparation Programs, Chéleah Victoria Googe

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The representation of Black teachers in the field of K-12 education has declined significantly in the last forty years (Ingersoll, 2011; Milner & Howard, 2004). Once considered a pathway to the middle class for Black Americans, teaching was a sought-after profession for Black folks for job stability (Collier, 2002). While there is extensive research on the experiences of teachers of color, and what might lead to their attrition in the teaching profession, Black women experience a specific intersection of race, class, and gender that affects their sustainability in the teaching profession that deserves exploration.

This qualitative research study examined the …