Latina/o Studies Commons^™

Introduction: Maya Language Advocacy And Mayas’ Production Of Cultural Knowledge, Walter E. Little

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

This introductory essay is part of the special issue Maya America, Volume 8, Issue 1, guest-edited and coordinated by the Mayan Languages Preservation Project. The 10 authors of the various research articles and commentaries represent eight of Guatemala’s 22 Maya languages. What brings these essays into relationship with each other are the pragmatic concerns of strengthening Maya languages, such as providing academic, professional, and social services contexts for using and not merely maintaining these languages but helping them thrive. Each author in this special issue has actively worked in various ways to promote Mayan language and cultural knowledge preservation. As …

Mayan Languages And Technological Inclusion: The Mayan Languages Preservation Project As An Applied Model To Create Equity In Language Access, Winston Scott

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

This article traces the project's founding, structure, and achievements over three years, documenting a community-led effort to create digital resources, including talking glossaries, keyboards, tools to help communities create textbooks for schools, and machine translation corpora for the 22 Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala. Drawing on principles of communitybased language documentation and recognized under UNESCO’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL 2022–2032), the project confronts intersecting challenges of poverty, illiteracy, digital exclusion, and the ethical risks of data extraction by external actors. The author argues that meaningful language digitization should be guided by native speakers and community organizations, rather than …

Women In Santa Eulalia, Guatemala Through The Concepts Of Rootedness, Community, And Migration., Helen Hobson

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

This essay explores the experiences of Maya Q’anjob’al women in the villages of Santa Eulalia in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Women from eleven communities participated in group interviews during the four months I spent conducting fieldwork in 2024, thus building upon my findings from 2022 and 2023. Questions focused on their daily lives, their connections to people and places, strategies for generating income, and the impact of migration on their lives and the community. Two broad themes emerged from the interviews. The first relates to their relationships to the land and community, and how this rootedness supports a wholistic (Indigenous) sense of …

Guatemalan Maya Women’S Attitudes Towards Biomedical Contraception After Migrating To The United States, Shreenaya Prabu, Iris Parshley, Robert Malkin

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Medical providers in the United States who discuss the use of contraceptives with Maya women migrants might discover strong reluctance and complex beliefs about the social and physical benefits of biomedical contraceptive measures. This research report presents information about contraceptive usage among Maya in Guatemala and how usage or attitudes toward contraception might have changed while living in the United States. The research team, during 2024, interviewed six adult female Guatemalan Maya refugees over Zoom to understand their thoughts toward contraceptive use before and after migrating. Discussion points included: lack of sexual education in Guatemala, health concerns arising from using …

Modern Tools, Ancient Skills: An Attempted Dialogue Between Ai, Design And Traditional Craft, Paolo Cardini, Juan C. Noguera

Tradition Innovations in Arts, Design, and Media Higher Education

This study explores the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in traditional craft practices, focusing on Guatemalan artisans. The research investigates how machine learning, specifically generative AI platforms like OpenAI’s DALL-E and Midjourney, can bridge the gap between traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design methods. Guatemalan artisans were trained to use these AI tools to generate design ideas, which were then translated into three-dimensional bronze door knockers. The study analyzes the impact of AI on the artisans' workflow, creativity, and business, highlighting both the challenges and benefits. Results indicate that AI can streamline the design process and inspire new creative directions, …

Juan José Arévalo 1945 To 1951: Legacies And Lessons For The Current Democracy Movement In Guatemala, Alan Lebaron

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Juan José Arévalo and the “revolutionaries” brought tremendous change to Guatemala. But well before Arévalo left office, the Revolution was already in the crosshairs of US military might. At least three challenges threatened the government of Arévalo: the ultra conservatives or the “anti-revolutionaries”; competitive aspirations of the revolutionaries; and the overarching power of the US businesses and US government. Arévalo encountered these challenges from the first day of his presidency, and thereafter. Bernardo Arévalo, Guatemala’s recently elected president, faces similar dangers: a powerful opposition from an entrenched civilian and military oligarchy, urban and rural disconnections, foreign economic power and influences, …

Desde La Fiesta, Hasta La Costa, Dashiell M B Allen

Capstones

Grupos de inmigrantes garífunas de Centroamérica se unen en la Ciudad de Nueva York para apoyar a sus pueblos mientras disfrutan de su cultura afro-indígena.

https://medium.com/@dashiell-allen1/desde-la-fiesta-hasta-la-costa-ce2f726852ca

Las Rutas Ístmicas Del Halcón Peregrino: Introducción Jonatan Rodas, Mario Payeras, Jonatan Rodas

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Mario Payeras (Chimaltenango, Guatemala 1940 – México, D.F. 1995) fue poeta, narrador, ensayista y militante revolucionario guatemalteco. Fue uno de los fundadores del Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres, uno de los principales movimientos revolucionarios de las décadas del conflicto armado en Guatemala (1960-1996). Su permanencia en las selvas del Ixcán (al norte de Guatemala) durante ese periódo inspiró gran parte de su obra poética y literaria que, en una parte, da cuenta de reflexiones y vivencias de la militancia en clandestinidad. Tal es el caso del poemario Poemas de la Zona Reina (1997) y el relato testimonial Los días …

Formations Of The Mayan Diaspora In Guatemala And The Us: Land, Migration, And Linguistic Ideologies As The Markers Of Diasporic Separation., Daniel Antipov

Theses and Dissertations

This work examines the phenomenon of diaspora formation among the indigenous Guatemalan population as a major identity marker in the new Guatemalan immigrants in the US. This work provides: definition of diaspora, its historical frames, juxtaposition of the self and the Other, and separation and differentiation of the indigenous languages

“Why Would Anyone Leave?”: Development, Overindebtedness, And Migration In Guatemala, Lauren Heidbrink, Giovanni Batz, Celeste Sánchez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Over the past two decades, policymakers have expressed considerable optimism about the capacity of international development to curb transnational migration, yet there is a dearth of research examining how and under what conditions development interventions impact migration decisions. Enlisting a case study approach in the Maya-K’iche’ community of Almolonga, this article examines divergent meanings and practices of “development” and its impact on the migratory aspirations and outcomes of Indigenous families in Guatemala. Government authorities and international development experts exalt Almolonga as a prosperous example of a globalized, agrarian-based economy. Key to its ‘success’ is the growing microcredit industry which advertises …

́ ́¿Por Qué Alguien Se Iría?": Desarrollo, Sobreendeudamiento Y Migración En Guatemala., Lauren Heidbrink, Giovanni Batz, Celeste Sánchez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

En las dos décadas pasadas, los encargados de desarrollar políticas han expresado un optimismo considerable sobre la capacidad del desarrollo internacional para frenar la migración transnacional; sin embargo, hay una escasez de investigación que analice cómo y bajo qué condiciones las intervenciones del desarrollo pueden impactar las decisiones de migrar. Siguiendo un enfoque de estudio de caso en la comunidad Maya-K’iche’ de Almolonga, este artículo examina las prácticas y significados divergentes de “desarrollo” y su impacto en las aspiraciones y los resultados migratorios de las familias indígenas en Guatemala. Las autoridades gubernamentales y los expertos en desarrollo internacional exaltan a …

Maya-Americanos En Casa: Los Efectos De La Migración De Guatemala A Los Eeuu En La Región Kaqchikel, Joyce Bennett, Ambrocia Cuma

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Este artículo se trata de que significa ser Maya durante y después de migración a los EEUU desde el área Kaqchikel de Guatemala. Utilizando entrevistas con emigrantes retornados, historias de vida, e otras evidencias etnográficas, señalamos como la vida americana se integra en comunidades Kaqchikeles mayas tras procesos transnacionales. Sugerimos que los resultados de una vida maya-américa se integran en las comunidades de origen en formas que no son tan obvias pero que sí tienen impacto en la vida maya en los pueblos de origen. Por ejemplo, consideramos las relaciones de género dentro de casas en cual alguien se ha …

Full Issue - Maya America V1, I1

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Full issue of Maya America, the inaugural issue - volume 1, issue 1.

Mes-Ti-Zo, Aeleen Jacinto

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Meztiso is an exploration of the artist’s identity as an individual born and raised in Guatemala; which is a country rich in natural resources where the majority of the population is native Maya yet the ruling class is majority white and poverty is widespread. The artist takes on this stunning contradiction using her own influences and views which were shaped by the political and economic upheaval and instability of her youth in Guatemala. The artist comments on her own identity as a person of mixed ancestry, a Meztiso, and because of her own family’s involvement in the capitalist government that …

Indigenous Women's Bodies: Primer Territorio De Defensa, Ana Gabriela Avalos Tizol

Master's Theses

The teen pregnancy “epidemic” in Guatemala is a focal point when international and national NGOs demand that the government protect the civil and political rights of girls. In accordance, the state created laws (legal age for marriage - Ordinance 13-2017), implemented penal codes (statutory rape - Article 173) and created Programa Vida (conditional cash transfer of Q. 1,500 - $200 every two months) to address this ‘epidemic.’ Yet, only sixty-one teen mothers were involved in the program by the first year in 2018, indicating its inaccessibility. This thesis proposes to challenge the dominant narrative on teenage pregnancies, which blames “Mayan …

New Matriarchs: Louisville, Kentucky Ii (Fa 1001), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Digital audio interviews, transcripts of the same, photographs and digital photo files, and corollary material related to a project conducted by Laura Fleming Ospital titled "New Matriarchs: Louisville II" in 2014-2015. It details the lives of women from Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Mexico,and Uzbekistan. The digital interviews are stored in the WKU Sound Archives and the digital images are stored in The WKU Photo Archives.