Latina/o Studies Commons^™

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 …

Corazón De Maíz Un Tributo A Los Pueblos Mayas, Patricia López

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

English Abstract:

Corazón de Maíz gathers the stories and recipes for traditional Maya cooking in the regions of Huehuetenango, and is designed to promote the survival of the culinary system of the grand-mothers, and the food that they prepared with love for the whole family. This “culinary novel” contains myths, legends, stories of the origin of some foods, cooking tech-niques and methods. The foods prepared in the altiplano region developed from millenary traditions, the Hispanic invasion, the ravages of climate change bringing droughts and plagues that destroy life, and the various consequences and influences of migration. For the Maya, corn …

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, …

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 …

La Universidad Ixil Y La Descolonización Del Conocimiento, Giovanni Batz

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

La academia es considerada por muchos como un eje del colonialismo que monopoliza la producción del conocimiento. Fuera de las paredes de la torre de marfil de la academia, existen muchos esfuerzos de las comunidades indígenas y grupos marginados para crear sus propias formas y espacios de producción de conocimiento y educación. Los Mayas en la región Ixil, Guatemala están teorizando y debatiendo estas preguntas sobre las funciones de la educación a través de la Universidad Ixil, fundada en 2011, y la cual se esfuerza por enseñar a los estudiantes formas del conocimiento Maya-Ixil, sus saberes, valores y tichajil (el …

Glosario

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Definitions of terms used in Los Mayas Migrantes: Un Viaje Sin Retorno.

Biografía

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Biography of the author, Gaspar Pedro González.

Introducción And Capítulos Del Uno Al Cinco, Gaspar Pedro González

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Gaspar Pedro González employs a narration style that maintains deep roots in the world of the Maya. In the words of the author “The novel employs techniques of a literature-based orality, through the ancestral discourse in which they intervene such as parallelism, puns, repetition, and complementarity. Typical for ancient Maya discourse, found in the cognitive anthropology of the semantic, symbolic and juxtalineal meanings of Maya literature, the novel thereby collects in its original space the experiences of the people and communities affected by migration.”

This Spanish version of the novel will be followed by a combined Spanish-English version accompanied by …

Table Of Contents

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

TOC with rights, editorial, and illustrator information.

Maya America V2, I2 - Los Mayas Migrantes - Libro Entero

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Full issue of Maya America, volume 2, issue 2.

Introductory Note To Issue 2, 2020, Juanatano Cano, Alan Lebaron

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Maya America is pleased to publish this new Spanish-language novel by Gaspar Pedro González. Accepting an original and timely work from a leading Guatemalan intellectual and novelist would be easy enough, and Gaspar’s new novel is at once insightful and provocative. Rather than presenting his characters as villains or victims, the author leaves much up to the imaginations and sentiments of the reader to interpret and make sense of the thoughts and decisions of the main characters. "The Migrant Maya", ultimately uncovers some of the consequences of leaving home that go beyond the risks of jail and deportation, such as …

Full Issue - Maya America V2, I1, Alan Lebaron

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Full issue of Maya America, volume 2, issue 1.

Introductory Note, Alan Lebaron, James Loucky

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Names can encourage dynamic discussion as well as designate purpose and potentialities. “Maya America” refers to the historic and the present-day geographic regions where people of Maya descent live, while “Maya America” also reflects a term of self-identification used by many in the new generations born or raised beyond traditional homelands. The journal features essays and commentary about contemporary and emerging experiences and challenges, rather than endeavoring to establish a new category of “studies” alongside American, Latino, Indigenous, or Central American studies.

Who Am I? A Reflection Of The In-Between, Maya Figueroa Ferreira

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Adopted before her memory, the personal experiences of the author serve to interrogate the mass exportation and importation of Maya babies. In recounting her search for meaning and reconciliation, she presents to Maya and Non-Maya valuable insights into an expanded meaning for “Maya America”.

Kojichk’Ulal – Kojiq’B’Ej – Kojinatil, Gaspar Tomas, Lorenza Tomas

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Brother and sister discuss Maya community organizations in South Carolina and describe how the Church and Maya heritage work together. Their own path to becoming aware of Maya heritage and their establishment of an active and productive Maya youth group give a powerful example of the possibilities for a better future. They hope to connect with and build relationships with other Maya youth groups in the United States.

Immigration Policy – Reporting From The Field, Aileen Josephs Esq.

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Migration is central to human history, yet how we deal with the sojourners among us says much about the soul of a nation. Freedom of movement is an inherent basic human right, yet the protection of a nation’s borders and the decision of who and when and in what conditions people are admitted is also a right that belongs to nation states. It is in this tension that good immigration policy should be found, yet our Congress and many administrations have failed to enact such a policy for over two decades. Aileen Joseph writes with authority and insight based on …

The Work Of Expert Testimony: Central Americans, Human Rights Defenders, And Immigration Courts, Allan F. Burns

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Anthropologists have worked in legal arenas as experts on civil, criminal, and asylum cases throughout the history of the discipline. Today expert witnesses give opinions on the conditions of countries where immigrants flee, and that work includes ethnographic interviewing, research into the causes of political and social violence, and appearing in court through written affidavits and personal testimony. Expert testimony today includes helping in the defense of people fleeing intimate partner violence, persecution based on sexual orientation, threats and violence by gangs, and those whose political opinions put them at risk. Immigrants in the United States face institutional culture shock, …

Challenges For Maya Family Continuity In A Transbordered World, James Loucky, Katie Goger

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Migration between Central America and countries to the north has increased in scale as well as in contentiousness as a political challenge. Too often, those most involved are peripheral to public discourse and policies. Today sizeable numbers of families, including indigenous Maya families, are participants not only in movement but as through separations across national borders and time. Evolving strategies for maintaining or recreating social cohesion amid disruptions of migration and resettlement involve parents as well as children. Drawing on experiences of families from one highland Guatemalan community, and comparative research into adaptive strategies of immigrant families in the United …

On The Road To Discover My Mayan Voice, Dina Hernandez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

A young Maya woman recounts her story about growing up “Latina Maya” in Morgantown, NC. As she shares her quest to “discover her Mayan voice”, she reveals insights into the strength of her family and community, and the enjoyment of living.

Los Códices: An Exhibit Of Illustrated Books From Indigenous Mesoamerica, Jacob S. Neely

Hispanic Studies Student Research

This is an exhibit of facsimile codices housed in the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center.

The exhibit is on display in the Great Hall on the second floor of the Margaret I. King Library at the University of Kentucky from September 17, 2018 to November 9, 2018.

The exhibit is also available online.

Informe De Conferencia Maya- Pdf En Español, Alan Lebaron

Maya Heritage Community Project Texts

Memoria de la Conferencia; Noviembre 2016 en el local de Mesa, AZ

Maya Conference Report - Pdf In English, Alan Lebaron

Maya Heritage Community Project Texts

Remembering the conference; on November 2016 in Mesa, AZ