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Mayaness Through Time

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Mayaness Through Time ISSN 1653-2244 MAGISTERUPPSATSER I KULTURANTROPOLOGI – Nr 1 Mayaness Through Time Challenges to ethnic identity and culture from the past to modernity by Ulf Lewin Master Thesis in Cultural Anthropology (20 Swedish credits) Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology Uppsala University Supervisor: Dr. Juan-Carlos Gumucio June 2005 Master Thesis, Uppsala Universitet, Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, Ulf Lewin, June 2005. Title Mayaness Through Time: Challenges to ethnic identity and culture from the past to modernity . Abstract Some six million people in modern Central America are considered to be “Maya” and thereby descendants of an ethnic group that created one of the great early civilizations of mankind. The present study, in a first section, looks in some detail at how the Maya became a group of its own, slowly separating itself from Mesoamerican neighbors, taking on an ethnic identity, markers and boundaries Attention is paid to what can be considered uniquely Maya and what remained features shared with other groups. This historic section follows the Maya until early colonization. The next section gives an overview of modern Mayaness, activism and Maya claims to preserve and revitalize a supposed heritage, taking it into the 21st century. With the historic section as a mirror and background, the study aims at identifying how Mayaness is maintained through time, how silent testimonies tell us about the use in the past of ethnic and cultural markers. Proofs are given of such elements still alive. The text goes on to discuss the future of Maya ethnic identity and culture, its continuity while changing. Keywords: ethnic identity, ethnicity, culture, Guatemala, Maya, Mayaness, Mesoamerica, Olmecs. 2 CONTENTS Foreword 4 1. Introduction 6 2. Identity, Culture and the “Maya” Concept 9 Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity 9 Culture 11 The “Maya” Concept 14 3. Maya of the Past 17 From Archaic through Pre-Classic: The birth of a civilization 18 Classic Maya 22 A Time of Greatness 22 The “Mysterious” Fall: Different interpretations 27 Post-Classic and Early Colonialism 31 4. Maya Today 38 Maya and the Modern Setting 38 From Survivalism to Activism and Pan-Maya Movements 41 5. The Past in the Present 46 Anything left to be “saved”? Language and education 47 Dress 49 Cosmovision, spirituality and religion 51 Four Case Studies 52 Alta Verapaz: Q´eqchí, Tzuultaq´a, and modern archaeologists 52 Yucatan: timeless cosmovision 55 Santiago Atitlán: Tzutujil in incompatible worlds 56 Quiché: San Simón and Popol Vuh 57 6. Remaining Maya. – Are Ethnicity and Culture forever? 59 Further discussion and conclusions Epilogue 65 References 66 3 Foreword “A strong current runs by its own waves through the sea” Tegnér: Frithiofs saga, 1825. As part of a different career, I first met Guatemala and Guatemalan society in the late 1980s. Strongly impressed, like all newcomers, by the beauty of the countryside but also of the literally colorful presence of the Maya, it did not take me long to start asking questions. One of them was frequently repeated, particularly considering that the year 1992 was approaching, marking half a millennium since the “discovery of America” – or, at least, a lasting encounter between two worlds. The question to the Maya that I could not hold back was: In case the Guatemalan government one day would say “We cannot compensate you for your long suffering in past centuries, but are willing to seriously consider three claims of yours”, would you be able, among the Maya subgroups, to agree on some top priorities and to choose a few spokes- people to represent all of you? Each time I was sad to hear the negative answer. It opened my eyes to the deep-rooted unwillingness to join forces, this time all Maya against the state, for a purpose that might be extremely important to themselves. So strong was evidently their pride in their sub-Maya ethnic identity and boundaries – or was it, more than anything else, a lack of Maya consciousness? In 1992, the Nobel Peace Price was awarded to Rigoberta Menchú, a Maya Quiché woman who had experienced, personally and through close family, many of the horrors that the Maya people was exposed to still in those days. She did indeed represent Maya suffering. While there were international reactions questioning what she had done herself to qualify for the award, it was generally accepted as a symbolic recognition of all sufferings of indigenous peoples, particularly in the Americas, due to conquest and colonization. This award was extra sensitive in the laureate´s own country where a civil war was still raging, with large numbers of Maya victims of army atrocities. Rigoberta Menchú, whose acting I could follow at close distance, behaved with a considerable courage and was also a strong factor behind the UN nomination of, first a year, then a full decade, of attention to indigenous peoples of the world 4 But not even with the prestigious award, and with worldwide attention to this woman who was suddenly the spokes-person of indigenous peoples on a global scale, was she accepted by the Maya of Guatemala as a focal point. Again, this seemed to be a forceful illustration of a deep rooted split between the 22 Maya ethnic groups of Guatemala, one that could evidently not be bridged even when the rewards of a joint action seemed to be within reach. It thus became clear to me that the Maya population of Guatemala from an emic perspective is not one Maya people the way it is seen by Guatemalan ladinos and by the international community. To the Maya themselves it is rather a conglomerate of different “peoples” with a common root, genetically, lingui- stically, ethnically, and culturally. The lack of general indigenous support for Rigoberta expressed a lack of awareness of being Maya. While non-Maya have strong reasons to respect this diversity, we can note that this is a factor debilitating their position in relation to their nation-state. Now, with a theoretical anthropological background, I am anxious to explore how the Maya through time have been dealing with their ethnic identity, culture, and generally, their Mayaness. I feel like the anthropologist referred to by Clifford Geertz (1973, quoted in Fischer 2001: 7) in his words: “The culture of a people is an ensemble of texts, themselves ensembles, which the anthropologist strains to read over the shoulder of those to whom they properly belong”. Let us now see what we are able to read over the Maya shoulder. 5 1. Introduction Out of the mist of prehistory of man on the American continent, a group later called Maya entered the stage, eventually shaping a profile of its own, including an ethnic identity, boundaries, and a culture, elements that they seem to maintain, to a considerable degree, today – some three millennia later. The large number of present day Maya, some five million of which make up about half the population of Guatemala and most of the others, constituting an important part of the population of Yucatan (Mexico), exert in different ways a strongly visible impact on, particularly, Guatemala and southern Mexico. At the same time, though, different factors in the modern Maya world are on a collision course: on the one hand winds of modernization as well as ambitions of nation-states tending to make the citizens more uniform and, on the other, a Maya activism of a dimension not previously seen - especially not in Guatemala - and a pan-Maya movement encouraged by the new international support for indigenous cultures. After an introductory look at ethnic identity and culture from an anthropological perspective followed by comments on the concept of Maya as such, the present study examines in its Chapter 3 the emergence and main- tenance of a coherent Maya identity until the arrival of the first Spaniards. Having followed the Maya through their early history, this paper then, in Chapters 4 and 5, makes a special exploration of the situation for the Maya of today, particularly in Guatemala, with special reference to their continued ethnic identity and culture. This section will show that there is a remaining and striking strength in modern Maya culture. Against the historic background, a discussion will follow (Chapter 6), as to the probability that the Maya of the 21st century, particularly those in Guatemala, will remain an ethnic identity with a clearly defined culture, or if overwhelming odds indicate that the interests of the nation-state and the effects of modernization and/or other factors will result in homogenicized national citizens, deprived of their previous cultural uniqueness. Hypothesis. The author´s argument is that in spite of various ambiguities that will be explored, it is indeed meaningful to posit the existence of a distinct Maya identity, from early pre-Classic to our times, and that what we currently witness includes elements that can be traced back to early periods as well as 6 others that are innovative and without precedent. A new form of Maya awareness is today growing and a different Maya concept may be taking shape, less colorful than the traditional one, but one with a content that may finally become more widely accepted by the rest of society. In spite of changes, additions and losses, the author argues that much enough of traditional Maya culture is still maintained, and will persist, to qualify for being recognized as a distinct culture with strong roots in a distant past. A prerequisite for such an opinion and forecast is, though, a fair degree of tolerance when judging the extent to which a culture may change while continuing. This study wishes to bridge the gaps between archaeological research and a rich, but mainly locally oriented ethnographic literature, adding a Maya activist dimension and a forward looking macro perspective.
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