Revitalizando La Cultura Maya a Través
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CUENTOS DE RESISTENCIA Y SUPERVIVENCIA: REVITALIZANDO LA CULTURA MAYA A TRAVÉS DEL ARTE PÚBLICO EN GUATEMALA ____________________________________ A Thesis Presented to The Honors Tutorial College Ohio University _______________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation from the Honors Tutorial College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Spanish ______________________________________ by Katherine Broughton April 2019 1 Reconocimiento Quiero agradecerles a las personas que no solamente me ayudaron a hacer posible este proyecto, sino que también han contribuido muchísimo a mi crecimiento personal a lo largo de mi tiempo como estudiante en Ohio University. Primero, la Dra. Betsy Partyka que fue más allá de lo esperado de una consejera y directora de estudios. Me enseñó a investigar, a escribir y a presentar mis trabajos independientemente y con confianza en conferencias y exposiciones. Ella me guió en cada etapa del proceso de crear esta tesis—desde formar un tema posible y encontrar las fuentes esenciales hasta animarme a perseverar durante los periodos más estresantes y asistirme en corregir hasta los más mínimos detalles del trabajo final. Tengo mucha suerte de haber tenido una mentora que siempre me hacía sentir que mis ideas eran valiosas y dignas de compartir con el mundo. Muchas gracias al Dr. José Delgado, quien, con paciencia, generosamente dedicó su tiempo a corregir la gramática española a lo largo de esta tesis. También al Dr. Patrick Barr-Melej, quien me enseñó casi todo lo que sé ahora de la historia de América Latina, reconoció la potencial en mí antes que yo misma. Desde el principio él apoyó mis ideas y me animó a seguirlas. También quiero agradecer a dos profesores que tuvieron grandes impactos en mi vida personal. La Dra. Yavanna Brownlee me introdujo a los estudios de los nativo- americanos, abrió mis ojos a la belleza y al valor de diversas epistemologías y resucitó mi pasión en la justicia social. El Dr. Amado Láscar, quien no me ayudó directamente con este proyecto, pero lo que aprendí de él dio forma a mi visión del mundo actual. Me enseñó a cuestionar todo y a leer entre las líneas para descubrir los significados más 2 profundos. La pasión y emoción que él lleva a sus clases, y en todo lo que hace, es difícil de encontrar y me ha inspirado enormemente. Finalmente, muchas gracias a Tz’utu Kan por su ayuda vital en este proyecto. A través de entrevistas, conciertos y conversaciones, él abrió mi mente a ideas que yo nunca había considerado antes, y me enseñó mucho sobre su arte, su música, su cultura y la situación actual en Guatemala. Tz’utu ha sido un contacto esencial y un amigo inolvidable. 3 Índice English Summary…………………………………………………………………… 5 Introducción……………………………………………………………….....……… 42 Propuesta Metodología Capítulo 1. Historia y cultura de la gente maya de Guatemala ……......……………46 Historia breve de la civilización maya La guerra civil Cambios de cultura El Movimiento Maya Capítulo 2. El hip hop maya como una transformación de la tradición oral …..….. 58 La tradición oral El hip hop y la tradición oral Balam Ajpu Dos funciones didácticas de la música Capítulo 3. Tejiendo tradición con turismo ……….…………...…………….……. 75 El turismo y la representación de la gente maya El tejido y el traje maya tradicionales El tejido adaptado al turismo Capítulo 4. Re-escribiendo la historia por medio del muralismo maya ………..….. 98 Murales en América Latina Interpretación y análisis del mural maya, Historia del pueblo tz’utujil Temas transcendentes a lo largo del mural 4 Capítulo 5. El poder revitalizador del arte ……….………………………………… 125 Bibliografía……………….………………………………………………....……… 130 5 Chapter 1: History and Culture of the Mayan Peoples of Guatemala Brief History of the Mayan Civilization The collapse of the ancient Mayan civilization is commonly perceived as the complete disappearance of Mayan peoples and their culture. In reality, there are still over 7 million Mayan people alive today who retain many aspects of traditional Mayan culture, including dress, language and religious practices and symbolism. Throughout five Central American countries—Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and southern Mexico—there are over 30 Mayan languages spoken, 23 of which can be found in Guatemala. At their height (300-900 AD), the ancient Mayans developed advanced architecture, astronomy, mathematics and a writing system, as well as established governments and a complex social structure. Between 900-1200 AD, they stopped building new temples, recording their history, and abandoned their large cities, marking what historians call “the collapse” of the Mayan civilization (Bendaña 32). Although the true reason for the Mayan collapse is still widely debated, it was likely due to a combination of environmental disasters, like a drought (especially in Tikal) and human imprudence, like the exhaustion of resources around large kingdoms (Abrams). After their collapse, the ancient Mayans dispersed into various groups and developed their own unique languages that all came from the original “Proto-Mayan,” many of which are still spoken today (England “Mayan Languages”). Three hundred years later, in 1523, Spanish conquistadors arrived in Central America. Like in the rest of Latin America, the Spanish conquered the Mayans using both physical and ideological violence. Throughout this region the Spanish displaced, killed, 6 and enslaved indigenous peoples, exploiting their labor and natural resources. One justification of the conquest was to “save the souls” of indigenous people by converting them to Catholicism. The Catholic clergy repressed and demonized Mayan religion, destroyed sacred places and objects and replaced them with their own. However, they did not succeed in eradicating the religion entirely; most Guatemalans today are Catholic, but they practice a syncretic version of Catholicism that is heavily influenced by Mayan religion. When Guatemala finally gained independence from Spain in 1821, it did little for the masses and indigenous peoples. Guatemala suffered a long series of dictatorships that dominated a large part of its existence as an independent country. In 1931 the dictator Jorge Ubico Castañeda came to power and converted Guatemala into a Banana Republic—an underdeveloped, unstable and corrupt country that acts in the interest of foreign governments or businesses. Ubico militarized universities, displaced Guatemalan citizens and relinquished a large portion of Guatemala’s land to the United Fruit Company, a U.S. business with strong ties to the United States government. The Guatemalans finally rebelled against him in October of 1944, beginning what is known as the “ten years of spring” (1944-1954), when Guatemala finally became a democracy (Kwei). In December of that same year, Juan José Arévalo (1944-1951) became Guatemala’s first democratically-elected president with 85% of the general vote. Arévalo supported indigenous communities and labor unions, enacted labor laws and invested in education, health and infrastructural programs (“Juan José Arévalo”). His successor, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán (1951-1954), is most well-known for the implementation of an 7 agrarian reform that redistributed land to the people of Guatemala. By the time Arbenz became president, the United Fruit Company owned 42% of Guatemala’s cultivable land, 85% of which remained uncultivated. Arbenz expropriated the United Fruit Company’s land and redistributed it to over 100,000 Guatemalan families (Barr-Melej). In the midst of McCarthyism and the Red Scare, it was not difficult for The United Fruit Company’s connections in the U.S. government to present this anti-capitalistic reform as a communist threat. In 1954 the “ten years of spring” came to an end when the CIA directed a coup d’état against Arbenz and instituted a military dictatorship (David). Guerrilla groups formed to counteract the dictatorship and the violence escalated, leading, in 1960, to the beginning of Guatemala’s civil war that lasted for 36 years. The Civil War From 1960 to 1996 around 200,000 people were killed, 40,000 were disappeared and over one million were displaced (Costello). Nearly half of these injustices occurred during “La Violencia,” the period from 1981-1983 when General Efraín Ríos Montt was president (“Guatemala”). Despite consistent human rights violations, the United States, under President Ronald Reagan, continued to support Montt’s regime. In 2013, 30 years after his presidency, Montt was convicted of genocide and sentenced to life in prison (Moffett). The Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) of Guatemala estimates that military and civil patrols were responsible for 93% of the crimes committed against civilians. This violence was primarily motivated by the state’s paranoia over guerrillas and their sympathizers. The guerrilla groups formed to defend the people against the military dictatorship, but it resulted in even more violence and death. Often the guerrillas 8 would parade through a town, especially an indigenous town, trying to gain support from the people and recruit new members. A few days later the military would respond by destroying the entire village, burning houses and crops, killing livestock, and murdering, torturing, raping and kidnapping people to interrogate them about their involvement with the guerrillas (“Guatemala: Memory of Silence” 24). Sometimes, they would force people to join the army and invade other towns. Thus, Mayan people were caught in the crossfire between the guerrillas and the military,