Tuesday, February 27

Today's Maya art class covered the Baile de la Conquista performance in Guatemala, which is a play written in the mid-16th century by a Dominican priest about the benefits of Spanish conquest, but which the Maya generally perform in such a way that it inverts the message to one of resistance to Spanish/Ladino oppression. We also covered an introduction to the Popol Vuh and discussed how differences in translations and illustrations illuminate the differing agendas of these publications.

After Rita's Spanish class we met for a tour of Na Bolom, the institute that carries on some of the work of Gertrude Duby Blom, the journalist and photographer who promoted the Lacandon Maya as the "true" Maya, inheritors of the jungle and changelessly one with nature. The tour was, as one would expect, problematic. It was largely a devotion to the "greatness" of Trudy Blom and the "authenticity" of the Lacandon. The Lacandon were presented as the authentic inhabitants of the Selva Lacandona, making the Maya who moved in from the highlands inappropriate interlopers. They were also presented as true ecologists and the highland migrants as destroyers of the forest.

But if you read about the politics of the Selva Lacandona, which were totally ignored inthis venue, the picture that emerges is quite different. When the Lacandon were made the official "stewards" of the selva, and especially of the Montes Azules biosphere reserve created in 1972, they immediately contracted for harvest of the mahogany. Ranchers have now moved in and are the ones who deforest for grazing lands. Conservation International in league with multinational corporations claims huge territories for "biodiversity" which causes communities to be forcibly relocated.

Now in the low intensity warfare that the Mexican and Chiapas governments carry on against the Zapatistas, the governments arm the Lacandon and send them and some of their allies against other communities, resulting in a massacre last November. The issue is heating up because in addition to the hardwood harvest, there is supposed to be vast oil and gas reserves under the jungle and there is considerable conflict over whether it will be exploited and who will benefit. But you'ld never guess this from the tour we received.

Maria Luisa arrived today. Heather brought her over this evening and the four of us had a great chat. Now we are complete except that we miss Malina.