Friday, March 2

Today started out, as usual, with Maya art class. We looked at ceramics that appear to represent the cycle of maize and cosmic regeneration. We went slowly, as students were really interested in the details of the iconography. We talked after the break about how to shift the focus of the lectures more to meet student interest while keeping within instructor requirements and needs, and came up with some good solutions. To my surprise, no one wanted to give up the lecture on calendars and hieroglyphic writing so I'll have to think of what else I can jettison.

I've also tried to make clear the organization and agenda of the course. We are swimming against two of the major currents in Maya studies. One is the focus on violence, warfare, and environmental degradation, all of which are based on ambiguous data combined with current fears and interests. Instead we work toward a positive aspect of Maya religion which is a focus on Maize as a source of human sustenance, spirituality, and identity. Second is the notion of the "collapse" or "disappearance" of Maya civilization, which is a hoax. Instead we look for continuities amid the changes, noting that some practices, like rituals that must be performed properly to be successful, will change more slowly like other things, like agricultural, transportation, and communication technologies. This approach also fulfills the mandate of a Maya activist, Demetrio Cojtí Cuxil, one of the few to characterize a pro-Maya Mayanist archaeology, who cited the search for evidence of continuities that could serve Maya demands for access to ancestral lands and sacred places.

In the afternoon, Rita organized an excursion to Comitan, a city about half way to the Guatemalan border. Alica, Andrés, and Maria Luisa came as well. Rita was especially interested in investigating resources concerning Rosario Castellanos, an author whom she greatly admires for her literary as well as social work. Castellanos developed plays that could be performed with puppets she designed, taken to Indigenous communities, and covering topics such as literacy and health. Rita finally found where the puppets are (in the D.F.) and in whose collection (the son). Fortunately, Rita is going to the D. F. in April. This will be the climax of a long quest!

For those not taking Rita's Spanish literature courses, Castellanos' book, Oficio de Tinieblas (called The Book of Lamentations in the English Translation) is a must-read. It takes place in San Cristobal and Chamula, the nearest Maya community to San Cristobal and is a moving and beautifully written novel condencing a Maya insurrection in the 19th century with landowner resistance to creation of ejidos for Maya after the Mexican revolution of 1910-17. It's been quite an experience for Rita to be able to visit Chamula and see the Rosario Castellanos Cultural Centre in Comitan. See the photo above of the Espíritus Gemelas (someone please correct my Spanish) in the courtyard garden of the cultural centre.

By the way, we also went to the archaeological museum in Comitan. Ok, we spent most of our time there. But it wasn't my fault. The guide there took an interest in talking to us and giving us his ideas, or the ideas he had been taught, about the materials from nearby (late classic to early postclassic) Maya sites of Tenam Puente and Chinkultik. His beliefs were very spiritual though they mainly involved priests and the sun; not too concerned with maize.