INTRODUCTION

Both Guatemala and the neighboring state of Chiapas, Mexico are lands of stunning physical beauty, cultural diversity, and stark socio-economic contrasts. With its population comprised of 23 ethnic groups—some 22 indigenous Mayan linguistic groups and the economically and politically dominant ladinos—Guatemala has long been known for its rich local cultural traditions. But it is also marked by extreme inequalities and poverty. Today, after decades of a brutal civil war, Guatemalans struggle to build a nation based on the multilingual and pluricultural principles mandated by the 1996 Peace Accords.

In many ways the cultural history of Chiapas is similar to Guatemala’s. It too is known for vibrant indigenous cultures and glaring inequalities between its many Mayan peoples and the dominant ladinos. Yet the recent struggles for indigenous rights here, after the Zapatista Army of National Liberation mounted an insurrection in 1994 that gained international attention, also differs from Guatemala’s. In the same year that Guatemala signed its Peace Accords, a treaty was signed in San Andres, Chiapas between the Zapatistas and the Mexican government, and although there have been many setbacks there are also signs of hope in Mexico’s construction of a pluricultural society and transition to democracy after 71 years of single party rule.

Through coursework and independent research, this program provides students with the opportunity to examine, from an anthropological perspective, issues of cultural continuity, resource management, and social change in Guatemala and Chiapas, as this region’s people attempt to come to terms with social inequality, human rights abuses, and sustainable development in an effort to build a multi-ethnic society.

The program begins with an introduction to Guatemala and the Maya. Based in a rustic mountain lodge overlooking the beautiful colonial city of Antigua, initial days of orientation and team building will be followed by excursions to Guatemala City for lectures on community action and human rights, a visit to the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, a trip to the Parque Central, and a night hike to the spectacular Pacaya Volcano. We will then head to Lake Atitlán, the jewel of highland Guatemala. Ringed by smoking volcanoes and over a dozen indigenous villages along its northern and western shores, here students will augment their classroom knowledge of Mesoamerican cultures with practice-based field experiences to help them begin planning the independent research projects they’ll undertake among local Tzutuhil or Kaqchikel people at the end of the program.

During the next two weeks we will be occasionally “roughing it” as our attention shifts to the Maya tropical forest where we’ll explore the jungles of northern Guatemala, known as El Petén, and eastern Chiapas. Focusing on Maya cultural ecology, prehistory, and contemporary lowland cultures, we will travel overland as well as along the Pasión and Usumacinta Rivers to visit some of the most important archaeological sites in the Maya world, including Tikal, Palenque, Yaxchilán, Bonampák, Seibal, and Uaxactun. As we move through the Montes Azules and Maya Biosphere Reserves, comprising the largest tropical rainforest in Central America, we will learn about the relation between Maya population booms, environmental collapse, and current efforts at sustainable development. In eastern Chiapas, we will spend several days living among the Lacandones, the most isolated and culturally conservative indigenous people in Mesoamerica, seldom visited until the second half of the 20th century.

Returning to the highlands, we will next explore central Chiapas. Here we’ll be based in the picturesque colonial city of San Cristobal de las Casas. In the neighboring Tzotzil community of San Juan Chamula, we will attend the Maya celebration of Carnaval, a complex ceremonial, coinciding with the five “lost days” in the ancient solar calendar, that each year symbolically reestablishes cosmic order. Next, we will learn first-hand about the Zapatista rebellion and the ongoing struggle for indigenous rights by living and working for several days in an autonomous Zapatista community.

We then return to Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, where students devote the last three weeks of the program to conducting their independent field research projects and writing up their findings. Students will live with families in indigenous communities around the lake in which they carry out their field projects. The field sites provide opportunities for research on topics such as sustainable development, conservation, women’s issues, human rights work, the role of religion, ethnomedicine and healing, grassroots community organization, ecotourism, and other topics. In the final week, students analyze their field data, write their reports, and present their findings to the group in a concluding research colloquium.

There will be two information meetings:

Wednesday, January 21, 5:00, Leighton 305
Wednesday, April 8, 5:00, Leighton 305

DIRECTOR

Jerome Levi, Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Jay Levi led Carleton’s Guatemala and Chiapas program in winter 2006 and 2008, and was the Director of Latin American Studies, 2003-2006. He has taught at Carleton since 1993 and conducted ethnographic research on Mesoamerica for nearly three decades, initially focusing on the Tzotzil Maya in the Chiapas highlands and later on the Tarahumara (Rarámuri) of southwest Chihuahua. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of indigenous rights, the anthropology of religion, ethnicity, economic and environmental anthropology. He recently served as the Editor for Mesoamerican Ethnology for the Library of Congress’s Handbook of Latin American Studies, and contributed to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures.

For more information about the program, please contact: