Director: Jerome Levi

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.

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.  The program then heads 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 the group will be occasionally “roughing it” as its attention shifts to the Maya tropical forest where students will explore the jungles of northern Guatemala, known as El Petén, and eastern Chiapas.  Focusing on Maya cultural ecology, prehistory, and contemporary lowland cultures, the group 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 the program moves through the Montes Azules and Maya Biosphere Reserves, comprising the largest tropical rainforest in Central America, students will learn about the relation between Maya population booms, environmental collapse, and current efforts at sustainable development.  In eastern Chiapas, students 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.

The group returns to the highlands to explore central Chiapas.  The program will be based in the picturesque colonial city of San Cristobal de las Casas.  In the neighboring Tzotzil community of San Juan Chamula, students 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, students 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.

Returning to Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, 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.