More than 20 specialists in various disciplines carried out a compilation of research to explore the history of the Maya Culture, not only in the Yucatan Peninsula but in the entire region that also reaches Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador in editorial material that states that the Maya are still alive and are not just a relic of the past.
On Wednesday, September 25, the authors presented “The Maya Nation”, a book created with the support of the federal Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
Diego Prieto Hernández, general director of INAH, participated in the panel table; Fidencio Briceño, linguist at the INAH Yucatán Center; José Huchim, director of the Uxmal Archaeological Zone; Sara Novelo, INAH Campeche researcher; Armando Bartra, research professor at the UAM Xochimilco; and the anthropologist and UNESCO consultant, Silvia Terán, who agreed on the relevance of manifesting the Mayan culture as an ancient, changing and living culture.
The work, commissioned by the federal government within the framework of the construction of the Tren Maya, covers the confirmation and splendor of the Maya nation, its political organization, the architecture, the art that forges their unique cultural identity, as well as the times in confrontation, resistance and reinvention, for example, the colonizing impact.
It also includes the modernization of culture and its relationship with the Mexican State, which has been conflictive throughout the centuries. The book culminates with reflections on the challenges in the present for the future, such as the defense of the territory, the cornfields, and the decadence of its culture in the face of globalization.
Researcher Armando Bartra applauded that the editorial material covers not only the history of the ancient Maya but also the testimonies of those who demonstrate that it is a living culture.
“He talks about dead Mayans and living Mayans, living Mayans who have projects, who are not relics, who are not residue, they are not inheritance, they are people,” Armando Bartra declared.
As a person in charge of the chapter on Mayan languages, Fidencio Briceño highlighted the need to name itself as a living culture to avoid oblivion, contempt, and discrimination.
“We are still alive and here we are because, despite the passage of time, the seed that gave rise to our cultures continues to flourish in the Maya lands and territories where the Maya Culture with all its manifestations is located,” declared Briceño.
Their collaboration in La Nación Maya underlines the richness of the Mayans in the world and demonstrates that the Mayan languages are not homogeneous and that there is not one Mayan people but rather several Mayan peoples who have transformed their language according to their contexts. Prieto Hernández announced that the book will be available on a limited basis in the five states that the Tren Maya travels through Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán, and in the coming weeks, its online version will be available.
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