Authorities at play in Indigenous language reclamation: tensions and possibilities in the Yucatan Peninsula

Aldo Anzures; Frances Kvietok

doi:10.1515/multi-2022-0091

Abstract

Language revitalization efforts have been critiqued for creating and reproducing linguistic, epistemological, and pedagogical hierarchies that might run counter to a community’s needs and interests. Drawing on a seven-year ethnographic and collaborative research with the Maya cultural promoters of the Caste War Museum in Tihosuco, Mexico, we describe the dynamics of our Maya language reclamation partnership focusing on the creation of bilingual comic books and summer workshops for children. These experiences show a slow but steady language reclamation approach based on the concern for younger generations to feel comfortable to claim their right to speak and learn Maya and on their fondness for Maya language and culture. We argue that the construction, negotiation, and assertion of linguistic and pedagogical authority among all participating actors is central to reclamation projects, and that these processes are impacted by outsider researchers-collaborators in ways that can support but also potentially harm these language efforts. This paper sheds light on the various tensions lived in long-term language reclamation projects, recognizing the need for outsider researchers to turn our reflexive gaze inwards and consider how we can bring to the fore practices we can celebrate as well as address and transform those that cause discomfort and uncertainty.

Keywords: authority; collaborative research; language reclamation; language revitalization; Maya

Corresponding author: Aldo Anzures, International Baccalaureate Organisation, IB World Schools, Washington, DC, USA, E-mail: aldo.anzures@ibo.org

Funding source: Research Council of Norway

Award Identifier / Grant number: 223265

Acknowledgments

Antonia y Bety, gracias por dejarnos ser parte de las formas en las que cuidan y procuran con enorme cariño a la lengua maya de la mejor manera que ustedes saben. De igual forma, le agradecemos al Museo de la Guerra de Castas en Tihosuco por habernos abierto las puertas por todos estos años conforme construimos juntos este momentum de la reclamación de la lengua maya. We would also like to extend our gratitude to the Penn Museum for the different funding opportunities that allowed us to conduct part of this ethnographic fieldwork, and to the Penn Cultural Heritage Center for their enormous financial and intellectual support during the production of the Serie de Castas comic books and the realization of the workshops. Finally, but not less important, we thank the external reviewers as well as the editor Dr. Eva Codó for their prompt, critical and forward-constructive comments.

Research funding: Frances Kvietok was partly supported by the Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence funding scheme, project number 223265.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2022-0091).

Received: 2022-07-24

Accepted: 2023-01-10

Published Online: 2023-01-24

Published in Print: 2023-09-26

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