The Deliberately Misguided Maya Legacy
Addressing misconceptions of ancient Maya civilizations and how it impacts modern Maya groups:
The first thing I learned about the Maya were the sacrifices and pyramids made centuries ago.
The second thing I learned was that I am Maya— Maya Kaqchikel.
The third thing I learned right after was there are still Indigenous Maya groups in existence.
Shocking.
The fourth thing I learned was that clearly my DK Eyewitness book on the Aztec, Inca & Maya bought in the fifth grade was missing some key information.
As one wise reviewer on Amazon said, “wasted money”.
Western society has a strange fixation on Ancient Maya people. They are fantasized to be a great —yet extinct, emphasis on extinct— civilization, peaceful, exotic. Other times they are seen as primitive, deserved to be colonized, bloodthirsty people who sacrificed innocent civilians for a nonsense religion. Whatever suits the colonizer’s narrative.
In fact, many travel guides would describe the Indigenous people of Central America as “descendant from the Mayans” or “the modern Mayan people” which isn’t exactly wrong, but accuracy sits over two steps to the left.
Maya or Mayan?
First off, it is more appropriate to use “Maya” instead of “Mayan” in relation to people, culture, and places. It is a noun, sometimes an adjective. Whereas “Mayan” is used to refer to languages and is also sometimes used as an adjective. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of inconsistencies in academic papers, books, and everyday conversation, making it difficult to pinpoint accurate wording (at least with a quick google search). Notice the confusion on what is the adjective form?
Still, it is also important to point out that the ancient civilizations from Central America had never called themselves “Maya”. The closest usage may have been “Ma’ya’ab” or “Mayapan” which referred to cities and areas in the Yucatan peninsula. “Maya” was developed as a term to refer to how several Indigenous languages in the region had the same roots which were then misinterpreted to become a false notion of a monolith.
After all, we wouldn’t call British people “descendants of the British Empire” and we would never push all Romantic languages under one title. Why only for Maya?
It ties into a larger issue of attempts to homogenize Indigenous groups, erasure of individual Indigenous cultures.
Clarifying History:
The ancient civilization we call the Maya was a collection of several city-states, all under various names. Yet as previously mentioned, they wouldn't have named themselves under one title. And when referring to Maya people in the modern-day it is especially important to note that they are not just descendants from Ancient civilization, they are a continuation. They exist in the present tense.
1524 CE is usually used to mark the end of Maya civilization, that date where they “disappeared”. What does it mean to “disappear”? Colonization cannot be denied, which makes saying that the civilizations we come to recognize from the Classical era have “ended” an accurate assessment. Still, people do not vanish into thin air.
Note that there are surely people who truly are descendants of Maya people, mestizo people, individuals who have a faint awareness that they have a connection to Indigenous culture, but know they don’t have a direct lineage. Yet when people begin to call Guatemala a country of “mostly Maya-descent”, that is inaccurate. There is a line created to divide modern people and history, placing Maya as a past event. It shouldn’t have to be clarified: Maya people still exist. Languages are still spoken, Indumentarias still worn.
The colonizers came and destroyed art, literature, and architecture when they invaded, systematically erasing Indigenous knowledge. Believing that Indigenous people are extinct is a direct result of that, it is intentional.
Misconceptions
Continued consequences of the destruction of knowledge are the gaps of our knowledge in Ancient Civilizations. These gaps allow people to place their own interpretations, creating false facts and harmful stereotypes. Looking at you Mel Gibson.
This leads to the strange juxtaposition seen in the portrayal of Maya people: they were barbaric, that they were peaceful, they were ignorant, they were almost magical. Maya history becomes a place of projection for whatever the audience desires. It’s a disgusting practice, to treat Indigenous cultures as props for fantasies, movies, and adventure.
It is important to look at Indigenous cultures not as props for adventure but as real people to respect, in a historical and modern context. Whether in visiting ancient sites or consuming fictional media based on real cultures, it’s important to not maintain a one-dimensional perception of Maya culture and people.
It shouldn’t have to be emphasized yet we will iterate: Maya people are just as complex as any other culture and group. There are negatives, positives, and neutral actions in between. To respect and deconstruct a colonized mindset regarding Indigenous groups, it’s important to dismantle inner bias and beliefs.
Education comes from reading a variety of sources, following current news, and of course, listening to the communities themselves.
Sources:
https://www.thoughtco.com/ancient-maya-mayans-most-accepted-term-171569
https://www.mayatraditions.org/maya-vs-mayan-by-laura-martin-ph-d/
https://voirenvrai.nantes.archi.fr/?p=9438
https://anth.la.psu.edu/documents/Webster_GermanyMaya.pdf
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jmodelite.34.4.21
