Maya Intellectual Renaissance: identity, representation and leadership (review)

Victor Montejo’s fine book examines the contemporary renaissance of Mayan thought in Guatemala, crafting a full and nuanced evaluation of this broad and pluralistic social movement. The book examines three crosscutting themes that include Mayan identity construction, Mayan leadership in creating a politically and philosophically rich indigenous movement, and Mayans within the contemporary Guatemalan nation-state. By focusing on the critical contributions of Mayan public intellectuals to these debates, this book accomplishes something all too rare, which is to refocus and recast much previous scholarship. In effect, Montejo succeeds in ‘flipping the tortilla’, as it were, shaking western academic works from their positions of authority and making them an object of Mayan analysis. Much as did Edward Said in Orientalism, Montejo draws attention to the ways in which academicians (and government official publications) work to deny Mayans the historical agency that they so demonstrably possess. This work will be of interest to social scientists with an interest in social and indigenous movements, Latin Americanists of all stripes, and students of cultural studies.

With respect to the first of themes noted above, Montejo places an emerging Mayan national identity at the center of his ‘ethnocriticism’. He does not locate Mayanness in blood or land (though he notes that contemporary Mayans share the territory inhabited by ancient Maya), but in shared language, customs, and common history of successes and resistance, first to colonial era enslavement and later to neocolonial oppression and the 1980s genocide that saw 200,000 Mayans and Ladinos massacred by the Guatemalan army. Montejo shows how the stories, myths, knowledge and wisdom of Mayan culture work to create a shared identity, and how indigenous governance customs contribute to a culture that emphasizes negotiated consensus building. There are also, as Montejo makes clear, official practices of the national government that operate to destroy a sense of Maya identity and pride. In a careful analysis of Guatemalan school textbooks (that makes an excellent standalone chapter for undergraduates), he shows how schoolbooks denigrate Mayan culture by differentiating ancient and contemporary Mayan accomplishments and presenting a simplified caricature of contemporary Mayan society. This elision allows ladino (non-Mayan Guatemalan elites) to claim ancient Mayan accomplishments for the Guatemalan nation while marginalizing contemporary Mayans.

A second central theme of this work treats the contributions and struggles of contemporary Mayan intellectuals as they seek to establish institutions in support of Mayan scholarship and also further the peace accord reached between the Guatemalan government and rebel groups. Montejo, in an analytical process he terms ‘ethnocriticism’, discusses the contributions, both historic and recent, of dozens of Mayan leaders who have contributed to the contemporary renaissance of Mayan thought. In one interesting intervention, Montejo examines the case of Nobel prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, accused by David Stoll of fabricating certain aspects of her life in her monograph I, Rigoberta Menchu. Here Montejo’s critique seeks to reestablish the context for Menchu’s remarks, namely, the genocidal attacks on indigenous peoples that Menchu helped to publicize and halt. By so doing, he turns our attention back to questions of culpability and impunity of the still-at-large government authorities that planned and executed the pogrom against indigenous Guatemalans.

A third theme, developed more fully towards the end of the work, treats the question of how Mayan identities, culture, and governance practices might evolve within the context of the Guatemalan nation-state. As Montejo demonstrates, a deep-seated Ladino fear of Mayan power – in this majority Maya country – underlies social tensions. Montejo advocates a peaceful engagement with political structures, although he is not overly sanguine about short-term possibilities for success. As he notes, many Mayans voted for Rios Montt despite the central role he played in organizing the 1980s genocide against Mayan peoples. He traces this pro-Montt vote to fraud, fear of persecution by Mayan villagers, and a rejection of the neoliberal economic policies (e.g. privatization) favored by the...