Heart of Heaven, Heart of Earth and Other Mayan Folktales, and: The Life of Our Language: Kaqchikel Maya Maintenance, Shift, and Revitalization (review)

These two books, though dealing with language and cultural identity in Highland Guatemala, differ greatly in subject matter and in approach to collaboration with indigenous experts.

In Heart of Heaven, Heart of Earth and Other Mayan Folktales, James D. Sexton acts as a translator for Ignacio Bizarro Ujpán, who has set down a series of stories, some told to him by others, some part of traditional lore, and some composed for the volume. Sexton adds cultural exegesis as needed and introduces the collection with a succinct but vivid account of his twenty-eight-year involvement with the Tz'utujil community of San José la Laguna and with Bizarro Ujpán. Sexton explicitly rejects the use of the official orthography only for "Indian proper names" (130), but he uses the official orthography only in citing works by linguists who do use the modern writing system, proposed by indigenous peoples and ratified by the Guatemalan Congress in 1987 (by governmental accord 1046–87). He is aware of this orthography and notes that it was "legalized" (scare quotes in the original) in 1987 by presidential decree. He does not cite the governmental accord passed by Congress that same year but refers to a later ratification in 1990. He prefers to use a mix of older orthographies (the plethora of which necessitated the official reform) to be consistent "with my previous publications and the vast majority of literature on Guatemala" (130). As the stories Sexton translates were passed on to him in Spanish with but a few Tz'utujil words (their Spanish translations provided in parentheses) seasoning the text, the question of orthographic practice seldom arises, other than in the names of the language groups and some place-names, personal names long having been assimilated into Spanish practice. The few examples of Tz'utujil words given show inconsistent use even of the old orthography, especially with regard to glottalization, not surprising since education in Tz'utujil writing practice is a relatively new development in bilingual education in Guatemala. The collaboration between Bizarro Ujpán and Sexton has been long and fruitful. What began as an assistant-researcher relationship has developed into a shared publication agenda. These two scholars have produced five books together. In this latest book, the theme was mutually agreed on, the stories collected and arranged by Bizarro Ujpán and the translation and exegesis done by Sexton. Not only do the stories themselves speak with a clear indigenous voice, but Sexton has not imposed an outside analytic matrix on the collection. He lets the texts speak for themselves. The exegesis, from the introduction and through the footnotes, is unobtrusive. Sexton points out the cultural information to be gleaned: the local biota, "magical objects and supernatural images and beings" (18), ethos, and humor. Some of the stories presented are quite well known and are widely diffused among Mayan populations in Guatemala and in Mexico. Others are quite local. Though Sexton resisted the temptation to group the stories thematically or by form, genres of Maya storytelling shine through. Among the "just so" stories are "The Story of the Dog and the Cat," "A Sacred Story," "Story: Everything Was Created," "The Louse Who Caused the Death of the Womanizing King: A Tzutuhil Story," "Doña MarÌa and Her Three Children," and "Angels Who Were Eternally Punished for the Evil They Committed on Earth." Tales that reinforce the social/moral order include "Story from an Enchanted Place, Paruchi Abaj" (which teaches respect for supernaturals), "Story of a Hunter" (which enjoins us to treat animals well), "Tale of a Teacher" (which shows...